Own Your Own Country!
Having your very own country seems like a rather unattainable goal for most of us - especially if you want the country to be somewhere habitable and not at, for example, the South Pole. If you have some spare cash on hand however, you dream of having a country could be only a phone call away. The Principality of Sealand, a "self-proclaimed mini-state" off of Essex, became a state in 1967 when the British government ruled that because it was three miles off the coast, it "was outside government control."
Due to the fact that the "island" is manmade, it is no tropical getaway. It measures only 550 sq m (5,920 sq ft) and is primarily made of steel. Sealand was built on what was once an artillery platform in World War II and boasts its own constitution, flag, coat of arms, stamps, passports and currency (one Sealand dollar is equal to one US dollar).
Initial reports listed the price as $126 million.
