REPUBLIC OF NEW ATLANTIS

Learn information about the Republic of New Atlantis, a micronation formed by Leicester Hemingway, the brother of Ernest Hemingway, and reestablished as the Republic of New Atlantis by HRH Sovereign Prince Shawn of Woodlandia.

QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE REPUBLIC OF NEW ATLANTIS

Motto: N/A

Capital: Coconut Grove, Florida, United States

Population: 6

Proclamation of Independence: Jamaica (July 4, 1964)

Area Claimed: 0.00002 km2 (7.7×10−6 sq m)

Official Flag of the Republic of New Atlantis

Etymology

The name New Atlantis is taken from the lost city of Atlantis, which according to popular myths & legend, is said to have been destroyed and sank into the ocean in a single day and night.

The idea of the nation of New Atlantis likely derives from the book of the same title, New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon, which proposes an ideal society where all inhabitants share a type of functional and harmonious happiness. In this sense, understanding the natural rhythms through culture, embracing its patterns and guidelines, results in a society that is guided towards evolution, self-awareness and respect.

Government: Presidential Constitutional Republic

Monarch: President Leicester Hemingway (1965)

Currency: Scruple (1964-1965)

Demonym(s): Atlantean, New Atlantean

Time Zone: EST

Date Format: mm-dd-yyyy

Driving Side: Left

National Anthem: N/A

1. History of New Atlantis

Formation

In 1964, Leicester (pronounced “Lester”) Hemingway, brother of Ernest Hemingway, constructed a small raft and had it towed 6 mi (9.7 km) off the coast of Jamaica, from the nearest community of Bluefields. The raft was primarily composed of bamboo, steel, iron piping, and rock. It was anchored on a shallow ocean bank with an old Ford engine block, and measured 8 ft × 30 ft (2.4 m × 9.1 m). At the time, the area was considered international waters.

Independence Claim

On July 4, 1964, the "island", 240 sq ft (22 m²) raft off the coast of Jamaica, was declared a constitutional republic by its founder Leicester Hemingway.

Hemingway also claimed the area around his raft. He argued that his raft was technically an island, basing his claim of sovereignty on the Guano Islands Act of 1856. At the time, Guano, or bird excrement, was considered a valuable commercial fertilizer. According to the Act, in order for a claim to be legitimate, the claimant must be a US citizen and is required to declare half of the claim in the name of the United States. Therefore, the unoccupied half of his raft he declared United States territory, while the other half he proclaimed as the nation of New Atlantis.

The initial plan was to expand the domain considerably. Hemingway claimed the seafloor 50 feet below the raft, and intended to create his own artificial island by piling up rocks.

Leicester Hemingway on New Atlantis

[Courtesy of Anne and Hilary Hemingway]

Location

The Republic of New Atlantis was located on a shallow ocean bank six and a half miles off the southwest coast of Jamaica in international waters, beyond the then-customary three-mile limit of Jamaica’s territorial sea, in an area where the sea floor normally runs to a depth of 1,000 feet. Its exact coordinates were latitude 18 degrees, 1 minute north and longitude 78 degrees, 4 minutes west.

In a press release declaring the micronations sovereignty, Les wrote, "Right now the capital city of New Atlantis is Coconut Grove, Florida, a section of Miami that considers the entire remainder of Dade County as one vast, philistine suburb."

Map of Jamaica depicting the former location of New Atlantis

Law

Hemingway wrote an official constitution for the republic using a manual typewriter. The constitution reads like a near-exact duplicate of the seven articles forming the main body of the United States Constitution, as Hemingway copied it almost verbatim. The Harry Ransom Center in which the document was donated to, appears to hold the only “original” draft of the New Atlantis Constitution, for which no known copies exist.

Flag

The flag of New Atlantis, was sewn by Hemingway’s wife, Doris – "The Betsy Ross of New Atlantis," as he called her. It was navy blue with a golden triangle pointed downward. The triangle was outlined in a thin white line, and featured a blue hole in the center, also outlined in a thin white line.

The final flag was the third flag to fly over the bamboo platform. The first two were stolen by fisherman, and the fourth was carried away in a storm.

After its destruction, the flag, along with other New Atlantis memorabilia, was donated to the Harry Ransom Center in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin.

Official National Flag of the Republic of New Atlantis.

Purpose

His goal was to experiment with democracy and to research marine life in the Caribbean Sea. He formed the International Marine Research Society, an organization headquartered on the raft with the aim of funding and furthering the study of marine biology. Ultimately, Hemingway sought to build a research aquarium in Jamaica.

Population

By 1965, New Atlantis had a population of six inhabitants. This included Leicester Hemingway, his wife Doris, and their two daughters Anne (age 7) and Hilary (age 3). Joining them was public relations specialist Edward K. Moss, and his assistant Julia Cellini.

Additionally, he had gained a majority of non-resident citizens for New Atlantis in a variety of now-closed Miami bars. In exchange for an investment in his nation, he offered up official titles to anyone interested.

New Atlantis Christmas Card featuring Les and Doris Hemingway with daughters, Anne and Hilary

[Photo Courtesy of Anne and Hilary Hemingway]

Presidency

The group unanimously elected Leicester as President. His wife Doris, was proclaimed First Lady, and their daughters, Anne and Hilary, received ladyships as well.

His election saw significant press coverage, and made front-page headlines in neighboring Jamaica. Leicester seems to have shared some of this brother’s genius for publicity and reveled in his role as head-of-state for what he liked to call “the world’s smallest political entity.”

Funding

The nation was initially funded through the publication of the book My Brother, Ernest Hemingway. Leicester’s biography of his famous sibling was published in good reviews in February 1962, just eight months after Ernest’s suicide. Playboy Magazine paid Leicester a reported $25,000—something like $160,000 in current U.S. dollars—for the serialization rights.

The book was translated into eleven European and two Asian languages and went through hard- and paperback U.S. editions. It made the New York Times list of 100 outstanding books for summer reading in 1962.

Later, Hemingway planned to finance his operations with the sale of stamps. Leicester himself said he founded New Atlantis mostly to have fun and “make dough”—presumably from the stamp operation.

Additionally, Hemingway also intended to mint coins, write books and scripts, and encourage tourism.

Cover Art For A First Edition of My Brother, Ernest Hemingway (1962)

Les Hemingway signs copies of his book My Brother, Ernest Hemingway at Brown's Hotel in Bimini in 1981.

[Photo Courtesy of the South Florida Sun Sentinel]

Stamps

The main activity of Leicester’s new country was the issuing of postage stamps. Between 1964 and 1965, New Atlantis issued—or perhaps it is more accurately “printed” — stamps in five different denominations. Although several batches of stamps were printed, the Swiss-based Universal Postal Union refused to recognize their validity. This lead Hemingway to set up a series of P.O. boxes.

Hemingway sent letters to President Lyndon Johnson from New Atlantis. Unto Lady Bird Johnson and her daughters, he bestowed the honor of "Order of the Golden Sand."

New Atlantis 60 Cent Stamp (1965), Honoring Sir Winston Churchill, “World Statesman of the XX Century.”

New Atlantis 50 Cent Stamp (1964), Honoring Hubert Humphrey, “Who stands Tall In The Eyes of The Entire Free World.”

New Atlantis 6 Cent Stamp (1965), Honoring The Provisional Government of the Dominican Republic

New Atlantis 40 Cent Stamp (1965), Honoring The US 4th Infantry Division.

Currency

Hemingway authorized his own currency, called "scruple". It consisted of trinkets such as fish hooks, carob beans, shark teeth, and other miscellany. Official exemplars of New Atlantis national currency look suspiciously like things that might have washed ashore on a Caribbean beach in 1964.

Scruple, Hemingway's Official Currency of New Atlantis

Recognition

The formal election of the republic’s first government incited another round of press notices, including a six-column front-page headline in the leading Kingston, Jamaica, newspaper. Leicester solemnly told the paper that his new Republic “would be a peaceful power and would not threaten” its Caribbean neighbors. In September 1964, a spokesman for the Jamaican Embassy in Washington told the New York Herald Tribune that Leicester was a “decent, well-meaning soul,” and variously described the project as “good” or “sound.”

Additionally, the ocean bank chosen as the site for New Atlantis was in international waters and did not lie on a continental shelf, which eliminated several legal objections to the project.

To further his claim, Hemingway mailed a stamp featuring Lyndon B. Johnson to the White House and claimed international recognition. This produced a reply thank-you letter from the U.S. State Department addressing him as "Acting President" of his declared nation and made New Atlantis “the closest a dreamer has come to official recognition” according to a 1988 interview given by the director of the U.S. Office of the Geographer. In the world of micronations, this is seen as international recognition by the United States.

Although newly declared nations rarely see true independence, several elements of Leicester’s plan held a superficial plausibility in the 1960s, a decade that saw something of a boom in self-proclaimed island nations—some on man-made platforms, such as the Principality of Sealand (1967). The Republic of New Atlantis was born with several advantages. Most importantly, the Jamaican government did not oppose the project, likely because one of the Republic’s stated purposes was to raise money to protect fishing resources in the area.

New Atlantis 100 Cent Stamp (1964), Honoring Lyndon Johnson, “Protector of the Entire Free World.”

Destruction

However, within its first year of operation, New Atlantis was destroyed by tropical storms and washed out to sea. Afterwards, some of the wreckage was salvaged by local fishermen. Still, 15 years later, in newspaper blurbs, Les hadn't given up on New Atlantis, speculating that it was "probably floating somewhere near Haiti."

Legacy

2. Restoration

The Principality of Woodlandia has held dominion over the newly restored Republic of New Atlantis, officially the Second Republic of New Atlantis since January 12, 2022, when HRH Sovereign Prince Shawn of Woodlandia proclaimed himself as the second President of the Republic after Leicester Hemingway.

In January 2022, letters were sent to The United States, United Nations, Jamaican Government, Queen Elizabeth, & the Hemingway family indicating the restoration of the Republic and the proclamations and intentions made by Prince Shawn regarding the land claim.

Official National Flag of the (Second) Republic of New Atlantis (2022)

3. Did You Know? - Republic of New Atlantis

The official flag from the original Republic is featured on the flag of the newly restored Second Republic of New Atlantis.
The first "Baron" of New Atlantis was Writer Ernest Hemingway, as he was referred to by his brother President Leicester Hemingway.

All photos belong to the Leicester Hemingway New Atlantis Collection Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.