Kingdom of Aqualandia (Marion)
From Kook Science
- Not to be confused with various other Kingdoms of Aqualandia.
| Kingdom of Aqualandia |
||
|---|---|---|
| Capital | Bishop Rock | |
| Government | ||
| • | King | Lynn Marion Barnett (as Marion I; from 1961 to his death in 1962) |
| • | King | Michael H. Austin (from 1962) |
| Declared kingdom | ||
| • | Founded | 10 August 1961 |
Aqualandia was a self-declared kingdom, claiming sovereignty over "the 110 million square miles of undersea land outside the continental shelfs," as well as oil and mineral rights to resources contained therein, founded in 1961 by Lynn Marion Barnett, a Los Angeles Fire Department captain, and later governed by Michael H. Austin, a golf pro and instructor.
In 1968, the kingdom registered a California non-profit organisation under the name "Aqualandia Society for Undersea Development" (State ID #C0553575), attempting to raise funds (and attention) for their project to develop underwater dome cities.
Press Coverage
- "KINGDOM OF AQUALANDIA - NEW KINGDOM OFFERS FREE LAND GRANTS!", Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, TX): 82-83, 17 Dec. 1961, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/44890151/ — a two-page advertisement promoting land purchases in the newly declared undersea kingdom
- "Duffers Treated Royally", Alamogordo Daily News (Alamogordo, New Mexico), 16 Apr. 1967, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/89435393/, "[Mike] Austin - he prefers to be called regent, 'king sounds pretentious' - and fellow Aqualandians have laid claim to the 110 million square miles of undersea land outside the continental shelfs. He has so informed the United Nations. Any country seeking to exploit the oil and minerals from Aqualandia's domain without permission, his majesty warns, will face the wrath of the Aqualandian navy and air force: two ships and two airplanes - not armed. Aqualandia's claim to existence is fraught with legal complexities, but the affable monarch feels all will be ironed out in time because he has the answer to world peace."
- "King of Aqualandia Says He Has Solution to World Peace", Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, New Jersey): 70, 30 Apr. 1967, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/144332579/, "This stipend, the king, explains, would go into a pool supervised by the world's sovereign nations and would be used to maintain the Aqualandian capital on Bishop Rock, a sort of underwater mountain 110 miles west of San Diego. Grand plans already have been drawn for this futuristic city, which Austin vows will soon rise from the sea. It is hoped that construction on the $200 million, glass-domed capital can be started in 1968, although his highness concedes that financing of the project is among particulars still to be worked out."