The AskHistorians Podcast is a project that highlights the users and answers that have helped make/r/AskHistorians one of the largest history discussion forum on the internet. You can subscribe to us via iTunes, Stitcher, or RSS. If there is another index you'd like the cast listed on, let me know (I am working on adding a few at the moment, and getting us on YouTube)!
This Episode:
/u/l_mack relates the strange tale of the Principality of Outer Baldonia, a micronation founded off the coast of Nova Scotia in the mid-20th Century by an American businessman seeking freedom from "question, nagging, shaving, interruption, women, taxes, politics, and monologues," as well as the right to stay up all night drinking, swearing and gambling. The tiny island nation ended up receiving international notice, with write-ups in a California paper and a denunciation in a Soviet journal.
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Thanks all!
Coming up next fortnight: /u/bemonk, host of the History of Alchemy podcast, talks about, surprisingly, the history of alchemy and its relationship to the development of modern scientific methods.
Couple of additional notes:
/u/l_mack was kind enough to pass along some maps and pictures to make sense of the geography of the Outer Bald Tusket Island (aka Baldonia), including Russell Arundel's house.
Also, if you want to read the paper that result from Lachlan's research, you can find it online in full.
Very interesting! I love the study of these interesting micro-nations, they're history is always interesting and chock full of vast, unspoiled stores of knowledge you never even heard of!
Would anyone know where to find a good source for just a collection of micro states throughout history? That would be akin to heaven. :)
Thanks for doing this.
I didn't know there was a Ask Historians Potcast. Downloading now!