Welcome to Icelandia. No, not Iceland. Although in a way the two places are similar – holes at the end of the world that no one wants to live in and the conditions in them aren't anything anyway. The main difference is anti-Semitism – Icelanders hate us to the extreme, and Icelanders (Icelanders) probably don't know where we are on the map. But actually, even on their "home" it is quite difficult to pinpoint a map. We turned to ChatGPT to find out what the hell Icelandia is and why we haven't heard of it until now.
It all started with the call "Let's Buy an Island," the title of a crowdfunding project that began in 2018 in an attempt to raise money to buy Coffee Caye, an uninhabited 1.2-acre island off the coast of Belize in Central America. The goal of this ambitious initiative, led by Gareth Johnson and Marshall Mayer, was not just a real estate venture, but the establishment of a new state – which, as mentioned, received the name Icelandia.
They said the journey began almost 15 years ago, when Johnson bought letsbuyanisland.com URL, thinking it was a nice idea. In 2018, when an island in the Philippines went up for sale, the two decided it was time to put their vision into action. They advertised the project on the website, and held a vote among those interested to choose the ideal island. In the end, Kofi Kay won, crowned as the ideal tropical island. The price of each "share" on the island is set at $3,250, with each share worth one vote in the democratic system that will rule the place. The island was purchased for $180,000 in 2019 – but its development plans, which included renovating the surrounding coral reef, setting up a glamping site (a combination of Glamouros and camping, meaning camping with boutique services) and building a sort of container hotel – were put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, Coffee Cay Island is still mostly covered in dense vegetation and has no infrastructure, so aside from a few adventurers camping with tents, it's still uninhabited. However, the state planned to be established already has a national flag, anthem and even a prime minister, making it a micronation claiming independence, even if no country has recognized it. Investors and visitors automatically become citizens of Icelandia, with the option to acquire "citizenship" or titles such as Lord or Lady for a nominal fee.
The project aims to combine escapism and experimentation, inspired by the stories of micronations such as Sealand off the coast of Britain and the Republic of Ozophis (a neighborhood in Vilnius that claims independence from Lithuania). Some investors take the matter seriously, while others see it as a kind of marketing-commercial project. However, at the moment its future is uncertain – due to its tiny size, unconsciousness and the danger that the entire island will drown in the sea within a few years.
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