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Talossa

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Talossa is the name of three micronations - two called the Kingdom of Talossa and one called the Republic of Talossa.

Talossa was founded as a kingdom on December 26, 1979 by Robert Ben Madison, a 13 year-old resident of Milwaukee, shortly after the death of his mother. At that time the kingdom occupied Madison's bedroom, and he adopted the name "Talossa" for it after discovering that the word means "inside the house" in Finnish. Over the years, Talossa's territorial claims expanded from Madison's childhood bedroom to encompass most of Milwaukee's East Side, as well as the French island of Cézembre and a large chunk of Antarctica (called Pengopäts, which means Penguin-land in the Talossan language).

Madison maintained Talossa throughout his adolescence and college years. During this time, some 40 other people joined Talossa, mostly in the Milwaukee area but including several of Madison's friends and acquaintances in Europe. In 1996, Talossa's web page came to the attention of hundreds of thousands of readers via a series of stories published in such newspapers as the New York Times and Wired, which were subsequently republished by newspapers in many other countries. Several dozen new "citizens" joined Talossa as a result.

In the early 2000s, some members of the Kingdom accused Madison, and the majority of citizens who supported him, as intolerably eccentric and autocratic. Led by Christopher Gruber, they responded by creating the "secessionist" Republic of Talossa on 1 June, 2004. As of 2007 the breakaway group claims approximately 30 members. The Republic is not officially recognized by the Kingdom of Talossa.

An elected government, supported by Madison, continued to lead the Kingdom until 2005, when the Kingdom's immigration minister, Fritz Buchholtz, declared dozens of friends and relatives "citizens" in violation of Talossa's Organic Law (constitution) and election laws. Fearing a repeat of the destructive flame-wars that had accompanied the formation of the "Republic", Madison abdicated as King in favour of his wife's grandson Louis, who became King on 16 August. Of the 40 citizens of Talossa, eight supported Buchholtz while about 25 supported Madison, including Prime Minister Marcus Cantalour and six (of seven) Senators. Buchholtz declared his friend Dr Gregory Rajala as Regent, then proclaimed (on the grounds that Louis's legal guardian did not sanction his involvement, although this was not legal under Talossan law) that Louis had abdicated on 29 November 2006. An "interregnum" was in effect until 14 March 2007, when John W. Woolley was elected King of Talossa.

In 2007, Madison and the original Talossans (including nine current and former Prime Ministers, as well as King Louis) accepted each other as Talossans and reactivated the government under Marcus Cantalour, drafting a new Constituziun which enshrined fourteen long-time Talossans as permanent "Founders." As a result of these actions, there were two groups calling themselves the Kingdom of Talossa. One is the group claimed by Buchholtz and Woolley in 2005, and the other is the version of Talossa re-started by Madison and most of the original Talossans. Both claim historical continuity; the Woolley Kingdom (despite the debatable actions of its founders) has continuously existed since 2005. The Madison kingdom's primary claims to legitimacy are its possession of the trademarked name "Talossa" (when Madison owns), its non-profit corporation status in the State of Wisconsin, and the fact that the large majority of Talossans at the time of the 2005 split support it.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Talossa" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talossa, used under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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