March 1, 2015

1473 AERICAN EMPIRE - The flag of the micronation


The Aerican Empire (also known as Aerica) is a  micronation which has no sovereign territory of its own and has never been recognized by any other sovereign state as existing. The name is a pun on the term "American Empire". Its members claim sovereignty over a vast disconnected territory, including a square kilometer of land in Australia, a house-sized area in Montreal, Canada (containing the "Embassy to Everything Else"), several other areas of the Earth, a colony on Mars, the northern hemisphere of Pluto, and an imaginary planet. The number of "citizens" has fluctuated with time, in May 2009 being about 400 people. In 2000 The New York Times described its website as "one of the more imaginative" micronation sites.

The Aerican Empire was founded on 8 May 1987 by Montreal resident Eric Lis and a group of friends. Lis, who than was a child, obtained his M.D., C.M. from McGill University and has been published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience and Weird Tales magazine. For the first ten years the Empire was almost wholly fictional, claiming sovereignty over a vast galaxy of planets and engaging in "wars" against other micronations. After the advent of the Internet, the Empire worked towards becoming a political entity. In 2000, an article in The New York Times triggered a growth spurt of the population, and in 2007 was held the first Aerican Convention, in Montreal. In 2009 was issued its first minted coin, and In 2012 the second, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, occasion with which was adopted the national anthem, Home is Where I Hang My Towel.

The Empire's mission statement is "The Empire exists to facilitate the evolution of a society wherein the Empire itself is no longer necessary." It claims to be organized as a parliamentary democracy, under the oversight of an Emperor (currently the founder, Eric Lis). The group's activities are permeated by a great deal of humour and a love of science fiction and fantasy, with recurrent references to Star Wars, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and similar works. It also developed a "religion" called Silinism, the worship of the Great Penguin. It has holidays and "niftydays" (such as 2 January Procrastinator's Day, 27 February *Oops* Day etc). The Empire's flag is a parody of the flag of Canada, with a large yellow smiley face instead of the red maple leaf in the white square (although the red rectangles on the sides have different side length ratios.

About the stamp


The stamp, depicting the flag of Aerican Empire and designed by Victor MacMold (Victor Moldoveanu), was issued on April 09, 2015.

About the postmark


The Aerican Empire Post official postmark/cancellation saw light on April 27, 2015. To untrained eyes, the postmark might look like the Empire’s famous Smiling Face, pictured from behind, while space enthusiasts will immediately see a solar eclipse, with the center circle being the planet passing in front of the shining (dotted circle) sun. However there is still no universally accepted definition of what it really represents thus encouraging the beholder to explore his imagination and find his own meaning.

References
Aerican Empire - Wikipedia
Aerican Empire - official website

Sender: Eric Lis, the Emperor of Aerica (thanks to Victor Moldoveanu, Assistant to the Regional Postmaster of Aerican Empire and Philatéliste Extraordinnaire du Plutopia)
Sent from Aerican Empire, on 10.06.2015

5 comments:

  1. Love it. I'd join just to have a Procrastinators Day, maybe I'll do it tomorrow:-)

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  2. I love the humor in this post. I had never heard of this particular micronation - thanks for sharing the great card. Just a pity Aerica hasn't issued any stamps.

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  3. Great fun and at least it's a smiley face.

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  4. I have heard of this Aerican Empire, but didn't realize it was still going strong!

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