New land claims annexed from UK and Canada
Saturday 13th April saw further territorial expansion for the Empire of Austenasia, with two new sites being claimed. The first, Garelsh, is comprised of the garden of a residential property in Marlow, in the British county of Buckinghamshire. Garelsh has been annexed as a Territory, with its owner, the now Lord Oscar Owens, appointed its Baron and Governor. This marks the first expansion of Austenasia within the British Isles for roughly five years. The second of the weekend’s annexations saw the new Territory of Glainamar gain an exclave, namely a woodland cabin situated roughly 7 miles to the west of the main territory. This cabin, which is next to a pond, was built in the late 1970s by the family of Lord Griffin, Governor of Glainamar. The new addition will be known as the Glain Interior.
New territory annexed from Canada
An Imperial Decree passed earlier today annexed a new territory to the Empire after its landowner claimed it for Austenasia. Glainamar, the new claim, consists of a large plot of land within the garden of a neighbouring house, lived in by its now governor, Lord Mick Griffin, and his family. The property as a whole has been owned by Lord Griffin’s family since 1954. Lord Griffin is the legal owner of this section of the property, and is seeking to commence construction of a residence for himself on the land in 2026. At present, however, the land is uninhabited, and so has been claimed as a Territory. Glainamar is bordered by the Canadian town of Carbonear, in Newfoundland.
Valens and Dinkeaw dissolved
Sunday 21st saw an Act of Parliament passed dissolving two Austenasian land claims, namely the Town of Valens and the Crown Dependency of Dinkeaw. Valens, which was annexed from Canada in December 2022, was home to six people. The Acting Representative of Valens dropped out of contact with the imperial government in mid-2023, and no response was gained from several attempts to re-establish contact with the town, including by posted mail. The trigger to move ahead with the dissolution of Valens is a proposed constitutional amendment, which will require near unanimity in Parliament to enact. Removing the empty seat held by Valens decreases the number of votes needed to meet the required threshold. Also dissolved is Dinkeaw, a small uninhabited area of land claimed from Thailand in April 2020. The owner of the land, who originally claimed it for the Empire, requested the dissolution of the claim for reasons of security and privacy.
Greek territory founded
Austenasia has seen further expansion with the annexation of a territory in Greece finalised on Tuesday 12th December, coming less than a fortnight after the annexation of a Romanian territory. The new Territory of Elmythia consists of a large garden of a residential property in Almiros, and was claimed for the Empire by its owner, the now Lord Konstantinos Papanatsios. It was annexed by Imperial Decree on Tuesday 12th. Lord Papanatsios has been appointed Baron and Governor of Elmythia, and granted Austenasian national status. Elmythia is now one of two Austenasian land claims to border Greece, the other being the crown dependency of Kaiomenia.
New territory claimed from Romania
Friday 1st December saw a new Austenasian land claim founded roughly 26 miles north of Bucharest. The new territory, Prahova, consists of just over 61 acres of forested land, together with part of a river which adjoins it to the south. The land was claimed for Austenasia by Štefan Snagoveanu, Marshal of Snagov. Snagov entered into diplomatic relations with the Empire in August earlier this year, following several months of informal co-operation. The legislation which annexed Prahova has appointed Marshal Snagoveanu as its Governor, as well as granting him Austenasian national status. This new annexation has been made in part with a view to fostering closer ties and friendly relations between Austenasia and Snagov. The land is uninhabited, but isolated, with Marshal Snagoveanu easily able to exercise jurisdiction there on behalf of the Empire.
New Town claimed in Colorado
A new Austenasian Town has been founded after a family of three in Colorado claimed their home for the Empire. The Colquhoun family contacted Emperor Jonathan I with a request to join Austenasia, and after supplying the necessary information their house was formally annexed earlier today as the Town of Chandler. The now Lord Michael Colquhoun has been appointed Baron of Chandler, as well as its Acting Representative. A local election for Chandler – as well as for the similarly young town of Valens – is expected to be held early next year to secure a democratic mandate for parliamentary representation. With Parliament being in recess for the festive period, the annexation was enacted through an Imperial Decree, which will be put before the House of Representatives to be formally ratified after the holiday season. This marks the first time that Austenasia has had eleven towns. The Empire previously held a record number of ten towns from January 2015 to September 2016, a number briefly reached again in February 2020, and again since May this year.
Territorial changes see population increase
The population of Austenasia has reached 110 upon various changes made to its territorial make-up. Thursday 1st December saw an Act of Parliament passed which annexed a new town, Valens, as well as a new Crown Dependency, Ganapati Vihar. Valens, annexed from Montreal in Canada, has a population of six, making it the Empire’s joint most populous land claim alongside Chalcedon. It is comprised of a three-floor apartment building, all the inhabitants of which have signed a request to joing Austenasia. Ganapati Vihar, annexed from Kolkata in India, is uninhabited, and consists of a currently uninhabited residential property claimed for Austenasia by its owner, Soumyadip Sengupta. Three other changes were also made which affected the demographic and administrative make-up of the Empire. First, New Flat Rock, which was founded as a Town in December 2020, has been transitioned into a Crown Dependency. This is primarily due to none of it residents wishing to serve as an active Representative, while at the same time they wish to retain Austenasian nationality. It will therefore be governed autonomously by its former Representative, Lord Hunter Prater, as Governing Commissioner. Second, Oberfalcer – a Territory annexed from France in August 2019 – has been dissolved after its founder and governor, Lord Paccard, dropped out of contact with the government last year. Lastly, Austenasian subjectship was removed from Lord Paccard, together with another Austenasian non-residential subject who is likewise believed to have no desire to retain nationality, while also being granted to the Empire’s newly appointed Ambassador to the Philippines, Manuel Salta. Although the cession of Oberfalcer has resulted in a net loss of territory, the annexation of Valens and the grant of subjectship to Mr Salta has raised the total number of Austenasians to 110, 76 of whom live in Austenasian land claims.
New territory annexed from Poland
Saturday 30th July saw a new Territory annexed by the Empire of Austenasia from Poland. The new land claim, Nervenston, was claimed by the now Lord Dominik Kądziołkais, who has been appointed Governor and Baron of the new territory. Nervenston is uninhabited, and is comprised of the roughly 2,170 square foot garden of Lord Kądziołkais’ residence. Nervenston was claimed from the south-west of Poland, and is the first Austenasian land claim to be annexed from that country.
Helinium annexed as new Town
Yesterday saw the small polity of Helinium annexed as a new Austenasian Town. Helinium, which is bordered by the Netherlands, was a part of New Virginia from November 2020 until July 2021, when it became independent during the attempted coup of that month. Since then, it has existed as a tiny independent city-state. The past week saw negotiations for Helinium to join Austenasia, culminating in annexation legislation being proposed to and passed by Parliament on Saturday 14th. Bradley of Dullahan – the newly elected King of the Romans – has been appointed Acting Representative of Helinium, to serve until a local election is held on 5 June. The Duke of Dullahan does not live in Helinium, but does live within the requisite twenty five miles from the Town to serve as its Representative. The new Town is home to his sister and her partner.
Claims established in China and Arizona
An Act of Parliament passed yesterday evening has founded two new Crown Dependencies after their landowners contacted the government with requests to join Austenasia. A rural property in China’s Hunan province has been annexed as Shuhan, and four plots of land in Navajo County, Arizona have been annexed as Navurania. Shuhan is home to Juntao Yang and his mother. Mr Yang has been appointed Governing Commissioner of Shuhan, to administer it with the title of Duke. Mr Yang serves as Austenasia’s unaccredited Ambassador to China. His family can trace its descent from the rulers of one of the so-called Three Kingdoms of third century China, Shu Han, in honour of which the new territory has been named. Although the annexation legislation was passed at 11pm UTC on 15 February, this was already 16 February in China, and as such the latter date will be considered Shuhan’s date of foundation. The second new claim, Navurania, is composed of four plots of uninhabited land in a location best known for the mining of uranium and rare earth minerals. The plots comprising Navurania are owned by Lord Michael Simpson, one of Austenasia’s most prolific purchasers and claimers of land. However, as governor of four territories already – Florencium Carolina, Elliessium Colorandum, Golcondiaurum, and Rubrum Beryllium – and Representative of Procyon, it was decided not to add to his workload of territorial administration. Lord Simpson’s grandson has therefore been appointed Governing Commissioner of Navurania, adopting for said purpose the official pseudonym of Winston Churchill Jr. for privacy reasons.
