Curated playlist
Former unrecognized countries
- Islamic StateThe Islamic State, known variously as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, governed roughly 12 million people by the end of 2015. Its commanders directed more than 30,000 fighters. No government recognised it as a state, and the United Nations designated…
- Corsican RepublicAlexander Hamilton and his King's College classmates called their militia group "The Corsicans".
- Confederate States of AmericaThe last Confederate warship surrendered in Liverpool in November 1865. It kept raiding, unaware the war was over.
- Republic of MahabadThe Republic of Mahabad, a Kurdish state in Iran, lasted exactly 327 days. Iranian forces ended it in December 1946.
- State of KatangaThe State of Katanga broke away from Congo on the evening of the 11th of July 1960. Moïse Tshombe led the split.
- Azerbaijan People's GovernmentA militia took over Iran's Azerbaijan province in three days in 1945. Stalin's backed state lasted barely a year.
- RhodesiaRhodesia was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa, and it lasted only fourteen years, from 1965 to 1979. It ran its own parliament, fought a long war and kept selling to the world. Yet almost no government would formally accept it as…
- South KasaiSouth Kasai had its own flag and stamps, yet no government recognized it.
- ManchukuoChina's last emperor once ruled Manchukuo, a state where he held no real power. Japan ran it from 1932 to 1945.
- Republic of Crimea (Russia)In March 2014, Crimea voted on joining Russia with less than two weeks to prepare.
- Occupation of the Baltic statesIn August 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were absorbed into the Soviet Union. Sham elections came first.