Nymark

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Nymark (Norwegian: "new ground") is a small island in the Barents Sea, 500 miles off the coast of Norway. It emerged from the now melted portion of a retreating glacier. Alex Hartley, who claims to have discovered the island, is campaigning for it to gain micronation status. "I was the first person to land on the island. I built a cairn and left a claim in a tin can," he said.

Hartley is an English artist and explorer who stumbled upon the island when touring in the arctic archipelago of Svalbard in 2004. Hartley, 42, has written to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Svalbard Governor Per Sefland requesting that Oslo recognize Nymark's independence from Norway.

According to the Svalbard Treaty, signed in 1920 by all of the main world powers, all islands of any size in the Spitsbergen area belong to Norway. Hartley's main argument is that the treaty only included islands already found at the time of the signing (The Norwegian Polar Institute claims to have known about the island since 1998). However, the Norwegian government disputes Hartley's claim, saying the 1920 treaty covers the entire archipelago, including Nymark.

Hartley also wants to highlight global warming. The island was discovered by an expedition of scientists and artists collaborating on a project about global warming and the retreating Arctic ice pack.

The exact size of the island is not known, although in a letter to Sefland, Hartley mentions that is it around the size of a football field. In the letter, the contents of which were revealed to the NRK radio network on May 10, 2006, Hartley says he wants to found a democratic republic on the island, not a tax haven micronation such as Sealand, Hutt River Province or other similar sovereignty projects.

There is an argument that if this does not come under the Svalbard treaty, Mr Hartley's status as a UK passport holder, owing allegiance to the Crown, means that the island automatically becomes UK territory.