micronation

Etymology
Surface analysis:, meaning "small country."

Micropatriologist Zabëlle Skye hypotheses that micronation was first used, "albeit uncommonly," to refer to unrecognised breakaway states in Africa, first appearing in 1964 or 1967. Skye, as well as several other micropatriologists such as Cesidio Tallini, agree that the earliest documented use of micronation in its modern context came in 1978 in The People's Almanac #2 by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace.

According to Skye, micronation was first used, "albeit uncommonly," to refer to unrecognised breakaway states in Sub-Saharan Africa that appeared during the decolonisation of Africa between the mid-1960s and 1975. Skye states that the earliest documented use of micronation to refer to an unrecognised nation-state was in a translation by the United States Joint Publications Research Service of a 1967 Russian-language work by V. I. Iordanskiy in which he used the term micronationalism in regard to the State of Katanga, an erstwhile breakaway state from the from the Belgian Congo. Skye also states that the first use of micronation to refer to a country was by President of Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor in the first issue of his French-language Liberté in 1964, in which he calls Senegal a micronation despite it having been granted independence from France four years prior.

Additionally, Skye further hypotheses that micropatriology—the study of micronations—which was coined by at least 1977, could have influenced micronation based on the appearance of the prefix micro- in both.

Pronunciation

 * IPA: /ˈmaɪ.kɹoʊ.neɪ̯.ʃən/
 * Hyphenation: mai*krow*nay*shn
 * Hyphenation: mik*row*nay*shn (uncommon; chiefly US)

Noun

 * 1) A self-proclaimed sovereign state without international recognition that is treated differently to a state with limited recognition; a category of aspirant state that is not regarded as a disputed state, quasi-state or proto-state—often small enough in size to be ignored by its macronation.
 * 2) (obsolete, 1960s–1980s) A breakaway state or secessionist movement in subsaharan Africa.

Usage notes
In simulationism, micronations do not have to formally claim sovereignty.