Top Quotes: “Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City” — Thomas M. Eccardt

Introduction

“Not every microstate is in Europe. Nauru, a tiny island nation in the South Pacific, has 10,000 citizens, the next highest population after Vatican City. The most popular definition of a microstate limits its population to 300,000. That includes about thirty independent states.”

“Iceland’s population of 284,300 would make it a microstate, but its area is forty times larger than Luxembourg, so Iceland is not covered here. Relatively speaking, the biggest microstate, Luxembourg, is eight times smaller than the next larger country in Europe, Slovenia. And Luxembourg is six times the size of the second biggest microstate, Andorra. It is considered the biggest of the European microstates — and these countries do have a lot in common to distinguish themselves from other states.”

“Andorra is a coprincipality located in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Its “coprinces” are the bishop of Urgell in Spain and the president of France. Andorra is known as a skier’s vacationland.

Malta is a Mediterranean island off Sicily. Its warm, sunny climate may remind you of Sicily as well. But the Maltese language is related to Arabic, unlike Italian or any other European tongue.

Liechtenstein is a small principality on the border between Switzerland and Austria. It was founded by the Liechtenstein family and is still ruled by them.

San Marino, the oldest republic in the world, is in the northeasiern region of Italy. It consists of Mount Titano in the Apennines, and some of the surrounding mountainous area. Like Andorra, San Marino has two heads of state at the same time, but they are elected every six months.”

“Another interesting aspect of these countries concerns the military — they have little or no armies. Hopefully, the microstates will lead the way to the future in this regard, too. Finally, Andorra has the world’s highest life expectancy, and San Marino has the second highest. In fact, all the microstates of Europe sustain long average life spans, and they have the lowest levels of unemployment as well. Obviously, these positive qualities of life are worth looking into.”

“Malta has no rivers, no lakes, no mountains, and few trees.”

“Liechtenstein has two regions, the Oberland and the Unterland. The Oberland is also called Vaduz, and consists of the communes of Vaduz, Balzers, Planken, Schaan, Triesen, and Triesenberg. The Unterland is also called Schellenberg, and consists of the communes Eschen, Gamprin, Mauren, Ruggell, and Schellenberg. These two regions correspond to the two parcels of real estate that an ancient prince of Liechtenstein purchased to give himself a title. In doing so, he also founded the principality.”

“The microstates of Europe are very poor in natural resources. In fact, their apparent worthlessness might have contributed to their being left alone by bigger countries — and to their survival. Whatever resources they had, however, they used. For example, San Marino was blessed with abundant sandstone, and many buildings and statues are made from it. Malta has limestone, and practically all buildings there make use of it. Andorra had iron mines, and you will come across fancy ironwork decorating the oldest stone buildings there. Luxembourg had iron mines, too. But in Luxembourg, an iron and steel industry developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and that transformed the country.”

“Andorra has no fortifications, only because castle building was prohibited by treaty between its corulers.”

“At least two of the microstates used to be a lot bigger.

Until sixty years before there was a Vatican City, popes ruled large portions of central Italy. This territory was called the Papal States. Over the centuries, the Papal States gained and lost territory until 1870, when Italy became an independent country and abolished them completely. In 1929, Italy gave what it considered to be the smallest possible territory to the Holy See and created Vatican City.

Long before Luxembourg became independent, it was under the control of Spain. Then the French defeated the Spaniards, and in 1659 Luxembourg it lost its southern part to France. Almost two hundred years later, King William I of the Netherlands ruled Luxembourg and Belgium. They both revolted against this king, and the dispute was settled by the great powers of Europe in 1831: the French-speaking part of Luxembourg was awarded to Belgium, and the remainder of Luxembourg remained under Dutch rule. When Luxembourg later became independent, most of its Frenchspeaking territory remained part of Belgium. Today, Belgium is a small state containing a province called Luxembourg, while Luxembourg — the country — was born a microstate.

In 1346, Monaco purchased the cities of Monton and Roquebrune and added them to its territory. Almost exactly five hundred years later, they declared themselves free cities and then were annexed to France. A few years after that, Monaco accepted this loss in exchange for a guarantee of recognition and independence from France. The inclusion of Monton and Roquebrune would not have raised Monaco above the level of microstate; however, very recently, Monaco increased its territory by one-fifth via the implementation of landfill projects.

In 1463, San Marino joined an alliance against the lord of Rimini. The spoils of the victory were the neighboring towns of Fiorentino, Montegiardino, and Serravalle. Three hundred years later, Napoleon suggested expanding the borders again, but San Marino declined the offer.

Throughout the ages, the borders of these nations have been remarkably stable compared with those of their bigger neighbors. While other European countries were taking turns conquering and dominating the continent, the microstates, without territorial ambitions, were able to maintain their borders mostly by minding their own business.”

“There is an entity that has no territory, but that has diplomatic relations with forty-nine states — including six of the seven European microstates — namely, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, also known as the Knights of Malta. Today they are only a “lay religious order,” but for 270 years they also ruled Malta, now a microstate. After Napoleon expelled them from their island, the Knights were left with no territory but with the trappings of government, much like the Holy See after 1870. The popes had better luck than the Knights: sixty years after the Holy See lost all its territory, Mussolini gave it the tiny Vatican area in order to insure that it would remain a political entity in the minds of those who think territory is a prerequisite to statehood. Unlike the Vatican, the Knights of Malta never recovered any territory. Incidentally, one of the duties of every Knight is to defend the Roman Catholic faith, which makes members of the Order great friends of the Vatican. The pope set them up in Rome in a building with a courtyard, but Italy considers this headquarters to be Italian territory. The Knights of Malta issue their own passports, stamps, and coins, but it is unclear to what these items entitle their owners.

There is another entity that has diplomatic relations with as many countries as just about any other entity. It, too, issues stamps and passports, and it also controls a small amount of territory. It is the United Nations, whose New York headquarters are considered an international zone, technically outside the United States.”

“France handled most of Andorra’s international relations until 1993, and as France did not consider Andorra to be a state under international law, it decided not to apply for membership for Andorra. Monaco did apply for membership, but the British refused to allow it to join because they felt it would give France two votes at the League of Nations.

One reason that Liechtenstein was refused membership in the League was its lack of an army. You can see that the definition of statehood has changed considerably since then. The League promised to consider a kind of associate membership for Liechtenstein, San Marino, and Monaco, but never got around to it. In the end, Luxembourg was the only microstate to get into the League of Nations.”

“After the breakup of the Soviet Union and the admission of another huge block of members, it seemed silly to quibble about the microstates, and they finally took their place among the nations of the world — all except the Vatican, which desired to remain an observer.”

“Although the Holy See once considered full membership in the UN, it is now satisfied with its observer status, partly because membership in the UN would give it certain obligations it is not prepared to fulfill. There is a small movement in the UN that would strip the Holy See of its observer status and expel it from certain international organizations. This might be partly due to the Holy See’s choice of name — if they called themselves Vatican City, they might appear more like a country and less like a religion.”

“Every European microstate except Malta has at least one larger neighbor, a “big sister,” with which it has had to contend for its independence. Sometimes this has meant loss of territory, as when Luxembourg lost most of its land to Belgium. Other times it has meant loss of certain rights, such as the Italian ban on San Marino operating a radio station, which lasted for many years. Still other times it has meant a real struggle between two states, as when the French banned the importing of pharmaceuticals from Monaco. On the other hand, it can be handy having a big sister to take care of some of the government services which are harder to do on a small scale.

Two countries using the same such services are said to be in a “union,” such as a monetary union (same money), postal union (same postal service), and customs union (same import duties). The only microstate not in some kind of union is isolated Malta.

It is notoriously difficult to manage a small currency, but the Maltese lira, the only totally independent currency of the European microstates, is unexpectedly one of the strongest in the world. All the other microstates are in some kind of monetary union or other. That means they use the currency of their neighbors, although most of them are allowed to make coins with their own national emblems. Before the advent of the euro, San Marino and the Vatican were in monetary union with Italy, and Monaco was in monetary union with France. From their multiple neighbors, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein chose Belgium and Switzerland, respectively, as their big sisters in currency matters. As Andorra’s two heads of state are from Spain and France, it has often depended on both of these countries, so until January 2002, Andorrans used both French francs and Spanish pesetas, and were not allowed to mint their own version of these currencies. From 2002 on, all the microstates but Malta and Liechtenstein began using the euro, because that became the new currency of their big sisters.”

“Strangely, this puts Andorra, Monaco, and San Marino inside the “euro zone” but outside the European Union. Luxembourg was a founding member of the European Union. Of the other microstates, only Malta applied for membership in the EU and joined it, but it twice changed its mind about joining. As for Andorra and San Marino, they have simply run up against same representation problem they had with the UN: allowing them to join the EU would give them an undesirably equal vote with their big sisters. Liechtenstein is happy to remain in the European Free Trade Association with its big sister, Switzerland. Monaco and the Vatican will not be able to join the EU unless and until they become more democratic.”

“Another treaty, of 1995, requires the two most important ministers of four to be French nationals. The French government proposes several candidates and then Monaco’s prince chooses among them. Although his family is officially in charge of succession, the French government must approve the next ruling prince or princess. There is even a stipulation that, should there be a vacancy in the throne, Monaco will revert to a French protectorate. At least in theory, the French could legally put an end to Monaco’s statehood by refusing to approve a successor. It doesn’t seem likely that a member state of the United Nations would be allowed to disappear, but all these legal limitations to Monaco’s sovereignty make it the least independent of the seven microstates of Europe.

Liechtenstein’s independence is limited somewhat by its monetary and customs union with Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank exercises the same rights over Liechtenstein banks as it does over Swiss ones. And Switzerland has the right to appoint and dismiss customs officers and border guards in Liechtenstein.

Before 1993, when its new constitution was approved and it entered the United Nations, Andorra had outstripped Monaco as the least independent of the microstates. Originally, the coprinces from France and Spain were much more than ceremonial rulers, and France handled all of Andorra’s international relations. Even now, the coprinces can participate in international treaty negotiations. Though the coprinces have much less power today, Andorrans are permitted absolutely no input concerning their appointment. The president of France, of course, is elected by the French people, and the bishop of Urgell is appointed by the head of another microstate, the pope. However, the Vatican claims that it gives no instructions to the bishop of Urgell regarding Andorra.”

“Another factor that may have kept some microstates independent is their central location between competing countries. Being situated right between Spain and France, and being politically controlled by both kept Andorra from being pulled into either of its big sisters. If France wanted to absorb Andorra, for example, it would have to answer to Spain.”

“Malta has been a possession of other countries throughout most of recorded history. It only became independent in 1964.”

“Two of the microstates seem to have survived at least partly through their own clever policies. The Grimaldi family has ruled Monaco from the beginning, and under their management Monaco still survives today. A few centuries after they took over, they came under Spanish protection. When that did not work out so well, they made a deal with the French and drove the Spanish out. After ill treatment by Napoleon, the Grimaldi family participated in the Congress of Vienna, was restored, and got the protection of the Italian kingdom of Sicily. Eventually they came back to the French, giving up their rights to a couple of cities in exchange for a promise of protection. After the First World War, they had their independence written into the Treaty of Versailles.

San Marino seems to have anticipated events and made the right friends at the right time. After being attacked by its neighbors during the thirteenth century, San Marino had made an alliance with the dukes of Urbino for protection. Urbino was the popes’ enemy, but just thirty years before the last of the dukes died, San Marino signed a treaty of recognition with the popes. When the dukes were gone, the popes seized most of the dukes’ lands, but not San Marino. This also came in handy when Cardinal Alberoni took over the lands in 1739, and the people of San Marino successfully appealed to the pope to have the cardinal release their republic. Perhaps because San Marino was founded by a saintly stonecutter, popes have had a soft spot in their hearts for it. But in the nineteenth century, when Italy was fighting for its own unification, San Marino must have seen the writing on the wall, and gave shelter to one of the heroes of Italy’s Risorgimento. When the Italians took the Papal States — which surrounded San Marino — they let this microstate remain independent as a reward, perhaps to the chagrin of the pope.”

The Economies

“When France and Spain imposed large import duties on tobacco, smuggling it in became a very popular way to make a living — so popular, in fact, that Andorra started transforming itself into a unique economic zone, distinct from Pyrenees France or Spain. The idea of using Andorra as a routing station to save on taxes spread to other goods as well. Eventually the legal “transshipment of goods” became Andorras major industry — especially since the 1930s, when roads to France and Spain were opened. Today, this business continues, with visitors coming to Andorra specifically for its dutyfree shopping. The value-added tax in Andorra is sufficiently low to attract millions of tourists per year, yet high enough to generate plenty of income for the government.”

“Although Malta was disputed and ruled by different empires for many years, it never developed economically, even during the two hundred years of the Knights Hospitallers. Only when the British came in, in 1814, and started using Malta as a naval base, was the country slowly transformed. The famous dockyard was opened, and thousands of Maltese found jobs there repairing and dry-docking ships. The money spent by the British navy also helped keep up Malta’s tiny economy.

Liechtenstein was a poor fiefdom for its first century of independence, when it was ruled from a distance by the princes of Liechtenstein, who lived in Austria. In 1938 Prince Franz Josef II moved to Liechtenstein and made his home there. He actively encouraged industrialization, but avoided heavy industry, making sure that the plants did not spoil the beauty of his principality. He also kept them from concentrating in any one area, and so avoided urban sprawl. So Liechtenstein had a rather rapid industrialization period just after the Second World War, but it always remained diversified.”

“Malta depended on the British dockyards for much of the twentieth century. When it became independent of the UK and expelled the British from their base, serious economic problems arose. Malta is attempting solve these problems by expanding tourism and marine support services, and by joining the European Union.”

“Though seven million people visit Andorra per year, their average stay is only two hours. San Marino can count its tourists in the millions as well, but less than a fifth of them stay overnight, even while they contribute at least half of the GDP of this tiny republic.”

“Andorra and San Marino have both tried to set up casinos, but they were stopped by their big sisters. Monaco is the only microstate with a casino, and of course the casino is its claim to fame. Interestingly, citizens of Monaco are not allowed to gamble but, needless to say, people from big-sister France and from all over the world come to Monaco to throw their money away.”

“Several microstates offer tax breaks to industries that move or simply incorporate there. But taxes in general are low in the microstates: There is no income tax in Monaco and Andorra. The highest income tax rate in Liechtenstein is 16 percent. Italians who work in the Vatican have only their retirement insurance withheld from their paychecks, and pay no income tax.

Low business taxes are responsible for another trademark industry of the microstates: so-called “letter-box” companies. With easy rules for incorporation added to the mix, Liechtenstein has attracted almost seventy-five thousand companies registered there but without headquarters there. Although the taxes are very low, the large number of these companies provides 30 percent of Liechtenstein’s government budget. Andorra, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino, and especially Monaco also benefit from “letter-box” companies, but not to such a large extent. France has been putting pressure on Monaco to make stricter their rules on incorporation.”

“Andorra exports tobacco and furniture. Liechtenstein exports dental products, especially false teeth. Only Vatican City is prohibited by law from exporting any goods. The Vatican is too small to manufacture anything on its own. Anything that could be exported would be “transshipped” imported goods from Italy, and since goods coming into the Vatican from Italy are not taxed, but goods sold in Italy are, reselling them could easily be profitable. Precisely to prevent this, when Italy signed the treaty establishing the Vatican, all exportation was prohibited except by special permission. Needless to say, Vatican City must import all products consumed there. Similarly, except for the few products that they can export, all the other microstates import the rest of the items they consume.”

“A full 38 percent of Liechtenstein’s labor force commutes daily into the country from Switzerland and Austria. Should these nonresident commuters figure into the calculation of the per capita GDP? As no large countries have to deal with such high percentages of commuters, few economists are interested in this problem. However their GDPs are calculated, the microstates of Europe are among the most affluent in the world — the lowest ranking, Malta, is only about forty-ninth among the 190 nations of the world. Closely after Luxembourg and Liechtenstein comes Monaco, the third or fourth richest country in the world. After Monaco come San Marino and Andorra, near number thirty.

Estimating the per capita GDP of the Vatican is particularly difficult. Less than a thousand people live within the walls of the city, yet another three thousand people work there. The per capita GDP is either $49,500 or $243,542, depending on whether you count the commuters or not. Of course, either way, this would make the Vatican the richest country in the world. But although the Vatican has plenty of opulent buildings, few of its occupants can be said to live in the lap of luxury. Where did these figures come from? The Vatican does not issue GDP figures, and only recently have they begun to issue budget figures. Because the Vatican has a “noncommercial” economy, all economic activity is ordered and paid for by the government — and so the Vatican’s national budget is really the same as its GDP. Dividing the $200 million dollar budget by the eight hundred-plus residents comes to about one-quarter of a million dollars per person. Where does all this money go? We must bear in mind that Vatican City is not an ordinary country, dedicated to the welfare of its citizens. It is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, so the budget is spent on church administration, diplomatic missions, and Vatican radio, TV, and newspaper operations. Most of its workers live outside the Vatican and take their income away with them, the majority of the media is located in Italy-proper, and all the diplomatic missions are also outside the Vatican walls. So, in effect, most of the money that comes in goes right out the door. Where does the money come from? The microstate’s income comes from interest on investments, profits from banking operations, and Peter’s Pence, named for Peter, the first pope. The word “pence” comes from the pence (pennies) collected in medieval England, where the fund got its start. Today it is a voluntary collection taken up in Catholic churches worldwide, clearly understood to be for the Vatican.

Despite its ideological struggles with godless communism over the years, the Vatican is the closest country in history to approach ideal communism, where no private economic activity is allowed by the state. If you divide the government budget of any country by its GDP, you can come up with a handy index of socialism versus capitalism. According to this index, of course, the Vatican is the most socialist, with an index equal to 1. That is why we can assume that the government’s budget is equal to its GDP. San Marino is next, with 0.64, making it 64 percent socialist. Then comes Monaco, 59 percent socialist. Next are Malta, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein each about 33 percent socialist. Apparently the most capitalist, laissez-faire microstate in Europe is Andorra, which spends only 29 percent of its GDP on government. Malta’s government budget may be relatively low, but it should be noted that one-third of workers are employed in the public sector. In any case, all these percentages are quite high compared with those of larger countries, which typically are about 20 percent.”

“In any case, unemployment is extremely low in the microstates, rarely over 4 percent. For example, in 1997 there were only thirty-five people without a job in Monaco.”

“As for full-time, working railroads, only Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Monaco have them, although a freight line from the Roman railroad is sometimes used in the Vatican. During the Second World War, both San Marino’s and Malta’s railroads were damaged, and they were not repaired. So they and Andorra, which never had a railroad, rely on automobiles, trucks, and buses. Bus service is usually very good in the European microstates. Only Luxembourg and Malta have enough flat land for an airport and both have official airlines.”

“Liechtensteiners, in particular, are to be commended for the clean, neat way they have industrialized — there are no polluting industries and all factories blend into the scenery. An early example of recycling was the use as fertilizer of the waste phosphorous from Luxembourg’s steel industry.”

Demographics

“The Basques, one of the oldest and most genetically distinctive people of Europe, were probably the original inhabitants of Andorra. A tribe called the Andosinos probably is the origin of the name Andorra.”

“One microstate has no native population at all, namely the Vatican. Few people live in the Vatican, but those who do are ultimately guests of the pope, even if they have Vatican citizenship. Periodically, the pope must sign a document to renew each resident’s right to remain within the Vatican walls. There doesn’t even seem to be a name for a Vatican national, for that matter: Vaticaner? Vatican Citizen? As far as population is concerned, the Vatican must be the most unusual country in the world. For one thing, at least 75 percent of its residents are in the clergy. As many of these clerics hold important positions within the patriarchal hierarchy of the Catholic Church, most of them are men, though there are a few nuns. A further 16 percent of the residents belong to the Swiss Guard, giving the Vatican an almost completely male population. Thus, there is no official birth rate of the Vatican, as almost anyone giving birth there would immediately create a scandal!”

“Andorra went from only 226 foreigners in 1918 to almost 60,000 by the end of the century. Today only one in five residents of Andorra is a native. Needless to say, native Andorrans are particularly worried that foreigners are chipping away at their values.”

“All the microstates but Malta have a rather high percentage of foreigners living within their borders. Liechtenstein and San Marino have 16 percent; the Vatican and Luxembourg, about 35 percent; Andorra and Monaco each have more than 80 percent foreign residents. Where do all these immigrants come from? Surprisingly, the single largest foreign nationality in the microstates taken as a whole is the Portuguese: They are the greatest foreign group in Luxembourg, which has the highest population of the European microstates; also, they are the second biggest group in Andorra, after the Spanish. There aren’t so many Portuguese in the other microstates, probably because only Luxembourg is in the EU, which gives the economically challenged Portuguese the legal right to seek their fortunes there.”

“High numbers of foreigners within their countries have not convinced the governments of the microstates to grant these people citizenship. Unlike such immigrant countries as the United States, Canada, or Australia, no microstate has a regular process of naturalization based on length of stay. It may even be difficult to get permission to stay, though it is sometimes possible to get a work permit if a particular talent is needed. Regulations vary by country: If you want to stay for more than three months in Monaco, you must get permission from the French government as well. You can live in Andorra as long as you like, provided you don’t work. On the other hand, there are no restrictions on working in Andorra if you live outside the country. As microstates are so small, it is not difficult to commute to a job there, and large portions of the labor force of Liechtenstein and especially of the Vatican do not live in the same country they work in.

It is very difficult to become a citizen of a European microstate. In most of these countries, you are not a citizen simply by being born there. Typically, both your parents must be citizens as well. Also, if a male citizen marries a female foreigner, his wife automatically becomes a citizen — but this is not the case if the sexes are reversed. Some of these restrictions are being eased, but not very much. In Liechtenstein, your application for citizenship must be approved first by the commune (local citizens) where you want to live, and then by the prince, the head of the whole country. And only the prince of Monaco can bestow citizenship in his country.

Because Malta used to be a colony, citizenship had to be defined carefully. On the day Malta was granted independence from Britain, everyone who had been born in Malta was granted citizenship. Also, those people who had become British citizens while living in Malta were given the opportunity to become citizens.

In Vatican City, most people are not married and do not have children. The Swiss Guards are the exception. The Guard, known in Latin as Cohors Helvetica, really are Swiss, recruited from the Catholic cantons of that country. They must be bachelors, have a minimum height, and present a letter from their local bishop to prove they are good Catholics. Only the most dedicated ones — who get promoted to officer or senior sergeant — are permitted to marry. As they actually live within the Vatican walls, these men are the heads of the only families in the Vatican. Their families may live in the Vatican with them until they leave the guard. A male child may stay only until he is twenty-five years of age; a female may stay until she marries. These regulations ensure that the Vatican will have no native population, which might clamor for a political voice.”

“In August 1999, San Marino introduced a new law requiring that all female domestic staff be over fifty years of age. This anti-gold digger law was designed to prevent young women from frivolously acquiring San Marino citizenship by marrying rich elderly men. A referendum to equalize citizenship laws between males and females was rejected soon after.

In Monaco and Andorra, citizens are a privileged minority. Monégasque citizens are given priority in employment and housing. As with all countries, only citizens vote in the microstates. In Andorra, this unequal treatment of residents has sometimes caused dissension among noncitizen residents. And so Andorra has given complete economic rights to anyone who has lived there over twenty years. That is, they may start businesses, or own property and build on it. But they do not have the right to vote. Monaco, too, has made a concession to its massive foreign population, in the form of an Economic Council, elected by all residents, including noncitizens, and consulted by the prince on economic matters. But the fact that only citizens elect the officials who make the laws seems to guarantee that they will remain in charge.

When most of its residents do not have the right to vote, a country’s leaders may have a hard time convincing people of the benefits of democracy.”

“Inheritance customs once created problems in both Andorra and Luxembourg, leading to emigration: In Andorra, the traditional practice of a farmer’s leaving three-fourths of his land to his oldest son led the younger sons to emigrate to Spain and France. Today there are actually more people of Andorran descent in those two countries than in Andorra itself. Conversely, in the late nineteenth century, Luxembourg reformed its system to require that a farm be divided equally among all sons. Within a couple of generations, divided farms became so small that they could not support a family. Thousands of Luxembourgers emigrated, many to the United States, which was offering them land in the Midwest. They settled mostly in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois.

Liechtenstein also experienced emigration, in the days when it was ruled by an absentee prince in Austria. Liechtensteiners settled in Iowa and Indiana, and also in Canada and South America. The Sammarinese also emigrated in vast numbers to the United States, specifically, the Michigan cities of Troy and Detroit. There is such a large community of Maltese in Australia that they publish their own newspapers in Maltese. In short, there has been extensive emigration from all of the European microstates except the two smallest. Today, however, the microstates are so prosperous that there is little emigration.

In recent history, the microstates have sometimes called on their expatriates for help. During World War II, when Luxembourg was occupied and its government in exile, the son of the grand duchess, Grand Duke Jean, visited some American cities that had significant populations of Luxembourgers, and set up a national relief fund in Chicago. More recently, Malta has helped fill its needs in the public sector by searching for talent in the large Maltese communities of Australia, the United States, and Canada.”

“If the European microstates are not generous bestowing citizenship, they have been generous in helping the citizens of their neighbors. Andorra remained neutral during the Spanish Civil War and, after that, during World War II. It became an escape route for refugees from Spain fleeing to France, and then vice versa. San Marino took in one hundred thousand refugees fleeing fascist Italy during the same period: there were more than four guests for every inhabitant. Seventy years before that, San Marino took in many refugees fleeing retribution during Italy’s struggle for unification, including one of its heroes, Garibaldi. Malta was another important refuge for Italians during the Risorgimento.”

“No microstate except Luxembourg allowed women to vote until the second half of the twentieth century. Liechtenstein waited the longest — until 1984 — before allowing the female half of its population to vote.”

“Everybody in Luxembourg is at least trilingual, since there are three national languages, all employed in its educational system. Perhaps this is why the EU plans to move its translation service to Luxembourg.”

“Not deterred by their small chances for gold medals, the micro-states have even set up their own Olympics, called the Games of the Small States. They were first held in San Marino in 1985, and have been held every other year since, rotationally, in one of the eight European states (six of the seven microstates, plus Cyprus and Iceland) with populations under 1 million.”

Politics

“All but Monaco, the Vatican, and possibly Liechtenstein are true democracies. San Marino’s democracy dates as far back as its legendary founding in the fourth century; it is the oldest republic in the world. The Arengo, an assembly of heads of families, was the earliest of San Marino’s five branches of government, and is still around today, although in a different form. With an average voter participation rate of 80 percent, San Marino’s democracy is so strong that they neither have nor need a constitution to protect it.”

“The election of the pope may be the only democratic element of modern Vatican City, but the papacy is probably the world’s oldest elective office. Since the beginnings of Christianity, the bishop of Rome was given the automatic honor of heading the Catholic Church. Like other bishops, he was elected by the clergy and laypeople of the diocese, until the year 1079, when the voting was limited to cardinals. Since then, the cardinals have been shut up in a room to deliberate, beginning about two weeks following the death of a pontiff. If their debates lasted too long, the daily amount of food sent in was reduced to concentrate their attention. Because they were so isolated, they had to resort to a signaling system of smoke coming from the chimney of their fireplace after each session. Black smoke indicated deadlock, white smoke meant “we have a pope.” Pope John Paul II has eliminated some of the secrecy and pressure tactics, but not the smoke signals, and this is the extent of democratic reform in the Vatican.

The other microstates experienced more recent democratizations, mostly in the nineteenth century. The most recent transition to democracy took place in Andorra, which was ruled jointly by the president of France and the bishop of the town of Urgell in Spain. Since 1419, heads of families in Andorra were allowed to meet and discuss local problems, but before the 1930s, you could vote only if you were a male and your father was no longer living. In the early 1970s, women got the right to vote, and plans were made to modernize the state. In 1973, the coprinces from Spain and France met for the first time since 1278, to discuss these plans. It wasn’t until all the internal reforms were complete, in 1990, that the president of France allowed the people of Andorra to handle their own relations with other countries. Andorra, one of the world’s oldest political divisions, transformed essentially from a medieval state to a modern one in less than twenty years.”

“Two of Europe’s microstates are republics and five, monarchies. None of the latter has a king or queen, and only two of the monarchs are powerful rulers. Two of the monarchies, Liechtenstein and Monaco, have princes, Andorra has two “coprinces,” and Luxembourg has a grand duke or grand duchess. Accordingly, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Andorra are called “principalities”, while Luxembourg is known as a “grand duchy.” The Vatican has a prince of the church, but for political purposes the pope is known as the “sovereign” of the Vatican City State. Practically speaking, there is not much difference among these noble titles, except for Andorra’s coprinces. Their title seems to be honorary, since neither the president of France nor the bishop of Urgell need be noblemen to hold their respective offices. Like Andorra, the Republic of San Marino has two heads of state, the captains regent. They are elected, but only for six-month terms, and they must wait for three years to run for this office again. They must agree on any action they perform, as did the coprinces of Andorra when they had real political power. Perhaps only in a microstate is this bifurcated kind of leadership possible. Only Malta has the familiar president as head of state, except that he or she is not elected by the people, but chosen by the Maltese parliament.

In most modern countries, a royal head of state does not hold much power these days. Microstates are somewhat exceptional, however, because their leaders have more duties and powers than, say, the queen of England or the emperor of Japan. Apart from their titled ruler, each of the microstates has a parliament or legislature, which enacts the laws. Only in Monaco and the Vatican does the head of state still have the power to veto any law; a new constitution, approved in 2003, has clarified that this power belongs to the prince of Liechtenstein as well.”

“Perhaps Liechtenstein can be considered an extreme version of bottom-up rule. Like its neighbor Switzerland, it frequently holds referendum and initiative elections on matters that would be handled by the legislatures of most other countries. The Vatican and Monaco are run more like corporations than modern governments, since their heads resemble chief executive officers, delegating power to lower-ranked officials. The government of the Vatican controls all economic activity; in Monaco, the government often intervenes in the economy and it owns the richest corporation doing business there. The citizens of Monaco and the Vatican appear quite happy with this arrangement.”

“About the only thing that Malta’s Labor and Nationalist parties could ever agree on was the need for the some kind of democracy in Malta. Before independence in 1964, Dom Mintoff, the head of Labor, worked out an agreement to actually integrate Malta into the United Kingdom, giving it seats in the British parliament. When the Nationalists won in 1962, they reversed course and obtained full independence for Malta with the queen of England as its head of state, as in Canada. When Mintoff and his labor party returned to power about ten years later, they broke with the monarchy and made Malta a republic, although it remained in the Commonwealth. Since then, the Maltese government has gone back and forth between Labor and the Nationalists several times.”

“Labor advocates anticolonialism, a neutral foreign policy, friendly relations with the Third World (including Libya), and restriction of the powers of the Catholic Church. The Nationalists advocated membership in NATO and friendly relations with the Church, and today they champion membership in the European Union. In this respect, Malta’s disunity and shifting government created confusion if not embarrassment in Europe. In the early 1990s the Nationalists applied for Malta’s membership in the EU, but soon Labor took office and withdrew the application. Then in 1998, the Nationalists won and resubmitted the application. In May 2004, Malta joined the EU along with several Eastern European countries and Cyprus, but it has cut all its ties to NATO.”

“Only in Andorra, Luxembourg, and Malta are judges always natives. In Liechtenstein, they often come from Austria and Switzerland, which is where most of the Liechtenstein’s legal traditions come from as well. In Monaco, the majority of judges must be French. In the Vatican, judges must be male and Catholic, and can come from practically anywhere, as do most Vatican citizens anyway. But in San Marino, by law all judges must come from Italy.”

“Every European microstate, even the Vatican, has at least one prison, but some microstates traditionally send their prisoners abroad to serve their time there. If the sentence is greater than three months, then a prisoner in Andorra can choose between France and Spain for captivity. After six months, a prisoner in Liechtenstein may be transferred to one of the Swiss cantons. There is a similar provision in San Marino, but it is rarely used. On the other hand, prisoners are only temporarily detained in Monaco, and must serve their time in France. The same is true in the Vatican, where prisoners are regularly sent to Italy immediately. Only Luxembourg and isolated Malta deal with all their prisoners internally.

Before serving time, a convicted prisoner may want to appeal. A judgment in a Liechtenstein court can still be appealed to a Swiss court of cassation. And until recently, final appeal in Andorra was either to the Supreme Court of Perpingnon, France, or to the ecclesiastical court in the Seu d’Urgell, Spain.”

“San Marino is the only European microstate without a written constitution. Some of the most democratic countries manage without one, the UK being one well-known example. If the democratic tradition is strong, then nobody needs to be reminded how to behave. But San Marino does have a bill of rights, passed in 1974, called the Fundamental Law. It can be changed only by a two-thirds majority in the Great and General Council.”

“The ruling family of Monaco regularly censors the local press, removing anything detrimental to their image.”

“Andorra has modified its laws to give the vote to all people born there who are more than twenty-eight years old, yet still only about one-seventh of the total population votes. Voting is compulsory in Luxembourg, and nonvoters are fined. As a member of the European Union, Luxembourg is required to allow noncitizen residents to vote at least in local elections. Their large numbers of disenfranchised residents may be one reason most of the microstates have not qualified to join the EU.

All but Monaco and Luxembourg are committed to a neutral foreign policy. Actually, the foreign policies of these two exceptions are rather neutral in practice and only technically aligned.”

History

“In the eighth century, Charlemagne created Andorra as a “March,” or buffer, state to protect France from Arab-occupied Spain. The diocese of the Spanish border town Urgell was given control of the fiefdom of Andorra, and in AD 1000 the bishop asked the lord of Caboet to help him rule it. Later, a French nobleman, the count of Foix, inherited this responsibility through marriage. It wasn’t until 1278 that squabbling for control of Andorra between Spain and France was settled in a treaty making them joint rulers of this coprincipality.”

“In southern France, the first fort at Monaco was built in 1215 by ruling families from Genoa. Disguised as a monk, Francois Grimaldi penetrated this fortress in 1297, took over, and began the Grimaldi dynasty. The Grimaldis briefly lost control of Monaco from 1301 to 1331, but from then on they have remained in charge of the principality.

Besides Andorra, Charlemagne also controlled the Vaduz region between Switzerland and Austria. After his death, it was divided into two independent states, Vaduz and Schellenberg. A thousand years later, a prince from Vienna purchased the two areas for himself and the Holy Roman Empire. It was renamed Liechtenstein, after the family of this prince, Johann-Adam. They still reign over the principality today. Luxembourg, too, achieved recognition as an entity within the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages. This happened when Siegfried, count of Ardennes, exchanged his lands for a small Roman castle in the area of the present-day grand duchy. Neither Liechtenstein nor Luxembourg became independent until the nineteenth century.

Being an island in the Mediterranean, Malta, like its neighbor Sicily, is well documented in history from antiquity. And, like Sicily, it has been invaded many times and been influenced by many cultures. It is difficult to set a precise date for the foundation of Malta. As the Maltese language is closely related to Arabic, perhaps an appropriate year would be AD 870, when Arabs took the island and held it for two hundred years. Malta was given independence in 1964 from its last colonial ruler, Great Britain. It is still a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”

“The Roman Empire united the territories of the microstates for a few hundred years, and eventually brought Christianity to them. After the fall of Rome, territory containing all the microstates of Europe was never again held by a single ruler, with the sole exception of Napoleon.”

“Today, the seven microstates of Europe remain almost completely Roman Catholic, for the Christian Schism and the Protestant Reformation never reached them.”

“The French Revolution of 1789 immediately created a crisis in Andorra when one of its coprinces, the king of France, was deposed, and the revolutionary government refused to rule Andorra. This was later resolved when Napoleon I was asked to rule Andorra and he accepted in 1806. The revolutionary French government behaved differently toward Monaco, which it annexed in 1793, and renamed “Fort Hercules.” The prince and his family were arrested, and the palace was turned into a workhouse. French troops also occupied Luxembourg in 1795, and Luxembourg was formally annexed to France as the “Department of Forests” by the treaty of Campo Formio in 1797. By then Napoleon had conquered half of Europe, including the Papal States. He had a plan to crush the British Empire by taking Egypt and, on his way there, he added Malta to his empire. However, in the process, he received a major setback from Admiral Nelson, who destroyed Napoleon’s fleet. Britain ousted the French from Malta in 1800, and for most of the next century the island was ruled by a British military governor.”

“Liechtenstein, on the other hand, was brought under Napoleon by its inclusion in the Rhine Confederation in 1806, not by war. In 1809, Napoleon formally annexed the Papal States and made Pope Pius VII a prisoner. The emperor created the Kingdom of Italy in the lands surrounding San Marino and made his stepson viceroy. He considered San Marino “an example of freedom,” so he preserved its independence, and he even offered them some Italian territory. It is ironic that, today, a museum dedicated to Napoleon exists in Monaco, which he annexed, but there is no such tribute to him in San Marino.”

“After the defeat of Napoleon, the map of Europe was in tatters, and the Congress of Vienna attempted to repair it in 1814. All European states that had legally existed before Napoleon — including the microstates — were allowed to attend the Congress. Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, not yet officially independent, were added to the German Confederation, with Luxembourg getting much autonomy from the Netherlands, and being raised to the status of grand duchy. The British kept Malta, as they considered it a strategic base to help them keep the balance of power on the continent. So the “Knights of Malta” lost their home, and although they retain the name, their headquarters are now in Rome. Monaco and the Papal States were restored to their previous status, and placed under Sardinian and Austrian protection, respectively. The Papal States also moved back more or less to their original area, part of which surrounded San Marino. Andorra and San Marino, which had been on good terms with Napoleon, needed no protection, and simply went back to their original status.”

“Italian nationalists were disappointed that the Congress of Vienna returned the Papal States to the papacy, leaving the Italian peninsula divided into ten different states. The struggle for a united Italy was called the Risorgimento, and the names “Guelf’ and “Ghibelline” were revived to signify those who favored the pope as monarch of Italy versus those who favored a nonreligious leader. Both Malta and San Marino took in many refugees from the violence of the Risorgimento.”

“The Papal States, last holdout of the divided Italy, were formally dissolved in an election in 1870. Pius IX, who had forbidden Catholic subjects of his former territory to vote or participate in Italian politics, then shut himself up in the Vatican, declaring himself a prisoner. Sixty years later, the “Roman question” was resolved when the Lateran Treaty created Vatican City.”

“Monaco got its first constitution in 1911, ending the absolute rule of Prince Albert and his predecessors. Forty-two years later, under pressure from France, Prince Rainier promulgated a new constitution that ended the death penalty and gave the vote to women. However, only 15 percent of the residents of Monaco are citizens and have the right to vote, thus the country’s incomplete status as a democracy.”

“Andorra had only semi-independence before 1993. In 1933, youths stormed the General Council and forced it to grant suffrage to all male citizens over the age of twenty-five. Previously, only male heads of households had the vote. In 1970, the voting age was lowered, and it was lowered again in 1985 to eighteen. The year 1993 was an important one for Andorra: it adopted its first constitution, limiting the roles of the coprinces, and vesting power in an elected prime minister and parliament. In that one year, Andorra essentially went from a fiefdom to a modern democracy, and it was admitted into the UN.

In 1846, having just been elected pope, Pius IX gave the Papal States its first constitution, which created an elected legislature. But the unrest of the Risorgimento changed Pius’s mind about democracy; he became extremely conservative and terminated the legislature. The 1929 Lateran Treaty, which gave the Vatican its independence, actually reduced the independence of Italy, because it gave the Catholic Church enormous privileges there. In 1985, these privileges were finally revoked in a revised treaty.”

“In 1866, the German Confederation was dissolved, and the Netherlands offered to sell Luxembourg to France, almost provoking a war between France and Prussia. The Conference of London of 1867 confirmed Luxembourg’s independence and declared it neutral territory. The breakup of the German Confederation also caused Liechtenstein to declare its own neutrality and to disband its entire army in 1868.”

“The major effects of the Great War on the microstates came when it was over in 1918. It was the Treaty of Versailles, which brought peace to Europe, that also contained clauses specifying that the successors to the throne of Monaco must be approved by the French government and that, if there is no successor, Monaco reverts to an autonomous state under France. In exchange, France agreed to protect Monaco. World War I also convinced Liechtenstein to break its ties to the former Austria-Hungary, a loser in the war, and to link its customs and foreign affairs to Switzerland.

World War II was more disruptive and had a serious effect on most of the microstates. Once again, Luxembourg was overrun at the outset. The grand duchess fled to London, where she and her cabinet established a government in exile. After France fell, Monaco was occupied in 1941, and Prince Louis II was deposed. Monaco was bombed by both Italy and Germany during World War II. The same fate awaited Malta, situated in the strategic shipping lane between Italy and Africa, where Axis bombing began in 1940. The Maltese took shelter in their many underground passages, and their airfields provided bases for planes defending Allied ships. Rationing was particularly severe, as Allied supply ships were often bombed and did not always make it through. The bravery of the Maltese people in the face of relentless bombing won them the George Cross from Britain in 1942. Today this cross appears in the canton of Malta’s national flag.

San Marino was bombed once, perhaps accidentally, by Britain in 1944 — though it was officially neutral, fascists controlled the government at that time. Liechtenstein’s decision to link itself to Switzerland paid off, and its neutrality was respected. Andorra’s ties to Spain kept it out of World War II, just as its ties to France had kept it out of the Spanish Civil War. The Vatican was officially neutral, and when hostilities broke out, diplomats from Allied countries had to move out of Mussolini’s Rome and into cramped quarters within the Vatican. Once Rome was liberated, they switched places with Axis diplomats. The end of the Second World War saw a return to the prewar status of all the microstates. But two German invasions convinced Luxembourg to drop its neutrality and join NATO.”

Game of Thrones

“It is difficult-to-impossible for a woman to inherit a throne in the microstates of Europe. Of course, there can be no female popes. Liechtenstein’s laws provide no way for a woman to inherit the throne, either. Only if no male hereditary lines exist will Luxembourg will allow a female heir. Perhaps Luxembourg is reluctant to liberalize its law of succession, because it was this “Salic law” that gave the country its independence from Holland. Although Princess Wilhelmina was able to inherit the Kingdom of the Netherlands from her father, Wilhelm II, she could not inherit the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from him, so in 1890 her distant relative, Adolf, the duke of Nassau, became grand duke of a newly separated Luxembourg.”

“On the other hand, Monaco could lose its independence if there is no heir to its throne. Under the terms of a treaty with Paris in 1918, France even has the right to approve of the princely successor — theoretically, each time a monarch of Monaco dies, France has the chance to reject all successors and make Monaco its protectorate.

So far this has not happened, as the French had wanted this power only to be certain that a German would not become prince. Otherwise, Monaco’s laws of succession are similar to the traditional British regulations. The children of the monarch inherit the throne in order of age, by gender: all the males come first, and the throne does not pass to even a male sibling unless the hereditary prince, living or dead, has had no eligible children. Under the law, a childless reigning prince may adopt anyone as his heir, as a way to keep the principality independent.

By law, the monarchs of Monaco and Liechtenstein must be Roman Catholic. In Luxembourg there is no such law, only the strong pressure of tradition. Furthermore, the parents of any inheriting monarch must have been legitimately married. In Monaco, this stipulation recently gave the pope some input on the succession there. Since Princess Caroline was divorced from her second husband when she remarried, the children of the third marriage could not be considered legitimate in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Her father, Prince Rainier, withheld his multimillion-dollar annual contribution to the Church for several years until an annulment to her second marriage was granted and the children of her third legitimized.

In modern monarchies, the reigning head of state must approve of any marriage, otherwise the marrying heir and any offspring will not be eligible to inherit the throne.”

“In the past, many of these people tried to marry others of similar or higher noble ranking in order to control more territory, and today many still marry for the prestige or for money. So all the noble houses of Europe are related to each other by blood, some more closely than others.”

Language

“Luckily for Andorra, Catalan (Català) is the language spoken in the area near the border of Spain and France, and it has been written down for centuries. Luckily for Catalan-speakers, the existence of Andorra allows them to say they speak some country’s national language. Although Spanish and French are widely spoken there, only Catalan is official in Andorra.

Luxembourgish (Letzebuergesch), on the other hand, would simply be called the West Franconian dialect of German, if Luxembourg weren’t an independent country.”

“As in Luxembourg, in Monaco the natives speak a language with a name similar to their country, that is, Monégasque (Monegù). But the only official language in Monaco is French. In Liechtenstein and San Marino, there isn’t even a name for the language of the natives. Liechtenstein’s official language is German, but Liechtensteiners learn the High Alemmanic German dialect.”

“Although Maltese has been spoken in Malta for centuries, it was only in 1934 that it became an official language there.”

“Luxembourgish is about as old as Maltese, and it became an official language only in 1939. Unfortunately, Monégasque is still not an official language in Monaco, but the government is now making some efforts to promote it.”

“Little or nothing is being done in Liechtenstein or San Marino to promote the local dialect or even rename it to Liechtensteinisch or Sammarinese. More is being done outside these countries, among Romagnolo organizations in Italy and Alemmanic groups in Switzerland devoted to these dialects. Barcelona is the center for the promotion of Catalan, which is the official language of the autonomous region of Catalonia in Spain. As for Monaco, Nice is the center for Monégasque culture. The Académia de Niça gives courses in “Nissard” and Monégasque.

Why should anyone care about their national language? Many people consider their language to be part of their culture and national heritage. Perhaps grammar is too abstract to associate with other aspects of culture, but consider the Catalan word aplec, for example — the word for their festival gathering. The particular kind of dancing and arrangement of the participants is native to the Catalonia area alone. It happens that this word is not to be found in Spanish or French. If the cultural festival ever disappears, so will the word disappear from the face of the earth. Language and culture are that tightly bound together.”

“In 1984, the parliament designated Luxembourgish as the official national language, but it still writes the laws in French. German and French are now known as “administrative” languages. Monégasque schoolchildren are now learning their local language in schools, but almost as a foreign language, since few if any grow up speaking it. It has been claimed that Monégasque is really a dead language — a prominent Monégasque linguist stated that there were only a few dozen speakers left in 1927.”

“In 1921 their English rulers actually made Italian official, along with English. In 1934 Maltese took the place of Italian. Slowly but surely Maltese became more respected and replaced Italian in one official capacity after another. For a number of years, evidence had been given in Maltese, but all other court proceedings were in Italian, including verdict and sentencing. At the same time, English was becoming a second language, especially in the area of education. Today many foreigners actually go to Malta to study English in a more affordable location than England or America. Most recently, more than one Maltese scholar has reported that the Maltese are beginning to mix their English and Maltese, and some fear that a pidgin language will soon emerge, incomprehensible to speakers of pure English or Maltese. Incidentally, young Maltese are using more and more Italian expressions these days, because of the strong influence of Italian television programs, which are received in Malta.

Like Maltese in Malta, Luxembourgish has for centuries been the vernacular language of everyday speech in Luxembourg. But following the Belgian model, French was the official language for all formal business, government or civil. Perhaps because it could be considered a dialect of German, Luxembourgish was largely ignored as the language of the streets. If someone didn’t like French, he could fairly easily learn to read, write, and speak German. So Luxembourg got an even later start than Malta in writing down its local language.”

“Luxembourgers sometimes complain that their language lacks the vocabulary and grammar to express many of nuances of today’s global concepts. By switching to French or German they can express themselves more quickly and with more certainty in a country with so many foreigners. On the other hand, by avoiding Luxembourgish, they also avoid updating their language with the innovations that constant use creates. A similar dilemma affects any microstate in its attempt to join an international organization. By not pressing for any kind of official status for its language, Luxembourg may have assured its acceptance as a full member in the early stages of the European Union. By the same token, Luxembourgish missed an opportunity to raise its profile and encourage more people to use it.

In today’s Luxembourg, road signs are still in French and so are all legislation and official announcements. Newspapers are generally in German. As was the custom in Malta, testimony is done in the local language while lawyers speak to the judges in another language, French. But the grand duke — a national symbol himself — addresses the nation in Luxembourgish. There are radio and television programs in all three languages. Remarkably, most of these language assignments are customs and traditions, and are not dictated by law. For years, French was always the language of the educated, and German the language of the semieducated. Of course today everyone is educated, and German is also generally used in commerce. To some degree, it is still the case that French is the most prestigious. French is used almost exclusively in secondary education, while German and Luxembourgish have a bigger place in primary education. Most Luxembourgers are trilingual by adulthood.”

“The earliest liturgical language of Christians was New Testament Greek. But by the fourth century, so many Western Christians used Latin as their official language, that the early Church came under pressure to use it. Dropping Greek was also a good way to underline the difference between the Roman and the Orthodox Churches. St. Jerome translated the Bible, and the Mass was translated into a pious-sounding Latin as well. Over the centuries, Latin developed different styles among lay and clerical users. Eventually, lay people abandoned it in favor of vernacular languages closer to everyday speech. But the Church only started saying mass in the vernacular in the twentieth century. Today, official communications and documents, such as encyclicals, often come out originally in Latin and are translated to other languages. The Esperanto of the Second Vatican Council was Latin, of course, which is still used whenever the cardinals from all over the linguistic world need to communicate.”

“Maltese is considered to be a dialect of Western Arabic, because it seems closest to Tunisian Arabic. But it also has a few features of Eastern Arabic, and in fact not much of it is understood by speakers of Arabic in general.

The local microstate languages in Europe are not only considered dialects, but some of them have dialect subdivisions themselves. None of these internal dialects presents any difficulties of communication, however. In Malta, dwellers in the capital city of Valletta tend to speak an upper-class dialect that differs from the rural dialect around it. There are also differences in the speech on the other main island, Gozo. Liechtenstein apparently underwent an ancient migration of the Walser people from across Switzerland to the Triesenberg region so, despite its tiny size, Liechtenstein actually contains two varieties of High Alemmanic. Luxembourgish has two main dialects: a northern one with some similarities to Dutch and a southern one with similarities to Alemmanic.”

“In Andorra, the Catholic Church runs the entire system — really two systems: one in Spanish, the other in French. The curriculum resembles the one used in Spain, but the French government subsidizes the schools that teach in French. Recently, the Church has opened a school for students who want to study in Catalan.”

“Only Malta and Luxembourg seriously promote their native languages through their public school systems. Luxembourgish is used exclusively in preschools, and foreign children are encouraged to learn to speak it. In primary schools, German is introduced, and it gradually becomes the language of instruction. French is the language of instruction in the upper grades and university. By the time they finish their education, most students have mastered speaking, reading, and writing in all three languages.”

Andorra

“It would be difficult to pick a more mountainous or isolated spot within the Pyrenees for a tiny country.

Andorra would resemble any other isolated area of the Pyrenees, except for the seventy thousand residents who pack the valleys, jam traffic, and welcome almost 11 million visitors per year. With six ski resorts in an area of 174 square miles, this country must hold the world’s record for ski resort density. As most of the visitors come for the duty-free shopping, Andorra probably also holds the record for portion of population engaged in the retail trades.

Andorra is so mountainous that there are only three main roads, or four if you count the continuations separately.”

“The fiefdom of Andorra was actually given to the bishop of Urgell as a present from the count of Urgell, Ermengol IV. From then on, the bishop and his successors would be rulers or corulers of Andorra. At that time, it was normal for Catholic clergy to have temporal powers, but it has never been easy for them to maintain political and religious control simultaneously and, about two hundred years later, they assigned the defense of Andorra to the Caboet family. As the Caboets gained more and more control of Andorra, they married into the noble Foix family from France. At this time France was still not a unified country.

The bishop of Urgell eventually began disputing the right of the counts of Foix to control Andorra, especially since the Foix family had inherited it only through marriage. Spain was not a unified country, either, when the king of Aragón, Peter III, sided with the bishop. His brother, James Il, controlled some of the territory on the French side, so Peter used his influence to force a peaceable settlement. That settlement, the paréage of 1278, essentially froze Andorra in political time for the next 715 years. The paréage required the Andorrans to pay a biannual tribute to each of the corulers, the counts of Foix and the bishop of Urgell. And in addition to about eight dollars, the bishops got six hams, six cheeses, and twelve hens every other year until 1993. When later one of the counts of Foix was elevated to king of France, his corulership was elevated permanently to that position. If Spain were now to try to absorb Andorra into its territory, as it did with surrounding Catalonia, it would have to answer to the king of France. Similarly, if France wanted to absorb Andorra, as it did with the province of Roussillon (also known as Catalonia North), it would have to answer to the bishop of Urgell, and ultimately to the pope. Incidentally, it seems to have been pure Andorran luck that the count of Foix became the king of France just when he did, because the territory that included Foix was drawing closer and closer to Spain, and had practically become a dependency of Aragón.”

“Soon after the pareage was signed, the count of Foix began building a castle above Santa Coloma. It was then thought necessary to sign a new pareage, in 1288. The new pareage bans all such building, and today you will find no castles in Andorra. Another result of the paréages, and corule is that many services in Andorra are run by the Spanish or the French government or by both. There are two postal systems and three primary education systems, and Andorrans can choose among them.”

“Between 1288 and 1933, very few changes took place in Andorra’s form of government.”

“In early April 1933, a group of young Andorran men stormed the Casa de les Valls and forced the General Council to agree to universal male suffrage. They had driven around the country in their cars yelling, “We want the vote,” gathering supporters as they headed for the parliament building. Despite this early victory, the General Council members soon changed their minds and planned not to submit the agreement to the coprinces. Luckily for the rebels, there was an organization of Andorran expatriates in Barcelona, which sprang into action and threatened to kidnap the General Council if they reneged on the agreement. By the third week of April, they had joined with the youths and once again stormed a General Council meeting, forcing it to be opened to the public. On that day, for the first time in Andorran history, a young man who was not the head of a family had the chance to address the General Council, a body of old men. A few days later, the revolution had gained so much self-confidence, that its leader, Andres Massó, was demanding that the French and Spanish coprinces renounce their claims on Andorra. “Nothing short of independence will do” was his position.

This did not impress the head of the General Council, the Syndic. By June he had dismissed the parliament and exiled Mr. Massó. But the General Council refused to recognize the dismissal, despite the demands of the French president that they desist. Now began a protracted struggle between France and the Andorran people, with the French sometimes sending in their gendarmes, and Andorrans practicing civil disobedience by using their donkeys to block the parliament building, and refusing to vote to elect a new General Council. Spain generally backed the Andorrans, but they had little influence, since it was the bishop of Urgell, not the Spanish government, who coruled Andorra. Several times a date was set for the election of a new General Council, and then it was postponed because the Andorrans were insisting that young men have the right to vote in it. The revolutionaries were just about to bring their case before the League of Nations, when they put everything on hold because the tobacco crop needed harvesting. Finally in early September 1933, young Andorrans voted for the first time. After a few more squabbles, France and Spain settled their differences, and by the end of the year, all was peaceful in Andorra once again. But years later, in 1941, the Vichy French military government took universal male suffrage away again and it was not restored until 1947.”

“Andorra had so little self-rule that it was hardly considered a country by international organizations. Andorra was not even allowed to join the International Postal Union or the World Tourism Organization. In 1973, the coprinces met for the first time, to begin plans to democratize Andorra. By 1993, this process resulted. in the complete modernization of the Andorran government, following which the microstate joined the United Nations. The coprinces are now largely figureheads, but they must still approve treaties with Spain and France and other matters concerning boundaries, defense, and internal security.”

“Andorra has a unique system of twenty-six “refuges,” formerly used mostly by shepherds, which are now freely available to hikers for overnight stays in summer.”

“Origin of Name: The name of a valley, thought to be of Basque derivation.”

Liechtenstein

“There are many reasons to call Liechtenstein the business microstate. For one thing, Liechtenstein is the most industrialized country in Europe. For another, business taxes are low, and corporate laws are written to attract businesses. But about eighty thousand of the businesses with headquarters in Liechtenstein really do no business there.”

“The Middle Ages were not a happy time for Vaduz and Schellenberg. The area was wracked by wars, the plague, and even rampant witch hunting. Vaduzers were impoverished peasants, ruled from the castle by counts or their representatives. Their rulers apparently were not much better off financially: Vaduz and Schellenberg were sold off to new owners at least three times in order to pay the debts of their former owners. The territory of the business microstate was a sort of commodity in the dealings of the nobility in the Holy Roman Empire.

After so many years of bad luck, when Schellenberg went on the block in 1699, it would be for the last time. The owners, the counts of Hohenems, were so irresponsible and debt-ridden that the emperor appointed someone else to handle to job of finding a buyer and clearing up the debts. The buyer he found was Prince Johannes Adam I of Liechtenstein, also known as “Hans the Rich.” Hans Adam and his father, Karl Eusebius, had done much to enrich the Liechtenstein family, and also began its art collection. They had two palaces in Austria and extensive land holdings there and in what is now the Czech Republic. One thing this prince had lacked, however, was sovereign territory. When he went on to purchase Vaduz in 1712, Hans Adam also obtained another thing he wanted, a seat in the Assembly of Imperial Princes, made possible because Vaduz had the imperial immediacy.

In the same year, Hans Adam died, and his cousin Anton Florian became head of the house of Liechtenstein. Anton was already an important figure in the emperor’s court, but in 1719, Vaduz and Schellenberg were together raised to the status of imperial principality. And so Anton Florian I became the first prince of the newly rechristened Liechtenstein. Although it now had a new name, Liechtenstein was not an independent country, nor was the Liechtenstein family interested in obtaining independence for their principality. The Liechtensteins were loyal servants of the Habsburgs, the Holy Roman Emperors. Anton Florian served as their ambassador to the Papal Court in Rome, as prime minister, and as educator of the emperor’s son Archduke Karl; and Florian’s nephew Prince Josef Wenzel served as imperial ambassador to the sumptuous royal court of Louis XV in Paris. In fact, no head of the house of Liechtenstein set foot into his principality until 1842. Instead, a governor or administrator appointed by the prince governed Liechtenstein from Vaduz Castle. Prince Johannes I of Liechtenstein was another loyal servant of the Habsburgs — so loyal, in fact, that he fought the man who gave Liechtenstein its independence from them. That man was Napoleon, who in 1805 allowed Johannes’s son Karl to become prince of the independent Principality of Liechtenstein within the Confederation of the Rhine. After Johannes helped defeat Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna rescinded Liechtenstein’s independence, and it reverted to a principality under the German Confederation. And Johannes took back his position as ruler from his son.

During the nineteenth century, life in Liechtenstein finally began to improve, both economically and politically. Poor little Vaduz’s ship had finally come in, in the form of a wealthy foreign prince. Prince Alois II visited his territory in midcentury, and was appalled at his subjects’ poverty. Among other benevolent actions, he financed the building of a wall to reduce Rhine river flooding. In the 1860s Liechtenstein got its first constitution, became independent, disarmed, and declared itself permanently neutral in foreign affairs. Independence had come somewhat unexpectedly, when the German Confederation was broken up. And the prince still could see no reason to leave his beloved Vienna.”

“The first half of the twentieth century was like a glass of cold water thrown in Liechtenstein’s face. Although it was able to maintain its neutrality during the World War I, the country’s economic links to one of the losers, Austria, proved costly. The market for its exports almost evaporated. Then, at the end of the war, the Liechtenstein family’s royal patrons, the Habsburgs, were forced to abdicate in Austria. So Liechtenstein shifted its orientation toward Switzerland, and established an economic union with its western neighbor.”

“For a while, Liechtenstein’s fortunes seemed to be on the upswing. A new, more democratic constitution was adopted in 1921. In 1928, the new prime minister, Dr. Franz Josef Hoop, established a new economic policy, still partly in effect today. Liechtenstein lowered its taxes and invited foreign investments on the easiest terms. For a while it was actually selling Liechtenstein citizenship to anyone who would pay $5,500. The princely family did not draw revenue from the people, but was really contributing to the economy as a kind of local benefactor.

This liberal welcoming of foreigners for a fee would have consequences in the next decade. While the government was prospering, many Liechtensteiners had lost their jobs in the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. Some found jobs in neighboring Austria, and there they were exposed to the new National Socialist or Nazi movement, popular even outside Germany. Now, among those who had purchased Liechtenstein citizenship was a number of Jews. Finding life very difficult in Austria and Germany, some had moved to Liechtenstein.”

“While Liechtenstein would have been difficult for the Swiss to defend, it could serve as a convenient launching pad for any attack on Switzerland across the Rhine. Capturing Liechtenstein would have also meant sweet revenge on the small number of refugees who had fled there to escape Nazi persecution.

Although the Liechtenstein family had renovated Vaduz Castle, they were still living in Austria. They didn’t seem to be paying much attention to world political events, until they were overtaken by them. On March 12, 1938, Germany annexed Austria, in the so-called “Anschluss.” Within a few days, the mayor of the Austrian border town of Feldkirch was already welcoming the German army and renaming the town square after Hitler. On March 15, Prime Minister Hoop spoke to a special session of the Diet, painting a grim picture of the new danger to Liechtenstein’s independence. Then, a week after the Anschluss took place, Prince Franz’s nephew, Franz Josef, mysteriously left Austria and moved into Vaduz Castle for a “lengthy sojourn.” Next, the Diet passed a resolution proclaiming their loyalty to the prince, expressing their wish for closer relations with Switzerland, and establishing a coalition government. This coalition would last into the 1970s.

With no army, and given its tiny size, Liechtenstein’s desire to keep its independence indeed seemed precarious. Dr. Hoop embarked on a mission to Bern and then to Berlin to solve this problem through diplomacy. In Bern, he tried to get assurances from the Swiss either to defend Liechtenstein in case of German attack or else to allow it to join Switzerland as a canton. In Berlin, he wanted assurances from Hitler that he would respect Liechtenstein’s neutrality as he had promised to do for Switzerland. While no promises were forthcoming, Dr. Hoop’s diplomatic skills may have saved Liechtenstein.”

“At the end of March, Prince Franz of Liechtenstein relinquished his absentee rule from Austria in favor of his nephew Franz Josef, now living in Vaduz. At the stroke of a pen, Liechtenstein went from a kind of fiefdom to a normal constitutional monarchy. The very next year, a prince of Liechtenstein opened parliament for the first time in history. There was much speculation on the reasons that the prince finally moved to the land he was ruling, including the fact that the elderly Franz’s wife was of Jewish extraction. In any case, Franz died in the summer, and Franz Josef was ceremonially sworn in during the late spring of 1939.”

“Some Liechtensteiners later volunteered and fought in the German SS, and they were put in jail after the war. But the danger of involvement in the Second World War was over before the war started. Liechtenstein’s neutrality was respected and it suffered no damage, despite the allied bombing of Feldkirch. The war was no fun, however, as rationing was imposed, and a flood of refugees spilled over Liechtenstein’s border at war’s end.”

“In the debate, the prince suggested that he and his family might move away from Liechtenstein if the people could not accept the monarchy on his terms. He referred to the wealth that might go with him if he were to leave. Would the country would be allowed keep the name Liechtenstein in such an event, or would he take away his family’s name, too? Poor little Vaduz, whose ship came in when Hans Adam the Rich bought the country so many years ago, could see that ship sail away with Hans Adam II at the helm, as it says goodbye to its last two centuries of good fortune.

In March 2003, a referendum approved the new constitution, presumably convincing the Liechtenstein family to stay. But in order to keep their prince and his billions, Liechtensteiners may have made more concessions than they realize. Among the prince’s new powers are the right to dismiss individual members of the government, the right to dismiss the entire government, and immunity from the country’s constitutional court. The prince inserted a clause allowing for the possible abolition of the monarchy as a kind of counterbalance to all the new powers he was taking. But this was not enough to satisfy the Council of Europe, which considers the new constitution a step backward. Liechtenstein now risks being ejected from the Council and may have made itself insufficiently democratic to join the European Union if it ever desires to do so.”

“Some of those bands can be heard each year on the National Day celebrations on August 15. This day, the feast of the Assumption, is also known as Prince’s Day, as it falls the day before the late Prince Franz Josef II’s birthday. Every year the prince invites everyone in the country — including visitors — to the grounds of Vaduz Castle for a party. Many people dress up in traditional costumes, and there are reenactments of the legends of folklore on the princely grounds. At night, there are fireworks. This would be an ideal day on which to the visit the principality.

And now you can do more than visit Liechtenstein — you can rent it! The state tourism agency has set up a program where a business can replace the signs on many buildings with its own corporate logo, making it appear that they have “taken over” the entire country for their business meeting. For about $500 per person in groups of up to twelve hundred people, a company can have exclusive access to the country’s hotels, restaurants, sports facilities and meeting places. Upon the announcement of the program, Liechtenstein became the butt of some joking in the media, which called it “rent-a-count.””

Luxembourg

“Although a bit smaller than Rhode Island, the smallest American state, Luxembourg is large enough to have two climate zones and multiple railway lines. It has many of the things only normally associated with bigger countries, not with microstates. Luxembourg is the only microstate whose vernacular distinguished itself from similar neighboring dialects and became respected as a national language. And no other microstate besides Malta has its own airline and airport. (Malta’s language and air transportation really stem from its isolation, not from its size.)

As a matter of fact, Luxembourg would not have been a microstate at all, if it hadn’t lost so much territory over the years before its independence. Originally, Luxembourg was about four times bigger than it is today — in total, about half the size of the next biggest European country, Slovenia. But because of three different partitions, which removed three-quarters of its original territory, today Luxembourg is a microstate, not just a ministate. Luxembourg was the only microstate to be a founding member of the United Nations and the European Union. Perhaps its previous size — comparable to its neighbors, Belgium and Holland — convinced people to take it more seriously than they did the other microstates.”

“Luxembourg is named for a Roman fortress, Lucilinburhuc, meaning “Little fortress.””

“Ermesinde’s regime was unlike those of her father or her stepson. Instead of going to war, she used peaceful tactics to her own advantage. She made deals with her subjects, offering them civil liberties and limited self-rule in exchange for territories, cash payments, and the use of castles during wartime. Her benign rule gained her the loyalty of her subjects, in the face of competing monarchs who were less well loved. She granted charters of freedom to the people of various towns, and a frieze depicting her handing over one such charter to the people of Luxembourg-Ville can be seen at the Cerce Municipal, which houses the tourist offices. Ermesinde thought that certain families had become too powerful, so she created new political institutions that replaced hereditary positions with non-nobles. Some of these reforms outlasted her reign for centuries. Another legacy of Ermesinde was a tripling of the area of Luxembourg.

Ermesinde should have given up her reign when her son Henri came of age, but she ruled until she died in 1247, aged sixty-one. Henri apparently didn’t mind, for after his mother’s death he helped create a kind of cult around her. He endowed the monastery at Clairfontaine – now in Belgium – where she is buried. And he encouraged the belief that Ermesinde was the second founder of Luxembourg after Siegfried. This belief is still popular today.”

“Luxembourg fell on hard times. The duchy was sold several times to pay off debts, until it was taken over by the French under Philip the Good. It passed between Spain and France a couple of times as well. The Thirty Years’ War and the plague both devastated Luxembourg. In the Peace of the Pyrenees, between France and Spain, Luxembourg lost about one-tenth of its southernmost territory.”

“By 1713, Luxembourg went back to the Holy Roman Empire under the Habsburgs of Austria, joined to Belgium and the Netherlands. Peace lasted until the French Revolution and Napoleon I, when Luxembourg briefly became a French department, that is, part of France. The Congress of Vienna liberated Luxembourg, raised it to the status of grand duchy, and put it under the protection of the German Confederation. Unfortunately, it also partitioned Luxembourg for a second time, giving about one-third of its eastern territory to Prussia.”

“It is difficult to pinpoint the exact date when Luxembourg became an independent state. Because it happened in gradual steps, perhaps it’s best to say that Luxembourg was born sometime in the nineteenth century. First, the Congress of Vienna freed Luxembourg of Spanish, French, and Austrian domination in 1815, putting it under the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which included Belgium. Though Luxembourg was considered a personal possession of the Dutch king, it was also part of the German Confederation, and Prussian troops were stationed in Luxembourg-Ville. Then in 1830 Belgium revolted and separated itself from the Netherlands. A settlement was reached in 1839 awarding most of the microstate to Belgium as the new internal province of Luxembourg, and bringing about Luxembourg’s third partition. Most of this western part spoke French, so now Luxembourg was an entirely Luxembourgish-speaking country. Furthermore, it had been granted autonomy from the Netherlands.

When the German Confederation broke up in 1866, the Dutch king decided to sell Luxembourg to France. The German kaiser was irked about this, and threatened war, so the Dutch king retracted the offer. The next year the fate of Luxembourg was settled by the Treaty of London, making Luxembourg an independent nation, with its neutrality guaranteed by each of the Great Powers. The Prussian troops were withdrawn from Luxembourg-Ville, but Luxembourg itself was nominally still under the king of the Netherlands. Luxembourg was also granted a foundation charter. In 1890, the Salic law prevented the newly crowned Queen Wilhelmina of Holland from inheriting the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from her father, so a separate line of the Nassau family began to rule it, cutting the last ties to the Netherlands. Finally, Luxembourg was a completely independent nation.”

“Luxembourg suffered the same hardships under the Nazis as the French, such as forced labor and deportation of Jews and others to death camps. But because they were a Germanic people, Luxembourgers were expected to become Germans as well. They were conscripted into the German army. The Luxembourgish language was banned. Even personal given names had to be changed to standard German ones, and if a family name had been changed to a French version, it had to revert to its German one. Confident that pan-Germanism would catch on in Luxembourg, the occupying Germans held a couple of surveys that didn’t go their way and had to be abandoned. One asked Luxembourgers to list their nationality as either French or German. True to their national motto, “We want to remain what we are,” 97 percent of them responded by writing in “Luxembourgish.””

“More than ninety thousand workers commute to Luxembourg daily in a mutually beneficial relationship: Luxembourg gets people to ease its tight labor market, and the surrounding region’s unemployment rates are reduced.”

Malta

“Because Malta lacks freshwater rivers and lakes, the Maltese must get their water from the sea, via an expensive desalinization process.”

“In 1090, after the Normans had driven the Saracens out of Malta, the Crusades began. In Jerusalem, the Order of St. John was formed to take care of sick pilgrims. Eventually they called themselves “knights” and took on the military role of protecting Christianity in the Holy Land. By 1291, they were defeated by Muslims and took refuge on the island of Rhodes, where they practiced piracy on passing Ottoman ships. By 1522 the Turks had had enough piracy, and the son of Süleyman the Magnificent drove the Knights off Rhodes. Fortunately for the Knights, he let them leave with honor, bringing all their records and some of their treasures with them. After a few years of wandering and petitioning various European rulers for a homeland, they were given the island of Malta by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Spain.”

“To become a Knight, you had to belong to a noble family of Europe, you had to pay a large initiation fee, and you had to leave four-fifths of your fortune to the order. The head of the order was called the “grand master,” and the title exists even today.

The grand master who defeated the Turks was Jean de la Vallette, and immediately after the victory he began a building program to create a new capital. Unlike landlocked Mdina, Valletta was on the coast, and was to have a new fort, St. Elmo, from which Malta could be defended from sea attack. Today you can visit this fort, the other bastions surrounding the city, the auberges, and the other magnificent constructions in Valletta built during the 260-year reign of the Knights. As the Knights came from noble families throughout Europe, each speaking a different language, every Knight belonged to one of eight divisions, called langues. In the main part of Valletta, there is one auberge to serve as headquarters for each division. They now serve more modern functions, as government buildings, a museum, and even as the offices of the Malta Tourism Authority.”

“Ironically, when the Knights Hospitallers finally got around to fortifying Malta, there was less reason to protect it. Islam had already peaked in its power and territory, and so the Knights’ mission as defenders of Christianity diminished yearly. At the same time, the Knights were becoming corrupt, leading rather hedonistic lives. Their treatment of the native Maltese, including Maltese women, was less than exemplary. So it is not surprising that even the priests staged an uprising, which was brutally suppressed in 1775. The Knights had become an occupying power comprised of elite gentlemen from many foreign nations, especially France.

Once again, Malta found itself in the middle, between the Knights, France, and then Britain. When the French Revolution took place, Napoleon began his conquest of Europe. When he reached Malta, he found a population unhappy with its rulers, and an opportunity to confiscate the riches of the Knights and to appear as a great liberator of the oppressed. But once the French took over, their continued pillaging made them just as unpopular as the Knights. The Maltese people appealed to the British, and Lord Nelson soon defeated the French. Alexander Ball became the first British governor of Malta in 1799. Some fifteen years later, the Congress of Vienna officially restored Malta to the Knights, but the Maltese people protested, and as Malta was becoming more strategically interesting for the British, they stayed on Malta until 1964.

Meanwhile, some of the Knights had fled to Russia and others to Catania, Sicily. From Sicily they went to Ferrara, and then on to Rome and the protection of the pope. After their rout in Malta, the Knights practically disappeared, and they were largely reinvented in 1879, when the pope finally appointed a new grand master. Although they were re-created as a charitable organization, their origins in the nobility and their exclusion of anyone who was neither noble nor wealthy tended to ally them to rightwing interests. They have been accused of smuggling Nazis out of Europe after World War II, of secretly injecting foreign money into Italian politics, and even of supporting attempted right-wing coups d’etat. Although the Knights have no territory, they have diplomatic relations with many countries, and they are an observer member of the United Nations.”

“Laparelli also designed the grid pattern of streets that allows sea breezes to keep the city cooler in summer.”

“Malta’s archaeological pride and joy are the temples built during the Copper Age, 4000–2000 BC. Whether it’s the Tarxien temples, Ha ar Qim, the underground Hypogeum, or the Ggantija (“Gigantic”) Temples on Gozo, you will be amazed by the huge, expertly cut limestone blocks that fit together without mortar. They are the oldest standing structures in the world. Nobody. knows much about the culture that built them, since it is prehistoric.”

Monaco

“After reclaiming another one-fifth of its territory from the sea, this microstate is now at the limit of possible expansion.”

“Today most of Monaco’s population is “foreign,” and only a sixth is native Monégasque. These natives are given priority in housing and employment, but are prohibited from gambling in the casino. Unlike Andorras, Monaco’s foreign-born residents don’t come from the surrounding areas, but are mostly well-to-do tax dodgers from just about everywhere. Although many middle-class people work there, these are mostly commuters from just across the border. You may notice an unusually large number of police and surveillance cameras on duty to protect Monaco’s wealthy residents and honored guests.”

“Before the casino was built, the situation was reversed — the well-to-do spurned Monaco, and mostly peasants lived there. For a long period, even the princes of Monaco preferred to live in Paris. But unlike the princes of Liechtenstein, the Grimaldi family actually came from the Monaco region, and left the principality for a more interesting French capital.”

“In the middle of the twelfth century, after the Arabs were driven out of the northern part of the Mediterranean, the Republic of Genoa got control of the area surrounding Monaco and built a fortification on the Rock. Some of this original building still forms the Princely Palace, a must-see on any visit there. Nearly a century after the Genoese arrived, François Grimaldi dressed himself as a monk and got admitted to this castle, and then let his co-conspirators in. They took over from the Genoese, and became the rulers of Monaco, an act commemorated in Monaco’s coat of arms, which depicts two monks armed with swords. But the Grimaldis were not easily able to hold on to Monaco during the next decades, and they twice lost it to Genoa, having to buy it back each time. In the meantime, they also purchased the neighboring cities of Menton and Roquebrune.”

“By the middle of the seventeenth century, Monaco was effectively a Spanish dependency, and Honore II aimed to remedy this situation. But he also wanted to raise his noble ranking from “lord” of Monaco to “prince.” So before taking any actions against Spain, he started referring to himself as “prince” in all his correspondences with the Spanish chancery. Eventually, letters coming back from the Spanish were addressed to the prince of Monaco as well. Next, Honore II made an agreement with France for protection and plotted to get the Spanish soldiers drunk and rout them out of the fortress. The ruse worked, and the French rewarded Honore with many other noble titles, as well as recognizing him as prince. This marked the beginning of the period when Monaco’s rulers preferred life at the French court in Paris and Versailles to life at the isolated fortification on the Mediterranean. Honoré’s grandson, Louis I, was even appointed French ambassador to the Vatican. An absentee ruler of the Rock, he was now stationed in Rome. Louis’s wife, Charlotte-Catherine, became notorious for her behavior in Paris. In decadent, pre-Revolutionary France, she had been the king’s mistress. She went on to many other affairs, including with other women. But Monaco occasionally benefited from the French influence, as when Antoine I built an opera house there, although his extravagance weakened Monaco’s finances severely.”

“Some of the people of the principality acquired democratic ideas. The nearby Kingdom of Sardinia had a liberal constitution guaranteeing more rights and freedoms than Monaco had at the middle of the nineteenth century. When given the chance to decide their fate, the people of the towns of Menton and Roquebrune voted in favor of independence from Monaco, and they joined the Kingdom of Sardinia. Later, this area of the formerly Italian Riviera was annexed to France, but Monaco was given 4.1 million francs in compensation. In addition, a treaty was signed giving Monaco true independence and protection under France.”

“Charles Ill used the compensation money to invest in the Société des Bains de Mer (SBM), the holding company for the casino, hotels, and other improvements which made Monaco an attractive place for the wealthy to vacation. Today the SBM still owns about one twelfth of Monaco’s surface area. Monte-Carlo, named after the prince who developed it, is Italian for “Mount Charles.” Not many years after the postage stamp itself came into existence, Charles foresaw that collectors would pay for interesting stamps without using them to mail letters, and started issuing Monaco postage stamps, cofounding with San Marino what is now a flourishing industry in several microstates. When Charlés died in 1889, he left Monaco a rich and famous microstate.”

San Marino

“The world’s oldest surviving republic, San Marino was an island of democracy on an undemocratic Italian peninsula for almost a millennium.”

“This microstate tales democracy so seriously that it pays 75 percent of the airfare to fly its citizens living abroad back to the fatherland to vote in its general elections.”

“In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries San Marino took in war refugees, from the Risorgimento and during World War II. The Second World War took a severe toll on San Marino, even though it remained neutral. It’s not easy to maintain one hundred thousand refugees when your native population is less than a third of that. Furthermore, San Marino and its rail link to Rimini were both bombed by the Allies.”

“In 1949, San Marino opened a casino and began permitting civil marriage and divorce. The conservative Italian government was not pleased, and began withholding its customs contribution rebate. These payments represent San Marino’s part of the tariffs on goods that must be imported through Italy, and they make up a good portion of the government’s budget. The Italians also prohibited their own citizens from gambling in the new casino. This was somewhat hypocritical, since the San Marino casino really amounted to competition with the Italian one in San Remo. In any case, Italy began stopping all vehicles at the border to be sure Italians were not entering San Marino. Although non-Italian tourists could still enter, long delays discouraged tourism. Furthermore, a large part of San Marino’s economy was traditionally based on Italian tourists buying transshipped goods with lower taxes than in Italy. After two years of hardship, San Marino capitulated and negotiated an agreement with Italy, which was signed another two years later in 1953: it limited its marriages and divorces to its own citizens, closed the casino, and agreed not to build a radio or TV station. For its part, Italy agreed to increase the customs rebate, pay an indemnity for the broadcasting ban, and rebuild the railway line destroyed during the war. In 1957 the two countries decided to build a highway between Rimini and San Marino instead, and this remains the only way to get to San Marino.”

“A document from 1244 says that at that time there were two consuls, now called the captains regent, plus the Arengo, an assembly of all the heads of families in the nation. These are two of the five bodies that make up today’s government. Eventually the Arengo delegated its powers to a Grand and General Council, because there were getting to be too many heads of families to run a government smoothly. Today the Arengo is largely a symbolic institution. On March 25, 1906, the Arengo made the important decision that the Grand and General Council would be democratically elected every five years.”

Vatican City

“Though its territory is the smallest in the world, if all its constituents — Roman Catholics — were counted as its citizens, the Vatican would be the second most populous country on earth. And speaking of territory, it is the only country whose every square inch is owned by a single person or entity, namely, the Holy See.”

“The Holy See: the word see simply means “seat” or “headquarters.””

“Vatican City is the proper name for the country, which includes the walled complex, plus a few other churches and buildings scattered around Rome. The buildings outside the walls, however, are not strictly considered Vatican City territory, although they are Vatican property, and Vatican citizens are exempt from Italian law enforcement while within these buildings.”

“Officially, the State of the Vatican City goes back only to 1929, when Mussolini and Pope Pius XI agreed to settle the “Roman Question.” That was when their representatives signed the Lateran Treaty, establishing Vatican City as a new country independent of Italy. Essentially, the treaty gave the Holy See its own tiny territory. Sixty years before that, the Holy See had lost this territory, plus an area thousands of times bigger called the Papal States. The Roman Question arose when Italian nationals took central Italy, uniting their northern and southern regions into the country we know today. For more than a millennium, popes had been accustomed to ruling this area, and they were also used to possessing a large diplomatic corps, and maintaining relations and missions in coun tries all over the world. Although few countries broke diplomatic relations with the Holy See when it lost its territory, it felt that it needed its own territory in order to be considered a state. But thanks to the technical distinction between the Holy See and the Vatican, Vatican City is not officially considered the successor to the Papal States. A temporary interruption of the independence — or even the existence — of a country is not unknown to history, and would not normally break a chain of successor states. Yet because the Holy See is technically not the government of Vatican City, the Papal States and the Vatican are officially considered two different historical countries that hosted the Holy See at different times.”

“Italy was undergoing its Risorgimento, a rising of the Italian spirit with aspirations of unifying the peninsula into a single country. By midcentury, the new pope, Pius IX, was doing everything he could to quash the Risorgimento, including excommunicating all Italian Catholics who participated in free elections. Despite his efforts, when given the chance, region after region voted overwhelmingly against remaining part of the Papal States and in favor of annexation to Italy. Finally, it was only French troops who were keeping the pope in power, and only in Rome, for that matter. When the troops were called away to more pressing duties, the Italians marched in, and Pius locked himself in behind the walls of the Vatican.”

“There are few human rights for Vatican citizens – no freedom of speech, press, or religion. But as everyone has dual citizenship, anyone is free to leave who finds this objectionable. And the so-called “Secret Archives” of the Vatican are really no secret – any serious scholar can get permission to use them. On the other hand, there is no freedom to set up a business, there is no economic competition, and you will see little or nothing that might be considered advertising.”