Nymark, Norway
An Englishman has claimed sovereignty over a tiny Norwegian island in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. Alex Hartley said he discovered Nymark, a rock the size of a soccer field, in 2004, after the melting of a glacier uncovered it. A 1920 treaty gives Norway sovereignty over “all islands great or small and rock” in the region, but Hartley says the treaty doesn’t apply because the island wasn’t there in 1920. “I was the first person to land on the island,” he said. “I built a cairn and left a claim in a tin can.” Ostensibly, Hartley is seeking to secede from Norway, but he acknowledged his real purpose is to draw attention to global warming.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Instagram rolls out teen accounts with new limitsSpeed Read After facing pushback over child safety, Meta announced that all users under 18 will have their Instagram accounts modified
-
Arizona official sues to bar 100K from local votingSpeed Read A large number of residents who have not submitted citizenship documents might be prevented from voting in the battleground state's elections
-
Why is Laura Loomer making Republicans worried?Today's Big Question Donald Trump says the MAGA influencer is a 'free spirit'
