The Kingdom of North Sudan

Those of you who read my blog here at Murder is Everywhere know that I am extremely critical of what ‘civilized’ Europe did to ‘uncivilized’ Africa during the period of colonization. 

I came across an article the other day that indicates that the scramble for Africa hasn’t stopped.  Now adventurers from the USA are getting involved.

Apparently, a farmer, Jeremiah Heaton, from Virginia, had a daughter, Emily, who wanted to be a Princess.  Obviously, this is not easy to do in Virginia, or anywhere else in the United States, for that matter, unless it is just a nickname.

A devoted father, Jeremiah decided to make Emily’s wish come true.  So—guess what—he headed to Africa.  After a lot of research and travel, he found a piece of land between Egypt and Sudan, in an area called Bir Tawil, that wasn’t claimed by anyone – just over 2,000 sq. kms (800 sq. miles) of uninhabited desert.

Last year, on June 16 – Emily’s birthday – he planted the flag of the Kingdom of North Sudan, proclaiming himself King and, of course, Emily, Princess.  The new country has applied for observer status at the United Nations and has an embassy in Denmark, which I’ll have to visit when I’m there later in the year.

King Jeremiah I planting the flag

Location of Africa's 55th independent country

Flag of the Kingdom of North Sudan

• The gold star in the flag represents Heaton's wife, Kelly,the mother of his children, who is 'the top of everything that happens'.

• The three stars represent the children Justin, Caleb and Emily, and their white colour represents the purity of their hopes and dreams.

• The crown represents the monarchy created in the Kingdom, and the rays of light their hopes for improving the world.

• Finally the blue symbolises their commitment to their dreams of what their new Kingdom can achieve. 

Princess Emily

The royal family: Jeremiah, Emily, Justin, Kelly, and Caleb

When asked what they should do with their new country, Heaton’s three children said they wanted to grow a garden to feed everyone in the world.

Not to think small, The Kingdom of North Sudan has now set up a crowd-funded project to create the ARC (Agricultural Research Center), where scientist from all over the world can work, free of the hassles of having to apply for research grants, on ways to feed the world with a limited water supply.

Jeremiah had this to say:

On the surface it seems like an un-doable idea, but if you look at what we are facing worldwide, the 'bread basket' areas are getting drier and drier. It's getting harder and harder to grow food, and very little research is being done into the problem. If you can make food grow in the desert, you can take that same technology and apply it to other climates. This project is the first project on earth that will have one nation dedicated to deal with climate change.

How we use water is untenable and a different approach has to be taken.

Our development goals are shared by Egypt – it is investing heavily in renewable energy, and water supply is something that the government of Egypt is struggling with right now. This type of innovation fits in perfectly with their aims.

Building a brand new country from scratch will create employment – there's a lot of folks that are unemployed in Egypt and if we can help them that's going to be tremendous.

I have not spoken with Sudan – because I am an American. I have a lot longer road to travel with Sudan because of the economic sanctions that are in place.

He said hundreds of scientists from around the world, have already expressed interest in working at the ARC.

When I checked out the crowd-funding website, already $8,000 of the needed funds had been raised.  The budget is $500,000 for Phase 1 – Planning; $3 million for phase 2 - Planning; $2 million for Phase 3 - Design; $50 million for Phase 4 – Infrastructure; and $150 million for building the ARC).  The project would like to raise another $250 million for associated activities.

Heaton told MailOnline that he has been supported by the Egyptian authorities in his quest to set up a new community in the land, which only has around 290mm of rainfall a year. London, by comparison, has around 600mm.

The North Sudan monarchy clearly takes its responsibilities seriously and is already becoming involved in international affairs.  In April this year it recognised the new nation of Liberland, only 7 sq. kms in size.  You can read about Liberland here.

The perks for supporting the construction of the ARC are mouth-watering: you can name the capital city for $1.75 million.  If that’s too pricey, $50,000 gets you your face on the national currency and for $300 you can become a knight.  I suspect Sirs and Ladys are less expensive.

I think we all should donate.  I really like the sound of Prince Jørn and Prince Michael, and Duke Jeffrey, and Princess Caro – that should go down well in an independent Scotland, Princess Cara, Princess Zoë, Princess Susan, and Princess Lisa, and, of course, Grand Duchess Annamaria. These titles should increase the readership of our blog.

Go for it!

Stan - Thursday

PS.  Disney has bought the film rights to the story.  Stephany Folsom will write the script for The Princess of North Sudan, and Morgan Spurlock will produce it.