over the last 40 years the United Nations has recognized 34 new countries which is quite a lot new countries emerg pretty often I'd even say all the time but for you it probably happens almost unnoticed I think I have no idea where each of you lives and the list of the youngest countries first are Montenegro and Serbia which separated from each other in 2006 even though they were technically independent States before second is Kos which broke away from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by many world powers but the situation there is still very complicated
third is East teamour which declared independence in 1975 and became a sovereign state in 2002 and fourth is South Sudan the youngest state today it separated from Sudan in 2011 in the case of South Sudan it all started with the independence of Sudan this happened in 1956 after half a century of rule by Egypt and Britain the new found Independence unexpectedly revealed that the population in the South and the north of the country was very different religion language in short everything that matters these differences initially led to conflicts misunderstandings and War and then resulted in
the only possible solution southern Sudan separated from the north and became independent the referendum was held in January 2011 and around 99% of Voters selected to break away this is how a completely new officially recognized state has appeared on the map but not many people know that we can expect a few more in the near future you'll be surprised to find out just how many there are but first of course coffee here's an unobtrusive reminder to do a little something under the video and thanks to everyone who understands my wish to stay Anonymous this is
banville an autonomous region in Papa New Guinea located east of the Mainland and north of the Solomon Islands banville consists of two main islands in several remote islands and atolls its total area is about 3600 square miles but the struggle for Independence began quite a long time ago in 1968 when Papa New Guinea was still under Australian control banville called for a referendum on Independence or joining the Solomon Islands it didn't end successfully though then in 1975 2 weeks before Papa New Guinea finally gained independence from Australia finally he's not me being happy about it
that's just how it was phrased in the article so anyway banville declared its own independence but once again it didn't work out it wasn't until the end of 2019 that a non-binding referendum was held and 98% of participants voted for Independence sadly there are still problems well the main and key problem is that panguna coppermine one of the largest open pit mines in the world is located in banville its value is estimated at $60 billion and naturally Papa new Guin doesn't want to lose the mine if banville breaks away Papa new guini will lose all
the potential profit from the mine plus a decent chunk of its exports the mine's been shut down since 1989 though and that's something to keep in mind but the fact remains and it was partly the mine that caused the future separation disputes between the locals and the company over the negative impact on the environment minimal profits for the Bugan villians and the negative social changes brought about by the mine led to a Revival of the independence movement in 1989 discontent escalated into conflict local residents sabotaged the min's operations and in response Papa New Guinea sent
military forces to regain control all of this led to a horrific Civil War that lasted nearly 10 years and claimed the lives of an ated 15 to 20,000 people by the way this is always guaranteed I mean Civil War in 2000 the peace agreement was reached that along with disarmament included the creation of an autonomous government for banville the parties agreed to hold a referendum in the future on whether the island should become politically independent so it's the result today the president of banville is determined to achieve the country's Independence and the process of drafting
a new constitution is already begun there were even even comments that the recent national elections will be the last in which banville will participate it sounds realistic because following the 2019 referendum Regional authorities plan to gain independence between 2025 and 2027 which is really soon the future of this fledgling state is awaiting the parliament of Papa New Guinea's approval but I think there's only one possible outcome in general experts highlight a few reasons for the emergence of new States first off of course there are different political upheavals revolutions and things like that after which the
new Authority can create not just a new order but also renew an entire State secondly and this is exactly the case with banville and South Sudan states can emerge as a result of the struggle for independence from a stronger neighbor People Unite based on common identification culture language and then try to create a completely new political entity that suits them better but mostly it's one they're used to the third reason which might partly overlap with the second is the breakdown of colonial or imperial structures when former colonies or territories gain independence or go through decolonization
they can turn into new sovereign states a good example is the United Kingdom because throughout its history about 60 countries have gained independence from it that's the highest number on the planet following the UK is France around 40 countries have freed themselves from it and since we're talking about former colonies we simply have to mention new calonia there it is a group of islands in the southwest part of the Pacific Ocean east of Australia on September 24th 1853 by the order of Emperor Napoleon III New Caledonia became a French Colony back then they sent criminals
and political prisoners here to give you an idea of the scale from 1873 to 1876 4,200 political prisoners were sent away to new calonia this is what kind of place it was don't even get me started on how they treated the native people between 1976 and 1988 a period called the events numerous conflicts occurred between the French authorities and local Independence Fighters violence riots earlier uprisings in 1878 1917 and 1922 were brutally suppressed but gradually New Caledonia started stepping into a new era French author began handing over powers to the local government and from 2018
to 2021 there were three referendums on Independence in the end 43% voted for separation in 2018 47% in 2021 still not enough to gain independence the third referendum was held during the pandemic with low turnout and a boycott from the supporters of Independence they asked to postpone the vote for 6 months in the end 96% of the votes were cast in favor of keeping the territory with France although the reasons for separation seem pretty solid in the past the native people were shut out from the French economy and mining industry and eventually pushed into reservations
that kind of thing rarely leaves without a mark besides the Europeans brought new diseases with them like small poox and measles which caused the deaths of many locals due to Armed conflicts with the colonizers diseases and the loss of land the indigenous population dropped from 60,000 to 27 ,000 in just 43 years even today the indigenous people who make up about 40% of the 270,000 population of New calonia have lower incomes and worse Health outcomes than Europeans meanwhile Europeans make up a third of the population and hold most of the leadership positions oops and naturally
the separation isn't profitable for France because new calonia also has valuable nickel deposits some of the largest in the world the indous part of the population is mostly in favor of separation and it's understandable when you've spent literally a hundred years on your own land without any political rights it doesn't help you feel friendly toward the colonizers as for other reasons I've already mentioned them so what's the outcome during his visit in July 2023 French president Emanuel macron said that Independence is no longer seen as an option since the people of new calonia voted against
it there were three referendums and even without considering the last one the majority is still in favor of France but the independence movement isn't satisfied with this response and plans to keep fighting they proposed a date for gaining independence September 24th 2024 the 171st anniversary of the French seizure of the territory but 2024 didn't work out so everything had to be pushed to September 24th 2025 now we just have to wait but let's get back to the reasons new countries are emerge because there are also territorial disputes or Unions that's when separate territories or entities
come together to form a new state and of course there are constitutional reforms this could mean rewriting the Constitution changes in governance systems for instance transitioning from monarchy to Republic or a shift in power but most often new countries form when an existing country splits up or breaks apart and although all sorts of things happen the example of the latest new countries shows that they become states to solve some problem there's a certain International benefit in recognizing them by the way don't think that the drive for Independence in recent years is exclusive to Islands only
there are many examples from the mainland and one of them is the bases the basks are an ethnic group that comes from the region of Southwest France and Northwest Spain it's believed that the basks originated from Neolithic farmers who became genetically isolated from other European populations due to their geographical location mountains are mountains after all but then the territory gradually passed over to Spain and overall since these Basque lands are essentially located between two major countries they were constantly taking them from each other there were also periods of self-governance but the Basque government was finally
abolished in 1839 between 1936 and 1975 during Franco's regime The Basque language was banned the rights of the Bas were V ated and The Basque town of gika was bombed Basque self-government was only restored in 1979 and today part of the territory belongs to Spain while the other part is in France however since 1997 there have been constant protests with people demanding a referendum and independence from both of these countries in 2018 the basks of Spain for example formed a human 125m long chain calling for a vote on Independence Reuters writes that While most from
The Basque Country which already has a high level of self-determination its own language and culture do not support Independence many believe the population should be given the right to vote in general it seems like it's time to resolve the issue but first they need to arrange a referendum and that's where things are tricky for now all right we got the background covered but what exactly has to happen for a new country to come into being and be recognized as a real State there aren't any strict official rules but international law does exist along with something
called The Mont videoo convention which is a document the mon videoo Convention of 1933 defined a state as a sovereign entity that meets four criteria permanent population defined territorial boundaries government agreements with other states well or an ability to enter into agreements with other states even when these criteria seem to be met it doesn't guarantee that a state's Independence will be fully recognized by the International Community a common obstacle is resistance from the country The Entity seeks to separate from followed by the challenge of gaining widespread official recognition from other nations it's simple for one
territory to become a new state another existing sovereign state has to lose part of its territory but every such state has laws and Norms regarding territorial integrity and these are some of the oldest and most important rules they literally form the basis of the entire International system that's why there's no clear legal path to obtaining Sovereign statehood there's also no legally established mechanism to determine whether a territory becomes a sovereign state the only way to understand how this works is to look at existing examples but generally speaking a territory becomes the state when its independence
is recognized by the United Nations but this process is very very complicated with lots of nuances loopholes and hidden pitfalls if we simplify it as much as possible it looks like something like this first in the country that's breaking away most people need to willingly back this decision a referendum and all that second the country from which it's breaking away also has to be okay with it so third in a country that's breaking away there needs to be enough people territory and a government for the new state to be fully independent and able to support
itself then the UN will agree and this recognition means that the new country gets access to the World Bank the international monetary fund and other similar perks right now there are a lot of Independence movements happening all around the world so we definitely won't have time to cover them all but there are countries that are closest to success first of all it's Greenland Greenland sees itself as a self-governing autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1979 Greenland has had its own government and Parliament but most of its territory is still influenced by its Colonial
past to give you an idea Greenland became a colony of Denmark in 1721 and since then it's been part of it but in the last two decades the independence movement in Greenland has become more active and the draft Constitution presented in April 2023 clearly hints at a soon to be separation the next elections for the parliament of Greenland are set for 20125 after which the country will likely push even harder for Independence the desire to break away from Denmark is constantly growing to give you an idea a survey conducted in 2016 showed that among greenlanders
a clear majority 64% supported full independence by 2019 that percentage had increased to 67.8% basically if a referendum is held in the next few decades its results are pretty easy to predict and if we take for example Scotland it has a totally different history Scotland was an independent Kingdom in the Middle Ages and actively very fiercely resisted to keep this independence from England But ultimately two kingdoms came together politically as one under the name Great Britain in 1707 this ended the wars for Independence and brought about a time of relative peace however starting in the
19th century political movements for separation began 10 years ago the population of Scotland voted and 55% of the residents were against Independence which is why the region stayed part of the United Kingdom the margin was clear enough to answer the question of whether Scotland wants independent but of course that's not enough to stop the debates Forever at the same time most Scots 52% are happy about the referendum and only 33% of the population think it's a bad idea on this chart you can see that the support level does fluctuate sometimes 53% of people voted for
the separation twice the first time in August 2020 and the second time in December 2022 the problem is that many Scots don't know how to vote and are uncertain plus many of of those voting against separation admit they have doubts about their decision overall it's all pretty unclear the country is basically at a Crossroads according to the latest polls 37% of people are in favor of a second referendum within the next 5 years while 43% support holding it within the next decade plus nearly half of Scots believe that Scotland is likely to stop being part
of the United Kingdom by 2074 what's more the independence Advocates claim they're willing to battle for separation to The Bitter End so perhaps they'll actually get what they want in the near future West Papa has its own story too have you heard of such a country actually it's the Western half of the island of New Guinea bordering the independent state of Papa New Guinea the island is located just 124 Mi north of Australia West papa is home to over 250 different tribes each speaking their own unique languages and having their own unique culture a few
dozen thousand years ago this area was inhabited by melanesians and they just lived their lives this went on for quite a while until after a bit of contact with the Western World it was finally and officially colonized by the Netherlands this happened in 1898 the islands that now make up Indonesia were also colonized by the Dutch but when the Republic of Indonesia became an independent nation in 1949 West Papa didn't join the country the Dutch government recognized Iz that West papa is geographically ethnically and culturally very different from Indonesia and therefore should be completely independent
and at the end of 1961 West Papa held a congress where its people proclaimed Independence and raised a new flag so what happened next well just a few months later the Indonesian military invaded West Papa because Indonesia wanted those former Dutch colonies for itself after a while and a bunch of armed conflicts well Papa became part of Indonesia since then the poons have been fighting for their independence because they're basically under occupation and it's pretty harsh things are really really bad there but this story's too long to go into detail so I'll skip that I'll
just say that according to Human Rights organizations over 500,000 civilians have been killed to give you an idea there are currently 5695 70 people living in west Papa and most of them agree that the country needs Independence and it should be achieved peacefully and finally let's get back from the islands and archipelagos to Europe back to Spain because here on the Iberian Peninsula the independence movement has been going on for centuries I'm talking about Catalonia an autonomous community in the northeast of Spain south of the Pyrenees Mountains Catalonia has a very long and eventful history
so the roots of separatist feelings can be traced back to the mid 19th century however a notable spike in support for the independence idea has been seen in the last 14 years or so the push for Independence was so Swift that it resulted in the 2017 referendum Additionally the Spanish authorities disagreed with its execution and openly labeled the referendum illegal it happened anyway despite extremely tough actions from the Spanish police according to Catalin officials 90% of Voters rooted for Independence but the turnout was just 43% with reports of violations still Independence for Catalonia was declared
unilaterally triggering Mass protests arrests and the most severe constitutional crisis in the country after a while everything calmed down a bit in the Catalonia elections held this year the parties that advocate for Independence lost their parliamentary majority it had been held since 2015 by the way maybe people are just tired of the idea of fighting for Independence but that doesn't mean the movement itself is over support for Independence has dropped but even at its current low level it's still 42% of the population in Catalonia I'd say the separation process is taking longer but I doubt
it'll stop altogether new African country in 2017 an armed conflict began in Cameroon specifically in two regions the Northwest and Southwest since then Rebels have been striving to create a state called ambazonia which comes from these English-speaking regions as a result of the conflict more than 6,000 people have died and 765,000 people have been forced to leave their homes Cameroon has a full set of issues Colonial Legacy a history of uprisings and even internal geography however so far the rebels lack the numbers money and unity to go beyond the rebellion and seriously work on forming
a new state moreover Cameroon has over 20 ethnic groups within a population of 29 million people the English-speaking identity hasn't displaced ethnic belonging which means the rebels Victory well let's just say it's very unlikely the emergence of a new state looks really like something from a fantasy world but there's still some progress and I had to bring it up despite the things happening in Cameroon as of 2024 no country recognized ambz Amazonia Quebec state have you ever heard that Quebec wants to be an independent state personally I haven't but it turns out that from 1990
to 2005 about 50% of Quebec's residents said they wanted independence from Canada during the Quebec Independence Movement two referendums were held one in 1980 and the other in 1995 with the supporters of Separation coming very close to winning the second one but it's been three decades since that referendum and two since the last poll and the situation has changed dramatically the issue of Independence doesn't seem to interest not only the population but also the politicians anymore today only about a third of cuqua still support Independence while another third advocates for more autonomy for Quebec in
other words for it to stay a part of Canada just become more independent but that brings up the question why has everything changed so much usually when a territory start seeking Independence that desire just keeps getting stronger over time but here it's the opposite Canada acknowledged and reacted to Quebec's push for more autonomy the province has received a lot more control over its territory and it seems like everyone's happy with it now Quebec even has the right to call a referendum on Independence if it ever wants to but for now it seems like not many
people are interested although supporters of Independence have their own arguments they usually claim that the province has a unique culture and a french-speaking majority which is 78% of the population there's also a historical argument Quebec was conquered by the British in 1760 and handed over to Britain but originally the territory was French Well for now quaqua are clearly satisfied with everything see you later and don't forget about the like
