Michael Oliver is a Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n immigrant of Jewish descent, Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 millionaire

Millionaire

A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...

, and political activist. He was the founder of the micronation

Micronation

Micronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are entities that claim to be independent nations or states but which are not recognized by world governments or major international organizations...

 project the Republic of Minerva

Republic of Minerva

The Republic of Minerva was one of the few modern attempts at creating a sovereign micronation on the reclaimed land of an artificial island in 1972. The architect was Las Vegas real estate millionaire and political activist Michael Oliver, who went on to other similar attempts in the following...

, a failed attempt to create a sovereign state in the South Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 in 1972.

In the following decades, Oliver and his Phoenix Foundation

Phoenix Foundation

The Phoenix Foundation is a libertarian foundation that has supported numerous attempts which at times have been violent to create independent enclaves based on libertarian principles and tax havens. The foundation was a started by Nevada based real estate millionaire Michael Oliver, his friend...

 were also involved in similar projects on the Bahamian

The Bahamas

The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

 island of Abaco

Abaco Islands

The Abaco Islands lie in the northern Bahamas and comprise the main islands of Great Abaco and Little Abaco, together with the smaller Wood Cay, Elbow Cay, Lubbers Quarters Cay, Green Turtle Cay, Great Guana Cay, Castaway Cay, Man-o-War Cay, Stranger's Cay, Umbrella Cay, Walker's Cay, Little Grand...

 and in Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

 with the New Hebrides Autonomy Movement

Nagriamel

Nagriamel is a political movement initially based in the northern islands of the New Hebrides during the late 1970s.Nagriamel called for a focus on the traditional, village-centered way of life for the ni-Vanuatu people, though its messianic leader Jimmy Stevens and his compound in the Fanafo area...

 (MANH) which was done by financing an insurrection. He also published a manifesto of his libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

 beliefs.

Oliver is prohibited to enter in Vanuatu and his nation-building projects seem to be on hiatus.

External links

• Interview with Oliver at Stay Free Magazine (no date, file published 10-Mar-1995)
• "Phoenix: ashes to ashes" is a lengthy article about Oliver's activities and the Phoenix Foundation ("New Internationalist" magazine; July 1981; )
• Recent obituary for Tongan King also comments on Michael Oliver and the Republic of Minerva (mental_floss magazine; 12 September 2006 )