Exploring additional potential new countries

Okay, I don't want the entire channel to be just about this, but you guys seem to really like it, so here is part 3, and Fun With Flags will be back next week. So, here we go, more new countries that might exist in the future. Starting in Asia, with one region that's been talked about a lot lately. Hong Kong. Recently, there have been a lot of protests by the population in Hong Kong against the local government. I won't get into the reasons why, you can look it up, plus it would take too long to fully explain here. However, the discontent of the population made some people mention the idea of the region becoming independent from China. Now, I'm not saying that these specific protests are the reason why it would become independent, but they have brought the theme into public discussion, which is why I'm talking about it here. There were even some people in the protests, using the British colonial flags of Hong Kong, demonstrating their discontent with being under Chinese rule. Under the law, and following the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, having a higher degree of autonomy than other places. For instance, they get to elect their rulers through universal voting, but the candidates are pre-selected and approved by Beijing. Essentially, it goes in hand with the one country, two systems rule. Now, what some people argue, and what they say is demonstrated by the protests, is that this rule has failed. A poll conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong a few years ago state that only 17% of the population want independence. But this number goes up to 40% when the respondents are aged from 15 to 24. So as these younger generations grow up, the desire for independence might grow as well. Moving to Africa and to one possible country that a lot of you mentioned in the comments of previous videos. East African Federation. The EAF is a proposed union of six African countries. Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda as a single federated sovereign state. In September of 2018, a committee was formed to begin the process of drafting a regional constitution. What's crazy about this is that it looks like it's actually happening. It's not some utopic, idealized plan. If slash when the union is complete, the East African Federation would become the largest African country and the 10th largest in the world. Swahili would be the lingua franca and the official language would be English. The proposed capital is the Tanzanian city of Arusha, which is close to the Kenyan border. The type of terrain is similar just like the cultural aspects of the population, so this could actually work out very well. Next, we have the country that's most likely to exist out of this list, because it's actually holding an independence referendum soon. Bougainville. Bougainville is the main island of the autonomous region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. In 2001, the Bougainville Peace Agreement took place between Papua New Guinea and the autonomous government of the region. In it, it was stated that an independence referendum must be held before the year 2020. And so, this year, in October of 2019, it will happen. However, the vote isn't legally binding, and the government of Papua New Guinea has the final say on what happens. But the two options on the referendum are greater autonomy or independence. So, the one guarantee is that things won't stay the same. Bougainville Island is the largest of the Solomon Islands archipelago, forming part of the Northern Solomon Islands subset, which is politically separate from the sovereign country also called the Solomon Islands. So, if they do get independence, who knows, they might eventually unite with the rest of their archipelago. Another place that's been increasingly granted autonomy and which seems to be on the path for full-on independence is Greenland. Greenland was colonized by Denmark and the Danish populated the region but there were already local natives in the area. In 1953, a new Danish constitution incorporated Greenland in Denmark and it was recognized as a Danish province. In 1979, Greenland was granted home rule by the Danish government but Denmark remained in control of a number of key areas including foreign relations, defense, currency and a legal system. In 2008, Greenland's citizens approved the Greenlandic self-government referendum with a 75% vote in favor of higher autonomy. Greenland took control of law enforcement, the coast guard and their legal system. In 2009, the official language changed from Danish to Greenlandic. As a part of the self-rule law of 2009, Greenland can declare full independence if they wish. But it would have to be approved by a referendum among their people. A poll in 2016 showed that there was a clear majority, 64%, for full independence. But one in 2017 showed that there was a clear opposition, 78%, if it meant a fall in living standards. However, given the evolution of things, I think it's likely that we'll see an independent Greenland soon. All the way in America we have the Lone Star State, the former independent republic and the eternal maybe of independence when it comes to US states. Texas. Texas has already been independent. In 1835-36 US colonists and Texas Mexicans revolted against Mexican rule of the region. In 1836 they declared independence as the Republic of Texas, still disputing a large chunk of territory with Mexico. The citizens of the republic were known as Texans. The Republic of Texas was annexed by the US on December 29, 1845 and was admitted to the Union as the 28th state. But almost 20 years later, they voted to secede in 1861 as the American Civil War began. Interestingly though, they were the last southern state to secede and a lot of people wanted to remain as part of the Union. Some wanted to take the opportunity to restore their independence, but they decided to join the Confederacy. So, independence wasn't achieved. After the Civil War, talk of secession kind of died down, but it seems as if the desire for independence was still rooted in some parts of Texas. Even recently, in 2012, the governor of Texas at the time mentioned the possibility of secession from the Union as his supporters in the crowd chanted secede. A poll in the same year found that one-third of Texans thought that the state had the right to secede, but only 18% actually wanted to do it. There are only two US states separated from the mainland. These two are Alaska and Hawaii. Out of regional logic, which is a a concept I 100% just made up, it would make sense that these two would be the most likely to secede and become independent due to their distance to the continental US. So let's start with Alaska. Alaska became a territory of the US in 1867 when it was purchased from the Russian Empire. Events in the 20th century such as World War II and the Cold War led to the decision to add Alaska as a state to the American Union, only becoming one in 1959. There's a lot of arguments and discussions about the legal status of Alaska and Hawaii and how that legal status might make them slightly different from other states in the Union. The same thing happens with Texas, but that's a whole legal debate that I both don't fully understand and don't want to bore you with. However, shortly after becoming a state, some movements for independence began to appear, but never with much strength or adherence from the local population. In 2010, it was the Russians themselves which, through some groups, claimed that the area should be returned to Russia, but these were private groups and the state was quick to clarify that it did not support it. It could also make sense that locals would want to join Canada, since it's the one country they actually have land borders with. But again, I don't see this happening anytime soon. And then there's Hawaii. Some groups in the island defend some form of redress from the US for the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani and for what is described as a military occupation through the 1898 annexation. In fact, in 1993, the US Congress passed an apology resolution admitting the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii as being illegal 100 years after they did it. Most of the people who defend sovereignty claim that the native people have been neglected and live under worse conditions than others, also stating that there has been an erosion of native traditions due to the lack of native governance. On September of 2015, the US Department of the Interior announced a procedure to recognize a native Hawaiian government, but I couldn't find much about this so I assume it didn't really follow through. Regardless of all US states likely to secede, I think Hawaii is the most possible to actually happen, although still a little unlikely. Just before I mentioned how Alaska could prefer joining Canada instead of being independent, but there's also a part of Canada which could team up with a part of the US and declare independence together. Cascadia. Cascadia is a proposed country or autonomous region located within the western region of North America. It would consist of the Canadian province of British Columbia and the US states of Washington and Oregon. If stretched to the max claim, it would reach Southern Alaska, North California and small parts of Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and the Yukon. The claim is that this area is its own bioregion and so it would make sense for it to be its own nation or at least ran by one common government. The idea dates back a while. In 1860 there were three different statements from separate influential individuals on the creation of a sovereign Pacific Republic in the area. During the Civil War in the US some locals saw it as a possible chance to grasp independence during the confusion on the East Coast but it ended up not happening more recently it seems as if the movement has lost steam but who knows if existent it would be the 20th largest country in the world so those are some other countries that might be independent in the near or far future thanks so much for watching this video remember to subscribe to catch new ones leave a comment below with your suggestions and remember to join our Discord server and join the talk with me and other subscribers until next time