"If these people can claim Minerva, what would stop them from doing it here?" Consequently, a conference of the neighboring states (Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, and territory of Cook Islands) met on 24 February 1972 at which Tonga made a claim over the Minerva Reefs, and the rest of the states recognized its claim. On 15 June 1972 the following proclamation was published in a Tongan government gazette: A Tongan expedition was sent to enforce the claim, arriving on 18 June 1972. The Flag of Tonga was raised on 19 June 1972 on North Minerva and on South Minerva on 21 June 1972. Tonga's claim was recognized by the South Pacific Forum in September 1972. Meanwhile, Provisional President Davis was fired by founder Michael Oliver and the project collapsed in confusion. Nevertheless, Minerva was referred to in O. T. Nelson's post-apocalyptic children's novel The Girl Who Owned a City, published in 1975, as an example of an invented utopia that the book's protagonists could try to emulate. In 1982 a group of Americans led again by Davis tried to occupy the reefs, but were forced off by Tongan troops after three weeks. No known claimant group since 1982 has made any attempt to take possession of the Minerva Reefs. In November 2005, Fiji lodged a complaint with the International Seabed Authority concerning Tonga's maritime waters claims surrounding Minerva. Tonga has lodged a counter claim. The Minerva "principality" group also claims to have lodged a counter claim. Coins See also Sealand - a declared principality near the United Kingdom which is built on a WWII sea fort. REM Island, a platform towed into international waters for the purposes of offshore radio broadcasting. Ocean colonization Seasteading Republic of Rose Island Saya de Malha Bank How to Start Your Own Country Footnotes References Strauss, Erwin S. How to Start Your Own Country, 2nd ed. Port Townsend, WA: Breakout Productions, 1984. Olaf Ruhen, Minerva Reef (Halstead Press, Sydney, 1963) Samuel Pyeatt Menefee, "Republics of the Reefs": Nation-Building on the Continental Shelf and in the World's Oceans,California Western International Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, Fall 1994 South Seas: The Minerva Ploy, Newsweek, 23 October 1972 South Sea Reef Proclaimed a Republic by 3 Americans, New York Times, 30 January 1972 Micronations: Principality of Minerva, FHM Estonia, January 2005 Principality of Minerva, Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard, by David Henley,