The Principality of Tejas
The Principality of Tejas is a micronation in North America spanning 40,000 acres and otherwise surrounded by either United States soil or Mexican territory.
It was founded between 1806 and 1811 by former US Vice President Aaron Burr who purchased a substantial tract of land in what was then Spanish Mexico and settled a group of armed farmers there with the assistance of Irish landowner and later First Minister Blennehasset and rumored collusion of certain officers in the US Continental Army.
Tensions and skirmishes with the US were occuring over Florida and other matters and due to political and personal problems in the USA proper, Burr used the excuse of a brief skirmish between US and Spanish forces to declare his purchased land an independent principality with himself as Crown Prince Aaron I, his daughter Theodosia Crown Princess and his appointed successor and Blennehasset his minister.
His farmers seized the land and repelled a series of attacks by both the Spaniards and US forces sent against him to arrest him on charges of treason.
Burr claimed all of Tejas and large portions of both the Louisiana Purchase and Spanish Mexico but in practice only controlled the 40,000 acres. He formed the farmers into an organized army and implemented laws granting suffrage and education for women within his small personal realm.
He tried unsuccessfully several times to assert his territorial claims and his men were usually defeated or forced to withdraw later by militia, new settlers or hostile native tribes.
Aaron Burr died in 1836, his principality still limited to 40,000 acres, its capital of Aaronstown, outlying settlements of Blennehasset and Edwardston under Crown Princess Theodosia, her children suceeding her as the Burr Dynasty.
The Principality of Tejas was eventually diplomatically recognized by Great Britain and begrudingly by the United States after being harassed by Principality militia when US armed forces passed through and occupied Edwardston and Blennehasset during the Mexican-American War.
Today, the Principality of Tejas is a prosperous though small nation well known for its casinos, Women's College, and serving as a drug trafficking point for Latin American cartels smuggling illegal substances into the United States.