Zoran Nikolic explains the contents of his book in the introduction. There is a difference between a microstate and a micronation, states are recognized internationally, nations are rather informal and not recognized. The Principality of Sealand, a fort in the North Sea (off the southeast coast of England) is just a fun state but should Birobidzhan have been included? This was established in 1934 in the Soviet Union as the first Jewish Autonomous Oblast and located near China and the Pacific
The contents include most of the world's microstates past and present. Europe has the most (thirty-nine) though several of these are historical going back as far as 1278 for Andorra. Considering the number of islands in the Caribbean (twelve nations) and Oceania (thirteen listed) I would have expected more tiny statelets.
Each state gets a spread with a map, flag, location map and basic facts on the left-hand page. The right-hand has a page of text and I think it would been useful to break this up into two columns with a couple of sidebars. Eight pages at the back include some really small countries (including rather large Greenland and Mongolia). Oddly, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Ceuta and Melilla, Ascension, Saint Helena, Goa, Macau and Chagos Archipelago don't get a mention in the book.
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