Daniel Jackson was just 14 when he and his friends spotted a strip of forest between Serbia and Croatia on a map and decided to claim it as their own. Now 20, Jackson is the self-declared president of Verdis, a micronation slightly larger than Vatican City, but he lives in exile in a house behind a bingo hall in Dover, Kent.
The Free Republic of Verdis was born from a border dispute between Serbia and Croatia. Serbia considers its border the centre line of the Danube, while Croatia prefers old cadastral maps. The discrepancy left several patches of land unclaimed, including the 1.6-hectare site Jackson and his friends discovered. “We believe we’re rightful to it under international law,” Jackson says, noting that neither Croatia nor Serbia has claimed the territory since the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Jackson and his government have established a flag, laws, and a map, and have accepted 400 citizens from 15,000 applicants. Legal experts have told him that because Verdis is the oldest active claimant, it has a strong case. In October 2023, Jackson and a group of citizens tried to settle permanently in Verdis, but Croatian police forcibly removed them. Jackson and his vice-president were issued lifetime bans from Croatia, making it nearly impossible to access Verdis without entering Croatian territory.
Now in exile, Jackson works from home as a freelance game developer for Roblox. He dresses in a suit and tie with a Verdisian flag on his lapel when meeting visitors, and insists on keeping his temporary home tidy. “We would love to enter Eurovision!” he has said, expressing ambitions for his micronation.
