Country that exists only in fiction and not in reality
For unrecognised countries that do not claim to be fictional, see
Micronation
.
Map of the
Land of Oz
, the fictional country in the book
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Fictitious countries from the novel
Nineteen Eighty-Four
A
fictional country
is a country that is made up for
fictional stories
, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof.
Sailors have always mistaken low clouds for land masses, and in later times this was given the name
Dutch capes
.
[1]
Other fictional lands appear most commonly as settings or subjects of
myth
, literature, film, or video games. They may also be used for technical reasons in actual reality for use in the development of specifications, such as the fictional country of
Bookland
, which is used to allow
European Article Number
"country" codes 978 and 979 to be used for
ISBNs
assigned to books, and code 977 to be assigned for use for
ISSN
numbers on magazines and other periodicals. Also, the
ISO 3166
country code "ZZ" is reserved as a fictional country code.
[
citation needed
]
Fictional countries appear commonly in stories of early
science fiction
(or
scientific romance
). Such countries supposedly form part of the normal Earth landscape, although not located in a normal atlas. Later similar tales often took place on
fictional planets
.
[
citation needed
]
In
Gulliver's Travels
by
Jonathan Swift
, the protagonist,
Lemuel Gulliver
, visited various strange places.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
placed the adventures of
Tarzan
in areas in Africa that, at the time, remained mostly unknown to the West and to the East. Isolated islands with strange creatures and/or customs enjoyed great popularity in these authors' times. By the 19th century, when Western explorers had surveyed most of the Earth's surface, this option was lost to Western culture. Thereafter, fictional
utopian
and
dystopian
societies tended to spring up on other
planets
or in space, whether in human colonies or in alien societies originating elsewhere. Fictional countries can also be used in stories set in a distant future, with other political borders than today.
[
citation needed
]
Superhero
and secret agent
comics
and some
thrillers
also use fictional countries on Earth as backdrops. Most of these countries exist only for a single story, a TV-series episode or an issue of a comic book. There are notable exceptions where fictional countries appear as recurring plot elements, such as:
Qumar and Equatorial Kundu
(
The West Wing
);
Latveria
(
Marvel Comics
); and
Qurac
and Bialya (
DC Comics
).
[
citation needed
]
Purposes
[
edit
]
Fictional countries often deliberately resemble or even represent some real-world country or present a utopia or dystopia for commentary. Variants of the country's name sometimes make it clear what country they really have in mind. By using a fictional country instead of a real one, authors can exercise greater freedom in creating characters, events, and settings, while at the same time presenting a vaguely familiar locale that readers can recognize. A fictional country leaves the author unburdened by the restraints of a real nation's actual history, politics, and culture, and can thus allow for greater scope in plot construction and be exempt from criticism for vilifying an actual nation, political party, or people. The fictional Tomania (a
parody
of
Nazi Germany
named after
ptomaine
) serves as a setting for
Charlie Chaplin
's
The Great Dictator
and skewers a regime infamous for religious bigotry, militarism, racism, diplomatic bullying, and violations of civil liberties.
Charlie Chaplin mocks
Adolf Hitler
in a setting that ridicules Nazi Germany and its leadership, and uses
double-crosses
as mockery of the Nazi
swastika
.
Fictional countries are also invented for the purpose of military training scenarios,
[2]
e.g. the group of islands around
Hawaii
were assigned the names Blueland and Orangeland in the international maritime exercise,
RIMPAC 98
.
[3]
[4]
In survey research
[
edit
]
Fictional countries have been created for polling purposes. When polled in April 2004, 8% of British people believed that the [fictional] country of Luvania would soon join the European Union.
[5]
In the 1989
General Social Survey
, U.S. respondents were asked to rate the social status of people of "Wisian" background, a fictional national heritage. While a majority of respondents said they could not place the Wisians in the U.S. social hierarchy, those who did ranked their status as quite low, giving an average of 4.12 on a 9-point scale, where 9 was the highest social standing.
[6]
"Once you let the Wisians in, the neighborhood goes to pot", quipped
Time
magazine.
[7]
Legendary countries
[
edit
]
Countries from stories, myths, legends, that some believe to exist, or to have existed at some point:
- Atlantis
- Aztlan
- El Dorado
- Lemuria
(continent)
- Lyonesse
- Mu
(continent)
- Ophir
(In 1946 an inscribed pottery shard was found at Tell Qasile (in modern-day Tel Aviv) dating to the eighth century BC. It bears, in Paleo-Hebrew script the text "gold of Ophir to/for Beth-Horon ... 30 shekels". The find confirms that Ophir was a place where gold was imported from, although its location remains unknown.)
- Shangri-La
or
Shambhala
See also
[
edit
]
Books
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Schott's Quintessential Miscellany, p.119,
ISBN
978-1-4088-1577-9
- ^
"Navy News - News Desk - News - HMS Edinburgh works out in the Pacific"
. www.navynews.co.uk
. Retrieved
December 14,
2008
.
- ^
"RIMPAC simulates conflict between divided countries - Asian Political News"
. findarticles.com. August 3, 1998
. Retrieved
December 14,
2008
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC)"
. www.globalsecurity.org
. Retrieved
December 14,
2008
.
- ^
Haines, Lester (April 29, 2004).
"Brits welcome Luvania to EU"
.
The Register
.
- ^
"Bias Thrives In a Vacuum"
.
The New York Times
. January 8, 1992.
- ^
"American Notes: Ethnicity"
.
Time
. January 20, 1992. Archived from
the original
on October 26, 2012.
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Fictional countries
at Wikimedia Commons
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