{{Short description|Micronation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US}} {{Infobox micronation | claimed_by = Robert Ben Madison | date_start = 26 December 1979 | area_claimed = East Side Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States;<br />[[Cézembre]];<br />[[Marie Byrd Land]] |official_website=https://talossa.com}}
'''Talossa''', also known as the '''Kingdom of Talossa''' ({{langx|tzl|Regipäts Talossan}} {{IPA|tzl|ˈred͡ʒipæt͡s tɐɫɔˈsan|}}), is one of the earliest [[micronation]]s{{snd}}founded in 1979 by then-14-year-old Robert Ben Madison of [[Milwaukee]] and at first confined to his bedroom; he adopted the name after discovering that the word means "inside the house" in Finnish. Among the first such projects still maintained, it has kept up a web presence since 1995.<ref name=econ>[http://www.economist.com/diversions/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5323713 "Castles in the air."] ''[[The Economist]]'', 20 December 2005.</ref><ref name=cnn>[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/27/shortcuts.countries/index.html "Shortcuts: Starting your own country"] CNN.com, 27 September 2006.</ref> Its internet and media exposure since the late 1990s contributed to the appearance of other subsequent internet micronations.
Talossa claims several places on Earth as its territory, especially a portion of [[Milwaukee]], calling it the "Greater Talossan Area"; no such claim, however, is recognized by the [[United Nations]] or by any sovereign nation. As of 5 August 2023, the number of active citizens is said to be 157.<ref>{{cite web|title=Talossan Database|url=http://www.talossa.ca/files/citizens.php}}</ref> Including those who are no longer citizens for various reasons, those who are under the age of 14 and so are not yet citizens, and those from the ESB Affair<ref>{{cite web|title=Talossa Entry|url=http://wiki.talossa.com/Eiric_B%C3%B6rnatfiglheu}}</ref> there are 564 total registered individuals. The current King of Talossa is Sir Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvá,<ref name="talossa.com">https://talossa.com/</ref> who in December 2024 succeeded John I.
== Culture == Talossan culture has been developed over the years by Robert Madison and other fans. The [[#Talossan language|Talossan language]], also created by Madison in 1980,<ref>talossan.com. [http://talossan.com/history/ History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706040022/http://talossan.com/history/ |date=2023-07-06 }}. Retrieved 24 January 2016.</ref> claims a vocabulary of 35 000 root words and 121 000 derived words<ref name="history">"[http://talossan.com/history/modern-history/ The CÚG and Its Mission] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706211101/http://talossan.com/history/modern-history/ |date=2023-07-06 }}," ''El Glheþ Talossan,'' 2012. Accessed 2 June 2016.</ref>{{snd }}including ''fieschada'' ({{IPA|[fjeˈʃaðə]}})'','' meaning "[[love at first sight]]".<ref name="transl">"{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120321213231/http://www.kingdomoftalossa.net/Oversteir.cgi L'Översteir]}}" (Translator), ''El Glheþ Talossan,'' 2012. Accessed 2 June 2016.</ref><ref name=wired />
== History and growth == Talossa was founded as a kingdom on 26 December 1979,<ref name=arpats>[https://docplayer.net/47443172-Ar-pats-the-classic-history-of-the-kingdom-of-talossa-r-ben-madison-m-a.html R. Ben Madison (2008), "Ár Päts: Classic History of the Kingdom of Talossa"] accessed on 2020-03-18.</ref> by Madison, shortly after the death of his mother. Madison maintained Talossa throughout his adolescence, publishing a handwritten newspaper and designing a flag and emblem. During this time its only other members were about a dozen relatives and acquaintances. This changed in the mid-1990s, when a series of stories in the ''[[New York Times]]''<ref name=nytimes2000>Stephen Mimh (2000) ''Utopian rulers and spoofs stake out territory online''. New York Times, May 25, 2000</ref><ref name=nytimes2005>Roberta Smith, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05EFDF1030F936A25754C0A9639C8B63 "Art in Review: We could have invited everybody"]. [[New York Times]] July 15, 2005.</ref> and ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'',<ref name=wired>Alex Blumberg, [https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.03/kingdoms.html "It's good to be king"]. [[Wired magazine|Wired]], March 2000, 8.03.</ref> subsequently republished elsewhere, drew his website to popular attention. Several new "citizens" joined Talossa as a result, and Madison began to claim that he was the inventor of the term "micronation".{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}
In April 1996, Madison reestablished the dormant [[League of Secessionist States]]—an [[intermicronational organisation]] originally founded by him and two friends in 1980—and launched a website for it.<ref>{{cite book|last=O'Driscoll|first=Fabrice|date=2000|title=[[Ils ne siègent pas à l'ONU: revue de quelques micro-Etats, micro-nations et autres entités éphémères]]|language=fr|isbn=978-2-87867-251-0|page=258|publisher=Presses du Midi }}</ref> Between 1997 and at least 2000, it was the most prominent intermicronational organisation on the Internet.<ref name=nytimes2000/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yr0WAQAAIAAJ|last=Fuligni|first=Bruno|author-link=Bruno Fuligni|year=1997|title=L'État c'est moi: Histoire des monarchies privées, principautés de fantaisie et autres républiques pirates|language=fr|isbn=978-2-90529-169-1|page=221|publisher=Editions de Paris |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
Madison disestablished the "kingdom" in late 2005, but Talossa is still active today despite the lack of involvement of the original founder.<ref>{{Cite book|page=101|title = Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations| isbn=1-74104-730-7|date=September 2006|publisher=Lonely Planet|first1=John |last1=Ryan|first2=George |last2=Dunford| first3=Simon |last3=Sellars}}</ref>
Madison registered "Talossa"<ref name=uspto>[http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4801:6rkl7v.2.1 Talossa entry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709203054/https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4801:6rkl7v.2.1 |date=2022-07-09 }}, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Accessed June 2, 2016</ref> as a service mark in 2005 and created Talossa, Inc., a Wisconsin not-for-profit corporation. By 2013 the service mark had been cancelled and the corporation had been administratively dissolved.<ref name=wdfi>[https://www.wdfi.org/apps/CorpSearch/Results.aspx?type=Simple&q=Talossa Talossa entry] in Wisconsin Financial Institutions register. Accessed on 2010-01-01.</ref>
== Talossan language == {{Infobox language | name = Talossan | nativename = ''Talossan'' | pronunciation = {{IPA|[tɐɫɔˈsan]}} | fam1 = [[Constructed language]]s | fam2 = [[Artistic language]]s | creator = Robert Ben Madison | created = 1980 | image = Flag of the Talossan language.svg{{!}}border | imagescale = 0.7 | setting = Talossa | script = [[Latin script|Latin]] (Talossan alphabet) | posteriori = [[a posteriori language]] ([[Romance languages|Romance]]) | agency = La Società per l'Ilesnaziun del Glheþ Naziunal | iso3 = tzl | linglist = tzl | glotto = talo1253 | glottorefname = Talossan | familycolor = }}
Madison invented Talossan ({{IPA|tzl|tɐɫɔˈsan|}} or {{lang|tzl|el glheþ Talossan}} {{IPA|tzl|ɛɫ ʎeθ tɐɫɔˈsan|}}) as a [[constructed language]] for his [[micronation]]. With its relatively large vocabulary, which is mostly French-based, it has been described at least once as one of the most detailed [[fictional language]]s ever invented.<ref name=wired /> The former Association of Talossan Language Organisations (ATLO) maintained a website describing the language for new learners, providing language information, research and online translation to and from English.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.talossan.com/ |title=El Glheþ Talossan {{!}} Information and Resources for the Student and User of the Talossan Language |access-date=2016-05-04 |archive-date=2021-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212020024/http://talossan.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[ISO 639]] designation is "tzl".<ref name="tzl">[http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=tzl Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: tzl], 2013-01-23. Accessed 2 June 2016.</ref> That website is now deprecated, and new resources will{{when|date=February 2022}} be created with the formation of ''la Società per l'Ilesnaziun del Glheþ Naziunal'' (Society for the Facilitation of the National Language, SIGN).
The language was overseen by the ''Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ'' ("Committee for the Use of the Language," CÚG), a group formed by Madison which periodically issued both ''Arestadas'' (decrees) to describe and document changes in language usage of the language and ''Pienamaintschen'' (supplements), to update the vocabulary list. The CÚG maintained a multi-lingual website providing access to the recent recommendations of the committee.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100825164445/http://cuglang.com/ Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ]}}, CÚG</ref>
== See also == * [[Constructed language]] (conlang) * [[List of micronations]]
== Literature == * Clemens J. Setz: ''Die Bienen und das Unsichtbare'', Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2020, pp. 174–184.{{ISBN?}}
== References == {{Ibid|date=July 2025}} {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == * [http://wiki.talossa.com/Main_Page Talossa wiki] * [http://www.talossan.com/ Talossan language information and translation resource] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212020024/http://talossan.com/ |date=2021-02-12 }} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100825164445/http://cuglang.com/ Committee for the Use of Talossan Language]}} * [https://oversteir.talossa.com/ L'Översteir, bidirectional Talossan-English translator] * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110927185149/http://www.kingdomoftalossa.net/CUG/Arestada_12dec2010.pdf 2010 Arestada newsletter]}} * {{cite web|url=http://my.execpc.com/~talossa/glhetg.html|title=R. Ben Madison's Talossan Language Page|date=25 January 1999|access-date=7 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060205013115/http://my.execpc.com/~talossa/glhetg.html|archive-date=5 February 2006}} * [https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kingdom-of-talossa Kingdom of Talossa] on [[Atlas Obscura]]
{{Micronations}} {{conlang}}
[[Category:Artistic languages]] [[Category:Constructed languages]] [[Category:Micronations in France]] [[Category:Micronations in the United States]] [[Category:States and territories established in 1979]] [[Category:Micronations in Antarctica]]