San Escobar is a nation of disputed sovereignty that exists on an archipelago located just west of the Iberian Peninsula. It claims to be independent from Poland and has largely operated since 1995 without Polish interference, but no one within Virtue- including Poland- recognizes its sovereignty.
Overview[]
The nation was first occupied by the Spanish Empire under Philip of Anjou in 1724 after he was briefly ousted by the English who feared he would make another attempt at the French throne. Philip and the Spaniards knew of the islands for quite some time, calling them "San Escobar" after Philip had a dream where he asserted the islands were protected by a man with that name. Using the islands as his base, Philip launched a successful counterattack that saw him regain the Spanish throne later that same year.
Philip would then establish colonies on the island chain and made frequent visits, but subsequent Spanish rulers neglected it, believing the islands were unimportant in contrast to the country's more profitable colonies in the Americas. It briefly regained prominence when the wars of Simon Bolivar effectively ended the Spanish Empire, but they would soon later fall into disuse.
After World War II, the Polish Empire understood the islands' strategic significance and laid claim to them in 1950 following the Peace of Poznan. Resistance to Polish rule was immediate, and despite numerous attempts at establishing control, the Poles never did firmly establish their presence. Following World War III, the Poles abandoned their attempts to control the islands, withdrawing their military in 1995. Nevertheless, the Poles continue to maintain their sovereignty over the islands, a claim that is backed by the Virtue Federation, albeit as a matter of intense debate.
On July 16, 1996, the Republic of San Escobar was formally founded to contest the Polish claim, and its only President- General Miguel Cristobal, who runs the islands as a military dictatorship- has ruled the islands since that time. An armed resistance group, the People's Liberation Army of San Escobar (EPLSE) has opposed Cristobal since his rise to power and has claimed Cristobal has committed numerous human rights abuses, but the EPLSE does not have much popular support on the islands as many feel they are a front for the Poles.