INAUGURAL INDUCTION CLASS (2021)

Born Travis McHenry in the United States of America in 1980, the future Grand Duke became involved in micronationalism at a very young age when he founded the short-lived Kingdom of Casbah in 1996.

The Grand Duke was set on his path while serving in the US Navy in 2001, when he discovered that a portion of Antarctica was unclaimed. This led to him establishing what would later be renamed Westarctica as the Aechean Territory on 2 November of that same year.

After initially abdicating the Westarctican throne in 2006 when threatened with the revocation of his security clearance by the US Government, McHenry would go on to establish Calsahara from a small patch of California high desert in 2009. The following year, he would be called upon to return to Westarctica in a bloodless coup in order to save it from a tumultuous course that had plagued the nation since his departure. He answered that call, with Calsahara eventually becoming a Westarctican colony.

In 2014, the Grand Duke reorganized the micronation’s focus, and established a concurrent non-profit focused on the preservation of the west-Antarctic ice sheets, Westarctica, Inc. This was the first time in known history that a micronation founded its own non-profit organization recognized by a macro-nation, a model other nations have followed in ensuing years.

Under the Grand Duke’s leadership, Westarctica has blossomed from a state that twice found itself on the brink of death to one of the most vibrant communities in micronationalism. Westarctica has blossomed with thousands of citizens, and has seen the development of art, environmental campaigns, a functioning government, culture, a research scholarship, meetings of personnel across the globe, and a place of prominence among the world’s best known micronations.

Grand Duke Travis has become something of a media darling in recent years, owing both to the way he carries himself, and his willingness to embrace the pageantry and audacity inherent in hobby micronationalism. Articles featuring him have led to hundreds, if not thousands of people entering the micronational community. He has done this while working to leave the world better than he found it in his activities with the nation’s non-profit, from which he has never taken a salary.

His contributions are not limited to the nation he is head of. He has served as a role model and mentor to new, young micronationalists; helped found the Antarctic Micronational Union; is the current custodian of the MicroFreedom Index, and headed the planning committee for MicroCon ’22 in Las Vegas.

Where the Grand Duchy of Westarctica goes from here remains to be seen, but it is no wonder that Westarctica has become one of the world’s most recognized micronations with the charismatic and visionary Grand Duke Travis at the helm.