Welcome To The Conch Republic

by Hany J

Title

Welcome To The Conch Republic

Artist

Hany J

Medium

Photograph - Original Photo

Description

The Conch Republic is a micro-nation declared as a tongue-in-cheek secession of the city of Key West, Florida, from the United States on April 23, 1982. The term "Conch Republic" now refers to all of the Florida Keys or that geographic apportionment of land that falls within the legally defined boundaries of Monroe County in Florida.

In 1982, the United States Border Patrol set up a roadblock and inspection point on US 1 just north of the merger of Monroe County Road 905A/Miami-Dade County Road 905A onto US 1. These are the only two roads connecting the Florida Keys with the mainland). Vehicles were stopped and searched for narcotics and illegal immigrants. The Key West City Council complained repeatedly about the inconvenience claiming that it hurt the Keys' tourism industry. When City Council's complaints went unanswered by the U.S. federal government and attempts to get an injunction against the roadblock failed in court, as a form of protest, Mayor Dennis Wardlow and the Council declared Key West's independence on April 23, 1982. In the eyes of the Council, since the U.S. federal government had set up the equivalent of a border station as if they were a foreign nation, they might as well become one. As many of the local citizens were referred to as Conchs, the nation took the name of the Conch Republic.

As part of the protest, Mayor Wardlow was proclaimed Prime Minister of the Republic, immediately declared war against the U.S., and quickly surrendered after one minute and applied for one billion dollars in foreign aid. The faux secession and the events surrounding all of this generated great publicity for the Keys' plight. The roadblock and inspection station were removed soon afterward. It also resulted in the creation of a new avenue of tourism for the Keys.

All images are taken with a Canon 5D III (full frame) and a Canon 7D II (crop frame) using a variety of Canon L-Series lenses, and Tamron and Sigma pro-line lenses; processed in RAW with ACR, PSC, Photomatix, and a variety of other imaging software.

All images are Copyright © 2016 Hany G. Jadaa; C.Chem. M.Sc. Eng.; and Copyright © 2016 Prince John Photography (the Artist). The material contained herein may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or downloaded in any way, shape or form. All rights are reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the Artist is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted under US, Canadian, European, and Australian Copyright laws.

Image is available for purchase at higher resolution and no copyright stamps upon request. Please contact the artist directly at pjphotography@uniserve.com

Uploaded

March 17th, 2017

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