Every country has that one area that always talks about independence or is a little bit wilder than the rest of the country, what region in your country fits that description?
Ireland has two contenders.
Number one is Cork. It’s Ireland’s largest county and home to our second largest city. Cork often likes to give itself a separate national identity and there’s a running joke that Cork should be an independent country. Cork often identifies as Ireland’s cultural capital and some would go as far as to say it is Ireland’s true capital city.
Number two is Donegal. Donegal is different as it doesn’t have an active independence movement (Cork’s is a joke movement) but Donegal is the most “different” part of Ireland. The accent is different, the culture is different, the norms are different, law and order barely exists up there. Donegal is the piece of Ireland in the North that is not part of Northern Ireland, as a result it’s extremely isolated from the rest of Ireland. People in Donegal will find their way around every law and nobody really cares about enforcement.
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Not in Denmark proper, no.
In the seventies a number of (mainly left-wing) anti-centralisation movements developed, focused on preserving local democracy, using (parodying independence movements) [home-made flags](https://preview.redd.it/gfi3lm9zije11.png?auto=webp&s=11993c8cc2357a27bf5f8db44ea4ef2876f771d9)(here Per Kramer’s *Flag of Jutland*, 1975) and ironic calls for independence. But it was never a _real_ independence movement, nor was thought of in such a way. Kramer, for example, wanted to be the minister of culture in a possible Jutish cabinet.
It isn’t really rebellious in the way you’re asking, I think, but it is, after all, an opposition to the centralisation and central government (which was always either bourgeois or social democratic, nothing that the left, particularly in the 1970es, could accept,) a movement which has, sadly, been thoroughly defeated. First the reform of 1970, which sparked the above protests, and then again in 2007, when the number of municipalities was reduced to a *third* of what it was before, and the old 13 counties were reduced to 5 regions.
The Rebel County thing in Cork is very much tongue-in-cheek stuff and used in sports etc
There’s no independence movement beyond it just being a bit of a running sense of humour about it and using it to express a bit of a unique identity.
Donegal is a bit physically cut off transport wise, but I think that description of it is very exaggerated.
It’s far from being some kind of actual Wild West. There’s an easy going attitude up there and it’s culturally proximate to Northern Ireland due to its location, but you’re painting it like it’s some kind of lawless hell hole. It’s far, far, far from that.
Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland’s issues, but that’s another jurisdiction) is by and large rather boringly lacking any serious intra regional disputes compared to say Belgium. There’s nothing at all like the intra regional disputes you see in places that actually have them.
In France the most obvious two are Corsica, which despite being a minority is very extreme… They even claimed the assassination of a French governor there.
The second is Brittany which has a very strong regional identity and used to have a terrorist independence movement that doesn’t exist anymore.
I guess you could mention others but in France every region has its own identity and like to claims it’s the best of France, often having their own dialects and everything that comes with it…
Everything’s outside the Randstand, the Western part of the country. The Randstand consists of the four major cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag/The Hague and Utrecht. In the broader sense roughly half of the population lives there while it’s roughly 20% of the total surface in the country. You will find the capital as well as the government seat in this area and some major economical hubs.
Outside this area some Randstedelingen (people of the Randstad) consider non-Randstedelingen farmers, backwards and less important. Vice versa stereotype is of the arrogant, know it all Randstedeling.
There are some distinct differences between several regions in the country. For example the Friezen/Frisians have their own culture and even their own language. In the south you have the Brabanders and Limburgers. Both are different groups with their own culture and dialect. Both have traditionally a catholic background in contrast to the Protestant/Calvinist background of most other parts of the country. Most Brabanders and Limburgers feeling culturally more connected with our southern neighbours Belgium (also catholic).
In the east you have Tukkers and Achterhoekers, while in the north you have Groningers and Drenthenaren. All have their own dialect and culture and regional habits and customs. I think they all feel far away from the Randstad which is a large urban area while in the north and east it’s mostly a rural area.
Well Ida-Viru county in Northeastern Estonia has a Russian majority since the Soviet occupation, mostly concentrated to the industrial towns, especially Narva. Knowledge of Estonian remains small and they were pretty unhappy about the recent removal of the last Soviet monuments there and the closure of borders for Russian tourism.
In Germany the best equivalent would be Bavaria/Bayern. They even have their own sub party of the CDU. It doesn’t help defence of a Union since Bavaria has a lot of financial/business muscle and probably could go it alone. [Rewboss did a video on how Bavarian is Bavaria…](https://youtu.be/XsbsKLOkT3I) [and Independence.](https://youtu.be/6nPsD8Lt78Q)
Nordland, Troms and Finnmark (the three northernmost counties in mainland Norway) kind of do their own thing. It’s a lot more easy going. There’s also a big Sami influence on culture and politics (including a Sami Parliament). They also go on booze runs to Finland instead of Sweden.
I honestly prefer the land of the free folk. I might move back there at some point.
I’d say Bavaria likes to do a lot of stuff on their own, yeah. Pretty much all the stereotypes of Lederhosen etc are just Bavarian traditions that aren’t really persecuted in the rest of Germany. (Except for Beer and Brezel, we all love it)
We also all joke that Bavaria should be it’s own country, the rest of us don’t really want them and they don’t want us 🙂
Many in the UK. Scottish independence is the most talked about. Northern Ireland, either for unification with the Republic or as an independent entity (that is a very minor opinion though). There is also Wales, Yorkshire, Cornwall and London, as well as the general north of England.
Chechnya and, to a much lesser extent, some other North Caucasus regions. Take stereotypes about medieval Scotland (a small but proud nation of mountaineers who refuse to surrender their freedom to the overreaching empire, less developed in general but true to their culture) but said culture is a literal Taliban- or ISIS-like Islamism. Especially now, when their leader was given unlimited money and freedom to do whatever he wishes in exchange for providing support to the central government.
I live in the Basque Country. I think that answers your question.
Context: the Basque Country has been partitioned between Spain and France for almost 400 years. Its status has changed over the years and we have had both “privileges” and oppression. In the nineteenth century alone there were three civil (Spain-Basque Country) wars over the issue of Basque self-governance (not the only issue, but it was significant) and in the twentieth century there was a terrorist group that “fought” for the independence of the Basque Country (and murdered many Basque people in the process). It has been called Europe’s longest recent war and it went on for sixty years. I’m too young to remember living in fear of terrorist activity but I remember reading about the dissolution of the terrorist group. It was front page news. That happened in 2018. Nowadays, there are a lot of pro-independence and pro-autonomy, but they are peaceful.
Perhaps Sardinia and Veneto, both of which have important independence parties in addition, Sardinia, due to its natural geographical isolation is a world apart, different from any other region.
I would say that in Poland the closest to this is Silesia. Different language (although similar to Polish and you can understand some things there), but they do not want independence (maybe with some exceptions), but as far as I know there was even some Silesian parties and they want some autonomy.
There are also Kashubians, but in general you somehow hear less about them compared to Silesians, I guess they are fine in Poland?
Probably Szekelyland in heart of the countrt. The majority of its population is either Hungarian or Szekeley (Szekelys are Hungarians with Romanian influence). They don’t really want independence, just greater autonomy, but some Hungarian nationalists want it to be either independent or incorporated into Hungary.
Istria is probably the biggest one.
Since the settlement of Croats in the 7th cenutry on the east-coast it has been a mixed population of croats and romans—>venetians—>italians.
They only ended up fully in Croatia after WW2 and act like they need a special status to keep them on our side and not breaking free.
They have their own parlamentary party unlike any other region in the country, which is very corrupt but nobody can argue with them because they control all of Istria.
Some people hate Istrians and don’t see them as Croats because of their attitude that they are the “special ones” more western and civilized then the rest of the country.
1) Szekelyland. Parts of the Eastern portions of Transylvania inhabited by Szekelys (a group related to Hungarians). Tho they mostly ask for authonomy. The borders are quite messy and if it were to happen it would end up in some India-Pakistan partition situation but on a smaller scale.
2)Romanian provinces: Banat, Transylvania, Dobrogea, etc. Tho a support for independence is EXTREMELY weak among the general public, historical cultural and historic differences accompanied with different socio-economic development kind-off creates a small rupture. All beign said, it is extremely unlikely any of these would happen unless a ww3 happen (and Romania loses) or Bucharest becomes so corrupt that it pushes Greater Transylvania out.
Not anymore. Western Macedonia wanted to seperate 20 years ago, because the people there had nationalist feelings for the neighbour country Albania and felt treated badly, so some fights broke out but the conflict was settled soon. Since then, this conflict is only used by populist politicians and inflammatory media to make money. Even tho both claim we are near a communist nuclear terrorist civil war apocalypse, in reality this topic is off the desk.
In one form or another, most of Italy feels different than the supposed core national identity, due to the fact that the peninsula was divided in many independent city states for centuries.
The strongest ones that come to mind are Veneto (where dialect is still very popular among the people of all classes and the republic of Venice being a power for a millennia), Sardinia and Suedtirol (obviously, being a recent addition to the country where the majority speaks German as a mother tongue and have extensive political autonomy).
But in one form or another, they existed also in Sicily, Trieste and recently the North (which was never its own country, but just doesn’t like to subsidize the poor South with its taxes).
Pretty weird no one has talked about us yet, but yeah. Catalonia is pretty notorious for its very large independentist movement and wide support for the idea. The basques are nowadays more or less on par with us on their own stance on independence, thankfully without violence now.
Within the spanish state there’s also other minor independence movements. Galician, Balearic, Valencian, Andalusian and even, quite surprisingly, Castilian. Having more autonomy is a widely accepted idea in all “periferic nations”, as some spaniards call us.
I’d say the nonconformist movement in Wales is one of the most socially significant ‘rebellious’ movements in modern ‘British’ history. It was a movement in Welsh Protestantism against an out-of-touch Church of England, which was seen to disregard the ordinary Welsh people, as well as the Welsh language. The surge in nonconformism led to the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales, with a non-state church called the Church in Wales replacing it.
Sardinia, due to its geography, has a lot of peculiarities and it’s probably the most different among the italian regions
Lega, the political party, was founded because someone wanted to divide the North of Italy from the south for economical reasons but I think that now this idea survives mostly, if not only, in Veneto
Can’t really call it rebellious at all, but the two biggest ones are Scania in the far south and Norrland (the northern half of the country). The independence efforts aren’t really serious or mainstream in any of the regions, though, it’s mostly just talked about in a joking fashion.
And we joke a lot about Scania basically belonging to Denmark in the rest of Sweden.
Honestly, there haven’t really been proper rebellious, separatist provinces within Sweden’s current borders for at least a few centuries.
Well we have the Åland islands.
They constantly complain about having to be a part of Finland. Then we say “Alright be independent if you want” And they realize they in no way shape or form can survive as an independent country. And Sweden doesn’t want them either.
Vorarlberg, they wanted to be Swiss but the Swiss didn’t want them. So they are called Kanton übrig – leftover Kanton. There is also a saying on both sides of the mountain range that separates the region from the rest of Austra: “What god has separated by a mountain, man should not have connected by a tunnel”.
England specifically its Cornwall, followed by Yorkshire.
Cornwall having its own language and wasnt conquered by Wessex/England until the 900s or so, its got a fair argument.
A decent chunk of the population refer to England as “over the border” and see themselves similar to the Welsh.
Yorkies are very proud about their county, more so than anywhere else (bar Cornwall ofc)