When we talk about empires, then empires like Ashoka, Maurya Dynasty, Gupta Dynasty, Maratha, Mughal etc. would come to your mind, under which there were large areas. But would you believe that there is an island in the world which is very small but it used to be the kingdom of a king. Even today the family of this king lives here and calls himself the protector of this island (World’s Smallest Kingdom). The surprising thing is that there were no subjects in this empire, and the king who was here had come to hide with his two wives.
We are talking about Tavolara Island. According to the report of Amusing Planet website, Tavolara is considered to be the smallest kingdom in the world. There is a deserted island in the Gulf of Olbia, just off the coast of Sardinia, Italy. The name of this island is Tavolara. This island spread over 5 square kilometers was once completely deserted. According to BBC, in 1807, a half shepherd and half pirate named Giuseppe Bertoleoni first came to live here. He had married two sisters, and had come here to live secretly to hide his polygamy from the society.
Son started living like a king
When the family reached here, they came to know that unique goats live on this island whose teeth are yellow in color. The reason for the teeth turning yellow was that they used to eat seaweed and lichen, which caused the teeth to turn yellow. King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia came to know about this. In 1836, when the king came here to hunt this creature, he was welcomed by Giuseppe’s son Paolo. At that time Paolo addressed himself as King of Tavolara. Stayed for 3 days at the house of Paolo, King of Sardinia and also hunted several goats. When he started leaving from there, he told Paolo that he was really the king of that island.
Even today the king’s family manages the island.
After a few years, when there was talk of evacuating the family from here, Paolo went to Turin and there he met Carlo Alberto. He took a scroll from the king, i.e. a list of kings in which Paolo was considered the king of the island. In the 1900s, when Queen Victoria was collecting photographs of world leaders, she sent her personal photographer to the island to photograph the king. The family photo still hangs in Buckingham Palace. The sovereignty of the Bertolioni family ended in 1934 when the island was annexed by Italy. Then in 1962, NATO built its base in a part of the island. Today the family has only 50 hectares of land. Now he considers himself not the king of the island, but its protector. There are two restaurants on the island, and people from the same family manage them.
