The most populated island in the world: Mingo

Mingo Island with an area of 1.8 thousand square meters. m is located in Africa on Lake Victoria. Here, 131 people live in huts. The inhabitants of the island organized the so-called "Senate Republic", they fish, and their society is closed to strangers. The rights to the territory of Mingo are disputed among themselves by Uganda and Kenya.

This region began to be populated in 1991. Two fishermen from Kenya, Dalmas Tembo and George Kibebe, decided to live here, having previously performed a special rite of exile of the evil spirit of Calele. The ritual performed by the old shaman cost the men 300 kg of fish.

Then, with the goal of creating a unique state of their own, another 60 Africans from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania joined the two fishermen. When in 2009 the number of people living on the island reached 131, the "honorary senators" Tembo and Kibebe decided not to accept anyone else in the commune.

Catching in the coastal waters of the Nile perch, the family has a profit of 200-250 dollars a week. For comparison, in neighboring countries, Africans earn the same amount for 2-3 months.

Since Kenya and Uganda cannot "divide" the territory of the island among themselves, he manages to maintain relative independence.

Over the past 20 years, armed conflicts have occurred between the two states nine times, the cause of which was the island of Mingo, or rather the question of taxes that its population should pay. As a result, after the fighting and the death of 6 people, it was decided that the commune would pay taxes to both states.

The inhabitants of the island pay enormous taxes to Kenya and Uganda: 25% of earnings and another 10% for the maintenance of the communal apparatus and self-defense forces. But even with the remaining money, they live much better than their neighbors.

Mingo Island has five bars, a beauty salon, a pharmacy, several hotels and four brothels where women work while their husbands fish. According to the laws of the island, a stranger can not be here for more than a day.

The "government" of the island consists of the "honorary senators" Tembo and Kibebe, as well as five elected senators, which can be men over 30 years old. Decisions are made by a simple majority.

The most serious punishment for crimes on the island is the expulsion from the commune and from the territory of Mingo. The simplest punishment is flogging with straw whips. Over the 20 years of the existence of this society, 6 people were expelled from here, all for theft.

200 meters from Mingo is another island, Usingo. Despite the catastrophic lack of space, the residents of Mingo are in no hurry to populate the neighboring territory, because they believe that it is dominated by the evil spirit of Tuk. And they also believe that it was here that the spirit of Calele, who was expelled from Mingo, moved. Members of the commune have not yet found a shaman who would have the strength to overcome two evil spirits at once. By the way, Usingo is also a disputed territory between Kenya and Uganda, but due to terrible evil spirits, soldiers of both states refuse to settle here.