New Delhi, Aug. 6 -- A 20-year-old Australian man has captured global attention after proclaiming himself the president of a self-declared nation situated in a disputed no-man's-land between Croatia and Serbia. Daniel Jackson is the founder of the Free Republic of Verdis, a self-styled micronation occupying a 125-acre patch of forest along the Danube River.

According to a report by the New York Post, the territory lies in a legal grey zone, an unclaimed piece of land known as "pocket three" that neither Croatia nor Serbia officially recognises due to an ongoing border dispute.

Verdis was Jackson's passion project, first conceived when he was just 14. "It was just a bit of an experiment at first with a few mates. We all dreamed of creati...