In the 2017 edition of its annual TransformingWorld Atlas, Bank of America Merrill Lynch illustrates the growing secessionist movement across the continent.
The report says: “Many areas in Europe have strong secessionist movements (e.g. Scotland, Catalonia, Basque, Flanders, Veneto) or have political parties agitating for greater ruling autonomy.”
The map highlights just how many areas want total independence – along with those seeking a bit more autonomy, but not a total split.
Those demanding separation – featured in bold on the map – include Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Cornwall in the UK.
And other popular tourist destinations hoping to break away include Brittany in France, Bavaria in Germany, Northern Cyprus and Sardinia in Italy.
Others hoping to achieve a bit more power – shown in italics on the amp – include Normandy in France, the Orkney Islands in the UK, and Bornholm in Denmark.
But it’s not just in Europe where independence bids are prominent.
There are currently more than 100 secessionist movements across the globe, including four in the Philippines, eight in Myanmar, and several dozen in Africa.
The UK’s vote to leave the European Union is certainly one of the biggest political events of the last few decades.
And the vote seems to have sparked a seismic chain of events, prompting some commentators to suggest other nations could follow Britain out of the bloc over the coming years.
While in Catalonia, a northern region of Spain, independence campaigners are not fighting to leave the bloc but separate from their nation entirely.
Catalonia was an independent region of the Iberian Peninsula with its own language, laws and customs – until the 1700s when modern day Spain was born.
But now campaigners hope for a return to autonomy, with thousands voting in an “illegal” referendum on October 1.
Catalonia’s leader plans to declare independence from Spain unilaterally after holding a banned referendum, pushing the European Union nation towards a rupture that threatens the foundations of its young democracy.
But Spain’s Constitutional Court on Thursday suspended the session of the Catalan parliament due next Monday at which local leaders were expected to agree on secession.
Spanish riot police used truncheons and rubber bullets on voters in the referendum on Sunday, drawing worldwide criticism and tipping Spain into its biggest constitutional crisis in decades.
And in Scotland, where independence campaigners are vociferously calling for a second referendum on splitting from the rest of the UK after the first vote was rejected in 2014.