Cospaia was a small former republic in Italy. It unexpectedly gained independence in 1440 after Pope Eugene IV, embroiled in struggle with the Council of Basel, made a sale of territory to the Republic of Florence. By error a small strip of land went unmentioned in the sale treaty, and its inhabitants promptly declared themselves independent. An early centre in Italy for tobacco production, Cospaia eventually deteriorated into a mere smugglers' state, so Tuscany and the Papal States divided the republic between them in 1826.
Today the republic is a hamlet near the town of San Giustino in the Province of Perugia.
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