History of Atlion
The history of the Republic of Atlion, as covered in schools and universities, typically begins on 16 August 1492, when Christopher Columbus found the island. Several universally accepted "eras" exist within Atlionese history, namely the colonial era (1492-1660), the British era (1660-1771), the revolutionary era (1771-1801), the historic era (1801-19XX) and the recent era (19XX-present).
Colonial era (1492-1649)
Pre-Columbian period
Prior to Columbus' arrival in what is today Columbus' Landing (in the state of Atlantia), the island of Albion was completely uninhabited. What is today regarded as the "natives" of Albion are the remnants of the first Spanish people who settled the island.
Founding and Spanish period
Columbus arrived at Albion on 16 August 1492, as part of his first voyage to the Caribbean. Columbus' Landing, today a town on the Atlantia coast, is heavily regarded as where Columbus and his expedition set foot on Albion. The newly found island, however, was not Columbus' destination. He quickly claimed the entirety of the island for the Crown of Castile and left a small contingent of settlers behind.
Upon his return from the Caribbean in March 1493, he notified the Castilian monarchy of his discoveries both in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. Queen Isabella took high notice of Albion and soon dispatched a colonial fleet to the Albionese east coast. Over 2,600 settlers now establish Nuevo Madrid (New Madrid), the name of their colonial capital as well as the entire colony. They established towns in what is today Intima, Sagesse, Atlantia and northern Valenmark.
By 1496, it was decided that Albion was close enough to Spain to defend personally, and much of the Nuevo Madrid garrison was reassigned or recalled back to Spain in anticipation of a war with France, which eventually began in 1499.
War with France
In 1499, the War over Naples began, with the Crown of Castile and the Kingdom of France on opposing sides. Although far away from the actual war, Louis XII dispatched a large French naval armanda to the now well-known Spanish colony in Albion.
Much of the force landed far south of the capital in Nuevo Madrid, in what would be known as Sagesse in later years. The small Spanish towns and garrisons in the region are quickly captured by the large French force, and by 1503, the French had establish three major towns, and controlled entirely what is today Intima, Sagesse and much of Atlantia.
On January 31, 1504, Louis XII and Ferdinand II of Aragon signed the Treaty of Lyon, which ended the war. Terms of the treaty included that France cede Naples to Spain (representing both Aragon and Castile). Moreover, France and Spain define their respective control of Italian territories. France took controlled northern Italy from Milan and Spain controlled Sicily and southern Italy.
France also stated they wish to keep control of the territories they already held in Albion, and the Spanish agreed. The French established the Colony of Sagesse, which spanned from parts of Intima through to the southern portion of Atlantia, while the Spanish kept Nuevo Madrid and the rest of the island, which was mostly still unexplored.
The territories remained shared until 1665.
Second Anglo-Dutch War
In March 1665, the Spanish signed their claims on Albion over to the English, which was at war with the French and Dutch in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In a time of great Anglo-French hostility, and knowing the French still had Sagesse, the English decided that it is of the utmost importance to rid the island of the French.
When the French found out about the deal with Spain, the English had already arrived on the southern coast of Albion. Commodore Richard Stutton led the English military, accompanied by several "administrators", including James Broker, who would manage civilian and colonial affairs. The Province of Broker and the Province of Edwardsland are established.
The War, which exceeded the Anglo-Dutch War, took place between 1665 and 1690, well into the Nine Years' War. The French lost what is today Intima, however kept the areas of Sagesse and Atlantia, while the English both advanced far north from their provinces.
Dutch colonization of the north
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On 17 July 1691 an expedition from the Dutch Republic arrived at the northernmost point of the island. Believing it still to be uninhabited, as neither the English, Spanish nor French had explored this far north, the commander claimed the area for the Republic.
The Colony of New Holland, which encompassed the entire northern part of the island, was established. Soon, settlers started arriving from the Provinces, and the Colony soon became an essential half-way post for travelers going to North America. In 1699, when the Seventeen Provinces were divided between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands, the Dutch Republic soon claimed ownership of New Holland and established a large garrison to ensure the Spanish not attempt to reclaim it.
Meanwhile, the French and English were still engaged in war on the island if not elsewhere. The Anglo-Dutch Wars had seen the Dutch Republic and France sided against England as well as France and England sided against the Dutch Republic, however, as part of the First Anglo-Dutch War, the English invaded New Holland from the south while France sided with the Dutch.
British era (1650-1771)
First Albionese War (1652-1667)
The English force attacked New Holland in 1653 from both land and sea. The French Colony of Sagesse was quick to side with the Dutch Republic, an unexpected move to the English. This led to the English forces being heavily outnumbered and with both Dutch and French seapower, outgunned. This inspired the Commonwealth of England to invest heavily in securing the entirety of the island of Albion, and riding it completely of foreign nations.
By 1655, a large English forced sneak-attacked the Colony of Sagesse's capital of Endroit d'Doré and took the city within days, crippling the French presence in the war. Basically all of the Colony's resources had to be redirected to the capital as well as southern regions, which were now being reinforced by the English. The Dutch were now alone in the north versus the English.
The relentless attacks on Sagesse did not subside, however. The Colony was soon plunged into total chaos. The Dutch were now also fighting the Second Anglo-Dutch War, which almost cost them losing the island. However, the Dutch eventually won the war, and the Albionese War was also ended through the Treaty of Breda. The Dutch and French, much to the island's populace's resistance, agreed to leave Albion and not return for at least fifty years.
Resistance against the British
After the French and Dutch left, the inhabitants of Sagesse were quick to declare their own independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and established the Union of Sagesse in 1672. The Dutch in the north, however, were faced with a much larger British counter-resistance, and were only able to secure three cities, which would become known as the Dutch City-States.
What is today the state of Sagesse and Atlantia were divided between the British Province of British New France and the de facto independent Union of Sagesse. The British had a much larger force than the rebels, however, the city of Endriot d'Doré and several large regions were firmly within rebel control. The French, who were still bound by treaty to not return to Albion, did send minimal support to Sagesse in the form of weapons, and at times sent French soldiers under the guise of private mercenaries. The Union of Sagesse was declared by France as a client state.
Second Anglo-French Island War
The British remained firmly in control the rest of the island (excluding the Dutch City-States and the Union of Sagesse), and had by 1700 established four new British provinces; Province of Edwardsland, Province of Broker, Province of British New France and the Province of British New Holland. The period 1680 through 1748 saw unopposed British rule of the majority of the island. However, in 1717, the French/Dutch were no longer bound by treaty to not return to to Albion.
In 1705, as a preemptive measure, should the French and Dutch return little more than a decade from then, the British bring in several thousand Chinese mercenaries. These mercenaries were Chinese pirates, paid to fight the Union of Sagesse's naval forces until the British could handle the issue themselves. These pirates served under the Brits as an alternative to swift execution by the Qing Dynasty which was trying to stamp out piracy.
The pirates, however, after the British saw no French/Dutch return, returned to China somewhere during the 1720s, after the British also started getting the upper-hand against the Sagessic navy. The stories the Chinese took home are today largely regarded as the reason for the large Asian population in the central mountainous regions of Atlion.
When that binding was void, the French, Russians and Dutch secretly started assembling a large force to rid Albion of the British. This took decades. In 1748, British rule was under threat when arguably one of the largest naval armadas in history arrived off the coast of the Union of Sagesse and the border between Broker and Edwardsland. The British were highly unsuspecting of the attack and almost lost the war entirely.
The Russians, accompanied by thousands of Asian laborers, established their colony of Vlorast between Edwardsland and Broker, while the French started reinforcing the Sagesseic resistance in the east. Unfortunately for the French, the Russians left the Seven Years' War in 1762, which reduced their force on Albion almost by half. The colonists of Vlorast, however, decided to remain in their new homeland and at the very least attempt to keep it independent from Britain.
Meanwhile, during the mid 1760s, the Chinese in central Albion founded their own independent territory, known as the Republic of Wushan, which defined the borders of modern-day Wushan. The British had decided to take care of Wushan as soon as the French/Dutch resistance was destroyed. The Chinese did not take part in the war.
The Russian withdrawal had dire consequences for the pro-French forces. The French reinforcements were now quickly pushed from Albion, however, with this war came motivation for rebellion. By 1763, when the war ended, the Dutch City-States as well as the Union of Sagesse had gained a lot of ground, Vlorast had remained independent and even now some British colonists wanted independence. The "Albionese Independence Movement" began in the Province of Broker's capital city, Port James, in 1764.
Revolutionary era (1772-1801)
Albionese Revolution (1772-1784)
The Albionese Independence Movement, which consisted of mostly British colonists living in Edwardsland and Broker, had started assisting the Union of Sagesse and Vlorast by 1770. Hundreds of British convoys and shits at harbor were sabotaged and subsequently the British were preoccupied with reconstruction than to notice the independence seekers meeting secretly with the Sagessic rebels in August 1772. At this meeting, the two parties agreed on one thing: a revolution must take place before the end of the century.
However, they knew it would be impossible to fact the British Empire alone, thus, 1773 through 1775 saw the secessionists recruiting the Vlorasians (February 1773), the Wushanshi (March 1774) and the Dutch (March 1775). The small amounts of Scandinavians in the far western reaches of the island were recruited about the same time as the Dutch, but wanted independence for themselves in return.
As though luck were on the secessionists' side, the American Revolution began on 19 April 1775, which saw thousands of British troops leave Albion as reinforcements. The strong British naval armada stationed in Port James and the rest of the Albionese south coast also grew smaller as they sailed west. This was seen as an opportunity which could not be missed.
The Albionese Revolutionary War began officially on 23 July 1776, with the concurrent Battle of Port James, Battle of Endroit d'Doré, Battle of State's Port and the Battle of New Gloucester, where the basis of the British force remained. While not all battles were won, the thin British force was essentially crippled. When reinforcements for the secessionists arrived from Europe, the British fate was sealed.
In September of 1777, after about a year's hard fighting by the rebels, another large armada arrived off the coast of British New Holland and the Union of Sagesse. The Spanish, French and Dutch had been arranging to assist the rebels for years after their terrible defeat in 1763. This force was a godsend for the Dutch City-States, which were by now undoutably losing the war.
Title Island, in the Province of Broker, was the first territory to become independent. When the Battle of Port James and subsequent battles were won by the secessionists, the first Senate of Albion was created in 1779. Here, the first Albionese constitution was drafted. Less than a year later, and officially on 30 May 1780, the entire Province of Broker rebelled successfully. The Republic of Albion was declared on 1 June 1780.
This, however, did not put an end to the fierce fighting throughout the rest of the island. The British colonial capital was moved to Newidport in the Province of Edwardsland after Port James was lost, however, with support from the new Republic of Albion and French forces, the Province of Edwardsland too rid their territory of the British in 1782. Immediately, since both provinces had shared roughly the same culture and British domination since the earliest days of Albion, Edwardsland joined the Republic of Albion.
The Union of Sagesse became official in 1783, when the overwhelming French/Spanish force coupled with the Sagessic rebels pushed the British back out to sea. The Treaty of Nova Genoa finalized the British handing over of British New France to the Union of Sagesse. What is today Atlantia and Sagesse were then officially the Union of Sagesse, for the first time since its conception.
The Union and the Republic were regarded by most to be one country, after they became partner states in late 1783. Free trade and open borders were shared by the two countries, and they even sent one delegation to represent both states in Philadelphia after the American Revolutionary War ended. This saw even the new United States officially recognize Albion and the Union of Sagesse as independent nations.
The British, however, still claimed the Albionese north, namely British New Holland. The Dutch Republic was still fiercely reinforcing the Dutch City-States with the assistance of mainly the Spanish. It took more than a year after the Union of Sagesse was declared independent before New Holland rebelled successfully, in mid-1784. With that, the Revolution ended officially, and the British took part in the Treaty of Albion, which declared that the Empire would leave the island. As promised, the far-west was rewarded to the Scandinavian settlers, and became the Republic of Valenmark.
Unification period
Less than a decade after the international recognition of the Union of Sagesse, on 9 October 1790, the Union joined the Republic of Albion. Vlorast followed in 1794, and the Wushanshi, who had assisted in the Revolution, joined in 1795. New Holland and Valenmark, which were by this time partner states, followed the trend in 1800. The entirety of the island of Albion now consisted of the Republic of Albion, with its capital in New Gloucester. The Anglo-French city of Luminaire, a Brokarian city at the time, was then declared as the national capital in late 1800. The National Capital Region was established to rid the capital of state influence.
On 25 December 1801, Christmas Day, the Senate of Albion finished the second constitution, which reformed the country as a whole. The name was changed the the Republic of Atlion, to finally be free of British influence (Albion was intended to be the name of the British Isles at a point in history), and the state borders as they are known today were defined.