History of Peninsular Iverica

The Iverican Peninsula is a region in Western Argis that involves the histories of several cultures and polities.

The earliest evidence of human settlement of what would become the Iverican or Iberic Peninsula dates back to 4500 BC or BCE. Pottery and tool remains suggest that groups of settlers all commonly using similar paleolithic technologies crossed over via the Vasqqan Isthmus and populated most of the coastal and riverine regions of the peninsula. These groups were labelled the Ash Culture Peoples or simply, the Ash People for their most sophisticated discovery common to many sites, the use of volcanic ash for primitive ceramics. A collapse between 2000-1800 BCE is thought to have resulted in the decline of the Ash Culture Peoples.

Throughout the Iron Age and later eras, successive waves of settlers populated the peninsula. Narvic nations immigrated via the same land routes as the Ash Culture Peoples or via coastal sea routes, most notably settling in sites where Ash Culture ringforts and strategic coastal hill forts were located. The Narvics were largely nomadic and relied on oral tradition though many nations and clans developed their first recorded fortified towns and later, cities alongside a runic script recorded on stele and charcoal on vellum. Narvic ballads, poems, rock inscriptions, and bills of sale are the mediums of most primary sources used to reference the period between the peninsular iron age and the arrival of the Iberics.

Minor settlements by the Alharun-Thalassic Ilon people also populated the southern and south-eastern Verde Sea Coasts between 1500-1000 BCE. Though the south-eastern coasts of the peninsula were not efficiently suitable for large-scale agriculture, some Ilon settlements thrived via fishing and coastal trade. Narvic poetic accounts of wars with the Ilon tribesmen suggest that the most of the smaller settlements were destroyed by 800 BCE, with only the walled port town of Mayanil or Manille, still under Ilon control post-wars.

The arrival of the Iberics lead by Almirante Esteban Deiargon in 1620 CE would begin a period of colonisation for the entire peninsula, as the Iberics used a combination of intercultural assimilation and conquest to subjugate the Narvic nations and remaining Ilon city-states. Majority of the historiography from the 17th century onwards is Iberocentric or based on Iberic perspectives. Following the Blood Compact of 1645, the region would be hegemonised with the spread of Iverican colonial power. A shift which steadily increased trade, diplomatic, and military contact with the adjacent regions.

Timeline

Before Christ

• 4500-4000 Arrival of the Paleo-Erouthi in the northern regions of the Iverican Peninsula.
• 2000-1800 Apparent decline of Erouthi culture activity in the peninsula.
• 1500-1000 Soluk and Indiense settlement of the southern coasts of the peninsula.
• 1000-0800 Narvic migrants begin populating and aggressively expanding across the the peninsula.

Anno Domini

• 1380 First Narvic Plague
• 1478 Second Narvic Plague
• 1591 Third Narvic Plague
• 1620 Arrival of of the first Iberics.
• 1645 Blood Compact with surviving Narvic kingdoms. Many Iberics take Narvic wives and beget a Mestisso demographic, now a majority.
• 1650 Establishment of the First Iverican Republic
• 1690 Founding of Concepción in modern day Mauridiviah.
• 1708 Colonisation of Altaria
• 1720 Expansion of Iverican Colonial holdings in Western Alharu [TBD].
• 1740 Tacalan-Stillian Conflict
• 1746 Maximo Olivar and the Nationalist Party conduct a successful coup, overthrowing the sitting Ministry and dissolving the Parliament. Duke Gian dei Borbon I secedes from Iverica. This prompts the Iverican Civil War; resulting in a stalemate and the independence of the Duchy of Verde.
• 1748 Olivar expands Iverican colonial holdings to include [TBD]. Olivar also enacts a widespread sponsorship of mining, agricultural technology, and infrastructure building in Iverica, rapidly importing private consultants and technology from Tagmatium
• 1765 The Horse Grenadiers overthrow Olivar in the Storming of the Palá dei Primo.
• 1766 Reforms effect the instatement of the Second Republic of Iverica. Trade that had collapsed during the Olivar's Coup was re-opened.
• 1770 Tacitly building upon Olivar's state productivity plan, a nation-wide drive to improve road systems and the sponsorship of manufacturing innovations like the Frame was enacted.
• 1840 Iverica begins domestic production and innovation of Steampowered vehicles and Telegraph systems.

Peninsular Prehistory

The Iverican Peninsular is believed to be among the last regions of Argis to have been settled by nomadic populations during the Paelolithic settlement of Argis by Pseudo-Buranian tribes originally from Northern Europa. Buranian Paleolithic hunter-gatherers entered Argis from the North Adlantic land bridges, which had formed between northeastern Argis and Occidental Europa due to the lowering of sea level during the Last Glacial Maximum. These populations expanded south of an Ice Sheet and spread steadily throughout Argis; Eastern and Southern Argis being the most quickly settled regions somewhere between 20,000 years BP and 15,000 years BP. Around 14,000-10,000 years BP, the Buranian Argics (of which there were many already consoldiated splinter cultures of) spread across Western Argis. Celtic, Early Nordic, Proto-Slavic and Proto-Germanic had somewhat consolidated in Europa prior to the trans-Adlantic migration, but began to develop greater differences and regional insularities during the settlement period. By 10,000 years BP, Celtic offshoot populations began to enter the Peninsula, presumably via the Vasqqan Isthmus. The earliest populations in the Peninsula, thought to settle around 10,000 years ago, are known formally as the Paleo-Erouthi but are also referred to in many sources as Sindragente.

First Populations

Sindragente ring fort, near Vargo, Vasqqa D'Oeste

The earliest archaeological evidence of Pre-Iveric inhabitants come from the excavated remains of Neolithic settlements preserved in layers volcanic ash. These Neolithic inhabitants were named "Sindragente" or "ash people" by the Ivericans who had learned of the people's existence from the Narvic oral traditions. In current archeological scholariship, the term "Ash Culture Peoples" is more formally used. This ancient group purportedly utilised the volcanic ash found surrounding the mountains for pottery and crude masonry. In old Narvic, the group is called "Erouthixonein" another word that also translates to "ash people"

The tribes are noted to have originated from the continent proper of Argis. The common theory being that they migrated via the thin north-eastern isthmus in waves from a period between 4500-4000 B.C. Currently, this land-migration theory is the most widely accepted on the basis of the volume of archaeological evidence. Maritime migrations are largely speculative as evidence of such activity in that period has yet to be discovered.

A series of volcanic eruptions seem to have deterred the growth of the Neolithic tribes from periods between 2000-1800 B.C. After this period, archaeological evidence of human activity decreases dramatically. There is a general consensus among Archaeologists that this event signalled the downfall of the Sindragente.

A period of inactivity is known to have followed the downfall of Iverican Neolithic peoples. According to geological data, much of the surface of the land is known to have been covered in volcanic ash, resulting in the death of most of the crops left behind by the Neolithic people. The ash blanket across the peninsula is concurrent with lahar and hardened lava flow layers carbon dated in the same period, suggesting that concurrent Plinian category eruptions in the Montaco Cordilleras and the Sierras Iverica ejected the ash. Prevailing ocean breezes would have channeled the ash through the valleys and into the Isthmus, likely reducing sunlight for the year and destroying crops and grazing ground with ashfall.

Early Peninsular History

Though the Narvic settlement of the Peninsula is popularly known, smaller demographic groups had also been present in the Peninusula. Archeological digs around northern coastal settlements show evidence of Canamonic settlement as far back as as 3500 years before present. Other groups in the south such as the Alharun-Thalassan Soluk peoples and Indes were found to have settled parts of what is now Nou Argon, Altaria, and Nou Stille. Though these populations were many times assimilated or removed by adjacent Narvic kingdoms.

During this period, the historical record is largely known thorugh findings of clay tablets and sometimes papyrus records of Soluk origin. As the Soluk were literate in an Azanian-derived language and writing system, their accounts and trading records survive to detail their experiences with Narvics (most of whom were illiterate, or did not keep writeen records outside of glyph and rune carving).

Between 1,000 BC and 800 BC, the Narvic tribes, a collection of Celtic Argics had settled the peninsula, effectively becoming the majority population from the coasts of what is now Providencia to the western coasts of Argis proper.

Thalassan Colonisation

Soluk History

The Soluk people were descended from Thalassan seafarers that first settled in western Alharu, where they adopted Azanian words and customs into their system of language and culture. Though related to the Indiense nations, the Soluk had substantially more interbreeding and cultural exchange with Alharun groups. As a result, many are taller in stature and some have prominent nasal bridges.

The origin of the name "Soluk" is not known with certainty. Some theories link the name as a Saharabisation of the word "Sulu", which is Fojian (a Thalassan islander language) word for a cloth garment worn about the waist. The Saharabisation of the name likely occurred far later in the timeline, when the Soluk ancestors were already well established in the northern coast of Alharu. From Alharun traders, the Soluk ancestors adopted Saharabic phonemes and linguistic trends into their language.

By 1500 BC, the Soluk had settled in the islands in what is now the Straits of Altaria. The Soluk adopted social hierarchies, including formalised slavery. This likely originated from their contact with cultures in western Alharu. Later, by the 11th century AD, the Soluk would replace their system of petty lords with a more formal system of aristocracy and elected monarchy. An Amer, functioning as a high-lord would be elected among the pool of nobles. This system was formalised when their walled settlement of Jabol Taruk, now known as Altaria City rose to hegemony and enforced the system.

Over the centuries, the Soluk would adopt metallurgy, advanced sailing technology, Saharabic script, and other ideas from Alharun traders that frequented their coast. The Soluk quickly became wealthy from trade and by 1200 BC had all but subjugated the Indiense in their vicinity as a second class of slave labourers.

Indiense History

The term "Indes" is Iberic in origin, a misnomer coined during the first encounters with the group when Iberic explorer Alberto Marquess mistook an Ilon folk legend to mean that the three groups had descended from the mythical "Indos" valley speculated to be somewhere in central Alharu. Despite the name being a misnomer, the Sevuan, Aklani, and Ilon people have adopted the term into their respective languages and often use noun forms of "Indio" to refer to their collective ethnicity.

The nations that make up the Indiense peoples are thought to have arrived in northwestern Alharu around 1800-1500 BC, predating the Soluk arrival by a short span. Unlike the Soluk, the Indiense did not have much contact with the Azanian cultures of Alharu. The Indiense are thought to have been descended from #Mesothalassan group which adopted a maritime nomadic lifestyle around the Tiauhai Sea before being drived northward and southward by shortages of land and food.

These Indic peoples lived simple, coastal lifestyles. Fishing, pearl-diving, and primitive farming were their main sources of livelihood. For governance, the Indios organised themselves into "Baran" roughly translating to a type of large catamaran type vessel the people used to emigrate on. The Baran system was one a tribal style of governance focused around a small unit of people anywhere between 20-150 in population. The population was composed of households that had shared a boat during their long voyages and whose respective patriarchs elected three officials; a military leader, a learned leader, and an economic leader, though in many cases, a singular individual was also elected to fulfill the stations of all three. This system can be characterised as open and highly social—transactions and appeals were almost always conducted in the common clearing, a forum of sorts, and grievances were never allowed to be secreted. Though inter-Baran warfare was common, large-scale armed conflicts were rare and warfare most frequently skirmish-like over land or slaves. Regarding the latter, the Indios used as status symbols and manpower to slowly integrate into their family systems by polygamic systems.

Technologically, the Indios had developed gold and silversmithing, primitive astronomy, primitive irrigation, and primitive mechanics at their highest levels, but having never consolidated until their eventual conquest by the Soluk in the 11th century A.D. Archaeological digs show that the early Indic peoples had towns of mud brick, straw, and wood construction—the third of which used a peg and slot system to function. As the Indios had little knowledge of mining, they had mostly panned for their metals in rivers and so were never able to master ironworking. The relatively easy climate also meant that the Indios build little in the way of grand monuments, palaces, or temple complexes. Instead, they preferred more functional use of cheap organic materials to build their more important structures.

Narvic Colonisation

As early as 1200 BC, waves of the varying Narvic nomadic subgroups began to settle the western coasts of Narva, the Vasqqan Isthmus, and the northern coasts of the Iverican Peninsula. It wasn't until the 8th and 9th centuries BC that the Narva would come en masse. Groups from those centuries onwards grew noticeably larger. Archaeologists consider the 9th century as the start of the migration in earnest, excavations of the previous waves' settlements appearing to be mainly exploratory or too small in number to consider in earnest.

Ethnography
The Narva originated from Northwestern Argis and sailed south-west down the coast in wooden longships. As a collection of nomadic tribes from continental Argis, the largely disorganised wave of tribes known as the Narva were likely seeking new and fertile lands to settle in the south. This period in time coincides with the expansion of the Canamo Nordic petty kingdoms and their conflict with the Proto-Slavic and Argic Celtic groups in northern and central Argis. Historical consensus largely agrees on the resource scarcity and turbulent nature of northern Argis as the important factors prompting a migration to the southwest. That the Narva sailed to the Iverican Peninsula on single-masted, square-rigged longships is known by many wrecks carried by ice floes to shallower waters where some of their parts lay preserved. Others were unearthed in burial mounds that dot the Narvic and northern Iverican coasts.

Pottery and megalithic stone patterns togther with carbon dating and genetic testing traces the origins of the Narvic ethnogroup to the valleys and coasts west of the Canamo Sea. It is speculated that like the Argic Proto-Nordics and Proto-Slavics, the early Narva diverged as a descendant of the waves of varied Buranian tribes migrating from Northern Europa. The earliest sites that bear resemblance to the pre-peninsular Narva are dated at around 1800 BC, though differently from the Nordic and Slavic ancestor groups, the Narva appear to have retained a language much more phonetically similar to the Celtophone Buranians. Given that the Narva had been the furthest west among all of the migrating Buranian tribes, their conservation of Buranian Celtic phonemes is likely a result of longer isolation. It was not until 1200 BC or 1000 BC that the Narva would enter a somewhat subordinate vassal relationship with the expanding Slavs and Nords. Information on the Buranian Celtic and Narvic was learned through Ibero-Narvic expeditions to isolated tribes whom, in 1870 AD, were still living west of the Canamo. Scholars from the Ibero-Narvic Conservation Society embarked on expeditions to visit these tribes in 1870 and discovered that their language had experienced little change. The scholars had proven this by contrasting the tribal language with both an index of known Prymontian, Russian, and central Argic loan words. Further evidence referred to the wealth of manuscripts documenting their western neighbours' language and customs. Fortunately, the manuscripts were written in old Canastotan which itself is well documented by Prymontian scholars.

Peninsular Settlement
By around the mid 8th century B.C, the Narva had established a small number of frontier settlements in the Vasqqan isthmus, which prompted later expeditions, and eventual settlement in Iverica proper in the 9th century B.C. Within the next 5 centuries, the Narva would settle the peninsula and its adjacent regions thoroughly. By around 800 BC, the first wave of Narvic settlers constructed a settlement in what is now the outer city-limits of Intreimor. Much of this settlement's palisade and forge is preserved and on display today. The establishment of a fortified coastal town in the Southwest of the peninsula caused the Narva to come into contact with the Soluk settlements. Just as the Soluk had annexed Indiense settlements, many unearthed battlefield and early settlement sites show signs of razed dwellings and small-scale battles. Soluk records confirm later archaeological finds, showing that by the 10th and 11th century BC, the Narvic tribal alliances had all but pushed out the Soluk from the southern peninsula, save for a few strongly walled and defended towns in what is now Nou Argon. The Narva would continue to occupy most of their occupied settlement sites until the coming of the Iberics in the mid-17th century. Though some sights had first shown signs of the Soluk retaking a handful of these settlements, the dates of these occurrences matching the dates of the Narvic plague.

Many of today's population centres being built over or around the historic Narvic originals, of which many of the southern ones were built atop the remains of the Soluk and Indiense predecessors. Wealthier settlement on the coasts tended to favour naturally sheltered harbours and hills adjacent to river mouths and deltas (as was strategically favourable) and so were desired positions that warranted building-over rather than abandoning. The Narvic sites revealed evidence of sophisticated knowledge of fortifications, the evidence of bronze, and later iron tools similar to those from the continent proper. These technologies presumably putting them technologically on-par with the Soluk soldiery.

Society and Culture
It should be noted that despite the Narva's society and culture was drastically changed by their settling of the peninsula. Where they had been tribal and almost completely illiterate before, their new conquests brought the need to adopt new structures and social technology. Glyphs and runes became taught to the upper classes and druid circles (though the Narva remained mostly illiterate and did not adopt the use of papyrus from the Soluk very much). The Narva developed a socio-political structure centred around a monarch and began to formalise their animist religions with rune-inscribed monuments to codify some rituals or serve as memorials for certain heroes revered as demi-gods. The wealth and resource abundance brought about by their mastery of the peninsula developed their tribal structures of small lords into structures of early feudalism. Their culture, on the other hand, remained focused on ancestral worship, pantheistic animism, and oral tradition despite having come into contact with Islam from Alharun traders. By the time the Iberics had their first encounters with them, the Narva had gone through several stages of near-unification, civil conflict, and a major linguistic shift. Their system of petty kingdoms and clans, their celtophone descended language, and their druidic religion had evolved substantially from the early Buranian-offshoot culture that their ancestors in northwestern Argis had possessed.

Much of Iverica between the 10th and 17th century BC was divided into petty kingdoms which were constantly at odds fighting over rich hunting ground, arable land, and bountiful fishing sites. This status quo persisted until their eventual capitulation to the Iveric emigrants. Likely the only forces keeping the related but divided kingdoms from total civil strife were the constant attempts of the Soluk to contest the Narva of the south and the attempts of some Slavic and Nordic expeditions to conquer the north. In those cases, the Narva had always consolidated as a confederation of kingdoms and their martial ferocity and spirited resistance have been of much note in Nordic and Soluk accounts.

Narvic Plague

An epidemic of what can be described by a few written accounts as a highly contagious, and aggressive influenza struck the Narvic kingdoms repeatedly over the years of 1380, 1478, and 1591 AD, resulting in a total death toll of over two-hundred thousand Narva. These lead to periods where the Narvic supremacy in the peninsula waned, allowing the Soluk to reclaim some of their former holdings. Some historians also refer to the plague as the main factor that prevented Narvic consolidation. King Argeider of the Western Vaskunin, was a notable victim of the 3rd plague in 1591. Argeider was attempting a marital union with Elixane of the Plekunin, one of the dominant kingdoms of the Leon river valley. When Argeider was killed, the union was not pursued by the Plekunin, despite Argeider's son by his first (by then deceased) wife, Vasjuin, proposing to take his father's place. Had it taken place, the Vaskunin would have had the resources and manpower to defeat their adjacent rivals, thereby creating the largest Narvic kingdom in their history.

Historians point out that worst outbreaks coincided with the large population growth in Narvic cities during this age. It is likely that the cramped conditions and poor infrastructure of cities at the time had aided in the spread of the virus.

As a result of this, the Narva had largely abandoned many of their largest cities by the start of the 17th century.

Iberic Peninsular Colonisation

During the year 1620 A.D, Tacolic priest and historian Lemuel Urquijo documented the conflict between Iveric and Narvic Kingdoms. The account holds that Iveric Admiral, Esteban Deiargon, attempted to settle the inlets and bays around the western coasts but was turned back by constant raids by Narvic warriors. The Iverics, also called Iberics, were newly arrived from the event known as the Gran Viatge or the "Great Voyage".

The Gran Viatge was a mass exodus of ships fleeing a radical peasant's revolution destroying the Iberic Empire, in Southern Europa. It encompassed more than 16 separate waves of refugees, embarking in different numbers at different times. The first and longest exodus journey took place between 1593 to 1620 and involved a starting population of approximately 70,000--it was known as Deiargon's fleet, after Almirante Esteban Deiargon who lead it. The routes vary between exodite waves, but the most storied and infamous route was Cross-Oriental route, which claimed the lives of more than half the fleet's population. Constant storms, illnesses, and pirate raids would slowly reduce Iveric numbers until a population of 28,000 would make landfall in 1620.

Hostilities with the Narvics began when Iveric settlers made camp in a river delta in what is now Providencia. The site was purportedly uninhabited, although the large Narvic Kingdom of Narstun (Narvic: Narstunein), based up-coast to the north had apparent religious interests in the area. It is speculated that this was unknown to the settlers at that time. Regardless, they were attacked in the night and subsequently slaughtered or taken as captives. Deiargon, who was aboard his flagship at that time, moored miles further off due to the receding tide only learned of the settler's fate in the morning. He quickly dispatched messengers to his subordinate captains most of whom were away mapping the coastline.

Deiargon's orders were to mount a counterattack to liberate the captive settlers. Fierce skirmishing ensued around the coastal hills and river plains. The Iverics had the advantage of arquebus and pike weaponry and tactics, which they employed to great effect against Narstunic cavalry armed with short spears. Eventually, with the help of artillery from the newly arrived Iveric ships, Deiargon was able to successfully lay siege to and occupy the Narstunic kingdom's walled capital. Today, the ruin sits atop the Elector's hill in Intreimor, which overlooks the later-built fortifications of the city's bay-inlets.

Creolisation of Vasqqa

Though the Iberic fleets of Almirante Deiargon arrived in Western Iverica proper first, their rapid expansion and settlement of former Narvic lands gradually put the Iberic peoples--formalised in 1650 as the "First Republic"--into close contact with the dominant Narvic kingdoms in Vasqqa. These two kingdoms were the Vaskunin of the southern coast and the Raga of the mountainous northern coast. Both kingdoms held tense often hostile relations with each other and neither could respond to the initial Iberic invasion of the peninsula proper, for fear that any committed forces would weaken their core security.

In 1645, the Narvic kingdoms in Iverica proper capitulated and formed blood compacts with the Iberics, providing no further resistance to an eastward expansion to the marches between the isthmus and the peninsula. As they had done in Iverica proper, the Iberic Republic followed its tried and tested doctrine for pacification. Trade missions and diplomatic missions were sent to the Vaskunin in the year 1652--offering many favourable resource exchanges. As a result, the Iberics were given more access to Vask ports and had even been allowed to establish a formal embassy in the Vask capital of Vilvau (then known as "Veilva" by the Vask) by 1653. In the following years, the Republic volunteered to oversee projects which it fulfilled with minimal payment from the Vaskunin king. Sewage systems were dug and ports deepened for larger trade ships, which increased the number of Iberic merchants and dignitaries in the city. Increased Iberic presence lead to churches being established and much of the Vask population being baptised within the decade. By 1659, the two parties had established a blood compact which allowed intermarriage between the Vask peoples and the Iberics. Owing to their low numbers from the desolation left by the plagues, intermarriage was not met with much reserve as church records show. This would lay the groundwork for the dominance of the creole Vasqqans--who came to be the mixed-race majority by

In the north, the Iberics had begun similar missions, but had been met with suspicion. In many instances, friars and missionaries attempted to convert the Raga, who met their coastal settlements with warnings and occasional violence. Evidently, the church persisted and in 1652, several mission houses and churches were burned. Attempted gift-giving by the Republic was rejected by the Ragan lords, who held a distinct suspicion of all non-Ragans and shunned even the most persistent diplomatic overtures. The only progress the Iberics had made in the area was in a solitary non-Ragan clan of Arma, located in the more western part of the kingdom. The Armani were deeply inclined towards spirituality and superstition as missionary accounts tell. They believed that their animal sacrifice, pagan rites, and animist beliefs had brought on the plague and were thus inclined to hear of the absolution and non-animism practised by the Tacolics. Conversion was swift, and a religious alliance was established by 1658.

First Republic and The Peninsular Renaissance

In 1650, Deiargon was elected as Primo or "First Citizen", and given temporary dictatorial powers for the period of 5 years until his predetermined retirement from national leadership. However, Deiargon would not live to finish his term. Though still purportedly healthy and active, he died in 1653, at 73 years of age- notably old for a survivor of the Viatge. At this time, a unicameral legislature had officially been formed to draft the first constitution declaring Iverica as fully independent from their former homeland of the Iberic Empire.

Several expeditions were undertaken by the Revolutionary Iberic Army to occupy Iverica, but many of these met afoul of stormy weather. Of the three expeditions that did arrive, two were defeated and taken prisoner, while one defected to the Iverican Republic.

Illustration of a Renaissance Academy

The Legislative Chamber, the Cámra Nasional, made several amendments over the years, laying the groundwork for the current system of an independent judiciary, but a subordinate executive office.

The Renacimiento Peninsulares, known in Anglish as the "Peninsular Renaissance", followed shortly after the charter of the First Republic and was a period marked by the flourishing of colonial literature, art, theatre, architecture, and technology. Agreed by most Iverican scholars to have begun in 1650, with the first establishment of the Academia Peninsulares in the province of Providencia, it would continue in successive decades until the later portion of the 18th century. In general, the period is a notable step in the progression from individual and guild-based production to academic and later industrial concepts of progress.

The Renaissance saw a broadening of Iverican cultral perspectives, spurred by the rapid exchange of artistic works and printed communication. Iberic Solidarity as a concept is many times said to have been "born from the ink of the Tacalan printing presses". Encouraged by the example of Deiargon and his efforts to unite the Narvic and Iberic races, the general poplance, by this time mestisso by majority, further entrenched the Peninsular pragmatist and eventually, inspired the concept of Iberic Solidarity or Solidaridad values.

Iberic Overseas Colonisation

The annexation of Altaria during the Iberic-Soluk War enabled Iverican naval power to project more efficiently into Western Alharu. The port city of Altaria had large shipyards and protected deep-water harbours built during its time as the capital of the Soluk Empire. Trans-Alharun maritime trade and Thalassan Trade with the Adlantic also passed through the port and continued to do so after the war, under Iverican administration.

The taxes from the harbour fees and tariffs contributed to the rapid expansion of the Iverican Armada. Altarian access to Alharun Teak wood also allowed shipwrights to blend their Iverican wood with much hardier Teak as armour. The ships produced in Altarian yards made up the majority of Armada 3rd and 4th Rates in the 18th and 19th centuries, with over 52 of the 89 3rd Rate ships of the line used in the Oriental Ocean flotillas originating from Altaria.

The Iverican Republic also made use of Soluk navigation charts and maps of Western Alharu and Thalassa. Former Indiense bondsmen-navigators who were freed from Soluk bondage post-war were hired to teach in naval academies and perform navigator roles on Armada ships. The access to experienced navigators, more advanced vessels, and the Altarian ports allowed further expansion into Alharun-Thalassic seas where such expeditions were previously more risky and expensive.

Eventually, the Iverican Republic would establish the Oficio dei Opicomúnidat Ultramar or Office of Overseas Commonwealth Affairs to handle governance and provide oversight for its rapidly expanding colonial holdings. The Office was led by a committee made up of the Deputy Minister of Trade, an Admiral from the Iverican Navy, A Justice from the Iverican Courts, and chaired by Director appointed by the sitting Primo.

Despite the acquisition of Altaria as a stepping stone to further expeditions, colonial expansion outside of the peninsula faced a number of challenges. Particularly, the demand for colonists was high but much of the Iberic population seemed unwilling to participate. Companies and cooperatives seeking farmers and skilled tradesmen reported a low volunteer rate among the general population and resorted to recruiting settlers from minority populations of Narvics and Stillians. In many communities where other Iberic nations were a majority, the Stillians were marginalised or indirectly exlcuded from the larger community discourse, an issue mentioned and recorded from a number of 17th century parliamentary debate records. The animosity between the Iberic majority and the Stillians would only grow in severity, contributing to the later Iberic Civil War.

Annexation of Soluk Territories

Throughout the conflicts with the Narvics, the Iberics had encountered the Soluk, whose capital was the many-fortressed island of Altaria (Old Soluk: Djabol Taruk | Low Soluk: Djaltarya) and who had in their servitude, the Indiense races of the coast known to the Iberics as Costa Indica or the Indic Coast. While initially, the Iberics and the Soluk established a trade relationship out of the Iberic necessity for gunpowder, ship tar, and sail canvas, the Soluk-Iberic relations post Blood Compact began to decline after Iberic explorer Alberto Marquess visited the Indic coast and learned of the Indiense dissatisfaction and slavery to the Soluk. While the historical record mainly notes the Iberic response as indignant at the chattel abuse of the Indiense, many partially-substantiated theories assert the Iberic opportunism to secure their dominance over the Altaria Straits.

The events that followed would result in the Iberic-Soluk War which saw large-scale naval combat and the storming of Altaria city. The war would mark the end of the Soluk dominance in the region and would result in their dispersal as a diaspora and assimilation by the freed Indiense and Iverican people.

Occupying the city in 1708, the Ivericans promptly instated a colonial government and made efforts to repopulate the city with mestisso immigrants from the Iverican peninsula. Of the Altarian Soluk population of 110,000, 5,000 were killed in the fighting, coastal raiding, and 6-month siege. In the next decade, 60,000 Soluk were deported to the north Alharun coasts, mostly adult men. As a policy, Women and children were allowed to remain and integrate with Iberic society.

Colonies in Cashar

From 1680 to 1709, private ventures largely sponsored by Hidalgos and the merchant class began voyages to find trading opportunities in the western coasts and islands of Alharu. Early attempts in the 1680's were costly as the Soluk navy levied taxes on ships passing through the large region of sea that was the mouth of the Straits of Altaria.

In 1710, one such expedition resulted in the colonisation and establishment of two walled trading enclaves which adminsitered over Cashari Island as a collection of tribute-paying but autonomous satrapies. The explorer and later governor-general, Felipe Alfau-Mendossa was only granted a small garrisson of colonial infantry to hold walled districts within the cities of Eknom and Protiva. The Iverican territories were administered as corregimientos which remained stable and uninterested in revolt for much of the colonial period, the Iverican Civil War ushered in a period of neglect in the colonies. Corruption ran rampant as falling social order and the redeployment of much of the garrison lead to a decreased confidence in the Governor-General's administration. Protests grew and pressure from the local satraps eventually lead to a temporary withdrawal from the territory in 1820 until being regained during the Cashari-Iberic War of 1823. The Corregimientos of Eknom and Protiva were held until de-colonisation policies resulted in executive power being returned to a local transitionary republic in 1898.

Explorers such as Vicente Quinto Loupes-Marcon had famously discorvered the lands of Mauridiviah and San Castellino, an achievement that was much celebrated in Iverican publications. By the 1720's the Ivericans had several colonial holdings such as Nou Madria in present-day Mauridiviah and Gazallenoa in San Castellino. In succeeding years, Iverican private ventures would make many overland expeditions into the core of Alharu and along the western coasts.

Treaty Ports in Esonice

Though initial trade between Iverica and the Kingdom of Esonice is first recorded as a shipment of Esonian cacao arriving in Intreimor in 1682, long-term Iberic presence began in 1711, with the signing of the Yumedo Treaty, a solicited treaty agreeing to the Esonian lease of 3 ports directly under the Iverican Republic's state-owned Compania Oriental or Oriental Ocean Trading Company. The ports of Kinsaka (槿阪), a historic merchant town in Echo, Yumedo (湯水), a small coastal hotspring village in Hirumi, Mihama (美浜) an agricultural village within Marusonya bay. The Compania Oriental invested heavily into all three ports, bringing infrastructure projects to develop cash-crop agriculture, permanent housing, foritification, and seaport infrastructure.

In Yumedo, the natural harbour was deepened and additional breakwaters laid down. Several drydocks and warehouses were built. Yumedo would eventually become the first, largest, and wealthiest foreign port by export value in Esonice. It would also become home to the largest shipyard in Thalassa for its era, supplying 5th and 6th rate ships to the Armada Iverica and galleon-type ships to the Kingdom of Esonice. Yumedo was made the capital of the Iverican Oficio dei Opicomúnidat Ultramar in Thalassa, the office in charge of colonial administration and governance.

Colonies in the Sunset Sea

In 1713, Iberics discovered the Sunset Sea Islands, then known to the Iberics as Las Islas Jare. The account of Captain Geronimo Ordoñez-Garcia references an encounter with native Jareano fishermen off the coast of the East Island. When Ordoñez points to the island and tries to ask for its name, the fisherman presumably thinks Ordoñez is asking about the visible Ha'Re Mountain, resulting in the largest island in the archipelago being charted as "Jare" in Iberic charts. Eventually, popular referencing extended this name to the whole Archipelago, proliferating more than Ordoness' chosen Stillian name for it, Las Islas de Virgen María y Santisima Trinidad

In 1717, Stillian traders purchased tribal land on the eastern and southwestern islands of the Archipelago, facing the internal sea. These two ports, Porto Esperanza and Porto Rosso would be used to export local fruit and textiles while also importing Iverican manufactured tools, tobacco, and alcohol for sale to the native populace or further distribution to Aurelian colonies further south-east.

Other Colonies in Western Alharu

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Per-Aten, Pecario, Florentia, Manamana, Kaseka, (non-administrated seperatists: Aurora, Ymutz-Mlizlan, URA)

Early-Modern History

The Stillian Conflicts

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In 1740, the Stillian political faction in Toledo, Partes Stilliano proposed a bill on the 11th of January, 1736. The bill, entitled in both Stillian and Iverican as the Carta de Igualidad Ibericano or the Carta dei Egalitat Ivericano. The bill aimed to promote fairer treatment of Stillians in society, who markedly occupied lower paying occupations and were represented less in the National Chamber, holding the least seats of all the Iberic and Ibero-Narvic nationalities. To achieve this, the bill would make it illegal to dismiss citizens from education and occupation on the basis of their former nationalities in the Iberic Empire and would institute representatives in guilds and the Labour Ministry to audit employers and conduct investigations. Funding for these provisions would have been drawn from both tax revenue and later on, monetary fines penalising employers and institutions that broke the bill's provisions.

Though the Partes Stilliano drew up to 82 signatures from other Members of the Chamber, proponents faced an outspoken government argument. Their supporters were mainly those of Stillian descent or were mestisso representatives from municipalities with a considerable Stillian demographic. Though notably, many Navarense members had also supported the bill, expressing that their urbanite populations in Intreimor, Manille, and Toledo had raised similar issues with business owners who prioritised Leonese, Tacalan, or Argonese workers - three cultures which had effectively intermingled to the point of speaking the Lingua Verome that would eventually become formalised Iverican and had populated the higher stratas of Imperial Iberic society. Despite growing their support well over their party's seat count, the government majority coalition would filibuster and attempt to dilute the bill by arguing for rider provisions. The government coalition dragged on debate for months, ultimately succeeding in having the bill held in queue when the annual Chamber session ended during the start of spring, to make way for priority agenda items. The Partes Stilliano attempted to have the Chamber's secretariate committee investigated for stonewalling the bill but the motion was dismissed by Court Representative of the Cameral Justice.

By March of 1737, the Chamber sessions had turned from a matter of public mockery in street theatre to a subject of heated debate. Public disorder, prompted by debates about the bill had reached a point where street brawls and small riots were taking place in the streets of Intreimor. Though the constabularios initially approached the matter fairly, the undermanned city constabulary were overwhelmed and resorted to quick and violent dispersals of brawls and public disturbances by beatings which only heightened tensions further.

The bill was finally passed in October of 1740, following a session barely reaching quorum and the vote passing only by 3 votes. Despite winning the needed votes and getting Primeal approval, concessions were made on the penalty provisions and the funding scheme. Notably, offending employers were to be given a written warning on the first offense. Furthermore, funding for the auditing body would be reduced from the initially aimed amount raised from tax revenue. To the point where auditors where noted to make the same annual wages as a carpenter. With limited funding, the committee could afford to keep 1 auditor for every 5 constituencies which would lead to many minor cases not being investigated at all.

In 1742, a Tacalan iron foundry owner by the name of Guillermo Pegues was found stabbed to death in Toledo City. After investigation, it was determined that the perpetrators were Stillian workers who had conspired to murder Pegues after a case to investigate him was poorly handled and dismissed. The Stillian group had taken it upon themselves to lay in wait for Pegues near his home and ambush him while he was drunk. In Toledo 1742, the punishment for murder and laying in wait was death by hanging. All members of the Stillian group were executed by public hanging. However, the re-opening of Pegues' labour case led to a related discovery that he had forced 2 Stillian boys who worked for him to use a known faulty cast, leading to both boys' death in an accident. 2 of the executed men had been relatives of the boys. Outrage at the incident lead to riots in Toledo which had to be forcefully quelled by the Guardia Civil. Similar incidents sparked unrest in Intreimor and Manilla during this period.

In May of 1745, a formal protest march with the goal of marching from Toledo to Intreimor to protest the ineffective execution of the Iberic Equality law. The march was funded by Stillian merchants and Hidalgos, though was poorly planned by the Partes Stilliano. The volunteers exceeded the number expected and were difficult to control with Stillians from surrounding barrios joining the march as it went forward. The arrival of the marchers to each town presented a large logistical challenge and many farmers were coerced or forced into feeding the group without compensation. Some members of the march would raid nearby farms for food and drink. Once the march passed into Nou Argon, the local Guardia Civil of the town of Sant'Ana á Ponte was marshalled to keep order. When the marchers saw the Guardia Civil, they threw stones and shouted expletives. A stone struck the Lieutenant in command who had been riding forward to speak to the marchers and incapacitated him. The company's senior sergeant gave the order to fire killing 7 marchers and wounding 22, dispersing many of the marchers who fled the area entirely. In the succeeding days, members of the marchers who had secreted weapons among them organised a reprisal attack and attempted to sack the town, though they only succeeded in killing 3 of the Guardia Civil and setting fire to a farmhouse, killing the family of 9 who resided within. In response, armed gangs of Argonese townsfolk carried out their own reprisals, burning and looting towns on the border of both provinces though they these towns had little involvement with the marchers. With the situation deteriorating, the Governors of Argon and Nou Stille agreed to deploy a regiment each of their local Guardia Civil to police the border jointly. However, the regiments had many locals drawn from the border area within their number. It is not known which unit fired the first shot but on July 29th, 1746, both regiments broke orders and engaged each in the muncipality of Arroyo Seco, within sight of the town of Sant'Ana á Ponte. Though the town's mayor dispatched riders to Sant Bastien and Toledo to inform the Governors, the provincial governments were unable to send neutral reinforcements from the opposite ends of their provinces until September. By then, many of the farmers and towns people who had been made homeless by the border skirmishes had turned to banditry and highway robbery to feed themselves. This lead to a collapse of road trade and traffic from Toledo to Intreimor which incentived the National Chamber to dispatch a regiment of the Tacalonian Fusilier Guards to lend assistance.

By 1746, similar incidents, spurred by the border conflict at Arroyo Seco, were taking place in West Vasqqa, where many of the communities had populations whose members had served in the Peninsular Guard during the pacification of West Vasqqa. Many of these former soldiers formed armed bands seeking mob justice. They were joined by a large number of Tacalans and Leonese who had integrated well with the Stillians and were politically motivated against the current government coalition. With many of the more experienced and mobile guard regiments deployed overseas and the bulk of the Fusilier Guards committed to Argon, the administration at Intreimor was unable to police the growing unrest in its northern territories. The Guardia Civil were deployed frequently but were ill-trained and inexperienced, leading to further violent incidents which escalated the conflicts in some areas.

Despite the unrest, much of Nou Tacalonia, Leon, Providencia, Navaerre, Altaria, and Western Argon did not experience active fighting. These provinces were benefitting greatly from the trade and industry brought by colonial taxes and imports. !TBA!

The Iverican Civil War

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Furthered by the unexpected death of the then Primo, Manuel Bascon, party influencers from the Partes Peninsulares and Partes Stilliano attempted to position candidates to fill the position of Secundo. Normally, the position was given by the sitting Primo and kept confidential, the ceremony only being witnessed by the Cabinet Chiefs of the Executive Ministry. As the investigation was inconclusive, Parliament was forced to convene in order to establish the grounds for a snap election. This would prove disastrous as the subsequent campaign and elections were marred by foul-play and illicit campaigning actions. Eventually, growing political tensions gave way to a radical takeover, enacted by the Partes Stille in the form of a coup. The coup failed to achieve many of its objectives and urban conflict escalated when the riots in Toledo, Manille, and Intreimor were met in force by Partes Peninsulares supporters. Eventually, the Guardia Civil was mustered and stepped in after the Camrá declared martial law. This would backfire as the ensuing gendarmerie takeover resulted in an ad-hoc junta of Guardia Civil and Guardia Peninsulares officers. In the proceeding decades, civil conflicts between region-loyal regiments would be sparked by a succession of party leaders from both the Peninsulares and Stille trying to gain the support of ambitious junta figures. This was known as the Tacalan-Stillian conflict.

The Third of May, 1747
Francisco Goyo, Oil on Canvas

In 1746, the conflict came to a close when a demagogue known as Maximo Olivar took power through another ad-hoc party of citizens turned fascist mob. He declared himself dictator in 1747, dissolving the Camrá Nasional which had been too fractured to respond effectively. In the same year, Olivar launched a period of political cleansing, leading to the execution and murder of many of his opponents most notably resulting in the razing of several Barrios around rural Nou Tacalonia. The regime's imperialistic military policies also led to unrest and eventually revolution in the colony of Mauridiviah.

The regime was overthrown in 1765 when dissatisfaction and war-weariness reached a boiling point. The Palá dei Primo was stormed by counter-revolutionary elements of the Peninsular Guard's elite Horse Grenadiers in March of 1765, where they arrested several cabinet members and Olivar himself. Olivar and his most loyal supporters were put on trial in July of the same year, tried by the formerly exiled members of the Judicial Presidio and a popular jury. Olivar and over 299 of his supporters including governors, cabinet officials, Members of the Chamber, university masters, guild leaders, and Guards officers were sentenced to death by firing squad—the capital punishment reserved only for deserters, spies, and traitors to the Republic. They were executed in the Campo dei Marso, a square just outside of Intreimor, with executions lasting an entire week.

In the following months, the Camrá was reinstated, new members and Ministers were elected and the charter of the Second Republic was drafted. This would mark the single largest series of reforms since the Republic's first charter. Notably, the most significant changes included the amendments to the Executive Ministry's delegation of power and its check and balance the Camrá Nasional, the re-organisation of provincial government power, and the restructuring of the Guardia Civil's subordinacy to the Camrá. The ensuing momentum of political activity would also pave the way for rapid industrialisation and commercialisation with new government's renewed interest in the reordering of its economic institutions.

Modern History

The Third Republic and the Argic Wars

In 1945, The Republic was once again faced with political in-fighting over conflicting ideas on how the fascist takeover in Narva and Greater Galicia was to be addressed by the national government. In the 1940's bloc influence around Western Argis was roughly divided along the lines of ultra-nationalism or conservative republicanism. Coalitions of ultra-nationalists in Hellenic Rus and around Central and Western Argis were having an unprecedented effect on the domestic policy of Iverica's close allies among the Argic-Alharun Iberic Diaspora. By 1945, Narva and Galicia Major in Argis proper had elected a nationalist majority. The ensuing months marked a breakdown in diplomatic relations between the Republican states of Iverica and Vasqqa and the now-nationalist states of Narva and Galicia Major who were increasingly friendly with the fascist government of Hellenic Rus.

Volunteers of the Pan-Ibero Regiments stationed in the Vasqqan Front

In 1947, Hellenic Rus began the annexation of Korelio, an unrecognised autonomous state in its southern border. The Prymontian state of Ostport responded with an ultimatum within days. If the Russians did not withdraw and issue reparations, Ostport and her close allies would be forced to respond with force. The Russians issued no reply and the deadline for the ultimatum passed without a withdrawal from Korelio. In June of 1949, Ostport declared war on Hellenic Rus and deployed its military forces in support of Korelia. Within 24 hours, Hellenic Rus, Narva, and Greater Galicia returned the declaration of war on Ostport and her Prymontian allies. In the same hour, Iverica issued a declaration of war against all three nationalist allies. The First Argic War's combat actions begun the next day in the Peninsula, fought throughout Vasqqa, the Narvic Sea, the Verde Sea, the Duchy of Verde and the Argis proper. It lasted until Narvic and Galician capitulation in 1954.

Shortly after the Narvic and Galician capitulation, Iverica saw a series of reforms in light of a post-action examination of government processes and performance during the conflict. A Camrá committee deemed the restructuring of military, administrative reform, and further command-economy planning to be necessary for the tense post-war relationship had with states on Argis' continent proper. The momentum and political interest post-war saw renewed state and private investments, renewed confidence in social institutions from popular perspectives and resulted in the largest economic boom since the industrial revolution. This period, generalised as lasting from 1954-1968, also saw the adoption of new voting systems like the first past the post system in the executive and legislative processes.

Helleno-Russian SRBMs deployed in the southern shores of the Mediargic Sea

In 1966, Iverican diplomatic relations were once again strained by the proliferation of experimental missile weaponry in the Central and Western Argic regions. Hellenic Rus and its client states had increased their offensive presence around their borders and client states thus troubling Iverican commerce in the affected areas and causing a stir of public suspicion that the nationalist bloc was escalating for a missile war. This event, called the First Mediargic Missile Crisis served as the prelude and escalation which eventually led up to the Prymontian-Iverican response in 1968—the Second Argic War, which is attributed to have been the critical factor in causing the Vasqqan Civil War in 1974 and a precedent for the Second Mediargic Missile Crisis in 1996. Unlike the First Argic War, combat action was more widely dispersed and of a generally lower intensity and scale owing to the growing dependency on electronic warfare, missile technology, and other forms of warfare not critically dependent on high manpower. The Second Argic War is noted to be an important factor in testing Iberic unity and trust in the Third Republic's reforms.