History of Mundaqar

History of Mundaqar

Prehistory

The west coast of Scipia shows signs of human habitation beginning as early as the 13th millennium BCE, beginning with the first migrations of modern humans from around the Gulf of Msamaji. Stone artifacts and pottery shards demonstrate a series of sophisticated microlithic cultures extending from east to west and humans spread out along the curve of the Astral Mountains (also called Ynota). The first divisions between these groups emerged on a north/south axis, dividing the coastal Api culture from the inland and montane Dima culture. The Dima culture was first to domesticate pearl millet, but there are also signs of yam and rice domestication across both groups.

Another division emerged between the agroforestry groups in the southeast and the drier plains peoples of the north. Anterior Api culture and Forest Api culture diverged from each other for this reason, with the Anterior Api becoming more strictly coastal and heavily invested in fishing, while the Forest Api developed their rain forest surroundings. Unlike the later and comparable forest agriculture in Oxidentale, the Forest Api did not domesticate trees. Instead, wild trees that yielded foods or medicine were left standing while other trees were cleared for small fields. Further divergence occurred between the Hunter Forest Api and the Farming Forest Api. Hunter Forest Api (H-Api) were proficient with bows and, as a result, tended to displace other groups in their territories. The exception to H-Api displacement appear to be “little people,” who coexisted with the H-Api and even expanded alongside the H-Api. During the H-Api expansion and the corresponding decline of the Farming Forest Api (FF-Api), the Dima culture began to smelt copper in the Astral Mountains and other artifacts revealing an advanced pyrotechnology also emerge from the third to second millennium BCE.

Oral traditions from the copper period indicate the emergence of a Mountain Cult, mostly from the rarity of copper in the lower reaches of Mundaqar. The Dima process for refining copper was very crude, which indicates that it was not imported, but also increased the rarity of metal tools outside of the Astrals. There is a large body of copper statuary and copper beads from this period found all across West Scipia, spread in a large part by the development of dugout canoes around the same time. A more refined copper culture emerged in the mid second millenium BCE.

Iron Age

From 1000 to 500 BCE, iron-working spread across West Scipia, likely an imported technology from Zustrum in modern Tulura. More durable tools brought an expansion to agriculture, allowing more intensive and faster growing farming settlements. Iron tools and a corresponding development in irrigation networks transformed small communities on the Sahel to expand into city-states and city-states in the wet regions to grow into empires.

This development also brought about advancements in warfare, which was most noticeable in the resurgence of the FF-Api. Semi-Mythic tribes, which are mostly remembered in the oral traditions of the Aljito, waged a holy war against the H-Api, seeking a way to the Holy Mountain. This narrative would later be adopted as the foundational epic of the Pando Tribe, which they call Nnukwu Mmeri. There are definite signs of endemic warfare in the lower reaches of the Cazador Forest, but this conflict did not extend to the remaining Anterior Api, which had developed into the Mputisi Culture which more advanced watercraft and nets. Most of the population of West Scipia still lived in an around the forest regions at the onset of the iron age and competition was fiercest between the two cultures that survived there. As the many contemporaneous conflicts of Cazador raged, however, there was a swift increase in the extra-arboreal population.

The largest and most powerful group to emerge during the Iron Age were the Nnazu, a culture derived from the Dima that lived on the dry plains between the Al'zir Jafat Desert and the forest. The Nnazu lived in walled settlements had access to horses from further north. The Nnazu also facilitated trade with the Periclean, specifically supplying salt, gold, and cotton.

Obodo nke Mba

Main article: Obodo nke Mba

The Cities of the Country (Obodo nke Mba, Birni na ƙasar, مدينة البلاد, Mji wa Nchi) were at first merely fortified towns which contained part or all of their farmland. These were called “itiba” and suffered from what later theorists called the “Enclosure Dilemma”. They were smaller than unwalled settlements, but also more secure, which led to a state of permanent overpopulation compared to their means and permanent under population compared to their potential opponents. The Itiba lords dealt with this problem at first by creating allied networks of villages that were similarly fortified and even perpetuated the construction of new settlements. The expansion of the Itiba formed a hierarchy based on centrality with the center-most of a network of villages being the most prestigious.

Beginning in the 5th century AD, the first super-enclosures were created to give the Itiba lords more control over trade. The border Itiba benefited from this new system by forcing traders not to bypass their smaller villages in favor of the larger central villages, while the central Itiba benefited from having more control over what goods entered a left the entire network. These super-enclosures, which were the first true Cities of the Country, consisted of large earthwork fortifications. At first they blocked roads that did not lead to the outermost villages, but they quickly expanded and cordoned traffic through a few gates. Each village on the periphery of the network was responsible for their immediate vicinity of the wall. More and more power was invested in the office of the central monarch, who organized the individual lords of the wall villages, made many executive decisions concerning trade and the distribution of skilled labor, and led the army in war time. Power and wealth were consolidated under the Cities of the Country and their political system influenced and shaped everything around them.

Outside of the Obodo nke Mba were two other polities, which were also instrumental to the political environment; the river villages and the forest villages. The Besimiri, the river villages, were originally and primarily located on rivers. They had a special status within the Obodo nke Mba system since they were instrumental in trade and irrigation. Those who lived in river villages were allowed to sell water those within the walls of the cities, they could pursue a trade without the consent of the king of the city, and they were not bound (at least by default) to a military alliance. Since rivers were difficult to enclose within the walls of the city, they often formed the natural boundary to the expansion of the cities, but the river cities formed an intermediary level of influence that made the cities sustainable.

The forest villages (or nyumba ya majani) were sometimes located in forests, but in reality formed a catch-all for other organizations of villages. They were forbidden to construct walls from themselves and could not be treated with as an equal entity. The forest villages did, however, form competing and powerful states that often fought with and defeated the Obodo nke Mba, or defied the prohibition to become an Obodo nke Mba themselves. The conglomerates of forest villages were called Wayo and tended to be much larger than the Obodo nke Mba, but suffered from more internal turmoil and were less wealthy than the great cities. Over time, this disparity was reduced as the Wayo became as developed and permanent as the Obodo nke Mba, in a large part due to the formation of the Mayojua caste, which organized the migration of villages through the forests and helped support the legitimacy of the Wayo kings.

Ikwado

Main article: Ikwado

The Ikwado was a term used by scholars in the Obodo nke Mba to mean the standardization of traditional practices. The practice of “Ikwado” during the 13th century, however, meant a vast social and economic revolution brought on by what philosophers of the time called “the investigation of means”. Many of the kings and writers of the period sought a return to an ancient and perfect method for every activity, which they sought by studying craftsmen, farmers, and even slaves for insight into universal principles of human labor. What they found was almost never universal, but the research alone brought about a reformation of public policy. One of the great innovations of the time was to distribute skilled workers all across the city to elevate the quality of life and work of the whole state. The government was reformed, with more responsibilities being given to the monarch concerning the administration of the class of skilled laborers. Communication between cities rapidly increased as well and scholars moved more freely through the whole region.

Many of the developments of this period were inspired in part by the acceptance of some traditions of the Wayo. Scholars of the Obodo nke Mba admired the learned caste of the Wayo and attempted to replicate it, though they seldom gave the Wayo credit for these proposals. The recognition of Wayo states as essentially similar, if inferior, state entities also brought about a period of economic expansion. Wars were not uncommon during the Ikwado, especially as populations universally increased and competed for space, but their scope was more limited and less focused on pillage. Political boundaries became more stagnant and the Obodo nke Mba began to construct more permanent fortifications of stone and rammed earth instead of the moat and berm approach. At the same time, their role as defensive fortifications was joined by an interest in aesthetics. Murals and mosaics also appeared on many walls as a sign of refinement and prestige.

Rice Revolution

One of the most important and enduring changes of the Ikwado was the spread of rice as a staple crop. While rice had been available to Central Scipia for centuries prior, it was not until the Ikwado that production shifted away from millet and yams towards rice. Rice required less work to plant, maintain, and could be stored for longer than previous crops, especially yams. The high yield, combined with an overhaul of the field system to larger jointly owned operations and larger stores to get through famines, sparked a population boom. Along with the increase in population came an expansion in virtually every area of life.