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The history of Costa Bravo prior to European discovery of the islands is imprecise on account of scarce archaeological remains. Estimated dates of initial settlement range from 500 to 1200 CE, approximately coinciding with the arrival of the first {{wp|Austronesian}} peoples in {{wp|Madagascar}}. These settlers came from {{wp|Melanesia}} and {{wp|Micronesia}}. The population size and specific cultural identities of the settlers are not precisely known. Only fragmentary skeletal and material remains have been uncovered. It is believed that settlement lasted for a few generations before collapse. Disease, political strife, or climate events have been hypothesized as the cause. | The history of Costa Bravo prior to European discovery of the islands is imprecise on account of scarce archaeological remains. Estimated dates of initial settlement range from 500 to 1200 CE, approximately coinciding with the arrival of the first {{wp|Austronesian}} peoples in {{wp|Madagascar}}. These settlers came from {{wp|Melanesia}} and {{wp|Micronesia}}. The population size and specific cultural identities of the settlers are not precisely known. Only fragmentary skeletal and material remains have been uncovered. It is believed that settlement lasted for a few generations before collapse. Disease, political strife, or climate events have been hypothesized as the cause. | ||
The Austronesian settlers are best known as the creators of the Satan Stone or Piedra de Satanás, a 3 meter tall oblate ovoid monolith carved from a silicate mineral meteorite. The stone was unearthed by farmers in the southern part of the main island in 1852. It has been on display at the People's Museum since 1900. The manner of its construction, its provenance, and the meaning of the glyphs covering its surface are all unknown. The glyphs are rendered in {{wp|Boustrophedon|boustrophedonic}} text but resemble no other writing system in the world. None of the text is definitively understood. Some modern linguists argue it is not true writing but {{wp|proto-writing}}, or even a more limited mnemonic device for genealogy, choreography, navigation, astronomy, or agriculture. There is continuing debate as to whether the glyphs are essentially {{wp|logographic}} or {{wp|Syllabary|syllabic}}, though they appear to be compatible with neither a pure logography nor a pure syllabary. The study of these glyphs, and the purpose of the Satan Stone itself, remains contentious to this day. The perception of the monolith as an object of Satanic power led to it almost being destroyed on two separate occasions in the 18th and 19th centuries. | The Austronesian settlers are best known as the creators of the [[Satan Stone|Satan Stone or Piedra de Satanás]], a 3 meter tall oblate ovoid monolith carved from a silicate mineral meteorite. The stone was unearthed by farmers in the southern part of the main island in 1852. It has been on display at the People's Museum since 1900. The manner of its construction, its provenance, and the meaning of the glyphs covering its surface are all unknown. The glyphs are rendered in {{wp|Boustrophedon|boustrophedonic}} text but resemble no other writing system in the world. None of the text is definitively understood. Some modern linguists argue it is not true writing but {{wp|proto-writing}}, or even a more limited mnemonic device for genealogy, choreography, navigation, astronomy, or agriculture. There is continuing debate as to whether the glyphs are essentially {{wp|logographic}} or {{wp|Syllabary|syllabic}}, though they appear to be compatible with neither a pure logography nor a pure syllabary. The study of these glyphs, and the purpose of the Satan Stone itself, remains contentious to this day. The perception of the monolith as an object of Satanic power led to it almost being destroyed on two separate occasions in the 18th and 19th centuries. | ||
=== European colonization === | === European colonization === | ||
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Spain immediately laid claim to the islands, in contravention of the 1494 {{wp|Treaty of Tordesillas}} which made the islands ''de jure'' Portuguese possessions. There were several failed ventures to colonize Costa Brava beginning as early as 1523. Only one such venture was undertaken prior to 1580, in which a flotilla of ships sailed from Seville in 1535 but failed to locate the islands. | Spain immediately laid claim to the islands, in contravention of the 1494 {{wp|Treaty of Tordesillas}} which made the islands ''de jure'' Portuguese possessions. There were several failed ventures to colonize Costa Brava beginning as early as 1523. Only one such venture was undertaken prior to 1580, in which a flotilla of ships sailed from Seville in 1535 but failed to locate the islands. | ||
The {{wp|Iberian Union|union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns}} in 1580 revived colonization efforts, still to the exclusion of Portuguese interests, and a colonizing expedition landed on Costa Brava on 8 December, 1580. The colonists founded a small village on the east coast of the main island. This settlement was named Nuevo Puerto Hércules (after Port Hercules, Monaco) in honor of {{wp|Isabella Grimaldi}}, Lady of Monaco with whom the expedition leader Ignacio de Zárate was infatuated. Zárate had volunteered for the expedition to escape a death sentence for invading the Lady's bedchambers six months prior. A collection of love letters written by Zárate exhorting the Lady of Monaco to marry him and travel to Costa Brava—an impoverished, malarial backwater—are today on display in the People's Museum. | The {{wp|Iberian Union|union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns}} in 1580 revived colonization efforts, still to the exclusion of Portuguese interests, and a colonizing expedition landed on Costa Brava on 8 December, 1580. The colonists founded a small village on the east coast of the main island. This settlement was named Nuevo Puerto Hércules (after Port Hercules, Monaco) in honor of {{wp|Isabella Grimaldi}}, Lady of Monaco with whom the expedition leader [[Ignacio de Zárate]] was infatuated. Zárate had volunteered for the expedition to escape a death sentence for invading the Lady's bedchambers six months prior. A collection of love letters written by Zárate exhorting the Lady of Monaco to marry him and travel to Costa Brava—an impoverished, malarial backwater—are today on display in the People's Museum. | ||
Costa Brava encompassed an administrative unit consisting of all of Spain's possessions in the South Atlantic and Southern Indian Ocean. Costa Brava itself was organized as a {{wp|captaincy}} and {{wp|Audiencia Real|audiencia}} of the {{wp|Viceroyalty of Peru}}. Although nominally no different than his peers, the {{wp|Captain General}} of Costa Brava had significant autonomy similar to the {{wp|Captaincy General of Santo Domingo|Captain General of Santo Domingo}}. | Costa Brava encompassed an administrative unit consisting of all of Spain's possessions in the South Atlantic and Southern Indian Ocean. Costa Brava itself was organized as a {{wp|captaincy}} and {{wp|Audiencia Real|audiencia}} of the {{wp|Viceroyalty of Peru}}. Although nominally no different than his peers, the {{wp|Captain General}} of Costa Brava had significant autonomy similar to the {{wp|Captaincy General of Santo Domingo|Captain General of Santo Domingo}}. | ||
One of the most notable leaders of Costa Brava, Captain General Nicolás Benalcazar, is today celebrated as a picaresque Robin Hood-type folk hero. His privateer fleet in the 1610s commerce raided British {{wp|triangular trade}} ships. Benalcazar and his privateers were subject to censure from Spanish authorities considering the extralegal nature of Benalcazar's letters of marque. This caused a rift between Costa Brava and {{wp|Philip III of Spain|the Crown}}, ultimately leading to a strong culture of privateering on the islands that the viceregal government could do nothing to prevent. Benalcazar was stripped of office in 1617, after which he became a successful pirate. The {{wp|Golden Age of Piracy}} was a high watermark in the early cultural history of Costa Brava. Costa Brava became a byword of a place of debauchery and murder. The "Cold Caribbean" was a moniker frequently applied to the islands. Located at the southern apex of the {{wp|Pirate Round}}, Costa Brava was increasingly subject to the influences of cosmopolitan traders and pirates—and increasingly estranged from the Spanish metropole. | One of the most notable leaders of Costa Brava, Captain General [[Nicolás Benalcazar]], is today celebrated as a picaresque Robin Hood-type folk hero. His privateer fleet in the 1610s commerce raided British {{wp|triangular trade}} ships. Benalcazar and his privateers were subject to censure from Spanish authorities considering the extralegal nature of Benalcazar's letters of marque. This caused a rift between Costa Brava and {{wp|Philip III of Spain|the Crown}}, ultimately leading to a strong culture of privateering on the islands that the viceregal government could do nothing to prevent. Benalcazar was stripped of office in 1617, after which he became a successful pirate. The {{wp|Golden Age of Piracy}} was a high watermark in the early cultural history of Costa Brava. Costa Brava became a byword of a place of debauchery and murder. The "Cold Caribbean" was a moniker frequently applied to the islands. Located at the southern apex of the {{wp|Pirate Round}}, Costa Brava was increasingly subject to the influences of cosmopolitan traders and pirates—and increasingly estranged from the Spanish metropole. | ||
The {{wp|War of the Spanish Succession}} in the early 18th century was the first global conflict to directly involve Brava territories. Cognizant of a widening cultural gulf between the islands and mainland Europe, naval forces in Costa Brava mutinied rather than support the Spanish war effort. Costa Brava was chaotic in the early years of the war. The disorganized population of pirates attacked ports, ships, and each other across the South American, African, and Brava coasts. Nuevo Puerto Hércules exchanged hands between the Captain General and the independent factions three times before an expeditionary force of viceregal ships sufficiently put an end to the naval rebellion. From 1705 until the end of the war, Costa Brava experienced only intermittent pirate activity. | The {{wp|War of the Spanish Succession}} in the early 18th century was the first global conflict to directly involve Brava territories. Cognizant of a widening cultural gulf between the islands and mainland Europe, naval forces in Costa Brava mutinied rather than support the Spanish war effort. Costa Brava was chaotic in the early years of the war. The disorganized population of pirates attacked ports, ships, and each other across the South American, African, and Brava coasts. Nuevo Puerto Hércules exchanged hands between the Captain General and the independent factions three times before an expeditionary force of viceregal ships sufficiently put an end to the naval rebellion. From 1705 until the end of the war, Costa Brava experienced only intermittent pirate activity. | ||
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Whaling came to predominate the economy under the British. During Spanish rule, whaling had been confined to marginal {{wp|History of Basque whaling|Basque}} communities on the islands. By 1800, Nuevo Puerto Hércules was regarded as the whaling capital of the world along with {{wp|Nantucket}}. The abundant {{wp|Minke whale|lesser rorqual}} was—and remains—a staple catch. Bravo whalers of this period were possibly the first people to make landfall on {{wp|Antarctica}}. Recent archaeological findings have uncovered whaling stations in the vicinity of {{wp|Prydz Bay}} which may date as early as c. 1750. | Whaling came to predominate the economy under the British. During Spanish rule, whaling had been confined to marginal {{wp|History of Basque whaling|Basque}} communities on the islands. By 1800, Nuevo Puerto Hércules was regarded as the whaling capital of the world along with {{wp|Nantucket}}. The abundant {{wp|Minke whale|lesser rorqual}} was—and remains—a staple catch. Bravo whalers of this period were possibly the first people to make landfall on {{wp|Antarctica}}. Recent archaeological findings have uncovered whaling stations in the vicinity of {{wp|Prydz Bay}} which may date as early as c. 1750. | ||
In March 1740, the British Bravo Islands were subject to the only land-based offensive by Spanish forces during the {{wp|War of Jenkins' Ear}}. A band of {{wp|porteño}} privateers from {{wp|Buenos Aires}} landed on Isla Roché y Las Últimas, seizing control of the islands. Porteño merchants and contrabandistas hoped to create an additional trade route outside of the closed port of Buenos Aires. The islands became a base of operations for Spanish privateers attacking the triangular trade route. By 1743, with the war subsumed by the {{wp|War of the Austrian Succession}}, locals in Hueco revolted and reclaimed the islands for the British. | In March 1740, the British Bravo Islands were subject to the only land-based offensive by Spanish forces during the {{wp|War of Jenkins' Ear}}. A band of {{wp|porteño}} privateers from {{wp|Buenos Aires}} landed on [[Isla Roché y Las Últimas]], seizing control of the islands. Porteño merchants and contrabandistas hoped to create an additional trade route outside of the closed port of Buenos Aires. The islands became a base of operations for Spanish privateers attacking the triangular trade route. By 1743, with the war subsumed by the {{wp|War of the Austrian Succession}}, locals in [[Hueco]] revolted and reclaimed the islands for the British. | ||
The remainder of the 18th century was peaceful and saw the total syncretization of Anglo and Hispanic culture. | The remainder of the 18th century was peaceful and saw the total syncretization of Anglo and Hispanic culture. | ||
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British relations with their Bravo subjects soured following the outbreak of the {{wp|Napoleonic Wars}} in 1803. To sustain manpower for the war effort, the British Royal Navy relied heavily on {{wp|impressment}} from two main sources, American and Bravo sailors. Both populations had large numbers of career sailors and commercial fleets. Between 1806 and 1812, 6,000 American seamen and an estimated 20,000 Bravo seamen were impressed and taken against their will into the Royal Navy. | British relations with their Bravo subjects soured following the outbreak of the {{wp|Napoleonic Wars}} in 1803. To sustain manpower for the war effort, the British Royal Navy relied heavily on {{wp|impressment}} from two main sources, American and Bravo sailors. Both populations had large numbers of career sailors and commercial fleets. Between 1806 and 1812, 6,000 American seamen and an estimated 20,000 Bravo seamen were impressed and taken against their will into the Royal Navy. | ||
Bravo women comprised over half of local whalers during this period, as there was a shortage of men remaining to do the work. Bravo whaler Leonora Toro retaliated against the British Navy by disguising herself and her crew as men and killing any officers who tried to pressgang them. In her most famous naval action dubbed the ''Fuego'' affair, she destroyed the HMS ''Spitcock'' with a fire ship, killing 20 British sailors. Leonora Toro was arrested in 1811 and executed along with 8 other women who participated in the affair (the remaining 20 crewmembers successfully {{wp|Pleading the belly|pled the belly}}). Impressment subsequently doubled; even some women sailors were pressganged along with the men. | Bravo women comprised over half of local whalers during this period, as there was a shortage of men remaining to do the work. Bravo whaler [[Leonora Toro]] retaliated against the British Navy by disguising herself and her crew as men and killing any officers who tried to pressgang them. In her most famous naval action dubbed the ''Fuego'' affair, she destroyed the HMS ''Spitcock'' with a fire ship, killing 20 British sailors. Leonora Toro was arrested in 1811 and executed along with 8 other women who participated in the affair (the remaining 20 crewmembers successfully {{wp|Pleading the belly|pled the belly}}). Impressment subsequently doubled; even some women sailors were pressganged along with the men. | ||
By 1812, sentiment in the British Bravo Islands had reached a critical low point. On 1 April, 1812, an uprising of women and young men stormed the Governor's Hall in Nuevo Puerto Hércules and presented a Bill of Redress or Carta de Reparación to Deputy Governor Gilbertine Rawls. Their demands were plainly refused. Scattered fighting erupted across the British Bravo Islands. Judging correctly that British forces were stretched too thin to suppress an uprising in the most remote settlement in the world, revolters unseated British authorities from power on every island within six months. The movement was originally a call for redress, not independence, but rapid gains shifted war goals. | By 1812, sentiment in the British Bravo Islands had reached a critical low point. On 1 April, 1812, an uprising of women and young men stormed the Governor's Hall in Nuevo Puerto Hércules and presented a [[Bill of Redress|Bill of Redress or Carta de Reparación]] to Deputy Governor Gilbertine Rawls. Their demands were plainly refused. Scattered fighting erupted across the British Bravo Islands. Judging correctly that British forces were stretched too thin to suppress an uprising in the most remote settlement in the world, revolters unseated British authorities from power on every island within six months. The movement was originally a call for redress, not independence, but rapid gains shifted war goals. | ||
A notable engagement was the | A notable engagement was the [[Battle of Jauja]] in which 250 children attacked the British fort at [[Jauja]] and took captive the entire garrison. The islands of [[Zeda]] and [[Ye]] had been severely depopulated of working adults by impressment and the ongoing whaling season. Almost the entire revolutionary forces on the islands were below the age of majority. The children of Jauja enslaved the British soldiers and declared a [[Children's Republic]]. On 11 August, the army of the Children's Republic of Zeda launched an amphibious invasion of nearby British-controlled Ye. Fierce urban fighting in Dar es Coba lasted for three days and nights before the British surrendered. The Children's Republic of Zeda-Ye lasted until war's end, when it became a part of the newly formed Free Bravo Islands. | ||
In February of 1813 the Bravo forces (leaderless and almost 2/3rds women) agreed to free 600 British captives in exchange for autonomy from British rule. The Bravo Revolution lasted 10 months. It left 800 Bravoes dead, 300 British dead, and 20 British ships sunk to Bravo 4. Some 4,000 people died from disease. When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1814, many pressganged Bravoes finally returned home. | In February of 1813 the Bravo forces (leaderless and almost 2/3rds women) agreed to free 600 British captives in exchange for autonomy from British rule. The Bravo Revolution lasted 10 months. It left 800 Bravoes dead, 300 British dead, and 20 British ships sunk to Bravo 4. Some 4,000 people died from disease. When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1814, many pressganged Bravoes finally returned home. | ||
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=== The Free Bravo Islands (1812-1933) === | === The Free Bravo Islands (1812-1933) === | ||
A series of hasty, chaotic congresses were held in the aftermath of the peace agreement with the goal of determining the kind of government that should be formed. Important national-level congresses | A series of hasty, chaotic congresses were held in the aftermath of the peace agreement with the goal of determining the kind of government that should be formed. Important national-level congresses included the Congreso de Niños (Jauja), the Congreso Occidental-Central (Hueco), the Herculean Congress (Nuevo Puerto Hércules), and the Congreso de Mujeres y Viudas Afligadas (Zeta Fe). | ||
The people chose the name Free Bravo Islands and established a {{wp|Directorial system|directory}} form of government. Rather than a single executive, the government was headed by a five-member council of elected representatives. It was partially based on the {{wp|French Directory}} of 1795-1799. The Directory is invested with executive and legislative power; there is a separate judiciary headed by an elected Judge President or Presidente Juez. | |||
The first several decades of Free Bravo history were characterized by impoverished conditions and a struggle for self-sufficiency. A reliance on trade for goods caused persistent food shortages as British ships raided Bravo commerce lanes. Modest trade in grain with the {{wp|United States of America}} and {{wp|France}} sustained the population in the face of agitation from the Capullist faction, a clique of liberal politicians who promoted reunification with Great Britain. The United States were the first to recognize Free Bravo sovereignty in 1817. France recognized Free Bravo in 1818, followed by the independent South American republics throughout the 1820s. | |||
Whaling exploded as almost the sole economic output of Free Bravo. A recent study has shown that two-thirds of the diet of Bravo citizens from 1813-1850 was whale. The Bravo government nationalized the whaling industry in 1818. A portion of the annual catch was exported, with the remaining surplus distributed evenly by Bravo Navy ships to the people of the islands. The agricultural sector was mature enough in 1852 that whaling was denationalized and whale food programs ended. This period's effect on the culinary culture of Costa Bravo was immense. Most Costa Bravo cookbooks today are about half whale-based recipes. | |||
=== The Armed Republic of Costa Bravo (1933-1991) === | === The Armed Republic of Costa Bravo (1933-1991) === | ||
Revision as of 02:22, 5 December 2019
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
Free State of Costa Bravo Estado Libre de Costa Bravo | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Motto: "Trabajadores, unite!" | |
Anthem: The Internationale/La Internacional | |
 Location of Costa Bravo (purple) | |
| Capital | Nuevo Puerto Hércules |
| Official languages | None |
Local languages | a la brava |
| Ethnic groups (2019) | 29.0% European 18.6% South Asian 16.0% African 10.9% Asian 9.6% Polynesian 8.9% West Asian 7.0% other |
| Religion (2019) | 33.1% Liberational Catholicism 20.8% Buddhism 13.0% Hinduism 10.4% Islam 10.4% no religion 7.6% Judaism 4.7% other |
| Demonym(s) | Bravo |
| Government | Democratic confederalism (Devolved council democracy government on a confederated model with syndicalist traditions) |
| Stages of sovereignty | |
• Discovery by Europeans | 1522 |
• Colonization by Spain | 1580 |
• Ceded to Great Britain | 1714 |
• Independence | 1812 |
• Abolition of the directory system | 1991 |
| Area | |
• Total | 199,052 km2 (76,854 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 6.9 |
| Population | |
• 2019 census | 5,001,250 (+300,000 resident aliens) |
• Density | 25/km2 (64.7/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | estimate |
• Total | ƒ800 billion |
• Per capita | ƒ54,821 |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | ƒ700 billion |
• Per capita | ƒ35,934 |
| Gini |  .13low |
| HDI |  0.933very high |
| Currency | Costa Bravo Florín (ƒ) (FLO) |
| Time zone | UTC+3:00 (UTC) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +666 |
| Internet TLD | .cb |
Costa Bravo, officially the Free State of Costa Bravo or Estado Libre de Costa Bravo, is a confederal democracy located on a chain of islands spanning the South Atlantic and Southern Indian Ocean. Costa Bravo was formerly a colonial subject of Spain and Great Britain. It declared independence from Britain in 1812. The current form of government dates to 1991 following a period of civil war.
Costa Bravo is governed from the ‘bottom-up’. Every community, ethnicity, culture, religious group, intellectual movement, and economic unit is autonomously organized as a political entity. All issues of daily life are decided on by the members of these organizations in consensus decision-making and direct democracy. Issues are put to the vote in an endless stream of referendums. This political apparatus is highly digital: votes are cast by citizens ‘on the go’ with their personal smart devices and computers. Political participation and voting are mandatory for all citizens. There is no head of state, but a ‘Representative’ may be provisionally appointed to conduct diplomacy on the people’s behalf (for example).
There is no official language. Media and daily conversations are in code-switched English and Spanish. This vernacular is called a la brava, or Bravo Spanglish.
The islands that are now part of Costa Bravo were colonized by Austronesian peoples between 500 to 1200 CE. Austronesian settlement lasted less than a century. Europeans independently discovered the islands on 1 April, 1522, when during the first circumnavigation of the world the Victoria was forced to shelter on Costa Bravo after being lost in a storm. The islands were claimed by Spain and colonization began in 1580.
Costa Bravo is the most remote nation in the world. In the 20th century, Costa Bravo played an outsize role in the Cold War as one of the leaders of the Third-World movement, a coalition of non-aligned countries in the Global South. By the end of the Cold War, Costa Bravo ranked as one of the most developed countries in the world, but to this day remains in the political sphere of developing countries.
Etymology
The name "Costa Bravo" is a corruption of the original name, which dates from the Spanish discovery of the archipelago during the first circumnavigation of the world. Noting the tumultuous waters and rocky coastline of the region's many islands, crewmember of the Victoria Antonio Pigafetta dubbed the place Costa Brava, Spanish for "furious coast". The name first appeared in Maximilianus Transylvanus's De Moluccis Insulis. The shift from Brava to Bravo occurred shortly after the British takeover in 1714, when the evolved form began began appearing in administration records. The original name continued in vernacular use until the early 19th century.
In 16th century Latin language accounts, the name is given as Ora Pravo, meaning "crooked coast" or "wicked coast".
Inhabitants of Costa Bravo are known as Bravoes.
History
Prehistory
The history of Costa Bravo prior to European discovery of the islands is imprecise on account of scarce archaeological remains. Estimated dates of initial settlement range from 500 to 1200 CE, approximately coinciding with the arrival of the first Austronesian peoples in Madagascar. These settlers came from Melanesia and Micronesia. The population size and specific cultural identities of the settlers are not precisely known. Only fragmentary skeletal and material remains have been uncovered. It is believed that settlement lasted for a few generations before collapse. Disease, political strife, or climate events have been hypothesized as the cause.
The Austronesian settlers are best known as the creators of the Satan Stone or Piedra de Satanás, a 3 meter tall oblate ovoid monolith carved from a silicate mineral meteorite. The stone was unearthed by farmers in the southern part of the main island in 1852. It has been on display at the People's Museum since 1900. The manner of its construction, its provenance, and the meaning of the glyphs covering its surface are all unknown. The glyphs are rendered in boustrophedonic text but resemble no other writing system in the world. None of the text is definitively understood. Some modern linguists argue it is not true writing but proto-writing, or even a more limited mnemonic device for genealogy, choreography, navigation, astronomy, or agriculture. There is continuing debate as to whether the glyphs are essentially logographic or syllabic, though they appear to be compatible with neither a pure logography nor a pure syllabary. The study of these glyphs, and the purpose of the Satan Stone itself, remains contentious to this day. The perception of the monolith as an object of Satanic power led to it almost being destroyed on two separate occasions in the 18th and 19th centuries.
European colonization
The islands were rediscovered on 1 April, 1522 by Juan Sebastián Elcano and the crew of the Victoria who completed the first circumnavigation of the world. In late March of 1522, the Victoria encountered a cyclone in the South Indian Ocean, which sent the ship into waters far to the south of her intended route. The crew chanced upon the archipelago now known as Costa Bravo, and there sheltered and provisioned for food and water. They remained on the islands from 1 April to 4 April 1522. The Venetian scholar Antonio Pigafetta wrote extensively of the wildlife and terrain of the islands. In his journal, Pigafetta christened the place Costa Brava and noted its approximate location. The Victoria arrived in Spain five months later.
Spain immediately laid claim to the islands, in contravention of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas which made the islands de jure Portuguese possessions. There were several failed ventures to colonize Costa Brava beginning as early as 1523. Only one such venture was undertaken prior to 1580, in which a flotilla of ships sailed from Seville in 1535 but failed to locate the islands.
The union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns in 1580 revived colonization efforts, still to the exclusion of Portuguese interests, and a colonizing expedition landed on Costa Brava on 8 December, 1580. The colonists founded a small village on the east coast of the main island. This settlement was named Nuevo Puerto Hércules (after Port Hercules, Monaco) in honor of Isabella Grimaldi, Lady of Monaco with whom the expedition leader Ignacio de Zárate was infatuated. Zárate had volunteered for the expedition to escape a death sentence for invading the Lady's bedchambers six months prior. A collection of love letters written by Zárate exhorting the Lady of Monaco to marry him and travel to Costa Brava—an impoverished, malarial backwater—are today on display in the People's Museum.
Costa Brava encompassed an administrative unit consisting of all of Spain's possessions in the South Atlantic and Southern Indian Ocean. Costa Brava itself was organized as a captaincy and audiencia of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Although nominally no different than his peers, the Captain General of Costa Brava had significant autonomy similar to the Captain General of Santo Domingo.
One of the most notable leaders of Costa Brava, Captain General Nicolás Benalcazar, is today celebrated as a picaresque Robin Hood-type folk hero. His privateer fleet in the 1610s commerce raided British triangular trade ships. Benalcazar and his privateers were subject to censure from Spanish authorities considering the extralegal nature of Benalcazar's letters of marque. This caused a rift between Costa Brava and the Crown, ultimately leading to a strong culture of privateering on the islands that the viceregal government could do nothing to prevent. Benalcazar was stripped of office in 1617, after which he became a successful pirate. The Golden Age of Piracy was a high watermark in the early cultural history of Costa Brava. Costa Brava became a byword of a place of debauchery and murder. The "Cold Caribbean" was a moniker frequently applied to the islands. Located at the southern apex of the Pirate Round, Costa Brava was increasingly subject to the influences of cosmopolitan traders and pirates—and increasingly estranged from the Spanish metropole.
The War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century was the first global conflict to directly involve Brava territories. Cognizant of a widening cultural gulf between the islands and mainland Europe, naval forces in Costa Brava mutinied rather than support the Spanish war effort. Costa Brava was chaotic in the early years of the war. The disorganized population of pirates attacked ports, ships, and each other across the South American, African, and Brava coasts. Nuevo Puerto Hércules exchanged hands between the Captain General and the independent factions three times before an expeditionary force of viceregal ships sufficiently put an end to the naval rebellion. From 1705 until the end of the war, Costa Brava experienced only intermittent pirate activity.
The war was devastating to Costa Brava's economy. Raids had destroyed infrastructure in and around Nuevo Puerto Hércules. After the war, the port could sustain only half the number of anchored ships as it could previously. This setback diverted a significant amount of trade to ports in South America and Africa. The transient population of privateers, disenfranchised sailors, and pirates went elsewhere. Costa Brava lost a full third of its population.
Spain ceded Costa Brava to Great Britain as part of the Peace of Utrecht. Costa Brava became the British Bravo Islands.
Whaling came to predominate the economy under the British. During Spanish rule, whaling had been confined to marginal Basque communities on the islands. By 1800, Nuevo Puerto Hércules was regarded as the whaling capital of the world along with Nantucket. The abundant lesser rorqual was—and remains—a staple catch. Bravo whalers of this period were possibly the first people to make landfall on Antarctica. Recent archaeological findings have uncovered whaling stations in the vicinity of Prydz Bay which may date as early as c. 1750.
In March 1740, the British Bravo Islands were subject to the only land-based offensive by Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins' Ear. A band of porteño privateers from Buenos Aires landed on Isla Roché y Las Últimas, seizing control of the islands. Porteño merchants and contrabandistas hoped to create an additional trade route outside of the closed port of Buenos Aires. The islands became a base of operations for Spanish privateers attacking the triangular trade route. By 1743, with the war subsumed by the War of the Austrian Succession, locals in Hueco revolted and reclaimed the islands for the British.
The remainder of the 18th century was peaceful and saw the total syncretization of Anglo and Hispanic culture.
British relations with their Bravo subjects soured following the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803. To sustain manpower for the war effort, the British Royal Navy relied heavily on impressment from two main sources, American and Bravo sailors. Both populations had large numbers of career sailors and commercial fleets. Between 1806 and 1812, 6,000 American seamen and an estimated 20,000 Bravo seamen were impressed and taken against their will into the Royal Navy.
Bravo women comprised over half of local whalers during this period, as there was a shortage of men remaining to do the work. Bravo whaler Leonora Toro retaliated against the British Navy by disguising herself and her crew as men and killing any officers who tried to pressgang them. In her most famous naval action dubbed the Fuego affair, she destroyed the HMS Spitcock with a fire ship, killing 20 British sailors. Leonora Toro was arrested in 1811 and executed along with 8 other women who participated in the affair (the remaining 20 crewmembers successfully pled the belly). Impressment subsequently doubled; even some women sailors were pressganged along with the men.
By 1812, sentiment in the British Bravo Islands had reached a critical low point. On 1 April, 1812, an uprising of women and young men stormed the Governor's Hall in Nuevo Puerto Hércules and presented a Bill of Redress or Carta de Reparación to Deputy Governor Gilbertine Rawls. Their demands were plainly refused. Scattered fighting erupted across the British Bravo Islands. Judging correctly that British forces were stretched too thin to suppress an uprising in the most remote settlement in the world, revolters unseated British authorities from power on every island within six months. The movement was originally a call for redress, not independence, but rapid gains shifted war goals.
A notable engagement was the Battle of Jauja in which 250 children attacked the British fort at Jauja and took captive the entire garrison. The islands of Zeda and Ye had been severely depopulated of working adults by impressment and the ongoing whaling season. Almost the entire revolutionary forces on the islands were below the age of majority. The children of Jauja enslaved the British soldiers and declared a Children's Republic. On 11 August, the army of the Children's Republic of Zeda launched an amphibious invasion of nearby British-controlled Ye. Fierce urban fighting in Dar es Coba lasted for three days and nights before the British surrendered. The Children's Republic of Zeda-Ye lasted until war's end, when it became a part of the newly formed Free Bravo Islands.
In February of 1813 the Bravo forces (leaderless and almost 2/3rds women) agreed to free 600 British captives in exchange for autonomy from British rule. The Bravo Revolution lasted 10 months. It left 800 Bravoes dead, 300 British dead, and 20 British ships sunk to Bravo 4. Some 4,000 people died from disease. When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1814, many pressganged Bravoes finally returned home.
The Free Bravo Islands (1812-1933)
A series of hasty, chaotic congresses were held in the aftermath of the peace agreement with the goal of determining the kind of government that should be formed. Important national-level congresses included the Congreso de Niños (Jauja), the Congreso Occidental-Central (Hueco), the Herculean Congress (Nuevo Puerto Hércules), and the Congreso de Mujeres y Viudas Afligadas (Zeta Fe).
The people chose the name Free Bravo Islands and established a directory form of government. Rather than a single executive, the government was headed by a five-member council of elected representatives. It was partially based on the French Directory of 1795-1799. The Directory is invested with executive and legislative power; there is a separate judiciary headed by an elected Judge President or Presidente Juez.
The first several decades of Free Bravo history were characterized by impoverished conditions and a struggle for self-sufficiency. A reliance on trade for goods caused persistent food shortages as British ships raided Bravo commerce lanes. Modest trade in grain with the United States of America and France sustained the population in the face of agitation from the Capullist faction, a clique of liberal politicians who promoted reunification with Great Britain. The United States were the first to recognize Free Bravo sovereignty in 1817. France recognized Free Bravo in 1818, followed by the independent South American republics throughout the 1820s.
Whaling exploded as almost the sole economic output of Free Bravo. A recent study has shown that two-thirds of the diet of Bravo citizens from 1813-1850 was whale. The Bravo government nationalized the whaling industry in 1818. A portion of the annual catch was exported, with the remaining surplus distributed evenly by Bravo Navy ships to the people of the islands. The agricultural sector was mature enough in 1852 that whaling was denationalized and whale food programs ended. This period's effect on the culinary culture of Costa Bravo was immense. Most Costa Bravo cookbooks today are about half whale-based recipes.
The Armed Republic of Costa Bravo (1933-1991)
The Free State of Costa Bravo (1991-present)
Governance
Costa Bravo is divided into 4 sea cantons: Big Canton, North Canton, Central Canton, and West Canton.
| Island | Capital | Sea canton | Postal code | Total pop. | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isla Grande | Nuevo Puerto Hércules | Big | GRA | Simply referred to as the main island. Other cities include San Electrón. | |
| Isla Glande | Atroz Aires | Big | GLA | ||
| El Haz de Luz | El Haz de Luz | Big | HAZ | ||
| Miranda | Zeta Fe | Big | MIR | ||
| Ramita del Mar | La Salinidad | Big | RAM | ||
| Perdido | Santa Bondad | Big | PER | ||
| Antiguo | Espartaco | Big | ANT | ||
| Heladino | Paragüero | Big | HEL | ||
| Nueva Ymana del Sur | Contranorte | Big | YMA | ||
| Puerco Roco | Bombavista | Central | PUE | One of the Islas de la Cruz. | |
| Tierra del Huevo | San Barto | Central | HUE | One of the Islas de la Cruz. | |
| Posesión | Buenas Nuevas | Central | POS | One of the Islas de la Cruz. | |
| Donación | El Morado | Central | DON | One of the Islas de la Cruz. | |
| Islotes de Satanazes | None | Central | None | A group of small rocky islands near the Islas de la Cruz. | |
| Costaguana | Cargoburgo | Central | COS | ||
| Ronagua | Ultra Marino | Central | RON | ||
| Isla Errante | None | Central | ERR | ||
| Isla Roché | Hueco | West | ROC | The second largest island. Other settlements include Baja Haya and Plebezuela. | |
| Poco Rojo | None | West | POC | ||
| Última Tule | Las Adelfas | West | TUL | One of Las Últimas. | |
| Última Medio | Cobreville | West | MED | One of Las Últimas. | |
| Última Populania | Gran Gracos | West | POP | One of Las Últimas. | |
| Última Florea | Florinata | West | FLO | One of Las Últimas. | |
| Última Gota | Yerba Buena | West | GOT | One of Las Últimas. | |
| Última Colonia | Colonia | West | COL | One of Las Últimas. | |
| Refugio | Nuevo Viejo | West | REF | ||
| Isla Sano | Villa Libre | West | SAN | ||
| Isla de la Plaga | Lazaretta | West | PLA | ||
| Ye | Dar es Coba | North | YED | ||
| Zeda | Jauja | North | ZED |
The postal code format in Costa Bravo is a three-letter island prefix followed by a one to seven-character alphanumeric geohash (e.g. the People's Museum in Nuevo Puerto Hércules has a postal code of GRA-PKK69). Postal workers can convert codes into geographic coordinates with a precision of up to 1 meter squared for seven-character hashes. Buildings retain named streets and numbered addresses for everyday use. Post that is addressed by street and building number is accepted, but may take longer to reach its destination than the efficient hashed system. Posta Bravo, the national postal service, has its central administration and main facility in Cargoburg.
Foreign relations
Costa Bravo is a non-member observer of the United Nations and a non-member of the British Commonwealth.
Military
The military of Costa Bravo is composed of a network of government-equipped militias in localities throughout the country. These militias exist under the aegis of the Self-Defense Forces or Fuerzas de Autodefensa (SDFOR). The military is intended to protect the home territories against invasion and has no capability to deploy elsewhere in the world. The Bravo military is the last in the world to still have a zouaves contingent. Once an elite strike team built for precision operations worldwide, the Bravo zouaves or los zuavos are today an honor guard.
Environment
Costa Bravo is located in and around the subantarctic zone. Warm winds delivered by the Indian Ocean gyre and the South Atlantic gyre create a temperate oceanic climate on many islands. Smaller outlying islands are subarctic. All parts of the nation experience mild to cool summers, with windy and wet winters. Precipitation is constant throughout the year. There is a Bravo joke—Question: "¿Estamos en primavera/verano/otoño/invierno?" Answer: "It is drizzling."
The biome on larger islands is laurisilvan, i.e. subtropical humid forest. Subarctic and outlying islands are windswept, scrubby, boreal biomes, with dense low-lying tree cover such as Island Cape myrtle on Zeda. The majority of islands are potentially active volcanoes. Costa Bravo has not experienced a sizable eruption anywhere since 1974.
Flora & fauna
Economy
Costa Bravo has an advanced social economy in which production, ownership, and sale of products belongs to the entirety of the population who make collective decisions concerning the dispensation of goods. The primary goal of the social economy is to provide general welfare for the people and funding for the arts and sciences. Individualist accumulation of capital is prevented by direct planning.
Production in all industries is controlled by cooperatives. These cooperatives may range from just a few people to a nationwide organization of tens of thousands of workers. Cooperatives are managed collectively with one vote per member. The profit of a cooperative is split three ways: the first part is spent on planned production and future projects (usually 30%), the second part is divided between the workers according to their needs and expended efforts (usually 50%), and the third part is spent on the immediate needs of the members: healthcare, education, electricity, water, infrastructure, etc. (usually 20%). The exact proportions vary by cooperative. This collective economy is in contrast with a capitalist system, in which a worker's profits are taken by an individual or a few individuals and then returned in a small portion back to the worker as wages. There is no stock market in Costa Bravo.
As of 2017, the nation is ranked 7th in the world on the Human Development Index and is ranked 1st in the world for income equality. The currency is the Costa Bravo Florín (FLO).
Uranium and thorium mining is the single largest sector of the economy, with Costa Bravo possessing the second-largest world thorium reserves behind India. Thorium-powered nuclear power plants provide almost two-thirds of the energy needs of the nation. Agricultural exports in the form of flowers and flower-based products make up the other primary sector of the economy. Flower products including perfumes comprise 46% of all exports. Costa Bravo provides one-third of the world's total flower products, an amount equal to the Netherlands. Food-based agriculture is generally oriented towards self-sufficiency rather than surplus for export, with the notable exception of tea production.
Historically, whaling has been the largest sector of the economy. However, following the International Whaling Commission's ban on the international trade of whale products in 1982, the whaling industry in Costa Bravo has shrunk considerably. The creation of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1994 led to diplomatic and trade sanctions, as Bravo whalers continued harvesting from those waters. Two nationwide referendums in 1999 and 2006 proposing a domestic ban on whaling were defeated by slim majorities. The IWC has accused Costa Bravo of participating in illegal international trade of whale parts with Iceland and Japan.
Transport
The
Culture
Demographics
Immigration
Media
In the early history of Costa Bravo, pamphleteering by underground printing presses was epidemic. Today, there are hundreds of newspapers and magazines across Costa Bravo of varying circulation sizes and professionalism. Some wide-circulation publications focus on global issues while others relate only the current events of a single city neighborhood. Many political organizations publish their own newspaper. As is the case with all media in Costa Bravo, news publications switch freely between English and Spanish on the same page.
The Signal is the most circulated newspaper, focusing on all issues national, subnational, and international. The All-Bravo focuses on Bravo affairs. Other newspapers include The Common Voice, The People's Tribune, and The Screamin' Plebeian.
Sea People's Pirate Radio (SPPR) is the most popular news radio station. It was established in the 1970s as a pirate radio music station. During the Civil War, it broadcast updates from the revolutionary struggle. Its news journalism continued after the war. SPPR programs are transmitted from an offshore platform in international waters to this day.
Television stations are public access and do not require a license. As with publications, there is a proliferation of televised networks from the local to the national level. The nationwide Bravo People’s Network (BPN) is the most-watched station. The longest-running Bravo television show is Secrets of the Stone, a half-hour Saturday morning documentary program about the Satan Stone in which experts and amateurs present their theories concerning its purpose, the meaning of its glyphs, and so forth. Secrets of the Stone has aired almost 3500 episodes on BPN since 1957.
Sports
The three most popular sports are rugby 7s, hurling, and a theatrical form of populist ‘street tennis’ called tenis libre or freestyle tennis in which the tenista (tennis player) resembles a luchador. Baseball and soccer are widely enjoyed at a nonprofessional level.
Costa Bravo has no National Olympic Committee, although it has produced a number of Olympic and Paralympic champions. All Bravo athletes compete as ‘Independent Olympians’ under the Olympic Flag.
Education
Education is compulsory for all minors in Costa Bravo and completely free. There is no extended vacation period in the summer months, but rather 12 weeks of holiday periods interspersed throughout the year. Curriculum is standardized across all regions, with particular emphasis on ideological training, labor history, work training, religious education, and the arts. In upper secondary school, students may optionally enroll in off-campus militia training for school credit.
Universities, trade schools, and technical institutes are also tuition-free. Over 75% of Bravoes attend an institution of higher learning. Universidad Hercúlea and Libre Politécnico de Costa Bravo are two of the most prestigious universities.