Bimodæv's Rebellion
| Bimodæv's Rebellion | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Colonialization of Lyngaard | |||||||
 Illistration of the Battle of Gulkirke | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Lyngaard Colonial Commonwealth of St. Vilhelm's Bay |
Nøjibveh Migmav'ki Uge-Kenå | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
King Gustav I Jacob Nicolaisen Gov. Ludvig Undset Cpt. Rafael Wergeland |
Bimodæv (Jan Filip) Otitahgos Hans Cakhipasis Otihkomes | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~2,500 | ~4,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 900 | 2,500 | ||||||
|
~7,000 civilians killed in raids ~10,000 killed by disease ~13,000 Indiginous people's killed during the Purge of the Medøxnej | |||||||
Bimodæv's Rebellion (sometimes called St. Vilhelm's Bay War, or the First Native War) was an armed conflict fought betwen 1672 and 1676 between Lyngaardian Colonists and Indigenous People, mostly the Nøjibveh and Migmav'ki people. The War was named after the Nøjibveh farmer Bimodæv (alternately transcribed as Pimodew) who worked as a lease farmer on colonist owned land in Gulkirke. A Bedende Indfødt, he worked a patch of land owned by Sten Tåhoved, then a general in the Commonwealth Militia and a diplomate between the Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Lyngaard, he was also the cousin of the King, Gustav I. Bimodæv's lease on the land became an issue for Jacobus the Elder, who sought to buy the land from Tåhoved. Tåhoved would run his cows through Bimodæv's fields, causing him to miss a lease payment, thus commonwealth authorities confiscated the land. In the process of the eviction, Bimodæv's Wife and Infant daughter were killed, returning to his home villiage he organized a raiding party who would attack the town during the Battle of Gulkirke.
The relationship between the tribes and colonial governments were complex and mostly dependent on local repore and goodwill. The Monarchy in Regnhavn had a far more antagonistic relationship with the indeginous tribes. where as the Commonwealth had more complex trade and social links to indeginous communities. These relationships ebbed between peaceful to hostile, but were mostly down to the township level. Many of the colonies practiced Land Leaseback schemes where Natives would sell land to colonists, and the colonists would lease the land back to the previous indeginous owners in exchange for rent, based off production or profits made. These were a commmon source of friction between communities.
Initially many Indeginous bands were opposed to conflict, however Bimodæv's cause had sparked many, mostly young people of the warrior castes into action. Many like Otihkomes of the Uge-Kenå People saw this conflict as a way to push out colonist which had greatly affected his people's traditional way of life. While Hans Cakhipasis who would later join the cause, felt the war was foolish and perpetuated without a clear goal. Ultimately many local leaders became involved do to the conflict initial popular support, or because they were targeted by Colonial Militias during the conflict. Bimodæv's forces would fight a string of battle against the Commonwealth, winning battles at Æblemark, Kongekirkens Bakke, and Torskevig. The Royal Army under the command of King Gustav I and Jacob Nicolaisen would ultimately absorb much of the commonwealth militia while Lyngaard exerted more control over the fringe colonial settlements. Under royal leadership the Indeginous people's were fought back. Nicolaisen ordered and commanded the forced removal of Indeginous people's from the Medøxnej River Basin which led to thousands of deaths and is general consitered the start of the Genocide of Indeginous People in Lyngaard. Bimodæv would be captured after his army was defeated at the Battle of Sihtakvikiy, He was forced, along side several other indeginous leaders to sign the Treaty of Førstekirke, later that year he was executed by Cpt. Jacobus the Younger.
The conflict is seen as one of the most devistating of the early colonial period. in the course of 3 years nearly 17 towns had been destroyed, the entire Medøxnej River Basin was depopulated, nearly 1/10th of all military aged men in the colonies would die, and the economy of the Commonwealth would be destroyed as it lost access to lucrative timber and fur sources during the war. This coupled with the political and military domination of the Commonwealth in the later stages of the war led to its eventual incorperation into the Kingdom of Lyngaard in 1679, effectively tripling the kingdoms size. This conflict solidified Lyngaards emergence as an actual nation-state, where as before it had been regarded as Colonial Psuedostate.
Background
The Kingdom of Lyngaard was established in 1622 with the founding of Regnhavn by King Christian Magnus I. The status of the Kingdom was ambiguous, Claiming to have founded his city on Virgin Land, then unclaimed by any colonial power. However the reach of the Kingdom was limited and as settlement grew many people took to moving outside the confines of the Kingdom and of Regnhavn itself. This became the start of the Colonial Commonwealth of St. Vilhelms Bay. A loose collection of communities who organized for collective defense and trade as they existed outside the control and protection of the Kingdom. Colonialist progressively expanded through many Abnekhanoan-Speaking communities, leading to conflict between the Commonwealth and Indeginous communities. Colonialist would push Indeginous people's out of traditional lands, like the Uge-Kenå who were forced out of their coastal territory and forced further inland. These communities did not have the traditional knowledge of hunting in the dense norther forests as they had traditionally used subsistence fishing and Foraging to meet their needs. Colonialist would then partake in limited trade with these communities in order to maintain a form of economic dependency, selling items like food and gunpowder in limited quantities to ensure that indeginous communities could not maintain a food surplus. With the Commonwealth Land Act of 1641 it became legal to lease land to indeginous people's. This usually took the form of Land Leaseback schemes where Indeginous communities would be forced off their land and the land would be leassed back to them so that they could cultivate and develope the land. These leases would have strict renting guidelines which usually took the form of a share of the lands product, or as a direct rent from the profit of the lands yeild. This practice was mostly alien to the indeginous communities of the area, who if they had been agrqculturalist only did so at a subsistence basis.
By 1657 nealy 1/3rd of all farmland in the Commonwealth was cultivated by Indeginous leasers. Many would lease the land under the name of their chief and the whole communitiy would work the land as a way to finance other activities for those who were not actively working on the farm.Many communities rejected this practice and instead refused to engage with colonists. the most promonent of these being the Jabævajabakinas Band of Nøjibveh who were in continuous conflict with the colonial settlement of Roggvirsø near Elgkæbesø Lake, with incramental raidng by both sides throughout much of the colonies history.
The Commonwealth had negotiated a treaty between themselves and the Migmav'ki under the leadership of Otitahgos in 1664. The Traety was a stratigic alliance between the Migmav'ki and the Commonwealth against the Nøjibveh who had become increasing hostile to colonial settlement in the lower Medøxnej river basin. Commonwealth Governor Ludvig Undset had maintained good relations with the Migmav'ki while he was Lord-Mayor of Frelserenshaven Colony. However tensions grew between the two as it became clear colonist did not intent to stop settling in Indeginous territory, or establishing churches and religious convents in Indeginous territory. This also saw the establishment of "Bedende Indfødt" (Indeginous people who converted to christianity), and "Vilde Indfødte" (those who retained traditional religious pracitices).