Yajawil of Kahei
The Yajawil of the Kahei Islands Kahe Yajawil | |||||||||||||
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1656–1819 | |||||||||||||
Capital | Juwon Peten | ||||||||||||
Religion | White Path Shintoism Traditional religions | ||||||||||||
Government | Dukedom | ||||||||||||
Yajaw | |||||||||||||
Legislature | Kahenal Ych'ob | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Mutulese Ochran | ||||||||||||
• Established | 1656 | ||||||||||||
1819 | |||||||||||||
Currency | Baat | ||||||||||||
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The Yajawil of Kahei (or Mutulese Kahei) was a Mutulese colony consisting of what is today the Autonomous Enlightened Republic of Kahei, a constituent state of the Daitoa Republic, and Lion's Rock, an Arthuristan dominion. It was formed by the fusions of the various Kuchkabals established by the Mutuleses traders after the War for Kahei and then directly placed under the authority of the K'uhul Ajaw who nominated the Kahe Yajaw as his direct representative in the oversea territory.
Kahei was one of the most valuable oversea territories under the Mutul's rule, and contributed to the Mutul's global prominence in spice and cash crop trade in the 19th to early 20th century. It was one of the jewels of the Mutulese Empire, alongside Benaajab. Juwon Peten, seat of the Yajaw, was the de-facto capital of the Mutulese Ochran, being both one of the most important port of the region, a tradehub, the seat of one of the larger Yajawil, but also the seat of the Mutul's Ochranese fleet and of its Shipyards.
After the establishment of the Tsurushiman Republic, republicans and jacobins movements started to emerge among the middle class of the Archipelago. The higher classes also started to move away from a far away Mutul weakened by internal court politics, and the staunch refusal by the Yajaw to reform the Kahenal Ych'ob, the moribund legislative institution of the archipelago, to better suit republican ideals, only worsened the situation, leading to the Tsuru-Mutulese War in the 19th century, at the end of which Arthurista bought the rights on the islands, while the Tsurushiman Republic de-facto controlled the northern half of the archipelago, later establishing the semi-autonomous Enlightened Republic of Kahei following the Technocratic Revolution of 1909.
History
The Mutulese presence in Kahei started after their victory in the Jub’uja Latinol Kahe, taking charge of the Latin Possessions, plus various lands they seized from the defeated Kirishtan clans and separatists. At first, each port in which the Mutuleses operated had its own Ch'ob, a council of the representatives of every Nuk Nah with shares in that trade post, and a Batab elected by said Ch'ob. It resulted in administrative confusion for inland possessions, removed from the ports, and soon the three larger Ch'ob were created with elected representatives from the Nuk Nahob, led by an Halak Winik. These new divisions were named Kuchkabal, following the traditional administrative scheme of the Mutul.
Meanwhile, the Shogunists clans, which had allied the Mutuleses, continued to rule their own fiefs, now de facto independent from Tsurushima. The leader of these clans also received the title of Batab from the Mutuleses authorities, who nonetheless recognized their independence and sovereignty. Ultimately, as the Nuk Nahob economical, and therefore political, role grew in the islands, Tsuru-natives clans started to call for their participation in the Ch'ob. With the creation of the Kuchkabals, some clans definitively took the mantle of Batab and were allowed to sent representatives to their Kuchkabal's Ch'ob.
When the Divine Throne started to intervene directly into Vespanian businesses, following the First Bandhaśēka Rebellion, the Ja'Yajaw, Admiral of the Mutulese fleet, settled in Juwon Peten to better control and profit from the large port and shipyards of the city. to better control the Kahei Islands, the K'uhul Ajaw recognized the archipelago as a Yajawil and sent the first Kahe Yajaw to preside over a new, larger, Ch'ob, including representatives from every clans and Nuk Nahob of the island.
Economic History
Before the creation of the Yajawil, the Nuk Nahob and the Tsuru-Native Clans were the ones in charge of the maintenance of infrastructure and public services. As a result, construction in the islands were subpar, with none wishing to finance the Batabils or the Kuchkabals, and only the most basic of services were offered, generally coming with very high fees, and a constant lack of social protection. The Yajawil reinstalled taxes, even on the Nuk Nahob, and took charge of the regalian functions, and re-established a "pure" Market System, with a public authority in charge of the correct maintenance and protection of the lands and infrastructures, and an aristocracy/upper class of merchants and traders insuring the correct ciruclation of the goods produced by the artisans and labourers of the middle and working classes.
Sustenance agriculture, now insured by constant imports of corn, maize, meat, dairy products, and any other kind of cereals, vegetables, or fruits from either Oxidentale, Benaajab, or the Sinhai, made way to the culture of cash crops, notably spices which made the wealth of the archipelago, especially cloves and nutmeg. The Mutuleses also introduced coffee, tea, cacao, tobacco, cinchona, and rubber. Local landlords, generally from Kuru-native clans, created vast plantations of all these cash crops. The priest Aj K'in Ch'ak'e, when visiting the islands, noted that "The Kaxi (The Mutulese term for Kahei natives) cultivated the land, their production was collected by Tsurushimans (The Mutuleses made no distinction between Tsurushimans and Tsuru-Natives metis) and then sold oversea by Mutuleses traders".
With the creation and installation of the Vespanian Fleet in Juwon Peten, the boatmaking and armament industries exploded. Foundries and factories in the Kahei Islands produced cannons and ammunitions for all the fleet, and exported guns and any other kind of weapons to everywhere in the Mutulese Ochran. Important stock of copper and metals were imported from the mainland and Tsurushima, while logging became an important source of revenues for small towns and settlements deep inlands, whom started to exploit local Ironwood, Teak, and ebony.
Capitals coming from either public or private investments helped to maintain the growth of Kahei's economy. The Yajawil created a network of granaries alongside the important roads and temples of the islands, to serve in case of natural catstrophes storms earthquakes, or volcanic activities that could threaten the populations. These efforts by the Yajaw were financed by an always improving tax system or by direct by the Mutul.
the Kahei Islands also saw the apparition in this period of many insurances and banks led by the Mutuleses Nuk Nahob. The third sector of the Kahei economy was entirely dependent of the wellbeing of the Vespanian and Makrian trade networks, with most of the loans granted, or insurances taken, by and for long-distance trades. It's only later as the funds present in Kahei grew that the Nuk Nahob expanded their clienteles to the middle classes of local traders and wealthy landowners.
Social History
Before the arrival of the Mutuleses, the Tsurushiman records and archives tell of a population made up almost in it's entirety by natives, dominated by a small minority (estimated between 0,7 and 2% of the total) of what the records call "Tsuru-Natives", generally part of the higher aristocracy of the islands. The Nuk Nahob had little interest in the population of the islands and it's only with the Yajawil that the first regular census would be put in place to improve the taxation system and the administrative network. The requirement for each Batabil to finance a school teaching both how to speak in Mutli and in the dominant language of the administrative division also created the need to keep track of the languages, and therefore of the ethnicities, of the archipelago.
In 1800, 1,5 percent of the population residing permanently in the Yajawil speaked a language of Oxidentalese origin as a first language, 2% speaked mostly Tsurushiman dialects and lastly, 95,5% of the population was grouped under the term of Kahexi, aka "Natives", with further distinction between Kamexikuhun, or "Tsurushimic" and Yamaxi. On their own, Yamaxi people represented 53% of the population.
The Mutuleses and the Tsuru-Natives formed a privileged upper social class of soldiers, administrators, managers, teachers, and traders.
Government
Education
The Mutulese school system was extended to Kahei with the most prestigious schools admitting Mutuleses children and those of the native aristocracy and upper class. A second tier of schooling was based on geographic origin, with inhabitants of a same ward going to the same school. Vocational schools and programs were set up by the Mutulese government to train indigenous inhabitants for specific roles in the economy. School were teaching in the main language of their ward or Batabil, but also teaching the basis of Mutli and how to read Mutuleses glyphs, or at least Mutulese Demotic.
Education reforms, and modest political reform, resulted in a small elite of highly educated indigenous Kahei natives, who promoted the idea of an independent and unified Kahei that would bring together disparate indigenous groups of Yajawil. The nationalist movement developed strongly, but also faced Mutulese oppression.
Law and Administration
The organisation of the administration was almost indistinguishible from the other Oxidentaleses Yajawils after the integration of the local Tsuru-native clans as "batabob". all government officials and organisations were formal agents of the Kahe Yajaw and were entirely dependent on its central for their budgets.
The Yajaw was directly appointed by the K'uhul Ajaw, and in later years via the Divine Throne and on advice of the Sajal Ch'ob. The Kahe Yajaw was helped by the Kahenal Ych'ob, an assembly limited to an advisory role and only a small portion of both the Mutulese and the indigenous population were able to vote for its members, and was reconstituted every four years. It was made of representatives from every Batabil, the Nuk Nahob, and other notable lineages.
Each Batabil had its own tribunal, generally located in or nearby the Marketplace. Like in Benaajab, it was required by law that all marketplaces tribunals possessed at least one copy of each codes of laws, the Slavery, Penal, and Civil Codes, freely accesible. Anyone illiterate could ask for a scribe to read these code to him for free.
The Yajawil was at first divided into three Kuchkabal, of Juwon Peten, Hoxi Peten, and Kuwali. Further reforms added two new divisions, to better accomodate the regions where the Tsuru-natives clans still ruled and where the Mutulese presence was small or unnoticeable.
Armed forces
The headquarter of the Vespanian fleet resided in Juwon Peten but were never under the control of the Kahe Yajaw. Instead, the grand admiral of the fleet, the Och'ja Ajaw, was responsible of all naval operations in the Vespanian, including the Kahei Islands. The the Mutulese Administration, the Ja Ajaw and the Yajaw had equivalent status.
Before the Yajawil, the military and police duties were performed by private local militias or troops at the order of the Tsuru-natives Clans. Following the success of the First Bandhaśēka Rebellion, the Mutul established the 11th and then the 12th Tulotairi Regiments in 1661 and 1662 respectively. They regrouped and reorganized all of the previous troops present in the islands, from both the Nuk Nahob and the Clans. The remnants were integrated to the local police forces under the direction of the Kahe Yajaw. Meanwhile, both division were organized in a way similar to their Oxidentaleses and Benaajabi counterparts, each being under the direction of a Nacom. Together, they were put under the common direction of a B'ah Nacom or "Marechal".
Recruitment in the Kahe Tulotairi was based on voluntary service, with the divisions maintaining a certain number of slaves to help for non-combat related, unskilled labours. Most of the recruits and soldiers of the Kahe Tulotairi came from the natives Kahexis, while the officers came from either Mutulese or Tsuru-Native backgrounds. Notably, second or third sons of Tsuru-natives sons were often sent to the military school established in Hoxi Peten, alongside sons of mutuleses officials or traders wishing to see new horizons. During all the existence of the two regiments, all the Nacoms and B'ah Nacoms had been Mutuleses, only rarely born in the Kahei Islands themselves.