Bear Island
Duchy of Bear Island, (commonly known internationally as Bear Island; locally known as Vojvodina Medviđeg Škoja, Medviđi Škoj or just Škoj), is a Nordic island nation situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. The capital city is Mormonta Trdina (anglicized: Mormont Keep), however the largest and the most popolous city is Svanigrad. Duchy of Bear Island exercises supreme authority over the Plutonic Dominion (Svalbard archipelago and scattered islands). Plutonic Dominion has been granted many liberties, inclunding its very own parliament, however the head of state, finances and foreign affairs jointly concern Bear Island and Plutonic Dominion. Bear Island is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite being in the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate.
It was originally thought that Bear Island was discovered by the Dutch explorers Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck on 10 June 1596, who gave its name after a polar bear that was seen swimming nearby. However, recent archaeological research in the west of the country has found evidence of Viking settlements on the island, indicating that the island was inhabited even before Barentsz and his companions discovered it. The island remained uninhabited until the second half of the 19th century when it was re-discovered by an Austro-Hungarian expedition with 895 immigrants, mostly from coastal Croatia and Slovenia. The island was under Austro-Hungarian rule until World War I, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Norway, which was ratified by the Svalbard Treaty in 1920. During the World War II it served as a refugee camp for refugees from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, many of which stayed after the war. It proclaimed indepedence on June 18 1960: this act was not recognised by the Kingdom of Norway, which almost brought two sides to an armed conflict. It was averted by signing a peace deal on January 4 1961, guaranteeing closer relations between those 2 countries, but not the official recognition. However, tensions finally broke in 2006 when the full-scale invasion of Bear Island and its protectorates was commenced by Norway. Bear Island Army successfully repelled the attackers, forcing them to sign the final peace treaty and mutually recognizing each other in Paris on May 31 2007. Soon followed admissions to UN the same year and EFTA three years later.
Bear-Islandic culture is founded upon the nation's Slavic heritage. Most Bear-Islanders are descendants of Croatian, Slovenian and Russian settlers. Bear-Islandic, a Western Slavic language, is descended from dialects of regions from where the first and most of the subsequent immigrants originated from: Istria and Dalmatia. It was also influenced by Norwegian, due to the long occupation of the Duchy. The country's cultural heritage includes traditional cuisine, literature, religion, festivities and ancestral customs of their original homeland.
Etymology
The name for the main island of the Duchy was given by members of the Dutch expedition (presumably by Barentsz himself) who discovered it. Namely, while breaking through the sea full of ice, they saw a polar bear swimming in the icy sea. After shooting and wounding it with a musket when it tried to climb aboard the ship, the seamen decided to capture it with the hope of bringing it back to Holland. Once leashed and brought aboard the ship however, the bear rampaged and had to be killed. Impressed by its endurance, they named not only the island, but the entire archipelago consisting of the main island and smaller islets and cliffs. The largest island was called Grande Terre, but that name was forgotten as the centuries went by. When the Austro-Hungarian expedition arrived on the island, instead of calling the whole archipelago the Bear Islands, they used the name only for the largest island, while the smaller islands got their own names, and the archipelago itself did not get its own name back.
History
It is believed that the Vikings knew about Bear Island, and that they even inhabited it at one time near Prošni Dor. However, there is no concrete evidence, even though some traces of Viking influence had been found on both Bear Island and Svalbard. The first, undisputed and documented discovery occured in 1596, when Willem Barents landed on the island during his third expedition in 1596. Soon after the discovery of the Bear Island, the northwestern tip of Spitsbergen was sighted on 17 June. The sighting of the archipelago was included in the accounts and maps made by the expedition and Spitsbergen was quickly included by cartographers. Steven Bennet conducted further exploration in 1603 and 1604 and noted the then rich population of walrus. Henry Hudson also explored the islands in 1607. Starting in the early 17th century, the island was used mainly as a base for the hunting of walrus and other species of seals. Also, the eggs of seabirds were harvested from the large bird colonies until 1971. The Muscovy Company claimed Bear Island for the English Crown in 1609, but it abandoned the site when walrus-hunting declined.
The first permanent inhabitants came in 1874 from Austria-Hungary from the area of today's Croatia and Slovenia, in the midst of the Race for the Arctic. Four days later, Norwegians landed on the island and declared it Norwegian territory. A short armed conflict ensued in which the so-called Pilgrims defeated the Norwegians at Medin Dolac, thus securing the island in Austrian hands. The Norwegians continued to claim the island, so the Arctic islands were divided at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Bear Island and Jan Mayen were awarded to Austria-Hungary, while Norway retained Svalbard. Franz Josef Land by agreement was given to the Russian Empire.