History of Polder Eiland
The History of Polder Eiland spans from the departure of its first settlers from Bakyern to the present day.
The Early Period
Foundation
A voyage to found the first settlement on Polder Eiland was instigated by Wilhelmus van Koningsburg and a group of 232 fellow settlers. The group were Dutch, a Bakyernian subethnicity, and followed the teachings of John Calvin, a Protestant Reformer. The group set sail on the 9th of May, 1588 from a port north of Bakyern. The journey was arduous, with the group circling around the southern end of the western continent just in time for them to weather the winter in the southern reaches of the continent. During the spring of the next year, they arrived on Polder Island, now only 156 in number.
Historically, the island had been unsettled, and though some amount of exploration on the island had taken place previously, due to the dense swamps in the interior and on the north side of the island’s shores, no previous settling attempts had taken place.. The first settlement was called “Willemsburg”, and was placed strategically on a hill close to a natural harbor. The hot climate produced much heatstroke in the first year, and an additional 41 settlers died. However,
Willemsburg quickly grew into surrounding hills, receiving about three hundred settlers a year for the first ten years, such that by 1600, a census recorded a population of 4231. Until this time, van Koningsburg had served as the de-facto authority on all matters of the colony, but he fell ill in 1601, and by January 28th, 1602, he had died. Instead of calling a new governor, the head minister, Jan Bijlsma, called for a meeting of the close friends of the late governor, and other upstanding community members. It was decided that Bijlsma would serve as the interim governor until spring of 1602, when the men of Willemsburg would elect a Mayor and 7 council members from among those who had been residents of Willemsburg for at least 5 years.
The First Republic
This council assumed the title of “The Republic of Willemsburg”. The council took office after the election on March 28th. Bijlsma was elected Mayor, and implemented the first religious policies on the island, officially requiring the attendance of church, but also allowing freedom of religion within Protestantism.
It was during this time that a group of about thirty settlers broke off from the main group and founded a new colony on the delta of the Milvan River called “Calvinsburg” in 1603, in an attempt to create a more religiously purist settlement.
Bijlsma remained mayor until his death in 1634, and was subsequently replaced by his son, Dirk. Dirk’s rule over the city was much less successful, due in part to his notoriety for being uncouth and a drinker. After rioting in 1637, he was deposed by a mob of clergy and townspeople.
The Second Republic
The town refused to allow the council to produce a new mayor, and as a result, they instead produced an alternative to the people in 1638: a legislature without an elected head for the purpose of ruling, but with much more representation of the clergy and common people in it. The people assented to this, and in 1639, the Council of Burgesses was formed, instigating the Second Republic of Willemsburg. During this time, the town began to bring in many immigrants from surrounding areas, including Tsokeikan and Suodenese people. These immigrants were at first shunned, but in 1647, a resolution was made: all immigrants would be allowed to remain on the condition of conversion to the Polderian Reformed Church and that they learn Dutch. The news of the welcoming of immigrants spread, and the immigrant population increased greatly, and began to integrate with the Dutch populations.
The Council of Burgesses also allowed the creation of foreign enterprises within the ports of Willemsburg, with the hope that this would bring in money. In protest, the townspeople began to form Guilds. It was the conflict between these guilds and the Council that would eventually lead to the fall of the Second Republic.
The Guild Rebellion and the Third Republic
The people of Willemsburg, prodded on by the guilds, rose up again in rebellion in 1689. This happened after the Council refused to ban a foreign merchant, Sik Sigin, who had caused some trouble. This was labeled the “Sik Sigin Affair”, and led to the banishment of all foreign traders from selling their wares in the port of Willemsburg.
The guilds created a Merchant Republic instead of a Council. The Merchant Republic had one representative from each of the nine merchant guilds. The guilds required that members had been residents of Willemsburg for at least ten years, and that they had never bought large amounts of wares from any foreign seller if those same wares could be bought in Willemsburg.
The Merchant Republic also conquered the city of Calvinsburg in the War of the Milvan River. The Merchant Republic, to control the flooding of the river, founded an outpost called Milvandam about fifty kilometers up the river from Calvinsburg, and began to establish a dam and a series of locks.
The Middle Period
The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Republics
In 1744, the Third Republic fell after disputes between various guilds. This led to a period where three different puppet governments, each led by various factions, controlled the capital at different times. Between 1744 and 1789, the control of the Council Hall changed seventeen separate times.
What finally led to a peace was the conquests of a wealthy landlord, Elias van Milvan. Van Milvan quickly conquered the last reaches of the sixth republic to the north of Willemsburg by 1792.
The Duchy of Polder Eiland
By this point, the city had become known as “De Haven”, and Van Milvan quickly declared himself Duke Wilhelmus I of the House Milvan. He officially ended the republic on May 31st, 1792. During this time, he appointed his brother, Stephen van Milvan, as the Grave of the Outer Island, tasking him with developing De Haven outside of its original borders. He also established a port on some hills on the north side of the island, and called it Groningen. It was during this time he called his domain Polder Eiland, after the numerous polders needed to keep the northern parts of the island from flooding the southern parts.
During this time, some rebels from the Sixth Republic founded a base on Noordiland, which had until this point only been a minor restocking port with a lighthouse. Though the Duke would try multiple times to conquer Noordiland, he would fail repeatedly.
During this time, Polder Eiland began to enter the industrial revolution, with the Duke’s guidance. Guilds were required to report to his industrial team, and were made to trade with foreigners, even against their will. This greatly angered the guilds, who began to conspire.
On November 9, 1843, the Duke died peacefully. The elderly Grave was in line to inherit the throne, but was lynched outside his palace in De Graafschap two days later. The people invited the return of the Sixth Republic’s remnants, and began negotiations about a new form of government.
The Seventh Republic
During this time, the Guilds restructured the republic, giving into demands from the people about having a say in the Council of Guilds. This new form of government, called the Assembly of the Republic, was led by President Cornelius Wissink, who had been a descendant of the President of the Sixth Republic.
However, the Seventh Republic was short-lived, as the arrival of socialist literature on the shores of the island had inspired demands from the people for more labor and civil rights, along with an eight hour work day, and a popular assembly to govern the people’s rights separately from the guilds. Riots broke out in De Haven, Calvinsburg, and Milvandam, and on the cusp of another civil war, Wissink called for peace by calling for a constitutional convention, with the assent of the Council.
The Eighth Republic
The Guilds and the people agreed on a new constitution that combined important aspects of the demands of the people and the needs of the republic overall. The Guilds, it was agreed, would handle foreign affairs and corporate affairs, but would have to provide adequate rights for workers. Additionally, the Guild General was established, in order to provide those who had no employment with a traditional guild with a new guild, and room for the construction of new guilds was made as well.
The Synod, a new popular assembly, was set to govern domestic affairs, with a First Minister at its head. The assembly, in exchange for the Guild General’s creation, would have one representative from each guild also present. The Constitution was ratified by the convention on November 9, 1849.
The Republic’s first elections resulted in Wissink retaining the presidency, and Julian van Heuvel becoming the First Minister, from the newly formed Labour Party. The Republic remained in relative peace and prosperity, gaining influence in trading networks, and becoming the sole provider of many rare spices and delicacies from the island.
The Nutmeg War
Polder Eiland had long kept a high price on its spices, especially nutmeg, which led to, in many areas, issues with trading rivals. One such rival, Zaravai, demanded the price of nutmeg be lowered. The President at the time, Jheronimus Kuiper, refused, and secretly began to hire privateers to sabotage the Zaravian navy.
During one such incident, Zaravai captured a privateer ship, whose sailors confessed to being from Polder Eiland. This led to an escalation, and the war began on June 10, 1906. Zaravia and Polder Eiland both continued naval escalation, until Zaravai attempted an amphibious assault codenamed “Operation Broken Bullet.” Broken Bullet failed to take the main island, but managed to take Noordiland. This led to the signing of the treaty of De Haven, wherein Polder Eiland agreed to cease escalation of pirate attacks and increase of nutmeg prices in exchange for the return of Noordiland.
The Haven Uprisings
Following years of unabated capitalism and corruption in government, Marxist rebels rose up throughout De Haven in 1934, and captured the Halls of Government, executing over half of the Guild representatives. Fearing civil war, the military was sent in to quash the rebels, and fighting lasted 3 years. In 1937, the Marxists negotiated for the release of the remaining prisoners on the condition of amnesty for all revolutionaries, the abolition of six of the eighteen guilds, the unbanning of the Labour Party, the abolition of the Conservative Party, and the conviction of all members of government who had participated in corruption. The military conceded.
Afterwards, the Labour Party enjoyed great success compared to the new furthest right party, the Christian Democrats.
Recent History
Since the Haven uprisings, there have been no engagements of the military in any regard. The Republic has remained relatively at-peace, with HDI, GDP, and life expectancy increasing every year since 1937. The Republic has remained imbued with an interesting balance of religiosity, political expediency, openness to immigration and trade, and social democracy. This shift has angered separatists on Noordiland, who have demanded independence via electing to office the Noordiland Independence Party Most recently, Polder Eiland has joined in the Western Trade Federation under President Beatrix van Dijk.