Namayan
Sovereign Nation of the Namayanon Haring Bayang Kanamayanon | |
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: Dibdib at puso ko’y alay (Tagsapa) I offer my life to you | |
| Anthem: Dalit ng Anakbayan | |
| Capital and largest city | Maysapan |
| Official languages | Tagsapa Estmerish |
| Demonym(s) | Namayanon |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Lakan | vacant |
• Regent | Allan Gatdula |
• NTA President | Bayani Rendon Jr. |
• KLB Supreme Commander | Sangunglo Untalan |
| Legislature | National Transitional Authority |
| History | |
• Establishment | June 2, 1762 |
• Protectorate | June 19, 1801 |
• Namayan Government Act | November 13, 1914 |
• Namyanon Transition Act | June 6, 1958 |
• Independence | June 6, 1968 |
| Area | |
• | 58,580.48 km2 (22,618.05 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2016 census | 3,850,741 |
• Density | 65.73/km2 (170.2/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | $5.210 billion |
• Per capita | $1,353 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | $1.556 billion |
• Per capita | $404 |
| Gini (2014) | 41.7 medium |
| HDI (2018) |  0.457low |
| Currency | Namayanon shilling (NAS) |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (Central Bahian Standard Time) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yy |
| Driving side | right |
| Internet TLD | .nm |
Sovereign Nation of the Namayanon, also known as Namayan, is a sovereign state in Southeast Coius. It is situated in the east of Dezevau, off the continental coast in the Berhujan Sea. The capital and largest city is Maysapan. Namayan has a population of 3,850,741.
The native Namayanon were Dezevauni sea nomads up until 75 CE, when they landed on Namayan. The first coastal settlements sprung up and organized into thassalocracies. In 1511, the Aguda Empire conquered the island. Agudan rule was marked by the construction of public works and the spread of Badism. In 1762, island leaders elected Lakan Dula I as the first monarch of Namayan. But in 1801, Aguda sold the island to Estmere in the Treaty of Maysapan. Estmere ruled the island as a protectorate until 1968 and Namayan became an independent republic. A mining boom in the 1960s-70s led to brief economic prosperity. In 1982, Katipunan ng Lumangbayan (KLB) began its ongoing, violent insurgency against the government. Both the government and the KLB have been involved in severe human rights abuses. By the end of the 20th Century, Namayan inherited an underdeveloped, low-income economy with one of the world's poorest people, dependent on agricultural exports and the service industry. It is plagued by a powerful black market, dominated by human and drug trafficking, mostly related to KLB activities. Reportedly, several high-ranking government officials have personally made black market dealings with the KLB. The government has refused to acknowledge the allegations.
The government has nearly-regained most of the country's territory from the KLB. The rebel group is still in control of a few significant strongholds, notably the port city of Thurston. In 2010, the government formally announced the formation of the Namayan Transitional Authority (NTA). Key concessions were made for a power-sharing agreement between KLB and NTA, including the restoration of the monarchy. It marked the beginning of nationwide reconstruction efforts. Though commitments made at the time to restore democratic institutions and protect rights have regressed. As of the Batasan's (Namayanon parliament) dissolution in 2016, the NTA is the only existing form of national government in Namayan. Namayan is widely considered as a failed state.
Etymology
The island and namesake country "Namayan" is a corruption of the capital city's name, Maysapan. Maysapan was formed from the phrase "may sapa." It means "there is a creek here." "Sapa" is the Tagsapa word for "creek." The creek it references has been mistaken for several different creeks in Maysapan. Researchers generally assume it does not refer to a specific creek. Sapa was also adopted by the name of the Namayan native language, Tagsapa, from "taga sapa" or "from the creek." The demonym "Namayanon" is suffixed with "-non," shortened from "doon" or "there."
From 1968 to 1970, the "Namayanon Republik" was used as the official name. Occasionally, it has been used in official announcements. Another term is "Bangsanamayan." It has been used in literary writing. It is a combination of "Bangsa" (Country) and "Namayan."
History
Pre-Colonial
Arriving around 1,500 BCE, the native Namayanon people descended from Dezevauni sea nomads in houseboats. Their sustenance and economy was dominated by proto-aquaculture. The island interior is mountainous and was relatively uninhabited until the first recorded arrival of Dezevauni traders in 75 CE. Trade interaction exposed the Namayonon to a maritime trade network. It re-introduced the former sea nomads to a sedentary lifestyle and brought pottery, farming, and iron culture to Namayan.
In 100 CE, the Namayanon built the first major settlements on the island. The island was divided between fortified, thassalocratic city-states called barangays. Barangays were led by datus, tribal chieftains elected by their respective clan elders. A lakan, an inter-tribal mediator, is elected by datus. They nominated fellow datus for the lakanate. The lakan often negotiated border and trade disputes. He also adjudicated tribal laws in judicial tribunals called "tanodbayan." Rural villages shifted loyalties between the barangays almost routinely. Slavery was practiced as punishment on criminals. It supplied wealthy and powerful clans with soldiers and labor force.
During the dry season, water can be scarce. Some unfortunate villages would spend months without drinkable water. In 1138, Lakan Dula led an effort to create a complex irrigation system. A network of canals and vast artificial reservoirs in the northern hinter-plains provided a steady supply of water.
The Namayanon people practiced Anitism, an animistic and polytheistic folk religion centered around ancestor worship. They recognized a multitude of nature spirits and deities. Household gods were commonplace. Anitists carved humanoid wooden figures, also made in ivory or stone, called "taotao," to represent the spirits they worship. A babaylan, an anitist priest, served as an intermediary between life and death. Babaylans regularly held seances. Anitist seances and its other acts of magic were referred to as "pag-anito." An ancestor or nature spirit was known as an "anito." An anitist deity was a "diwata."
The Agudans invaded in 1509. Within two years, their more organized armies defeated the disunited barangay mercenaries and peasant militias. In 1511, the datus convened in Maynila, the barangay state of Datu Puti, to negotiate their surrender to the Aguda Empire. They joined the new leadership of the Namayan province as an advisory council (Kadatuan Council). Panicked citizens fled the coastal regions to deeper inland. To accommodate the rising population, the inland tribes built rice terraces on the side of habitable mountains and hills.
The new Agudan rulers began a series of construction projects to unite the island's coasts. New roads were built between barangays, additional messenger stations under a more centralized provincial communication system, and extensive urban canals to prevent flooding in the cities.
The provincial government re-organized traditional leadership structures and established a centralized bureaucracy, transferring power from the barangays and concentrating them in Mayspan, the provincial capital. Despite this, the privileges and autonomy of the barangay states survived. The Agudan rulers in Maysapan only had direct control in the capital. The local leaders retained influence in the countryside, especially in the mountainous interior where they hid rebel activity.
New ports and coastal towns were built by emigrant Agudan traders and settlers. Their presence resulted in strong Agudan influence on the local cultures. Laws were passed to instruct merchants and leaders to use Ziba script. With new adherents from the locals, Badi temples were built all over the island. By the end of the 18th Century, Badism has replaced Anitism as the island's major religion. But due to the island's polytheistic history, syncretism occurred and native Badists also practiced Anitist traditions. In the island interior, Anitism was the sole religion and practiced discreetly.
In 1762, the Kadatuan Council voted to entrust the lakanate on a favored datu dynasty. They elected the Datu of Maysapan, Dula I, as the first monarchical lakan of Namayan to replace the diplomatic-lakan system. The lakan presided over council and represented local affairs to the provincial government.
Colonial
In 1753, the Estmerish first arrived in Namayan seeking to consolidate greater influence in Southeast Coius. As Agudan power waned, local riots against their rule became frequent. In 1798, the Kakuenga's Rebellion broke out when a mob in the barangay state of Nalfotan ambushed and hanged the visiting Agudan magistrate in the city square. It was ordered by Datu Kakuenga of Nalfotan, after she revealed the plot herself and renounced her fealty to Aguda. She rallied her barangay subjects to join her in a march to Maysapan. Civil disorder soon spread to the neighboring barangays as Kakuenga gathered fellow datus and more people, raiding provincial offices and subduing Agudan garrisons. Upon arrival at Maysapan, Kakuenga was joined by Lakan Tagkan I and the Kadatuan Council convened in Malakandan Palace (Lakan's official residence) to renounce Agudan rule altogether.
While provincial authorities were in disarray, the imperial government hastily leased the island to Estmere, with the exception of Maysapan which remained under Agudan rule. Without notifying the island authorities, Estmere convinced Kakuenga, Tagkan, and the datus to sign the Treaty of Maysapan in 1801, falsely negotiated as an alliance to free the island from Agudan rule. It actually placed the island under Estmerish suzerainty, with more concessions to control than what the Agudan authorities negotiated to keep Namayan autonomous. The island became a protectorate known as the Lakanate of Namayan. The datus and other members of the aristocracy formed the Batasan, an unelected parliament that advised the lakan and passed laws for the protectorate. Estmere also appointed representatives in the Batasan. Though a minority, Estmerish members in the Batasan commanded legislative agenda and debate.
For most of its early existence, the Batasan functioned as a rubberstamp legislature for Estmerish colonial authorities. Sotirian missions, mostly Solarian Catholic, Estmerish officials, and businessmen lived in conclaves across ports like Maysapan. Thurston was built in 1778 to serve as the new seat of colonial government. In 1801, native leaders began a crackdown on Anitism and Badism. Discovered adherents were forcibly converted to Sotirianity. Pag-anito and other practices considered occult were banned.
By 1820, there was an estimated number of 10,000 Estmerish colonists in the island. Most of them were landowners and planters. They owned tea, cotton, and tobacco plantations—the island's main industries. Native lands were appropriated by the landed Namayanon aristocracy. Either to acquire the land for themselves or sell them to wealthy plantation owners.
John Bayer, protectorate political officer and adviser to Lakan Tagkan II, drafted the Educational Act of 1870. It mandated the establishment of a free public school system in Namayan. Each town would have at least one primary school. In Thurston, separate schools were founded to segregate native and Estmerish children.
Independence and Present
Formed from the merging of the Thurston Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Thurston Volunteer Artillery Corps, the Namayanon Settlements Volunteer Corps (NSVC) was founded as the protectorate's unified military reserve force in 1908. In the same year, native NSVC Captain Theodore Bunyi was the leader of an underground revolutionary movement called the Katipunan ng Lumangbayan (Society of the Old Nation). Bunyi convinced his batallion to mutiny and killed their Estmerish superiors.
The Katipunan mutineers tried to take over a NSVC armory in Thurston but was stopped by the 3-batallion strong Estmerish garrison. Bunyi committed suicide before his surviving co-conspirators surrendered. Despite its failure, it was hailed as the birth of Namayanon nationalism. In 2008, during the 100th anniversary of Captain Bunyi's Mutiny, an act of parliament officially recognized him as a national hero.
In 1914, the protectorate was reorganized under the Namayan Government Act. The Batasan was reformed as a bicameral parliament. The hereditary lords were granted seats in a semi-elected Senate and the lower house (Kapulungan) was completely elected. But the act also instituted minority rule. The majority of Kapulungan representatives were Estmerish and other migrant minorities. After the 1916 general election, majority of cabinet ministers were Estmerish and the only native was Pangulo (Prime Minister) Timunan Gumabon, 8th Datu of Yangdon. Despite the Namayanon government's expanded role, the Estmerish ambassador effectively ruled the protectorate through advising the Lakan or the Pangulo.
Estmere funded infrastructure development to improve transportation and develop the growing tea, cotton, and tobacco industries. Combined with a series of educational reform, Namayanon was fully-industrialized in 1935. In 1969, the first silver vein was prospected and a mining boom followed in the 70s. A 1980 economic report published textiles, cigars, and silver ore were the main exports of Namayan.
In 1965, Estmerish parliament passed the Namayanon Independence Act. It allocated 5 years for the Batasan to draft a constitution and prepare the transition for independent Namayan. In 1968, monarchist support dwindled when Lakan Dula VII abdicated as the last Namayanon monarch as an act of endorsement to the republican movement. Proposals to maintain minority influence through tricameralism and representation by ethnicity were rejected. Minority rule and hereditary senators were abolished in the new constitution. In 1972, the constitution was ratified and Estmere formally granted independence. Theodore Bunyi II, Jr., Captain Bunyi's son, became the first president in the 1971 general elections.
At the time of independence, 17,000 of the 684,000 Namayanon population were migrants. 3,000 of them were plantation farmers who owned most of the countryside. Mass demonstrations in the late 70s pressured the government for land reform and distribute land for native farmers. In the 1979 Luanne Farm Massacre, 8 native tenants were killed after the Estmerish owners found out they joined the ongoing demonstrations. The following year, President Bunyi signed the Land Democratization Act. It forced landowners to sell lands that exceeded the permissible amount at a fixed price and were then sold by the government at affordable prices, giving first preference to tenants who had been farming the land. In 1981, all remaining privileges and immunities of the native nobility were abolished in a constitutional amendment. In 1982, the reactionary Katipunan ng Lumangbayan announced its insurgency after the June 14 "Black Monday Attacks." Two separate bombs were planted by KLB in Maysapan and Thurston. Both detonated and killed 10 people.
Culture
National anthem
Dalit ng Anakbayan (Song of the Nation's Children) is the national anthem of Namayan. It was written and composed by Captain Theodore Bunyi, founder of the Katipunan ng Lumangbayan. He wrote this in 1908 before the failed Katipunan siege of the Estmerish garrison in Thurston. When sung, it is usually repeated once. It is considered as one of the shortest national anthems in the world.
Lyrics:
| Tagsapa | Estmerish translation |
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Mabuhay, Mabuhay yaong Kalayaan, Kalayaan |
Long live, long live this liberty, liberty |