Swartcletter Island
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
| Disputed island Native name: Svartkletturoy (Northumbrish) Sokkusonskar (Kaltanean) | |
|---|---|
 Swartcletter Island from the southeast. | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Hyperborean Sea |
| Area | 27.1 km² |
| Highest point |
|
| Administered by | |
| Ambrose | |
| Canton | Northumbria |
| Claimed by | |
| Ambrose | |
| Canton | Northumbria |
| Austrosia | |
| Commonwealth | Kaltaney |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 396 (as of 2017) |
Swartcletter Island (Northumbrish: Svartkletturoy, Kaltanean: Sokkusonskarey) is an island in the Hyperborean Sea, X kilometers north of some place. The vast majority of the population of 396 lives in the township of Teuton Harbour. The island is administered by Ambrose as part of the canton of Northumbria, but is also claimed by Austrosia as a commune of the commonwealth of Kaltaney.
Names
The English name of Swartcletter Island stems from its original Northumbrish name of Svartkletturoy, literally Blackcliff Island, named after the island's black tholeiite cliffs. Svartkletturoy was used by the Northumbrian Commonwealth until its annexation by Ambrose in 1863.
The modern Kaltanean name for the island, Sokkusonskar, was adopted in 1933 and comes from the name of the revolutionary socialist leader Kōrmakar Sokkuson. Prior the renaming, the island was known by various names, most notably Svartklettarey (related to the Northumbrish name) and Sumbarveiþarhopn (summer fishing port).
While controlled by the Archduchy of Austrosia, the island was officially named Swarzchletouwe, an Austroteuton adaptation of the native names.
History
Historians generally agree that Swartcletter island was first settled by the early Norse in the early 8th century CE, although recent archaeological digs could indicate an earlier settlement of the island than first thought, possibly by Celtic communities. Evidence suggests that the first recorded community was predominantly fishermen, and possibly only occupied the island during the summer months. This lack of permanent inhabitants allowed the island became a haven for Viking raiders during the viking age, serving as a stopover for Norse (and related Norse-Gael) longships sailing to and returning from raids in eastern Nordania and northern Velkia. The Norse presence on the island also grew its fishing industry, allowing the native fishermen to sell across the northern Váli Peninsula. This prosperity would continue uninterrupted from the initial Viking occupation in the early 900s to 1192, when the Viking village on the island was attacked and burned by Ambrosian Christians under the leadership of Elias Duns. Although a sizable portion of the Norse population escaped death or capture, their settlement was all but destroyed, and the Vikings returned to the mainland, leaving the fishing industry to die out.
The island was claimed by the Principality of Kaltaney and the Kingdom of Ambrosia from the 13th century. Despite a number of attempts at assuming control of the island by both claimant parties, it would not be permanently occupied again, save for sporadic fishermen and fur trappers from Austrosia and Kaltaney, until 1710. In this year, Captain John Spencer of the Ambrosian King's Hyper Borean Company was forced to anchor his merchant flotilla offshore during a gale, and found trade with the local fishermen and trappers to be quite profitable. He left several of his men behind manning a hastily-constructed trading post, which he named Teuton Harbour.
Following the War of the Northumbrian Succession in 1715, sovereignty of the island passed to the Northumbrian Commonwealth. In the closing days of the war, Kaltaney sent an expedition led by Amundar Hokonsson to try and seize the island, but bad weather conditions in the Hyperborean severely damaged the Kaltanean fleet, forcing it to turn back home. While many Ambrosians emigrated to Teuton Harbour, Northumbria repopulated the existing hamlet with ethnic Northumbrians, continuing to slowly expand the moderately-successful fishing and fur markets. Despite this cautious approach, by the early 1800s overhunting had caused the decline of the local fur business; however, the establishment of a whaling station by Grímur Rasmussen prevented a mass emigration, and by 1850 the town's population had reached nearly 700.
While the local economy grew, however, the rest of Northumbria had been in decline for decades. Their limited exports of timber and millet were now facing heavy competition from Austrosian, causing tensions. Furthermore, following the conquest of Kaltaney in 1848, Austrosia formally claimed the island. This escalated into a brief, undeclared war in the summer of 1859, which mainly consisted of commerce raiding in the Hyperborean, as well as a few engagements between the two fleets. The island was shelled by Austrosian gunboats a few days into the conflict, but they were promptly driven off by the appearance of a Northumbrian flotilla. Despite this, Austrosian troopships landed unopposed in Teuton Harbour on August 6th, garrisoning it and claiming the occupied island for the Archduchy of Austrosia. Northumbria, realizing it did not possess the capability to pursue a protracted land war on the continent, sued for peace shortly thereafter, officially transferring sovereignty to Austrosian control.
Under Austrosian rule, the island was renamed by royal decree to Swarzchletouwe and Teuton Harbour to Wendelimpurg (after the late Wendelina II Karola). The Archduchy initially maintained only a small garrison and a small naval station to defend the island, and otherwise interfered very little with the native population. Following the Summer Rebellions and despite the island experiencing no notable unrest, the garrison doubled in size and the naval station was upgraded to a larger naval base, bringing with it hundreds of Austroteuton colonists, heavily shifting the demographics of the island. A year into the Continental War, an airfield was established on the island for the newly formed Naval Aerial Corps (later Royal Aviation Service. Following the defeat of the Austrosian fleet at the Battle of the Badcal, the island's military importance shrunk and most of the military personnel had left the island by the beginning of the Austrosian Revolution.
Following the revolution and subsequent withdrawal from the war, the Archduchy had little strategic interest in the island and feared a revolutionary landing and subsequent takeover of the naval installations at Swarcletter. Strapped for cash after six years of total war, and needing every edge it could get against the socialists, the Archduchy began negotations with its former ally Ambrose for the sale of the island. The outbreak of Black Revolution prevented the civilian government in Ambrose from taking action on it, however, and the island would instead be sold to the newly-independent Northumbrian State, with a vastly-inflated price. The sale would be almost immediately disputed by the revolutionary government of the Worker's State of Austrosia, which claimed all Austrosian lands as of 1921. With their victory in the civil war by 1925, sovereignty continued to be contested throughout the 20th century.
The whaling industry on the island recovered after the end of the Continental War, but it continued to be unimportant to the government in Hackenbeck. In 1941, Ambrosian President Frederic Townsend surprised the world by abruptly declaring war on Northumbria. In the ensuing Northumbrian War, Northumbrian President Elias J. Heinesen, fearing the power of Ambrosian submarines, ordered most of the ocean-going fleet to the nearest port, causing three Georgetown-class destroyers to dock in Teuton Harbor. This made the island an Ambrosian target, and on the 13th and 17th of February, MacCullough Peregrine dive bombers attacked Teuton Harbour, scoring hits on all three of the destroyers, grounding two in the shallow water. They also inadvertently destroyed the port facilities and the whaling processing stations, causing a large fire to break out and nearly destroy the entire town.
The war concluded on 1 March, with the dissolution of the Hackenbeck government, and Swartcletter was placed back under Ambrosian administration. With activities in the natural harbour obstructed and the whaling facilities obliterated, the industry on the island dried up, and many migrated back to the mainland. Though low-level dredging and the salvaging of the grounded destroyer Ulflands allowed the port to be repaired to pre-war status by 1950, by this point whaling companies had found other bases of operation in the Hyperborean, and the major industry would never return.
Geography
Wildlife
.jpg)
The most prominent fauna of Swartcletter Island is its large population of seabirds, particularly Borean puffins, but also eider, black guillemot, and birds such as Nordanian wrens and snowy owls. The population of land mammals, mainly Borean fox, Badcal hare, and rodents such as lemming, declined drastically in the 18th century due to severe overhunting, however they have been making a resurgence in recent years. Additionally, there are small populations of harp seals in the summertime. The primary industry on the island is fishing, as the waters are rife with {wp|Atlantic cod|cod}}, capelin, and Hyperborean salmon; although whaling no longer has a significant presence on the island, beluga and bowhead whales are still common offshore sights