Affiliated States of Boreoamerica thread
- Thread starter False Dmitri
- Start date
New Netherland's regions and municipalities
The municipalities are the fundamental units of local government under New Netherland's constitution. The state's tradition of self-government has two deep historical sources, one local and one overseas. The colony's early patroonships, or manors, were very self-sufficient and were run almost as small private colonies. Starting in the later 18th century, power was transferred from the patroons themselves to the citizens living on the manors, until finally they were indistinguishable from municipal governments. But they largely kept their powers to manage their own affairs. Overseas, the Dutch Republic provided the main model for New Netherland's government. The early-modern republic was a confederation of provinces, and each province has been described as essentially a confederation of city-states. The first civil institutions of early New Netherland were modeled in part on those of a Dutch province.
The larger Regions of New Netherland are secondary. The regions are amalgamations of municipalities, rather than the municipalities being subdivisions of the regions. They were created starting in the late 19th century beginning in the central metro area, as the growing cities around the capital perceived a need to coordinate such services as transport and sanitation. Since the 1960s every municipality has been part of one region, but the regions do vary on how much power their constituents have delegated to them.
The municipalities are the fundamental units of local government under New Netherland's constitution. The state's tradition of self-government has two deep historical sources, one local and one overseas. The colony's early patroonships, or manors, were very self-sufficient and were run almost as small private colonies. Starting in the later 18th century, power was transferred from the patroons themselves to the citizens living on the manors, until finally they were indistinguishable from municipal governments. But they largely kept their powers to manage their own affairs. Overseas, the Dutch Republic provided the main model for New Netherland's government. The early-modern republic was a confederation of provinces, and each province has been described as essentially a confederation of city-states. The first civil institutions of early New Netherland were modeled in part on those of a Dutch province.
The larger Regions of New Netherland are secondary. The regions are amalgamations of municipalities, rather than the municipalities being subdivisions of the regions. They were created starting in the late 19th century beginning in the central metro area, as the growing cities around the capital perceived a need to coordinate such services as transport and sanitation. Since the 1960s every municipality has been part of one region, but the regions do vary on how much power their constituents have delegated to them.
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Ding ding! I'd imagine it's quite an interesting place in the ASB, Iroquoia and its peoples on one side of the river, New Netherlands and its peoples on the other, and from the looks of the most recent English stocks map there appears to be a meaningful English Minority in the region.
That border is interesting too. It was defined vaguely at best for a really long time. The savvy viewer might notice that both of the traditional main Mohawk Iroquois towns are on the New Netherland side of it. By 1780 or so the valley was filling up with New Netherland citizens. The interactions of Mohawk people with German and Dutch settlers started to produce a hybrid culture with mixed children, a mixed language, and mixed loyalties. Some of the western Iroquois nations started to worry that all this mixing was going to lead to the extinction of the Mohawk as a distinct people. Some officials downriver in New Amsterdam had similar worries. They all pushed for a defined border beyond which New Netherland would not assert jurisdiction over its citizens. They also shifted the center of Mohawk politics from the two eastern towns to a new town at Unundadages (Utica, NY) a bit more out of reach of pernicious Dutch and German influence.
Iroquois villages and members still on the New Netherland side remained Iroquois for a long while. The two Mohawk towns were enclaves where most people had dual citizenship. As Iroquoia evolved from a league of tribes into a territorial state, these wrinkles were ironed out, so that people east of the border might be Iroquois for cultural and ceremonial purposes, but legally they were equal to any other citizens of New Netherland.
The Adirondacks were still important as an Iroquois hunting ground. Iroquoia kept many land use rights there but ceded to New Netherland the responsibility for defense and control over boat and wagon trade. This shared use never completely ended. It survives today in the system of mutual provincial parks in the Adirondacks, nature preserves under the shared jurisdiction of both states.
The Oswego area is interesting too. Fort Oswego was a Dutch rather than an English foundation in ttl, but like in otl it altered the balance of power in the whole region. It made the Dutch a power in the Great Lakes for the first time. Its population was mostly Iroquois and Iroquois-Dutch creole until the 1820s or so, when lots of people began to move in from New England. Parts of northernmost New Netherland are actually majority Anglophone today, namely the area around Watertown, NY (which exists in ttl) and Lake Champlain. Oswego itself, as a relatively large town, probably mostly speaks the standard Dutch of the state, but in the rural areas around it there is lots of creole, with Anglophones concentrated in some neighborhoods and villages, especially in the Watertown area. The parts of Iroquoia immediately adjacent to the port are probably more Dutch and creole than Iroquois, but Iroquois culture is not far away, including the capital, Onondaga. And of course there is a French presence as well; the city of Frontenac (Kingston, ON) is not so far away, and even Canada possesses a bit of lakefront, including the Thousand Isles at Ontario's outlet.
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Every peek into this world is so enchanting. That shared sovereignty over parks and almost certainly historical sites are something I hadn't considered until now. One could make some really complicated diagrams and maps detailing all parcels of land where the Iroquois have some kind of joint management over parks, historical sites, etc. and likely one for every other state that was a considerable power before true confederation. Are situations like OTL Lloydminster in Alberta and Sask. common? Joint local governments that exist in more than one state, with all the complicated tax and jurisdictional law that would come with it.
For sure yes on historical sites. At minimum, the forts at the center of each Mohawk town, Canajoharie and Tiononderoge, are historical parks of some kind. As for condominium areas like Lloydminster? I know there used to be a lot more. For a while I toyed with the idea of making Fort Niagara an area like that, and maybe some other areas along the Niagara River. The tendency since 1900 or so has been to try to regularize most of those anomalies. I don't know of any on the current map, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
I'll share this as a WIP because who knows when there will be time to finish it: some selected ASB Stateballs.
Cool so far. Is this simply a more detailed map of the setting, or are you using it for something else?
OK. For the central region, this map is still the most accurate. For the Great Lakes, the Upper Country regional map is accurate and should be easy to transfer, since it also uses a rectilinear projection. Otherwise, the QBAM is the authoritative map for now.
Gian
Banned
Thanks. I'm actually using all of that as a reference.
Also, as I was reading about the Carolina-Lower Virginia border, I noticed you set the border at the Neuse River, when much of the Albemarle Settlements (which were both populated by Virginians and were occupied by Virginia in this world) were mostly north of the Roanoke River (see map here
Is there a bit of justification for setting the border that far south (maybe Virginia's governor wanted to put a buffer zone between the settlements and Carolina) or maybe I should set the border at the Roanoke River instead.
EDIT: Here's the map showing the Roanoke and Neuse Rivers, with the approximate area of the Albemarle Settlements in that red circle (right around where Bertie County is) -
Gian
Banned
So managed to finish the Northeast (except New Netherland), Great Lakes, East Florida and Seminolia.
Anyways @False Dmitri, I still need some answers to my previous comment about the Lower Virginia-Carolina border, and whether it should be changed to the Roanoke (instead of the Neuse) River.
Anyways @False Dmitri, I still need some answers to my previous comment about the Lower Virginia-Carolina border, and whether it should be changed to the Roanoke (instead of the Neuse) River.
So managed to finish the Northeast (except New Netherland), Great Lakes, East Florida and Seminolia.
Anyways @False Dmitri, I still need some answers to my previous comment about the Lower Virginia-Carolina border, and whether it should be changed to the Roanoke (instead of the Neuse) River.
Does a blank version of this map exist?
