A Crack at Draka: ME's Attempt at a Better TL
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I worry for India with the Draka running the EIC!
That's what ended up happening in the Drakafics TL--the Domination grew like it did because it incorporated EIC territories and the EIC behaved in an increasingly Draka-like manner until there was a massive Indian revolt, IIRC.
In my Afrikaner TL, I had the Afrikaners do a 16th Century version of the Moon landing to secure cinchona trees to grow in Africa, as a solution to that problem.
I have an idea for the TL, but I'd like some thoughts from the readers first. I was entertaining the idea of the Dutch East India Company establishing a colony port on the east of South Africa that would act as competition for the Drakans. Eventually the smaller colony of Afrikaners would be absorbed by Draka.
An Afrikaner state in competition with the Drakesland colony would be awesome. And when they unite with the Afrikaner state, they officially become known as Draka.
Problems, Home and Away: 1640-1660
In 1641, England was at war with itself. Parliamentarians fought against Royalists to decide who would rule England. This strife, far away, affected the colony little. However, a great many of the Drakes' contacts in England supported the King and the conflict did threaten to remove them from power if they lost. So Thomas Drake waited with bated breath on news from England as to the situation every year, voicing somewhat subdued voice of support for the King - which Charles I interpreted as very strong Royalist sentiment and so dubbed Drakesland the 'Old Dominion'[1].
When news that the Battle of Presten was a disaster for the Royalists came, Thomas decided it was time to sail for England. His mission was to secure the safe passage of his clients and contacts in England as well as attempting to get in the new government's graces. Smuggling his contacts out of the country - who would either head to the mainland to bide their time or return with Thomas to Drakesland - the colonial Governor established new contacts within the Commonwealth, even having a meeting with Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. He returned to Drakesland the following year, a fair numbed of Royalists in tow.
Over the decades, the Khoisan had steadily grown more coherent. These northern peoples were continually pushed back by the English settlers and began to align themselves with one-another as a result. In the early 1650s, New Haven was caught in the largest Khoisan raid in recent memory. Many Puritans were killed and a significant portion of the settlement was destroyed. Roused, the elected Prefects of the municipalities of Drakesland demanded action from Praetor.
Thomas Drake had been inspired by the New Model Army in England and drew up his plans for a militia to attack the Khoisan Confederation - as the alliance of tribes was dubbed by the colonists - that was closely modelled on the Parliamentarian army (although, this "New Colonial Army" would be on a much smaller scale). With the training overseen by Drake personally and implemented by whatever militarily competent men the colony had available, it's units were ultimately made up of well-disciplined, determined soldiers. Puritans from the often victimised New Haven municipality were the ideal choice for filling the ranks of this militia, and Thomas Drake preached to them their God-given destiny for the greatness of the colony and their right to whatever land in Africa they chose.
Following Cromwell's example, Drake pandered to the religious zeal, belief in the cause of expansionism, bitterness and sense of superiority to make a cocktail of determined, disciplined soldiers. The resulting 'army' ended up consisting almost entirely of dragoons. Most of the colonists knew how to ride, or were soon taught it, and this was incorporated into the training. Armour designs borrowed heavily from the English NMA's own uniforms.
New Colonial Army militiaman, without a mount, in full uniform
The cost of equipping the militia was incredibly expensive, but many families put forward the money to outfit their militia and the Drake family - horrendously wealthy as it was - supplied a majority of the funds. Some would call the "New Colonial Army" overkill, but the colonists called it a necessity. The militia followed the tactic of utilising the Dragoons to commence hit-and-run attacks on whatever body of Khoisan warriors they came across. Their mounts provided them with the opportunity to run down fleeing African warriors after a battle, which would usually result in an unrelenting massacre.
The dragoons were both cavalry and, when needed to be, infantry - and surprisingly adept at both when the campaigns went into full stride. Many became adept at shooting whilst riding and would whittle the enemy down during skirmishes.
New Colonial Army militiaman, mounted and bearing the standard of the Finitor Municipality.
In the later parts of the 1650s, the increasingly embittered colonists swept through the lands of the Khoisan Confederation (and lands belonging to many unaffiliated Khoisan tribes and villages). They killed and enslaved indiscriminately as the tribes broke under the strain of a far superior military force, revelling in their new-found opportunity to release the generations of hate and feuding upon their northern neighbours. By the end of the Final Khoisan Campaigns, most of that particular African group were either dead, enslaved, or forced to flee north.
After their subjugation of the north, most of the New Colonial Army disbanded - as militiamen usually do - and returned to their homesteads. However, Thomas kept a small permanent force of dragoons to police the colony and its borders. These became known as the Drakian Dragoons, and would develop into something of a military-based social class in colonial society.
Member of the Drakian Dragoons - 'Guardians of the Cape'
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[1]: Where Drakesland was the "Old Dominion", Virginia - also a loyal colony - was comparatively newer and so named the "Young Faithful Dominion".
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The Draka in the books were rather culturally uniform ("evil Anglo-Saxons" with a smattering of exotic names) and they generally agreed on most political issues, so if there's an Afrikaner bloc that gets subsumed into the greater Domination and they retain a distinct identity, that'd be interesting.
OTL South Africa saw squabbles between the Boers and the Anglo-Africans, the former of which were more committed to apartheid than the latter. TTL might see social divisions of a different sort predicated on ancestry as well as politics.
(Say the Afrikaners are more homebodies and support TTL's version of the anti-expansionist Rationalist Party, while the Anglo-Draka are more inclined to foreign adventures and expansionism.)
OTL South Africa saw squabbles between the Boers and the Anglo-Africans, the former of which were more committed to apartheid than the latter. TTL might see social divisions of a different sort predicated on ancestry as well as politics.
(Say the Afrikaners are more homebodies and support TTL's version of the anti-expansionist Rationalist Party, while the Anglo-Draka are more inclined to foreign adventures and expansionism.)
About the most recent update, what're the proto-Domination's borders now?
And what kind of weapons did the Khoisan have? If they had guns, that could lead to interesting effects--perhaps the Draka go to war against the Portguese colonists for selling the Khoi guns, or they start getting paranoid about traitors within who did it instead.
And what kind of weapons did the Khoisan have? If they had guns, that could lead to interesting effects--perhaps the Draka go to war against the Portguese colonists for selling the Khoi guns, or they start getting paranoid about traitors within who did it instead.
The Khoisan are the more disorganised of African native groups. IOTL, they're pastoral and foraging cultures, only really unified by the threat of the cruel and violet settlers to the south. They haven't come into contact with any other Europeans besides from the English colonists.
And yes, a map will be up relatively shortly.
Map of the Colony of Drakesland, circa 1660
Keen determination for expansion and the efforts of the colonists led to the surprisingly rapid move eastwards and northwards from the original lands of the colony.
In its earlier stages of existence, colonial Draka was divided into Municipalities run from the largest settlements in a given area. Each Municipality was conveniently named after the largest settlement in it, and was managed by a Prefect. The guiding hand of Praetor was never far.
The lands in a darker colour than others are Military Districts - areas of colonial control that do not have enough white settlers to govern. These territories rely on patrols of militia and military heads to maintain control. The administration for them are usually centred around the largest forts in the area.
Influenced by the fondness of the classical ages that the ruling bodies of the colony obtained from the Drakes (who, through the late Sir Francis' wife, also developed an interest for the classics), new settlements were often latinised words and names - such as Finitor (Horizon) and Sempiternalis (Everlasting) - and even the odd Greek name (Fort Kathikon, for example).
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If you don't think that's plausible, then you could just say that and explain why instead of just swearing at me.
The "moon landing" metaphor was made by someone else, to describe the amount of effort it would take for the Dutch colonists to get hold of cinchona plants and transplant them to Africa.
About the cultivation of cinchona, here's some basic info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinchona#Cultivation
Cinchona was transplanted and grown in Sri Lanka and Mexico.
If South Africa/Zimbabwe is not suitable for growing it, given the connections the Draka have with the East India Company, perhaps they grow it in India and import it?
Eventually Draka expansionism will become dependent on cinchona imports from elsewhere in the Empire and this could be used to check them, which could in turn be an impetus for the Draka to try to create a cinchona variety that can grow in their territory.
Someone in one of my Apartheid Superpower threads suggested greenhouses if the temperature or soil quality isn't good enough for planting ordinary groves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinchona#Cultivation
Cinchona was transplanted and grown in Sri Lanka and Mexico.
If South Africa/Zimbabwe is not suitable for growing it, given the connections the Draka have with the East India Company, perhaps they grow it in India and import it?
Eventually Draka expansionism will become dependent on cinchona imports from elsewhere in the Empire and this could be used to check them, which could in turn be an impetus for the Draka to try to create a cinchona variety that can grow in their territory.
Someone in one of my Apartheid Superpower threads suggested greenhouses if the temperature or soil quality isn't good enough for planting ordinary groves.
a) In the sixteenth century the plant was unknown to Europeans
b) In the seventeenth century the bark was still being gathered out of the forests by indians, Europeans didn't have a clear idea of what the plant looked like or what it needed.
c) Getting at requires venturing deep into unmapped Peru, coming out with hundreds of pounds of delicate plants, and the Spanish authorities trying to stop them at every turn.
d) There are lots of different species and hereditary in anti-malarial quality is low, the Dutch managed to grow half a million plants in the OTL that were completely useless. Attempts for selective breeding lost the anti-malarial factors, you can't adjust the plants that way.
e) The requirements were only deduced from observation in its local environment in the 18th century, transplanters would be working in the dark and almost certainly kill their stock (several English attempts did this).
f) It is incredibly fussy about its environmental requirements, seriously growing it in south africa is NOT POSSIBLE, this includes Angola and Mozambique.
g) There are areas in Africa where it will go, they are thousands of miles inland, on mountains, and not particularly healthy to get to or stay in, much less building the infrastructure to allow plantations there to be used. ALSO they'd not even be known to the europeans early on.
h) There isn't even any reason to do all this in your timeline, as Java is like the best place to grow the plant on the planet.
Where are you getting all that glass to make greenhouses for multimeter trees (which want widely spaced groves to grow in), where are you getting the soil from in sufficient quantities for commercial production, how are you flushing the soil with the water like the trees need every day.
And finally, since its air pressure that is one of the major problems, greenhouses don't do shit.
The mexican introduction was also one of the worst species for quinine production, it lacked a constant heat for the better species.