A Different Dragon

Having tried and failed to do this before I am determined to write and finish my first timeline for this board. With that in mind I humbly present my re-working of my hopefully more realistic Draka timeline.

Timeline Segment 1


1775 Benedict Arnold wins the Battle of Quebec, Quebec joins the Revolution.

This is my Point of the Divergence from both OTL and the original Draka timeline.

1779 France, Spain, Netherlands declare war on Great Britain.

1779 British fleet under Admiral Lord Cochrane lands occupying force in Cape Town.

1780 Colonel Ferguson's loyalists victorious in battle of King's Mountain using his experimental rifle. Several Loyalist units, including Tarleton's Legion and the newly formed Ferguson's Legion, re-equipped with Ferguson breech-loaders. Savage partisan warfare throughout Southern colonies. With the rebels allied with Catholic Quebec, Loyalists are more numerous than OTL and inter-American conflict fiercer.

1781 General Cornwallis defeated at Charleston, surrounded he surrenders to American rebels and their French allies.

1782 British naval victories in Caribbean, occupation of Haiti and Trinidad.

1783 Second Peace of Paris. Independence of former British North America except for Newfoundland and Prince Edwards Isle recognized; British Florida is given to the Fourteen Colonies (including Nova Scotia) and most of her conquests in Caribbean are returned to their owners. As partial compensation Britain gains possession of Dutch Cape Colony.

1783 Loyalty Acts passed by British Parliament: the Cape is renamed the Crown Colony of Drakia, and all colonials who fought or otherwise suffered for their loyalty to the Crown are offered transport and land grants; so to are the Hessian and other German mercenaries in British service at the time. General Patrick Ferguson is appointed first Governor-General. First Loyalist refugees arrive in Cape Town. Conquest of Southern Africa begun. With the threat of Patriot lynch mobs behind them 200,000 Tories will leave America of the next decade but the already crowded Home Isles and West Indies are not attractive destinations. The appeal of Drakia is reinforced by the glowing reports of the first Tory settlers. Over the next decade 125,000 Loyalists will move on to the new land of opportunity, taking up the offer of free transport and priority for land distribution. The remainder will stay where they have settled with large concentrations around Dublin and in Jamaica.

1783-90 Around 75,000 Loyalists (not including some 2,000 slaves) arrive along with c. 20,000 Britons and 7,000 Hessians, with relatives and families following in a steady trickle from Germany. At this time the Dutch Afrikaner population is slightly more than 20,000, a slight majority choose to stay on the Cape however roughly 10,000 decide to trek inland to avoid uitlander rule. Many free Cape Coloureds follow them as despite being a slave holding society the Afrikaners lack the strict racial hierarchy of the British or rather the newly arrived Southern Loyalists. Heading inland many settle down to a life of semi-nomadic farming as soon as they get beyond the reach of the British authorities but some keep heading on, eventually reaching the Witwatersrand mountains.

1784 Founding of York (Durban, South Africa), and New Charleston (East London, South Africa), these are small settlements established by motivated pioneers, most of the Loyalists settle in Western Cape. New Charleston is founded by a group of Carolinans who having moved to Newfoundland began to fear that they would lose what the realised was a distinct culture. The settlers quickly come into conflict with the natives and while the general policy is one of expulsion some former Southerners wanting to recreate the plantations they had left behind begin enslaving people, especially around New Charleston.

1783-84 Volcanic eruptions devastate Iceland. 5,000 Icelanders take asylum in Drakia, though most head to Scandinavia but word from these Icelandic migrants to relatives in Norway and Sweden just like letters from Hessian's will help attract a steady flow of non-British migrants from the start.

1786 With the closure of North America to British convict
transportation and with jails filled to overflowing with the flotsam of early Industrial Britain the first convicts are despatched. In order to separate them from slaves they are not leased out to private individuals as in North America but retained by the government and generally used on public works projects such as the grand new Cape Town Courthouse.

1786-90 Continued growth of economy and population and decline in American Loyalist immigration which is being replaced by British immigration with overall numbers around 12,000 a year. The beginning of export trades in tobacco, sugar, wool, salt, hides etc., are established. A major activity is the resupply of ships heading to and from India and the Far East. Settlement is mainly restricted to the immediate environs of Cape Town (40,000) and along the Breed, Berg and Elephant Rivers.
Board of Roads established to begin constructing roads in the new colony, due to shortage of free labour as settlers take up land grants or go into business and the high mortality rate of convicts slaves are soon needed and the first government slaves acquired.
 
Last edited:
Chapter 1

Richard Arkwright rode back towards the long line of wagons rolling across the broad African plain still in the tight uniform trousers of the Pennsylvanian Dragoons, a uniform he was no longer entitled too since his discharge from the colours three weeks ago. For 13 years he had served the crown and taken its shilling but now that the Regiment had been demobilised it was time to start the rest of his life. Unfortunately after 13 years of service to the crown he didn't have much that hadn't come from the Quatermaster. Even his shirt, once white now a dusty khaki had been issued.
The massive dust cloud kicked up by the wagons and the cattle herd meant that he could only see a small number of the 63 wagons which made up this pioneer column. Having set out from Mossel Bay two weeks ago they were well on there way and about to begin the ascent over the mountains to the Oliphants River Valley where he had been granted granted a large section of nearly a thousand acres by his old Captain.
Captain Robertson had gone ahead 2 months ago with the first party to mark out the plots and make sure that the area was clear of natives and brush so that when this column arrived they settle in rapidly. As he neared the wagons he angled towards his two, they were being driven by the two new immigrants he had hired to help him, Helmut Schmidt and Kevin Monckton. Like most new immigrants both lacked either the time in uniform to earn a free grant of the essentials that enabled successful settlement or the money to buy. So they had signed for a year on to help him clear his land and boss the 6 Khoi he had bought. This way they would earn enough to buy the stock, seeds and equipment they needed and also the experience so that they could make a success when the took up land.
Most of the settlers were families and so had less need for slaves and hired help but he had no moral objections too slavery and common sense told him that a healthy buck could work harder than a 10 year old girl. Also unlike most settlers whose purses had been stretched to the limit by the cost of a ticket and the basic equipment his large demob bonus and the money he had saved by not drinking and gambling his pay like most of his fellow soldiers meant he was one of the best equipped of settlers in the column. He had 11 cattle in the herd along with 16 sheep and a much prized ram though he didn't have a bull. He also had two wagons of seed and equipment including a large iron plow. Hopefully that would give him a much needed head start over his fellow settlers, now all he needed was a name for his future home.
 
Timeline Segment 2

1787 Drakian Legislative Assembly appointed to advise the British appointed Governor.

Constitution of the United States of America ratified, independence of Kingdom of Quebec under a cadet branch of the Bourbons recognised.

1788 Colonel Freiherr Augustus von Shrakenberg retires from military service, receives 5,000 acre land grant on the Breed River. Marries Alexandra Hugeson, of a New Jersey loyalist family.

1789 French Revolution.

1790 Free population reaches 165,000 due to the high birth rate of the disproportionately fertile age settlers; slave/serf 20,000 in 1790. Control of Western Cape province plus a number coastal settlements.
University of Cape Town founded. Anglican bishopric established in Cape Town. Establishment of the Drakian Corps from demobilised soldiers to assist the resident British Regiments combating native resistance.

1790-95 Continued growth of economy and population. A gradual shift in economic activity and policy from expelling the Natives from the land to enslaving them, while not formalised and despite a distinctly dodgy legal basis slavery grows in importance in the colony. There is a considerable amount of resistance from the Free Soilers, primarily from England both New and old, who argue for a Free Soil colony. However the Governor-General Alexander Lindsay, Earl of Balcarres, based on his experience as Governor of Jamaica generally sides with the pro-slavery faction.

1791 Trekboer Julius van der Merwe discovers 1 ounce nugget of solid gold while pausing a t a stream to drink in the Witwatersrand, he tells no-one and continues on.

1792 Continued spread inland and along the coast with Squatters following the Trekboers path. First Englishman, George Johnson (of OTL Rum Rebellion fame) reaches what he calls the Whiteridge mountains, he returns having made contact with several Boer communities, many of who are struggling in the face of native hostility.

1794 British travelling merchant John Anderson trading supplies and tools with a small Boer community in the Whiteridge Mountains is offered a small nugget of gold. Quickly realising the potential he discovers that there have been several similar discoveries. Selling all his trading stock he acquires as much gold as he can before heading to York (Durban, South Africa). There he contacts his brother and a close friend and sells the gold he has acquired, he uses it to acquire 10 slaves and equip the party for mining. He returns to the area and strikes lucky after a few weeks of searching. While they make every effort to keep their discovery a secret word soon leaks out a nuggets of gold begin to appear on the York market. After that word spreads like wildfire.

1795 Free population reaches 240,000; slave/serf 60,000. Firm control of Western Cape plus a number coastal settlements. Most settlement is either in the immediate environs of Cape Town (50,000) and along the Breed, Berg and Elephant Rivers. York (Durban, South Africa) is the most easterly outpost.
Beginning of the Gold Boom, thousands flock to the Whiteridge mountains from all over the Colony to begin prospecting and are astonished by the richness of the deposits they find. The miners are overwhelmingly British, though many have been in Drakia for some years, however people from all over Europe are represented, even France. The pace of agricultural settlement plummets and in some areas goes into reverse as people flock to the mines. For those who strike lucky their first purchase is often slaves with which to exploit their newly discovered bounty. Word soon reaches Britain and is treated as a God send by a Britain busy fighting an extremely expensive war against France. It causes a sensation in London and the previously unimportant Colony becomes a household word.

1796 With the full knowledge and support of the British government a small percentage of Gold exports from Drakia are taxed and used to subsidise immigration to the Colony. The war and British policy mean it is restricted to Protestant Britons, but for them the cost of travel to Drakia is now lower than across the Atlantic to America. Drawn by the Gold Boom and cheap travel tens of thousands leave the high taxes and privations of war time Britain for the golden opportunities of Drakia.

1797 Drakian Legislative Assembly enlarged from 15 member appointed by the Governor-General with an additional 8 elected members. Elected town councils are present in most settlements of any size though rural areas are run by appointed Magistrates, who is generally the leading person in the area.

1798 Drakian Assembly at instigation of British Governor passes Franchise and Militia Acts. This applies to all elections not just the Legislative Assembly, it requires all enfranchised citizens to arm and equip themselves to "adequate" standards and perform a minimum of two weeks of military duty a year, however Militia are not required to serve more than 50 miles from their home nor for longer than 3 months. Intended as a way to lessen the burden of defence from British Regiments it enables to 3 of the 7 battalions present to be dispatched to India, where General Wellesley needs them for his campaign against the Tippu Sultan. It also restricts the franchise to those deemed suitable. However for the first time it links the concept of Drakian Citizenship with military service.
 
Last edited:
Chapter 2

James Achilles Kirkpatrick leaned against the starboard rail of the Ulysses admiring the magnificent cliffs of Natal. It had been two months since they had departed Calcutta and he was eager to make dock in York and leave this cramped, smelly ship that had been his prison. He was especially eager as it would finally silence the endless complaints of his wife Abhati and her maid Ugrakarnika. The contrast between the women's endless complaints about the crew, the ship, the food and the sea his secretary Keshab had loved the journey had taken to the sea like the proverbial dolphin. Looking up at the mast he could see him in the crows nest looking for the first sign of York on the horizon. Captain Heller had warned them that they should sight it some time in the next few hours and James was looking forward to seeing where he would be spending the next 5 years of his life.
However his eagerness to depart the ship was tempered by the prospect of his new role as Head Factor of the East India Company in Drakia. While he was confident of the business aspects he wondered how he would manage in European society. Despite his ancestry he had been born in Madras and had grown up in the hybrid society of the British East India Company, despite his loyalty to the Crown he had never seen England nor really lived in English society. Yet all he had heard about the Crown Colony of Drakia suggested it was European rather than Oriental in its cultural and habits, a settler rather than trading colony.
Here the focus was not on trading with the natives but reducing them to subservience and slavery a attitude he personally found very distasteful.
He also worried about Abhati, he knew the disapproval that many men newly arrived from England felt towards such unions, in fact the vocal disapproval of the new Governor-General Sir John Shore explained why he had been sent here. But he hoped that his position would protect her from too much cruelty and she would settle in soon.
He also wondered about the choice of the new settlement of Natal for their headquarters. Cape Town was the only true town in the colony and where almost all trade took place. He understood the Cape Town was now too big for the East India Company to establish the sort of dominance to which it was accustomed, it also meant that the Company's absence from the town left the field clear for others. Still he was determined to show not just the Drakians but also his superiors in Calcutta that he was a man with a future.
 
Timeline Segment 3


1795-1800 Driven by the Gold Boom in the Whiteridge mountains York, a previously minor port which the East India was trying to build up in competition to Cape Town booms due to its greater accessibility to the Whiteridge than Cape Town. York begins to attract shipping from Cape Town and develops booms as a port and as a settlement though this ends the East India Company's previous monopoly control as businessmen from the Cape and London move in.
But the centre of the population boom is in the Whiteridge. A minor Trekboer settlement Archona (Pretoria, South Africa) booms as the service centre of Whiteridge and a massive mining town going from under 100 Boers in 1790 to 23,000 free men by 1800. It also becomes the biggest slave market of the colony as tens of thousands of freshly caught Natives are sold off to work the mines that dot the surrounding area.

1800 Free population 315,000, Slave population 160,000. Natural population growth is extremely rapid due to a combination of the youthful nature of the settlers with almost all being in their early twenties and and plentiful food and less crowding into unhealthy cities leading to much lower infant morality rate than in crowded Britain. However both the rate of return (20%) among immigrants and the shortage of women due to two thirds of migrants being men restrains growth.

1801 Strong demand for already “tamed” slaves actually starts a reverse Slave trade from the America's back to Africa to work the mines of Drakia. While the numbers are small, in the low thousands it attracts attention. Beginnings of large scale industry established in Drakia due Napoleonic Wars and transports costs restraining imports from England, it is primarily based on free labour.

1802 Under considerable pressure from York and Archona interests resentful at the dominance of the Cape the Crown Colony of Drakia is subdivided into Cape Province (OTL Western Cape Province), Charlotte (most of OTL Eastern Cape) named after King George III's wife, Natal (OTL Natal plus a bit of Eastern Cape) and Whiteridge (OTL Free State and Gauteng). Each has a British appointed Lieutenant-Governor and local Assembly. The new Provincial governments are on the standard model with Lieutenant-Governors appointed by London aided by local Assemblies part elected part appointed. In overall authority is the renamed Drakian Legislative Council headed by the Governor-General.

1803 Establishment of Trevithick Steamworks in Newcastle, Natal to produce the first Drakian steam engine. Gradual improvements and adaptations are made to suit it to local conditions. It is also one of the first business to use slaves in industry, though this is confined to a score of slaves performing basic menial tasks compared to over 200 free employee's.
With the discovery of gold increasing the attractiveness of the Colony and the use of chattle slavery the transportation of convicts to Drakia was becoming increasingly impractical. There was also a desire from anti-slavery Drakians and British potential settlers for a new settlement free of the taint of slavery. The decision was taken to establish a new colony to satisfy both desires. The still largely unexplored continent of Australia is chosen as the site of the new colony with the fertile area in the South-West corner picked over the Eastern coast due to its proximity to Drakia and British India which would make the task of supporting it during its vulnerable early stages much easier. The First Fleet of 13 ships carrying 623 convicts and 373 free settlers forms up in and set out from Cape Town.

1804 Crown Colony of New Albion established. Portland (Perth, Western Australia) founded. It will grow slowly of the next decade.
While there had been small scale slave revolts from the earliest days of Colony this had been merely a adjunct of native African resistance. However a large scale, purely slave revolt breaks out in the Whiteridge mines quickly spreading, over 600 whites are killed before it is put down. It is put down with great ferocity, including rumours of impalement, though in an ironic twist there is a strong likelihood that this actually originated in an Abolitionist pamphlet printed in Britain detailing Drakian brutality and was only adopted by the Drakians afterwards. Passage with the approval of the British Governor of the Bondservent Act, providing increased legal justification not only for Chattel Slavery but also the suppression of the uprising.
“Slaves are only good for picking cotton, building roads and mining gold, but there is a lot of cotton to pick, roads to build and gold to mine” George Johnson, Drakian Legislative Council member for York. This neatly encapsulates that attitude of most Drakians to slavery, though he should have mentioned domestic service as well. Having white servants is now a sign of extreme wealth due both to the competition from slaves and the scarcity and cost of free labour.
 
Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Richard Arkwright walked along the rows of immature olive tree's under the warm African sun, checking their growth, pausing, he looked up the valley towards the House, outlined perfectly by the setting sun. To the right he could see the half built skeleton of the new stables, a grand block to replace the ramshackle shed they currently used. On the other-side of the house he could see a warm red glow from the cook fire in front the neat whitewashed block of the Slave Quarters, it had consumed much of last years profit but giving the slaves proper housing wasn't just the right thing to do it had saved him a great deal in wastage. He smiled to think how far this place had come in the past decades, and what it would look like soon.
He remember the first time he had seen the Cape from the deck of the HMS Diomede as the sailed into Cape Town in August 1783. After the horror of the journey it had seemed a promised land. HMS Diomede was the third ship to dock in the convoy from New York, carrying those who had sacrificed their homes for King and Country and he had been the twelfth man ashore. The brutal fighting against the natives as they claimed this savage land and then his discharge at the end of Khoi campaign in 1787 seemed so long ago now, so many of his comrades had not made it discharge, had not made it past Bunker Hill.
With thirteen years under the colours he'd got a good plot of 1,000 acres and his demob pay had bought 6 freshly captured Khoi, men who he had probably fought at any ones of the numerous skirmishes that had seen them defeated and this land claimed for those who deserved it. Then after thelong trek from Mossel Bay with the pioneer column, on arrival he had found nothing but a bright red post denoting where his property began, another where it ended and otherwise it had been bush and trees. Then the months of desperate work with Helmut Schmidt and Kevin Monckton to clear the land and get the crops into the ground, to build the first crude huts for them and the slaves. At the end of that first year all six slaves were dead and his pocket nearly exhausted replacing them, he'd had to discharge Helmut and Kevin, giving them the last of his gold but the crop had come in. Since then things had only got better for everyone. Both Kevin and Helmut now held farms further down the valley and he now had wife and four fine children, 23 slaves and a new overseer fresh from England to manage them.
Now Welbeck was a model plantation, generally regarded as one of the finest in the Valley, and he was its Master. Quite a change for a boy who had gone hungry on the streets of Philadelphia, now he was one of the local quality. He occasionally felt nervous when attending society functions and making polite chit-chat with the other neighbourhood worthies, afraid that someone would spot him and pull him out, pronounce that he didn't belong, he always had to remind himself that they were faking as much as he was. Still the knowledge that his sons had no such worries reassured him, he may have done it tough but he had given them the best start possible. A childhood as a wild colonial boy under a wide southern sky and fine education to turn them into proper gentlemen, his generation had laid the foundations which they would build on. He supposed the Aristocracy of the Old Country had started out like him, Men-at-Arms who had come across with the William the Conquer and earned their land and titles by force of arms, with blood and fire they had claimed a land and then their children had built it into the greatest Empire in the world.
He jerked from the daydream, the sun was almost down and supper would be served soon, he had to change, it wouldn't be done to eat with soil still on his shoes.
 
Top