Nymark, Sylvanie, Nieuw-Vlaanderen & Eduardia
Nymark
The third Danish colony in the new world saw the light of day in 1584. Nymark was an answer to the increasingly dissatisfied investors of the Kronstæder in Kuba. When first the money had started to flow in from the sugar trade, the King had received a fraction of what he would expect such a venture to afford him. The solution was simple, increase the tariffs on the only port of Mariahavn and furthermore ensure that the sugar trade moved through that port, by law.
Even with the tariffs that secured the Grand Kingdom got its cut from the trade, the merchants and owners of the sugar plantation grew very rich indeed. The Kronstæder besides the annoyance of the new tariff, were also unhappy about who could trade in sugar. Quite simply the Kronstæder had gotten used to specific privileges over the lesser cities, or the Købstader. That was not the case on the island of Kuba and the “upstart” cities were equal to the Kronstæder in that regard. It represented an unwelcome competitor, even if the various Købstader were generally far smaller and less economical potent than most of the Kronstæder.
Nymark was the answer to this, spearheaded by Stettin, but supported by virtually all the Kronstæder, they funded an expedition to the New World, to set up their own colony. Islands across the Caribbean were by now not an option. They had all been claimed in some form or another by the various Kingdoms of Europe, and while some still remained uninhabited and untouched, the Kronstæder would instead look to the mainland of Markland, as it was known in Dania. Due to the unwillingness to annoy other states in the endeavour. Taking an Island that another nation had claimed as theirs would just be bad for business it was argued.
Nymark was founded on one of the larger rivers along the eastern seaboard of Markland, the river has been known by many names, such as Altahama, Allamah and Alatamha and it would first be in the 19th century that an official name was chosen. As such, the various spellings can be found across historical documents mentioning the river.
The first settlement was a joint venture between the Kronstæder, it remained the seat of the governing body of Nymark, as the representatives from each Kronstad met there. Kronstaden as it would be known as, remained the unofficial capital of Nymark and eventual official. Each Kronstad was quick to stake their claims to land up the river, where the various settlements were strictly speaking a piece of the parent Kronstad. In every sense of the word, every Kronstad participated in the venture, but while the larger ones easily could afford the expenses of their own settlements. The smaller Kronstæder which had but a fraction of the larger one’s economical prowess, had to work together to be able to afford the expenses.
These smaller settlements were quickly out-competed by the larger ones. Instead of giving up most sold their claims to their larger cousins, and moved either upriver or north to another river aptly nicknamed Little Alathama, where the competition for land was less cutthroat, these new settlements officially founded in the early 17th century remained part of Nymark.
Nymark faced a series of challenges early on. It had been founded at an excellent time, the Grand King of Dania Konrad II had fallen ill, and was incapacitated, in time his heir would become regent, but in 1584 that had not happened yet. At the same time a low-key conflict had once again broken out between Dania and Muscovy which could break out in full scale war on short notice. The eyes of Dania were, as such, looking east and not west.
Nevertheless, Nymark did not escape the attention of Dania, and while it remained strictly under Danish control, the King and his council exercised little power there. In an effort to make Nymark less than desirable place for investments, the vital trade of slave that the Europeans participated in now was denied to it. Danish ships coming from the African slave forts were forbidden to sell their “wares” in Kronstaden and Nymark as a whole.
Instead Nymark would in the early years rely on indentured servants from Dania, which could be worked just as hard. Another option which also was used, was a loophole in the law. Kronmark had little use of slaves, but just around the end of the 16th century and the start of the 17th century, the large colony would see a flourishing slave trade. As Nymark was able to buy slaves there and then promptly transport them south again. The same loophole in the law was tried in Kuba, but royal authority was far stronger there, and it was quickly put to a stop. Suffice to say, if the death rate and living conditions of slaves on the ships from Africa to the Carbbiean was horrendous it was far worse, for those bound for Kronmark.
On another note. The indentured servants from Dania would represent the first large scale movement of Danish settlers to the New World.
In time, the divide between the Kronstæder and the Grand King was mended. The merchants of the Kronstæder accepted new and lowered tariffs in Nymark and Kuba. The Købstader would be allowed to keep using Kuba, but Nymark was strictly a place for the Kronstæder, with one exception, the merchants of the Danish capital were also allowed to trade there. The Danish slave ships were allowed to trade there once again. And the Danish state took official control of the new colony.
Some quirks would remain from Nymark's “rebel past”, in essence, Nymark remained under the Gældker of Kuba, but unofficially it was the trade-council in Kronstaden which ruled over the settlements and plantations of Nymark.
Sylvanie and Nieuw-Vlaanderen
The French colony of Sylvanie and the older colony from Lotharingia; Nieuw-Vlaanderen would, much like their parent nations have a very frosty relationship. One being of course that both France and Lotharingia were competitors, but both colonies were also but a stone’s throw from each other. There was no agreed border between the two colonies and settlements had sprung up left and right, so if there was a border, there would also be several enclaves on both sides.
Early on both sides would refrain from antagonizing each other. There was, after all plenty of land to be had, but it would not take long before each colony started to ally with various Skraeling tribes. It was a situation that was building tensions as raids by various militias became increasingly common. The various enclaves became less farmer communities and instead strongholds for armed men that raided into the neighbouring communities.
Both the court in Aachen and Paris knew about this. The conflict and trouble could easily be the kindling for a devastating war between the two great powers, and both were open to finding a solution to the conflict, but neither were really willing to approach each other on the issue.
So, both settled down to awkwardly denying it being a problem, while silently sending a few extra supplies to their new colonies.
One would think that Nieuw-Vlaanderen would have an edge on Sylvanie, considering it was at least one decade older and therefore more established, more populous and had better contact with the various Skraeling tribes in the area. That is not quite the truth. Some of it certainly was as such. But already by 1585 Sylvanie was clearly the larger of the two colonies, in area and population. Not so it could dominate Nieuw-Vlaanderen, but at least giving it the upper hand.
The reason for this was quite simple. The French colony did not only receive settlers from France, but also from quite a few other European states. This was due to the generous Edict of Orleans from 1528, which granted the followers of Gallicanism equal rights to the Catholic followers in France. While it was not exactly a law, one of the side effects of the edict was in general much increased tolerance for all religions, and not only Gallicanism, as it was seen as a personal matter in France.
Religious communities persecuted in other realms saw an opportunity in this. Now France did not exactly welcome these people in metropolitan France, but were more than willing to accept them in their Caribbean islands and in Sylvanie leading to a large percentage of the early settlement in the French colonies to come from outside France. Ironically, people from Lotharingia made up the largest percentage of the population of Sylvanie, after the French population.
As said the Edict of Orleans had some unfortunate or fortunate side effects and one of these was the sudden greater liberty of Jews in France, and Jews from across Europe began to flock to France and would in time boast the largest population in Europe of Askenazic Jews and Sephardic Jews. The Edict is one reason for that, but it also helped that Jews from the neighbouring Iberian peninsula and Lotharingia were expelled from their adopted country.
Other realms would also boast large Jewish populations, such as Moravia and Muscovy. But generally, France and its early respect for peoples religion, even if different from the countries own, would in time have the largest population of Jews.
The English Curse
The English Curse is a myth or legend. Its origin is from the late 16th century and early 17th century, when England much like other European nations participated in the colonization of the New World. With little early luck.
The legend goes that an early English settlement attacked and wiped out a Skraelings tribe. Which may or may not have killed an Englishman. One Skraeling survived, which in all the stories are portrayed as a witch worshipping the devil. The Skraeling Witch cursed the English settlers and their kin. And the settlement was unable to survive the following winter.
It is true that there was a relatively large death toll among the first European settlers, and it was not uncommon for even a settlement not to survive. It has been established that all the settlements that did not survive the first few years, over half of these were English, so certainly there is a degree of truth in the English Curse.
Yet not all was ill luck from the English site, their Carribean colonies suffered little compared to their contemporaries on the Mainland.
On the mainland continent of Markland England would succeed in establishing settlements or trading post in three distinct places, in the far north, mere trading posts to establish a foothold in the fur trade. To the north of Nieuw-Vlaanderen and lastly along the Gulf of Mexico.
For the English King Richard IV, it was a source of disappointment, that England was unsuccessful in establishing a prestigious colony, such as, Kronmark, Sylvanie or Nueva España. It is one of histories great ironies that the colony of Eduardia along the Gulf of Mexico, and the capital New Norfolk, or Newfolk, would grow into one of the premier colonies and nations on the continent of Markland.
Eduardia was considered little more than a swamp, but it was at its founding seen as another avenue for the fur trade which indeed was very rewarding. It was first in the middle of the 17th century, decades after Richards death, that it truly dawned upon the English crown, and the few English people in the trading post of Newfolk, the sheer extend of the watershed of the river that Newfolk had been founded at.
Sure, they knew it was a large river, but when an English expedition came back with the news that they had made contact with the Danish colony of Kronmark, by just sailing up the far reaches of the river. It was then that the first English trading post became a proper settlement as gold and people poured in from England to claim what surely was their right and destiny to settle along the rivers many tributaries. The river is sometimes known as the Queen of Rivers (The Great River of Kronmark is sometimes called The King of Rivers) or Misi-Ziibi from the native Skraelings.
Extend of European colonization in Markland, 1600.
The third Danish colony in the new world saw the light of day in 1584. Nymark was an answer to the increasingly dissatisfied investors of the Kronstæder in Kuba. When first the money had started to flow in from the sugar trade, the King had received a fraction of what he would expect such a venture to afford him. The solution was simple, increase the tariffs on the only port of Mariahavn and furthermore ensure that the sugar trade moved through that port, by law.
Even with the tariffs that secured the Grand Kingdom got its cut from the trade, the merchants and owners of the sugar plantation grew very rich indeed. The Kronstæder besides the annoyance of the new tariff, were also unhappy about who could trade in sugar. Quite simply the Kronstæder had gotten used to specific privileges over the lesser cities, or the Købstader. That was not the case on the island of Kuba and the “upstart” cities were equal to the Kronstæder in that regard. It represented an unwelcome competitor, even if the various Købstader were generally far smaller and less economical potent than most of the Kronstæder.
Nymark was the answer to this, spearheaded by Stettin, but supported by virtually all the Kronstæder, they funded an expedition to the New World, to set up their own colony. Islands across the Caribbean were by now not an option. They had all been claimed in some form or another by the various Kingdoms of Europe, and while some still remained uninhabited and untouched, the Kronstæder would instead look to the mainland of Markland, as it was known in Dania. Due to the unwillingness to annoy other states in the endeavour. Taking an Island that another nation had claimed as theirs would just be bad for business it was argued.
Nymark was founded on one of the larger rivers along the eastern seaboard of Markland, the river has been known by many names, such as Altahama, Allamah and Alatamha and it would first be in the 19th century that an official name was chosen. As such, the various spellings can be found across historical documents mentioning the river.
The first settlement was a joint venture between the Kronstæder, it remained the seat of the governing body of Nymark, as the representatives from each Kronstad met there. Kronstaden as it would be known as, remained the unofficial capital of Nymark and eventual official. Each Kronstad was quick to stake their claims to land up the river, where the various settlements were strictly speaking a piece of the parent Kronstad. In every sense of the word, every Kronstad participated in the venture, but while the larger ones easily could afford the expenses of their own settlements. The smaller Kronstæder which had but a fraction of the larger one’s economical prowess, had to work together to be able to afford the expenses.
These smaller settlements were quickly out-competed by the larger ones. Instead of giving up most sold their claims to their larger cousins, and moved either upriver or north to another river aptly nicknamed Little Alathama, where the competition for land was less cutthroat, these new settlements officially founded in the early 17th century remained part of Nymark.
Nymark faced a series of challenges early on. It had been founded at an excellent time, the Grand King of Dania Konrad II had fallen ill, and was incapacitated, in time his heir would become regent, but in 1584 that had not happened yet. At the same time a low-key conflict had once again broken out between Dania and Muscovy which could break out in full scale war on short notice. The eyes of Dania were, as such, looking east and not west.
Nevertheless, Nymark did not escape the attention of Dania, and while it remained strictly under Danish control, the King and his council exercised little power there. In an effort to make Nymark less than desirable place for investments, the vital trade of slave that the Europeans participated in now was denied to it. Danish ships coming from the African slave forts were forbidden to sell their “wares” in Kronstaden and Nymark as a whole.
Instead Nymark would in the early years rely on indentured servants from Dania, which could be worked just as hard. Another option which also was used, was a loophole in the law. Kronmark had little use of slaves, but just around the end of the 16th century and the start of the 17th century, the large colony would see a flourishing slave trade. As Nymark was able to buy slaves there and then promptly transport them south again. The same loophole in the law was tried in Kuba, but royal authority was far stronger there, and it was quickly put to a stop. Suffice to say, if the death rate and living conditions of slaves on the ships from Africa to the Carbbiean was horrendous it was far worse, for those bound for Kronmark.
On another note. The indentured servants from Dania would represent the first large scale movement of Danish settlers to the New World.
In time, the divide between the Kronstæder and the Grand King was mended. The merchants of the Kronstæder accepted new and lowered tariffs in Nymark and Kuba. The Købstader would be allowed to keep using Kuba, but Nymark was strictly a place for the Kronstæder, with one exception, the merchants of the Danish capital were also allowed to trade there. The Danish slave ships were allowed to trade there once again. And the Danish state took official control of the new colony.
Some quirks would remain from Nymark's “rebel past”, in essence, Nymark remained under the Gældker of Kuba, but unofficially it was the trade-council in Kronstaden which ruled over the settlements and plantations of Nymark.
Sylvanie and Nieuw-Vlaanderen
The French colony of Sylvanie and the older colony from Lotharingia; Nieuw-Vlaanderen would, much like their parent nations have a very frosty relationship. One being of course that both France and Lotharingia were competitors, but both colonies were also but a stone’s throw from each other. There was no agreed border between the two colonies and settlements had sprung up left and right, so if there was a border, there would also be several enclaves on both sides.
Early on both sides would refrain from antagonizing each other. There was, after all plenty of land to be had, but it would not take long before each colony started to ally with various Skraeling tribes. It was a situation that was building tensions as raids by various militias became increasingly common. The various enclaves became less farmer communities and instead strongholds for armed men that raided into the neighbouring communities.
Both the court in Aachen and Paris knew about this. The conflict and trouble could easily be the kindling for a devastating war between the two great powers, and both were open to finding a solution to the conflict, but neither were really willing to approach each other on the issue.
So, both settled down to awkwardly denying it being a problem, while silently sending a few extra supplies to their new colonies.
One would think that Nieuw-Vlaanderen would have an edge on Sylvanie, considering it was at least one decade older and therefore more established, more populous and had better contact with the various Skraeling tribes in the area. That is not quite the truth. Some of it certainly was as such. But already by 1585 Sylvanie was clearly the larger of the two colonies, in area and population. Not so it could dominate Nieuw-Vlaanderen, but at least giving it the upper hand.
The reason for this was quite simple. The French colony did not only receive settlers from France, but also from quite a few other European states. This was due to the generous Edict of Orleans from 1528, which granted the followers of Gallicanism equal rights to the Catholic followers in France. While it was not exactly a law, one of the side effects of the edict was in general much increased tolerance for all religions, and not only Gallicanism, as it was seen as a personal matter in France.
Religious communities persecuted in other realms saw an opportunity in this. Now France did not exactly welcome these people in metropolitan France, but were more than willing to accept them in their Caribbean islands and in Sylvanie leading to a large percentage of the early settlement in the French colonies to come from outside France. Ironically, people from Lotharingia made up the largest percentage of the population of Sylvanie, after the French population.
As said the Edict of Orleans had some unfortunate or fortunate side effects and one of these was the sudden greater liberty of Jews in France, and Jews from across Europe began to flock to France and would in time boast the largest population in Europe of Askenazic Jews and Sephardic Jews. The Edict is one reason for that, but it also helped that Jews from the neighbouring Iberian peninsula and Lotharingia were expelled from their adopted country.
Other realms would also boast large Jewish populations, such as Moravia and Muscovy. But generally, France and its early respect for peoples religion, even if different from the countries own, would in time have the largest population of Jews.
The English Curse
The English Curse is a myth or legend. Its origin is from the late 16th century and early 17th century, when England much like other European nations participated in the colonization of the New World. With little early luck.
The legend goes that an early English settlement attacked and wiped out a Skraelings tribe. Which may or may not have killed an Englishman. One Skraeling survived, which in all the stories are portrayed as a witch worshipping the devil. The Skraeling Witch cursed the English settlers and their kin. And the settlement was unable to survive the following winter.
It is true that there was a relatively large death toll among the first European settlers, and it was not uncommon for even a settlement not to survive. It has been established that all the settlements that did not survive the first few years, over half of these were English, so certainly there is a degree of truth in the English Curse.
Yet not all was ill luck from the English site, their Carribean colonies suffered little compared to their contemporaries on the Mainland.
On the mainland continent of Markland England would succeed in establishing settlements or trading post in three distinct places, in the far north, mere trading posts to establish a foothold in the fur trade. To the north of Nieuw-Vlaanderen and lastly along the Gulf of Mexico.
For the English King Richard IV, it was a source of disappointment, that England was unsuccessful in establishing a prestigious colony, such as, Kronmark, Sylvanie or Nueva España. It is one of histories great ironies that the colony of Eduardia along the Gulf of Mexico, and the capital New Norfolk, or Newfolk, would grow into one of the premier colonies and nations on the continent of Markland.
Eduardia was considered little more than a swamp, but it was at its founding seen as another avenue for the fur trade which indeed was very rewarding. It was first in the middle of the 17th century, decades after Richards death, that it truly dawned upon the English crown, and the few English people in the trading post of Newfolk, the sheer extend of the watershed of the river that Newfolk had been founded at.
Sure, they knew it was a large river, but when an English expedition came back with the news that they had made contact with the Danish colony of Kronmark, by just sailing up the far reaches of the river. It was then that the first English trading post became a proper settlement as gold and people poured in from England to claim what surely was their right and destiny to settle along the rivers many tributaries. The river is sometimes known as the Queen of Rivers (The Great River of Kronmark is sometimes called The King of Rivers) or Misi-Ziibi from the native Skraelings.
Extend of European colonization in Markland, 1600.