Continuing my Time Zone ISOT series, UTC-04:00 (Atlantic Time) and UTC-03:30 (Newfoundland Time).
UTC-04:00
Regions transported: Greenland (Thule Air Base), Canada (most of Labrador, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia), Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Caribbean Netherlands, Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia, Barbados, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada, ABC Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil (Roraima, most of Amazonas, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul), Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile
Thule Air Base's name, taken from the legendary Greek island beyond the northern edge of the known world, suddenly became even more appropriate as the rest of Greenland was wiped clean of any traces human civilisation, leaving Thule's nearest neighbours over a thousand miles away in the northern tip of Labrador. While the USAF and USSF personnel stationed at Thule were concentrated in the base itself, Labrador's civilian population was spread out across the region in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador City and many smaller mining and fishing communities. The region's lack of land connections to the Canadian maritime provinces and separate cultural and history made efforts to integrate Labrador into the new Maritime Union slow and difficult, and, although a territorial government was briefly functional, ultimately fruitless. An independent Labrador republic formed instead, with the Inuit Nunatsiavut Autonomous Area being joined by Côte-Nord, the francophone remnant of Quebec, and later Labrador established a territory of its own over Newfoundland island. The Maritime Union itself had been formed by the governments of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island shortly after the Event thanks to the three provinces' cultural and infrastructural links, with the founders been later joined by the provinces of Gaspé, St Lawrence, Penobscot and Erie, plus the overseas territory of Bermuda.
Bermuda's decision to put itself under Maritime sovereignty was partly motivated by the security concerns which ripped through its southern neighbours in the Caribbean following the Venezuelan invasion of Guyana in the first decade on from the Event. The government in Caracas, buoyed by the almost complete disappearance of the United States (who's afraid of a bunch of spacemen in Greenland and the Puerto Ricans will support a fellow Latin nation) and the growing dependence of the Caribbean region on the Lake Maracaibo oil reserves, decided to finally press their longstanding claim to the Essequibo region. While the Venezuela's troops met more resistance from the Guyanese defenders than they had anticipated, the invasion was successfully executed, with Georgetown being forced to concede to Venezuelan demands. The vast majority of the annexed area's pre-war population fled eastwards along the coast, while some sought refuge in the Caribbean islands to the north, or even left the Americas altogether, settling in west Africa where they founded the state of New Guyana on the Gulf of Guinea. Abroad, condemnation of Venezuela's invasion was near universal, with only Bolivia, Aruba and Curaçao remaining neutral. A desire to present a united front and to increase defence co-ordination in the region led to the signing of the Treaty of San Juan and the formation of the Caribbean Sea Defence Organisation (CASDO), with the Maritime Union and Amazonia as partner nations.
Amazonia, the largest of the nations to emerge from Brazil, had also had a turbulent beginning. The authorities in Manaus had seen themselves as the rightful successors to Brasília and themselves as not just the government of Amazonas but the whole of the Federative Republic of Brazil. This claim was unsurprisingly rejected in the other state capitals, who on the whole ignored any "federal" directions issuing from Manaus. Unhappy at this insubordination, Manaus tried to send troops into Porto Velho and Cuiabá, prompting a series of protests, defections and ultimately proclamations of Rondonian and Matogrossan independence. At the same time, protests among the native groups of Amazonas broke out and Venezuela completed its annexation of Essequibo. Fearing a complete breakdown of order and leaving the country open to opportunist Venezuelan aggression, the regime in Manaus was overthrown and a new regime installed. The country was renamed the Federative Republic of Amazonia, the independence of Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul was recognised and greater autonomy granted to indigenous communities in the north and west. A second series of reforms reorganised the eastern areas into new states and territories were established in frontier regions with a view to future statehood, while the independent native republic of Maranhão was established in the upper Amazon.
Free from Manaus' rule, Mato Grosso and its southern neighbour agreed the creation of a United Republic of Mato Grosso, with the north and south having equal status and Cuiabá and Campo Grande declared joint capitals. Following the expansion of Matogrossan settlement along the Paraná River, a third eastern division was added and the country became known as the breadbasket of South America. Although various minor disputes over agricultural tariffs and water rights on the Paraná erupted between Mato Grosso and Paraguay, the southern part of the continent avoided the wars that had dogged the north. Bolivia peacefully regained a coastline and freed its navy from endless patrols of Lake Titicaca to sail the open Pacific while Chile, as well as playing chief negotiator in the spats between Paraguay and Mato Grosso, consolidated its control over the Southern Cone with the extension of the resettled Magallanes Territory to the Atlantic coast and beyond, and the establishment of an outpost on the San Matias Gulf, linked to the Chilean mainland by the nominally independent Mapuche state of Pwelmapu.
UTC-03:30
Regions transported: Canada (Newfoundland and part of Labrador)
In a flash, over seven decades of confederation with Canada were over as the people of Newfoundland now found themselves separated not just from the rest of the country but from the rest of humanity, save for a few settlements across the Strait of Belle Isle in the far south of Labrador. Newfoundland's sudden independence was accompanied with a collapse of its petroleum and mining industries as the island's domestic demand alone proved insufficient and many of Labrador's mines were replaced with virgin tundra, leading to the re-emergence of the traditional fishing industry as a key employer. As the fishing fleet ranged further and further from the island's shores, small outposts began springing up along the southern shores of the Gulf of St Lawrence and New England, providing both rest for the crews and maintenance for their boats, but also a new market for their produce. With time, while some outposts ultimately became abandoned, others grew into new towns, their surrounding woodlands being cleared for agriculture, very little of which could be practiced on Newfoundland island itself.
New communities had also appeared in Labrador, however while the growth of the fishing and agricultural sectors had been largely organic, a restart of the region's mining industry required substantial investment, which St John's proved to be slow in providing. Frustrated Labradorians therefore turned to their own efforts and, through much perseverance, new mines were opened up. The struggle against the Newfie government however proved formative to a sense of Labradorian nationalism and ultimately resulted in full separation. With the majority of Newfoundland's remaining population now living off island and many having never even set foot there, Labrador many not be the last territory to decide to try life away from St John's control.
UTC-04:00
Regions transported: Greenland (Thule Air Base), Canada (most of Labrador, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia), Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Caribbean Netherlands, Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia, Barbados, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada, ABC Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil (Roraima, most of Amazonas, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul), Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile
Thule Air Base's name, taken from the legendary Greek island beyond the northern edge of the known world, suddenly became even more appropriate as the rest of Greenland was wiped clean of any traces human civilisation, leaving Thule's nearest neighbours over a thousand miles away in the northern tip of Labrador. While the USAF and USSF personnel stationed at Thule were concentrated in the base itself, Labrador's civilian population was spread out across the region in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador City and many smaller mining and fishing communities. The region's lack of land connections to the Canadian maritime provinces and separate cultural and history made efforts to integrate Labrador into the new Maritime Union slow and difficult, and, although a territorial government was briefly functional, ultimately fruitless. An independent Labrador republic formed instead, with the Inuit Nunatsiavut Autonomous Area being joined by Côte-Nord, the francophone remnant of Quebec, and later Labrador established a territory of its own over Newfoundland island. The Maritime Union itself had been formed by the governments of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island shortly after the Event thanks to the three provinces' cultural and infrastructural links, with the founders been later joined by the provinces of Gaspé, St Lawrence, Penobscot and Erie, plus the overseas territory of Bermuda.
Bermuda's decision to put itself under Maritime sovereignty was partly motivated by the security concerns which ripped through its southern neighbours in the Caribbean following the Venezuelan invasion of Guyana in the first decade on from the Event. The government in Caracas, buoyed by the almost complete disappearance of the United States (who's afraid of a bunch of spacemen in Greenland and the Puerto Ricans will support a fellow Latin nation) and the growing dependence of the Caribbean region on the Lake Maracaibo oil reserves, decided to finally press their longstanding claim to the Essequibo region. While the Venezuela's troops met more resistance from the Guyanese defenders than they had anticipated, the invasion was successfully executed, with Georgetown being forced to concede to Venezuelan demands. The vast majority of the annexed area's pre-war population fled eastwards along the coast, while some sought refuge in the Caribbean islands to the north, or even left the Americas altogether, settling in west Africa where they founded the state of New Guyana on the Gulf of Guinea. Abroad, condemnation of Venezuela's invasion was near universal, with only Bolivia, Aruba and Curaçao remaining neutral. A desire to present a united front and to increase defence co-ordination in the region led to the signing of the Treaty of San Juan and the formation of the Caribbean Sea Defence Organisation (CASDO), with the Maritime Union and Amazonia as partner nations.
Amazonia, the largest of the nations to emerge from Brazil, had also had a turbulent beginning. The authorities in Manaus had seen themselves as the rightful successors to Brasília and themselves as not just the government of Amazonas but the whole of the Federative Republic of Brazil. This claim was unsurprisingly rejected in the other state capitals, who on the whole ignored any "federal" directions issuing from Manaus. Unhappy at this insubordination, Manaus tried to send troops into Porto Velho and Cuiabá, prompting a series of protests, defections and ultimately proclamations of Rondonian and Matogrossan independence. At the same time, protests among the native groups of Amazonas broke out and Venezuela completed its annexation of Essequibo. Fearing a complete breakdown of order and leaving the country open to opportunist Venezuelan aggression, the regime in Manaus was overthrown and a new regime installed. The country was renamed the Federative Republic of Amazonia, the independence of Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul was recognised and greater autonomy granted to indigenous communities in the north and west. A second series of reforms reorganised the eastern areas into new states and territories were established in frontier regions with a view to future statehood, while the independent native republic of Maranhão was established in the upper Amazon.
Free from Manaus' rule, Mato Grosso and its southern neighbour agreed the creation of a United Republic of Mato Grosso, with the north and south having equal status and Cuiabá and Campo Grande declared joint capitals. Following the expansion of Matogrossan settlement along the Paraná River, a third eastern division was added and the country became known as the breadbasket of South America. Although various minor disputes over agricultural tariffs and water rights on the Paraná erupted between Mato Grosso and Paraguay, the southern part of the continent avoided the wars that had dogged the north. Bolivia peacefully regained a coastline and freed its navy from endless patrols of Lake Titicaca to sail the open Pacific while Chile, as well as playing chief negotiator in the spats between Paraguay and Mato Grosso, consolidated its control over the Southern Cone with the extension of the resettled Magallanes Territory to the Atlantic coast and beyond, and the establishment of an outpost on the San Matias Gulf, linked to the Chilean mainland by the nominally independent Mapuche state of Pwelmapu.
UTC-03:30
Regions transported: Canada (Newfoundland and part of Labrador)
In a flash, over seven decades of confederation with Canada were over as the people of Newfoundland now found themselves separated not just from the rest of the country but from the rest of humanity, save for a few settlements across the Strait of Belle Isle in the far south of Labrador. Newfoundland's sudden independence was accompanied with a collapse of its petroleum and mining industries as the island's domestic demand alone proved insufficient and many of Labrador's mines were replaced with virgin tundra, leading to the re-emergence of the traditional fishing industry as a key employer. As the fishing fleet ranged further and further from the island's shores, small outposts began springing up along the southern shores of the Gulf of St Lawrence and New England, providing both rest for the crews and maintenance for their boats, but also a new market for their produce. With time, while some outposts ultimately became abandoned, others grew into new towns, their surrounding woodlands being cleared for agriculture, very little of which could be practiced on Newfoundland island itself.
New communities had also appeared in Labrador, however while the growth of the fishing and agricultural sectors had been largely organic, a restart of the region's mining industry required substantial investment, which St John's proved to be slow in providing. Frustrated Labradorians therefore turned to their own efforts and, through much perseverance, new mines were opened up. The struggle against the Newfie government however proved formative to a sense of Labradorian nationalism and ultimately resulted in full separation. With the majority of Newfoundland's remaining population now living off island and many having never even set foot there, Labrador many not be the last territory to decide to try life away from St John's control.
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