For many English students, it comes as a pleasant surprise how the northernmost region of Noord-Amerika is still known as 'New England' and that its traditional inhabitants are still known as 'Engelse', and speak a language that, while having its differences and its loanwords from either Dutch or various Native languages from the region, and with its own quirks and archaisms, is remarkably similar to English. They live especially in the countryside of the region between the Hudson River and the northernmost of the Appalachian mountains that reach across the country, while the coasts of the region are dominated by Dutch-speaking urbanites and a plethora of immigrants who come from all across the once world-spanning Dutch Empire and, of course, the petit Wampanoag Kingdom, on the shoreline, still dominated by the traditional Native hierarchies.
The history behind the region, with its patchwork of peoples and traditions, is rather fascinating, as are its ties to the old England.
For how did this come to be? Well, and although this might surprise many, once upon a time England was a considerable power of their own, with an empire that competed with the Dutch, French and Spanish for influence, with colonies in the Caribbean, in Africa and in India that provided great amounts of wealth. English ships were pioneers in the seas and English settlers ventured into what until then were the uncharted lands of North America, and established what were remarkably profitable colonies across the North American Atlantic seaboard, especially around Chesepiook Bay and in North America.
What changed, then? Well, the English Empire, that started rather well in the 16th century, ran into some issues over the 17th century, even if the century started on a hopeful note . Religious and political conflicts would lead to a very bloody civil war in the 1640s, which was then followed by the First English Commonwealth, which faced a constant streak of repression and uprisings and that would eventually collapse into a Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. A Restoration that proved rather short-lived when the kingdom faced a strange combination of misadventures, In 1665, a rather nasty plague would strike London with all its might, bringing the city to a grinding halt and, with it, risking the well-being of the entire kingdom. A risk that was more than fulfilled when, of all things, the city caught on fire, which apparently only served to spread the disease across the country and the overseas empire, as people and rats alike fled, each of them carrying fleas with them, and went across the country and the colonies spreading their pestilence and causing massacres wherever they landed.
It destroyed England. Most English cities saw their populations depleted (London was just obliterated from the face of the Earth, and to this day it is a pile of debris of fascinating historical interest), the country in general saw its population depleted (and it would take about two centuries to recover) and the system of government simply collapsed upon its own failures. The monarchy fell for one last time and the first of a streak of republican governments started under a new Commonwealth of England. Meanwhile, Scotland, which had hitherto been attached to England through a personal union, detached itself for good as well, as did Ireland, which called on a French prince to serve as their new King. Both those royal houses have their ultimate origins in the fall of the English Monarchy over the plague of 1665.
The colonies of the English were as devastated as any other English land. Many settlements simply died off, especially in the south of the American seaboard, while others had to be evacuated. In New England in particular, many of its colonists would abandon its sea-bound cities and try their luck in the interior, hoping to flee the plague. At the same time, the Wampanoag would take the opportunity to rise in revolt and burn down a number of English settlements, further contributing to the fall of English society around their lands. This would be followed by the Dutch takeover of the region, taking advantage of the English weakness to take up most of their territories, not only in North America, but in the Caribbean, Africa and India, being an important step in the ascendancy of the Dutch Empire.
The Engelse originate from those who fled from the coastlines and the original settlements to escape the plague, the Wampanoag and the Dutch and that would, for the following century, craft their own small independent statelets, with their own cultural heritage and ideals, a period that would slowly dissolve itself unto a New Netherlander and later Noord-Amerikan absorption of their states into their northern provinces, an absorption which would come to generate a great amount of conflict, first in interstate wars, and then in civil uprisings in the fledging young nation.
Those are the origins of the Engelse. Born out of colonization, religious strife, disease and war, they crafted for themselves a culture that is unique and take tells us of a world that was much different than our own.
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Basically the idea here was to have the Great London Fire and the Great Plague of London hit at the same time and lead to the fall of the English Empire. My first thoughts were to focus on the North American situation, split between the French, Natives and Dutch, but ultimately, I found the idea of 'Puritan Boers' too interesting not to explore better and went for this.
I think the map has its own charms that went rather well, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out, even if I still have some doubts on what I should have done with it.
