OK, this is just a brief idea I had, as something to write up during Lunar Dream’s hiatus (since I’m still not sure what I want to do with that TL). This is just a one-shot, probably.
The first Aborigines arrived in Marege 60 000 years ago, crossing from South East Asia. At the time, although sea levels had receded further than today, substantial water crossings were required in order to reach the new continent. It is perhaps thus fitting that sea travel became a pivotal part of the new continent’s history.
The northern areas of Marege were the first to be populated, by a dense variety of different nations, tribes, and bands. They were largely nomadic hunter-gatherers, with unstructured, egalitarian societies. The harsh nature of the continent and a lack of available seed crops prevented the creation of an urban society, as well as creating a strong conservative instinct.
All this changed, however, with the arrival of the first Macassan traders in Marege, generally regarded by academic consensus as taking place in 1450. Makassar was at the time the heart of the Kingdom of Gowa, an Islamic empire in Sulawesi, and the first contacts probably took place with stranded or lost fishermen. However, exploitation of the fertile trepang beds off Northern Australia soon followed. Trepang, also known as sea cucumbers, were highly prized as a delicacy and aphrodisiac, and the cost of their exploitation was easily offset by their value.
The Aboriginal people of Marege were at first wary of these new visitors, but were soon lured by the promise of new advanced technologies. In return for Aboriginal labour and permission to fish in their waters, they received cloth, tobacco, knives, rice, alcohol, and critically new ship-building technologies. The possession of Macassan praus, as well as the technology for their construction, allowed for the reorientation of many Aboriginal communities from largely land-based to largely sea-based. This new orientation on trade and fishing led to a more sedentary existence, and the archaeological record shows that by 1475, a series of permanent or semi-permanent fishing villages had been established in Marege, particularly in the territory of the Yolngu nation. These villages were dependent upon trade with the Macassans for survival. This era also saw the shift of Aboriginal society from an egalitarian system of government built upon informal ‘headmen’ or ‘elders’ to a more stratified system under ‘chiefs’ governing individual villages. However, chiefs were elected on the basis of merit, not parentage, and there remained little evidence of a ruling class. In the interior, away from crucial fishing areas, Aborigines retained a nomadic existence.
The years following 1475 were dominated by the introduction to Marege of Islam and agriculture. Study of village graves show that many Macassans had begun to live with the Yolngu, presumably bringing their religion with them. Although traditional Aboriginal spiritual beliefs remained in the interior, the close links with Makassar on the coast led to many villages adopting Islam. The first written records, using the Macassan Lontara writing script, date from this time. The first known figure from the history of Marege is Sultan Gurruwiwi I of Nhulunbuy, which seems to have been the pre-eminent city-state of the time. The second development, agriculture, was primarily driven by Macassan attempts to build up the population of the city-states in order to create a larger source of labour for their lucrative trade, which had branched out beyond trepanging into the trade of artwork, timber and pearls. As such, farming, with bananas serving as a staple crop, began to spread across Marege. However, much of the continent remained stubbornly immune to these advances; although new technologies were traded, the geographical isolation of the northern coast meant that agriculture remained largely a regional phenomenon, with much of the western coast still dependent upon substience fishing. However, this development did lead to the rise of villages further inland and along the coast.
The first empire arose in Marege in the late 1490s, under Sultan Rrarrambu III of Amarak. A powerful general, Rrarrambu managed to conquer much of the central northern coast, eventually establishing domination over the entire Top End. Rrarrambu gained his greatest repute as a patron of the arts, however, and his reign is chiefly remembered for the Ancestral Saga, a quasi-religious text tying together Aboriginal and Islamic mythologies. His reign was notable for the enforcement of Macassan as the general language of Marege, often punishing those who continued the use of their ancestral languages with hideous cruelty. His empire did not outlast his death in 1508, however, and the region soon returned to its previous structure of squabbling city-states, leaving the region easy pickings for the Portuguese.
The Portuguese established a protectorate over Makassar in 1512, and soon learnt of the thriving city-states to the south. Portuguese explorers were slow to establish control over Marege, due to the lack of spices or other known valuable commodities in the area. The sultanate of Nhulunbuy became a protectorate in 1527, and several other cities soon followed. Most of the continent’s states, which by now numbered nearly one hundred, remained independent.
It was this era that is now largely remembered as the heyday of independent Marege, known as the Eighty Years of Light. Largely free from external threats, the city-states flourished culturally, with plays, poems and sagas written which persist to this day. Ritualised religious drama became a major part of their civilisation, with early ‘morality plays’ re-enacting scenes from the series of beliefs best described as Aboriginal Islam giving way to more complex comedies and tragedies. These culminated in Pacce, by the noted playwright Marika, a complex tragedy generally regarded as one of the finest dramatic works ever composed, as well as the apotheosis of drama in Marege.
Politically, the city-states began a trend towards greater unity. The city-states of the northwest coast, which were generally poorer and less culturally rich than the states of the Top End or east coast, united into the thirteen-member Djawi Confederacy in 1531, a generally stable elective monarchy which drew comparisons with the Holy Roman Empire. The myriad emirates, sultanates and kingdoms still retained their independence, but became increasingly linked. Absolute monarchy was challenged by the rise of the shura, or council, in many states, composed of the hereditary or appointed nobility. Tantalisingly, evidence shows that many of the more progressive states, under the leadership of the culturally dominant centre of Yolngu, may have begun the election of shura councillors in many states. Unfortunately, the destruction of many records has rendered this highly disputable.
The Eighty Years of Light are generally considered to have ended with the establishment of the first Dutch protectorates in eastern Marege in 1606, following the voyage of Willem Janszoon on the Dufyken. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) began the aggressive acquisition of new colonies and protectorates in Marege, as the Dutch-Portuguese War made colonial primacy imperative. This led to increased conflict between the city-states, as they were forced to declare their loyalty to either the Portuguese or the Dutch. States which chose to remain neutral were destroyed.
The following fifty years were dominated by incessant warfare between the various cities. Culture stagnated and primitive democratic institutions were destroyed, as ambitious military generals on both sides saw the chance to carve out empires. Shocking acts of brutality, such as the wholesale destruction of neutral Yolngu by a Portuguese-backed coalition, were commonplace. It is estimated that of Marege’s pre-war population of roughly 2 million, 400 000 died through starvation or execution. The city-states of the east coast, far removed from the main action, were annexed by the Dutch as trading settlements.
The war resulted in a clear victory for the Dutch and their protectorates. In 1547, the Portuguese-protected Djawi Confederacy surrendered, followed quickly by disintegration into civil war. The Dutch East India Company held nominal control over the continent, although settled communities extended only as far south as the Brisbane River and only to a distance of several kilometres inland. The sultans of the states of Marege were made Dutch regents, and forced to accept Dutch sovereignty. Marege was effectively integrated into the Dutch East Indies.
The history of Marege under three centuries of Dutch domination was an unhappy one. All vestiges of their previous culture were forcibly destroyed, including the destruction of the extensive Maung library, containing nearly 10 000 volumes. Only a few scattered works of literature and art survive from this period. The remaining native inhabitants were brutally subjugated and forced into farming under the ‘culture’ system. Marege declined to become a sparsely populated, agricultural part of the Dutch Empire, with the brief British occupation during the Napoleonic Wars failing to make any lasting impact on the continent. In 1942, it was occupied by the Japanese, but proved a bitter source of guerrilla warfare. The drain this placed on Japanese resources may have been one of the contributing factors to their eventual defeat in 1944. After the war, Marege proved one of the hotspots of resistance to the Dutch in the Indonesian War of Independence. With a population of 36 million, most of them desperately poor, it was divided into the provinces of Northern, Central, and Southern Marege, and became a largely unimportant part of Indonesia, notable only for the ruins of great cities on its northern coast.
The Civilisation of Marege
The first Aborigines arrived in Marege 60 000 years ago, crossing from South East Asia. At the time, although sea levels had receded further than today, substantial water crossings were required in order to reach the new continent. It is perhaps thus fitting that sea travel became a pivotal part of the new continent’s history.
The northern areas of Marege were the first to be populated, by a dense variety of different nations, tribes, and bands. They were largely nomadic hunter-gatherers, with unstructured, egalitarian societies. The harsh nature of the continent and a lack of available seed crops prevented the creation of an urban society, as well as creating a strong conservative instinct.
All this changed, however, with the arrival of the first Macassan traders in Marege, generally regarded by academic consensus as taking place in 1450. Makassar was at the time the heart of the Kingdom of Gowa, an Islamic empire in Sulawesi, and the first contacts probably took place with stranded or lost fishermen. However, exploitation of the fertile trepang beds off Northern Australia soon followed. Trepang, also known as sea cucumbers, were highly prized as a delicacy and aphrodisiac, and the cost of their exploitation was easily offset by their value.
The Aboriginal people of Marege were at first wary of these new visitors, but were soon lured by the promise of new advanced technologies. In return for Aboriginal labour and permission to fish in their waters, they received cloth, tobacco, knives, rice, alcohol, and critically new ship-building technologies. The possession of Macassan praus, as well as the technology for their construction, allowed for the reorientation of many Aboriginal communities from largely land-based to largely sea-based. This new orientation on trade and fishing led to a more sedentary existence, and the archaeological record shows that by 1475, a series of permanent or semi-permanent fishing villages had been established in Marege, particularly in the territory of the Yolngu nation. These villages were dependent upon trade with the Macassans for survival. This era also saw the shift of Aboriginal society from an egalitarian system of government built upon informal ‘headmen’ or ‘elders’ to a more stratified system under ‘chiefs’ governing individual villages. However, chiefs were elected on the basis of merit, not parentage, and there remained little evidence of a ruling class. In the interior, away from crucial fishing areas, Aborigines retained a nomadic existence.
The years following 1475 were dominated by the introduction to Marege of Islam and agriculture. Study of village graves show that many Macassans had begun to live with the Yolngu, presumably bringing their religion with them. Although traditional Aboriginal spiritual beliefs remained in the interior, the close links with Makassar on the coast led to many villages adopting Islam. The first written records, using the Macassan Lontara writing script, date from this time. The first known figure from the history of Marege is Sultan Gurruwiwi I of Nhulunbuy, which seems to have been the pre-eminent city-state of the time. The second development, agriculture, was primarily driven by Macassan attempts to build up the population of the city-states in order to create a larger source of labour for their lucrative trade, which had branched out beyond trepanging into the trade of artwork, timber and pearls. As such, farming, with bananas serving as a staple crop, began to spread across Marege. However, much of the continent remained stubbornly immune to these advances; although new technologies were traded, the geographical isolation of the northern coast meant that agriculture remained largely a regional phenomenon, with much of the western coast still dependent upon substience fishing. However, this development did lead to the rise of villages further inland and along the coast.
The first empire arose in Marege in the late 1490s, under Sultan Rrarrambu III of Amarak. A powerful general, Rrarrambu managed to conquer much of the central northern coast, eventually establishing domination over the entire Top End. Rrarrambu gained his greatest repute as a patron of the arts, however, and his reign is chiefly remembered for the Ancestral Saga, a quasi-religious text tying together Aboriginal and Islamic mythologies. His reign was notable for the enforcement of Macassan as the general language of Marege, often punishing those who continued the use of their ancestral languages with hideous cruelty. His empire did not outlast his death in 1508, however, and the region soon returned to its previous structure of squabbling city-states, leaving the region easy pickings for the Portuguese.
The Portuguese established a protectorate over Makassar in 1512, and soon learnt of the thriving city-states to the south. Portuguese explorers were slow to establish control over Marege, due to the lack of spices or other known valuable commodities in the area. The sultanate of Nhulunbuy became a protectorate in 1527, and several other cities soon followed. Most of the continent’s states, which by now numbered nearly one hundred, remained independent.
It was this era that is now largely remembered as the heyday of independent Marege, known as the Eighty Years of Light. Largely free from external threats, the city-states flourished culturally, with plays, poems and sagas written which persist to this day. Ritualised religious drama became a major part of their civilisation, with early ‘morality plays’ re-enacting scenes from the series of beliefs best described as Aboriginal Islam giving way to more complex comedies and tragedies. These culminated in Pacce, by the noted playwright Marika, a complex tragedy generally regarded as one of the finest dramatic works ever composed, as well as the apotheosis of drama in Marege.
Politically, the city-states began a trend towards greater unity. The city-states of the northwest coast, which were generally poorer and less culturally rich than the states of the Top End or east coast, united into the thirteen-member Djawi Confederacy in 1531, a generally stable elective monarchy which drew comparisons with the Holy Roman Empire. The myriad emirates, sultanates and kingdoms still retained their independence, but became increasingly linked. Absolute monarchy was challenged by the rise of the shura, or council, in many states, composed of the hereditary or appointed nobility. Tantalisingly, evidence shows that many of the more progressive states, under the leadership of the culturally dominant centre of Yolngu, may have begun the election of shura councillors in many states. Unfortunately, the destruction of many records has rendered this highly disputable.
The Eighty Years of Light are generally considered to have ended with the establishment of the first Dutch protectorates in eastern Marege in 1606, following the voyage of Willem Janszoon on the Dufyken. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) began the aggressive acquisition of new colonies and protectorates in Marege, as the Dutch-Portuguese War made colonial primacy imperative. This led to increased conflict between the city-states, as they were forced to declare their loyalty to either the Portuguese or the Dutch. States which chose to remain neutral were destroyed.
The following fifty years were dominated by incessant warfare between the various cities. Culture stagnated and primitive democratic institutions were destroyed, as ambitious military generals on both sides saw the chance to carve out empires. Shocking acts of brutality, such as the wholesale destruction of neutral Yolngu by a Portuguese-backed coalition, were commonplace. It is estimated that of Marege’s pre-war population of roughly 2 million, 400 000 died through starvation or execution. The city-states of the east coast, far removed from the main action, were annexed by the Dutch as trading settlements.
The war resulted in a clear victory for the Dutch and their protectorates. In 1547, the Portuguese-protected Djawi Confederacy surrendered, followed quickly by disintegration into civil war. The Dutch East India Company held nominal control over the continent, although settled communities extended only as far south as the Brisbane River and only to a distance of several kilometres inland. The sultans of the states of Marege were made Dutch regents, and forced to accept Dutch sovereignty. Marege was effectively integrated into the Dutch East Indies.
The history of Marege under three centuries of Dutch domination was an unhappy one. All vestiges of their previous culture were forcibly destroyed, including the destruction of the extensive Maung library, containing nearly 10 000 volumes. Only a few scattered works of literature and art survive from this period. The remaining native inhabitants were brutally subjugated and forced into farming under the ‘culture’ system. Marege declined to become a sparsely populated, agricultural part of the Dutch Empire, with the brief British occupation during the Napoleonic Wars failing to make any lasting impact on the continent. In 1942, it was occupied by the Japanese, but proved a bitter source of guerrilla warfare. The drain this placed on Japanese resources may have been one of the contributing factors to their eventual defeat in 1944. After the war, Marege proved one of the hotspots of resistance to the Dutch in the Indonesian War of Independence. With a population of 36 million, most of them desperately poor, it was divided into the provinces of Northern, Central, and Southern Marege, and became a largely unimportant part of Indonesia, notable only for the ruins of great cities on its northern coast.