The Hourglass System
With the incorporation of Aqala into the world system, the world took a shape that would be not too different from what it would be around the time of the discovery of the New World. Trade would make its way along the Xamarinaq and Opaneyunk coasts as it had in the past, now with the addition of Aqala. With Ok’owa in the middle, maritime trade routes also crossed from Aqala to Hutya (both of which were closer to undiscovered Africa and Asia respectively than to each other) and from the Antikunas to Mishasipa and Chinguela. Nomads on horse and camelback would cross the Great Plains and Chichimeca in Tahkoxia as well as the Kunju and Qhantati in Xuyuba, which connected the complex civilizations on the coasts. Such a system, as first noted by Mishasipan cartographers, took the shape of an hourglass. This term would be also picked up by Chinguelan academia, and the reference to this system of trade as the “Hourglass System” is still used to this day.
The Yate Kingdom sat at the edge of the world, being closer to Africa than to the Relibalqix. However, this kingdom held not only the most fertile land in Aqala, but was also geographically the gateway between the vast region and the other known civilizations to the west. From the port of Aracati, the equatorial current easily pushed ships north through the Relibalqix, from which it was easy sailing either to Ok’owa, into the Kikwinaq, or up the islands and along the Opaneyunk towards Chinguela to sell their feathers, iguana leather, cocoa, spices, pineapple, and jabuticaba. Most important of all, however, was the red dye of the aqal tree.
Some of the greatest beneficiaries were, of course, the peoples of the Gyanan Coast. Previously, towns such as Makapaba, Wanari, Paramaribo, and Parika were relatively small and isolated. However, merchant ships that wished to do trade with Aqala now would often make stops at these coastal cities. They would generally be treated well by the locals. A Mayan or Aqalan merchant could expect to be greeted with freshly cooked capybara, peccary, cuy, or iguana in exchange for a portion of the treasures they carried. Through their geography alone, these towns became successful larger trading outposts.
Of course, one of the primary destinations for these ships was Mishasipa. By the early 30th Century LC, Chimasha had overtaken Shawasha as the primary port. Mishasipa had some of the best croplands and largest labor pool anywhere in the world, with a population pushing 30 million by around 2900 LC. The city of Chimasha now stood at mouth of the river whose basin formed the heartland of the civilization which took its name. The city was a gateway of a number of riches, with cotton, silk, tobacco, yaupon, pottery, iron, and other goods using this gateway between the river and the sea. In that sense, perhaps one of the most powerful people in the world, and the second most powerful in Inoka after the heavenly Emperor, was the River Lord. The position of river lord was originally established by Tetinshua Inoka following his coronation as emperor in Nisipi in 2812 LC. The Mishasipi River was typically closed off to all non-Mishasipans, with the exception of those who received the permission of the Emperor. However, the emperor lived in Nisipi, far from where the river met the sea. Therefore, the River Lord, a bureaucrat appointed by the emperor to govern the Mishasipi Delta, had control over who could and could not enter. By deciding who could come to buy or sell their goods for silver coins (or occasionally gold for the exceptionally valuable), the River Lord was an incredibly powerful man. The title of river lord was also given to the governor of Shikakwa who oversaw the local canal, but he was admittedly less powerful than his southern counterpart.
Another significant part of Mishasipan history at this time would be the invention of the map press in 2972 LC in Nisipi, a primitive form of printing in which maps would be stenciled into clay or wooden tablets, covered in ink, and pressed onto paper (another Mishasipan invention) in order to help Mishasipan navigators and merchants. This invention would quickly make it to Chinguela, where it would be used to also produce easily accessible transit maps to show different ferry and carriage routes. It would lead the Mishasipans to first develop paper money around 3070 LC, and lead the Grand Academy in Manhattan to begin copying books with this method in 3100 LC.
Less powerful than the river lords of Chimasha or even Shikakwa was the governor of Ok’owa. The Tunriachians, based in their capital of Mayapan, were far away from the gateway between the two seas, although taxes levied at great city primarily served the empire with only a small portion invested back into the city. This meant that, while the streets and markets of the canal zone were lined with nice homes, shopfronts, and administrative buildings, the region past the canal was a slum. The ability to build new quality housing could not keep up with the city’s rapid growth, and so most people lived in small shacks and even tents. It was easily the most unequal city in the world at the time, with merchants and nobles with untold amounts of wealth ruling over a sick and impoverished population. This would all of course lead to the Great Ok’owa Rebellion of 2914 LC. To the north of the canal, the governor wanted to construct a new great temple. However, the land that the temple would have been built on was part of this slum. At this point, the locals already had become more aware of their situation, with an outbreak of a now unknown disease taking place ravaging the city’s slums the year prior (there is little record on the disease or its effects other than the fact that it primarily only affected the poor). The attempt by authorities to clear out the slum and the ensuing riots would be the spark to light the rebellion. Within weeks, the entire slum had gone into rebellion. Multiple buildings, including the governor’s palace and the central market of Old East Ok’owa were burned down. After about three weeks, more forces from Mayapan arrived to quell the uprising, causing countless deaths. In the aftermath, Emperor Axubutz decreed that more of the tax money from Ok’owa would be put towards maintaining the city. Ultimately, this would have limited effect, as the city would still grow past it’s infrastructure, although it would still achieve a population of one million by the end of the century.
One outsider to comment on the state of the city was Tonsen the Navigator. With increasing trade coming to the western coast of Tahkoxia by sea, the Tamyen Republic had to compete with the Chumash, who had the advantage of being closer to the system of trade. It was impossible for any ship to make it from the Mayan lands to the Tamyen Republic without passing through Chumash waters and vice versa. Seeking to establish more knowledge of other cultures, Tamyen set out on his journey in late 2912 LC, traveling down the coast all the way to the Chavin Empire, reaching the port of Wayakil, before heading back north and passing through Ok’owa in 2913 LC. He noted the conditions in the city, contrasting them with the smaller and less congested city of Chinimxa at the mouth of the Karkamis River. He also contrasted it with the Chinguelan capital of Manhattan, an even larger and more extensive city that was noticeably more stable. Visiting the Grand Academy, he was able to compare maps of his journey with those kept by the Chinguelans, and ended up producing the first Tamyen world atlas. His journey also brought him to Shawasha and Chimasha among other cities in southern Mishasipa as well as several other Mayan cities such as Kuzamil. Returning through the Ok’owa canal in 2914 LC, he arrived right in time to see the nearby buildings burning.
When he returned to Hutya Pirei, however, he would not find the situation all that much better. He heard from the locals at Tabaah that apparently the Tamyens and Chumash had gone to war. Skirmishes had happened between the Tamyens and the Chumash before, but never to this scale. Apparently, in the time that he had been away, a dispute over the taxation of Tamyen ships passing through Chumash waters led to the impression of large numbers of Tamyen sailors by the more established Chumash navy. This lead to the Tamyens declaring war in early 2913 LC. Around the time that Tonsen arrived in the Tongva Isles (A) in 2914 LC, the Chumash had successfully pushed north through the central Yokut Valley with a force of mercenary Yokut cavalry and horse archers while having somewhat less success in the western mountains. At this time, Tonsen arrived on Kinkipar Island (C) and was immediately detained by the Chumash, where he would sit out the remainder of the war. The tide would turn in late 2915 LC, when at the battle of Wacharon (D), the Tamyens were able to successfully decimate a large portion of the force slowly advancing north through the mountains towards Socoisuka. Around the same time, the Tamyens would assemble their own force of Yokut horsemen and launch a campaign south through the plains. In 2917 LC, the decisive Tamyen victory at Pismu (E) would allow the Tamyens to advance south to Lompo (F), where they would be held to a stalemate by the Chumash defense. As a result, the Chumash and Tamyens would agree to peace. On land, the border shifted relatively little, with the Tamyens seizing several border towns. The bigger prizes, however, were the developments on the sea. The Chumash would release all impressed sailors and other Tamyen prisoners, lift the taxes, and cede the islands of Tukan (G), Haraasenga (H), and Kinkipar, thus giving them easier access to southerly trade routes.
While of course a major benefit of these trade routes was access to Ok’owa and therefore the east, equally useful was the ability to trade with the Chavin Empire. The Chavin were already renowned for the mineral wealth they possessed that could easily be mined in the Antikunas. They had also begun to expand south into Aymara-speaking lands south of Lake Titiqaqa, establishing a salt-mining colony in 2930 LC on the Uyuni Salt Flat. The salt and other minerals would be brought up through the mountains, and would primarily be sold in massive blocks to foreigners at the northern port of Wayakil. The wealth of Wayakil would quickly draw the attention of the nearby Resaxichoxans, whose merchants frequented the port. However, it would not be until 2962 LC that Resaxichoxan Emperor Ishmotz would attempt to attack his southern rival for control of the port. He had incorrectly believed that controlling Wayakil would give him control of the salt trade, unaware that the origins of the salt was much further south even than the capital in the city of Chavin. The Resaxichoxans would take advantage of their Mayan naval tradition and advantage of fighting in the jungles as opposed to the mountains to push south along the coastal plain. The southward advance would be quite slow, however, with strong Chavin resistance in the thick jungles. The Chavin would turn the tide on the coast at Manta in 2963 LC (I), when they would successfully surround the Resaxichoxan troops, pinning them against the sea. While many forces managed to evacuate by boat, this decisive battle effectively marked the end of the Resaxichoxan advance. Chavin Emperor Yalix would push north through the mountains, pushing northward and seizing the city of Pastu (J). The fall of Pastu would cause Ishmotz to surrender to the Chavin in 2964 LC, with Pastu being annexed by the Chavin and minor reparations being payed from Pa’nibala to Chavin.
Years after the war in 2977 LC, Ishmotz II offered an olive branch to the Chavin in order to end the payment of reparations. His plan was for the construction of a new canal connecting the Atrato and Wounaan Rivers south of Kibdu, thus connecting the two oceans. He promised easy access to the Chavin. The Chavin were happy to have access to the Relibalqix, and so accepted the deal. In addition to increasing maritime mercantile prospects, the Chavin were also beginning to build a larger navy to patrol their long coastline. Unlike any other navy in the world at the time, they were able to make use of still-primitive incendiary weapons using sparkdust.
On land, the Chavin also came to have increasing contact with the people to the east. By 2975 LC, the Sheuenhets, a nomadic Het people, conquered large swaths of the Chaqu (K), the southern Kunju, and the northern Qhantati, and grew wealthy trading between the Chavin to the west and the Aqalans to the east, trading Aqalan fruits and dyes for Antikunan minerals. Since this trade was concentrated primarily in the south, this also benefited southern Aqala in particular. Although historically poorer than the north, the new market in the Sheuenhets and Chavin caused various kingdoms to fight one another for control. This would result in the Puri Kingdom becoming dominant in the south by the end of the century, rivaling the power of the Yate in the north. The Yate had continued to grow significantly, expanding both south and west along the coast and making vassals out of the other nearby peoples, with Iguatu becoming a major powerhouse of eastern Xuyuba.
The Sheuenhets were not the only nomadic empire to leave their mark. On the Great Plains of Tahkoxia, the Chatiks fought the other nomadic tribes over control of trade routes between Mishasipa and the west. By 2960 LC, their leader Retahkac had conquered a region stretching from the Kotsoi to the south to the forests to the north, and from the Assinwati Mountains to the west to the Mishasipan lands to the east. In pursuit of conquest, the Chatiks would launch an unsuccessful campaign of conquest against the Natatsaqians in 2961 LC, and then east against Mishasipa in 2968 LC. While both campaigns failed, it did weaken the Natatsaqian Empire, and it brought the Chatiks into closer relations with the Inoka. The Chatiks became the middleman of all trade by land going east to west.
The Chatiks, however, were not the only Mishasipan trading partner. In the east, the Chonontons had begun to expand across the their home peninsula (L), becoming a minor power on the Great Lakes. The fertile land of the Chononton Peninsula meant that they could support a rather sizable population along the lakes second only to the Inoka to the south across Lake Eriron. Making the ancient city of Tahnawanta to their east an effective vassal, they now had control over trade between the four western lakes and Lake Ontario and the Kanawaki River. Historically, Tahnawanta was the site where ships would stop in the middle of the Niagrega River to be unloaded and then carried up north to Lake Ontario. Hearing about the legendary canal in Ok’owa, King Tsuharissen, from his capital in Kanducho (M), sent word to the giant to the south asking for funding and assistance in the formation of a canal between Tahnawanta and Lake Ontario, bypassing the Niagrega Falls. The Emperor in Nisipi happily agreed, recognizing it as a way to project the dynasty’s influence through the Great Lakes and down the Kanawaki River. Construction of this canal would begin in 2976 LC and be completed ten years later, reviving Tahnawanta and the trade route that passed through it.
For the ancient city of Minigo at the mouth of the river, however, this good fortune was short lived. The rise in trade along the Kanawaki River soon drew the attention of Manhattan. In 2990 LC, Emperor Olhene assembled a force of bureaucrats and engineers from the academy to plan a canal connecting the Muhekantuck River (N) to lake Pitabagok (O). Construction would begin in 2991 LC and be completed in around 2999 LC. This would shift the Eastern Tahkoxian Maritime trade route from reaching the Opaneyunk at Manhattan rather than at Minigo, bringing more wealth to the shining city on an island and spelling the doom of Minigo, which would quickly go into decline over the course of the decade.
Part of this decline would be spurred by the Millenarian Plague, which would begin just before the turn of the century in southern Mishasipa. Believed to be a mutation of one of the many hantaviruses that had historically seen several outbreaks throughout history and lingered as a nussiance to that point, it quickly spread to from Chimasha to Ok’owa at the start of 3000 LC. From the overcrowded and poorly sanitized center of world trade, it would spread rapidly to the rest of Tahkoxia and Xuyuba. It’s death toll was lower than that of the Puhan Plague, closer to 20-25%. However, it was not quite as easy to counter with traditional Meteinuwan medicine, being a virus rather than a bacteria. Despite this, other expansions in medical practice since then, such as better hygiene, better medicine, and the improvement of hospitals, meant that Chinguela once again had a lower death rate than the rest. Many other Midewist and Masawist cultures also saw lowered death rates to varying degrees.
This pandemic would have a large effect in southwestern Tahkoxia. At this time, the Natatsaqian Empire had been at war with the Choxinelan Empire. The Natatsaqians had been weakened by the wars with the Chatiks 40 years prior, and now disputes resulting from raids by Chichimecans suspected to be mercenaries led to Natatsaq II declaring war in 2998 LC, a conflict that would become quickly bogged down in the deserts and the Qabalqix Mountains (P). As the plague spread to both empires in the early spring of 3000 LC, the death tolls caused difficulties for both empires. For the Natatsaqians, however, it would mean the end. The Masawists would be relatively better off than the polytheist majority. Later that year, the Masawist Nuchus (Q) would invade Dinetah, Hopia, and the Natatsaqians from the north. Wanting the Dineans and Hopians to accept them as fellow Masawists, they would agree to protect the local autonomy of both states, eventually winning the people over. In 3002 LC, the Nuchus would lay siege to Xuluwema, conquering the city for themselves and establishing it as a capital of their own. Completing their conquests of the Natatsaqian lands, he would make peace with the Choxinelans, establishing the first Masawist Empire in nearly 200 years.
Meanwhile, with peace made on the northern border, Choxinelan Emperor Qitzachi declared war on the Tunriachians to the west in 3003 LC. He knew that Ok’owa was hit hard and put into disarray as a result of the plague impacting the wealth that passed through Tunriachian lands. He also knew that the previous emperor had died without any sons, leading to a crisis of leadership between several princes of the imperial family who believed that they were meant to rule. In a rather simple campaign, Qitzachi would spend four years pushing east, driving the warring Tunriachian states out of Mayapana and Plokieb by 3007 LC. Seizing Ok'owa was particularly easy, with the rulers being already tied up by the local commoners to be presented to Qitzachi's army. The Resaxichoxans under Ishmotz III would upon hearing of the invasion, would push from the southeast up to about three quarters of the way between Chiriki and Pa’nibala Cochibi. Rimar, the remaining Tunriachian Prince, would found the Rimarian Kingdom based out of Xaragua (R), ruling the formerly Tunriachian Relibalqix Islands. Meanwhile, Emperor Qitzachi would move his capital from Teotiwakan to the conquered city of Mayapan, declaring this the rebirth of the old Mayapan Empire. This is often referred to by historians as the Qitzachian Empire, or the Third Mayapan Empire.
Meanwhile, the consequences of the plague would shape history just as much to the north along the Xamarinaq Coast, completely transforming Hutya Pirei.
Pictured: Ok'owa, to this day still, is still a city of great inequality.
Niagrega Falls separates the two navigable portions of the Niagrega River on either side of it. This is the reason the Niagrega canal was constructed.
Silk has historically been one of the most important trade goods of Mishasipa dating back to as early as the legendary Wakisa Dynasty.
The Uyuni Salt Flats discovered by the Chavin Empire, was the largest of many sites where the Chavin were able to gather their salt. Despite ancient mining, the flat has mostly still been preserved, and most of it still exists to this day.
The city of Wayakil was historically the primary port from which Antikunan minerals made it to the rest of the world.
_______________________________
(A) California Channel Islands
(B) California Central Valley
(C) San Clemente Island, California
(D) Salinas, California
(E) Pismo Beach, California
(F) Lompoc, California
(G) San Miguel Island, California
(H) San Nicolas Island, California
(I) Manta, Ecuador
(J) Pasto, Colombia
(K) Gran Chaco
(L) Ontario Peninsula
(M) Brantford, Canada
(N) Hudson River
(O) Lake Champlain
(P) Sierra Madre Occidental
(Q) Utes
(R) Port-au-Prince, Haiti
