For God, Crown, and Country - 2024 Edition.
Atlas Has Shrugged:
The Commonwealth in 2024.
Born from the nexus of history and philosophy, the Commonwealth of America is the foremost economic and military powerhouse on the North American continent and one of the most critical member states of the British Empire. With a total population of just shy of 350 million citizens representing a diverse variety of different demographics, the Commonwealth of America spans from the Artic to the Caribbean, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Bordered by Mexico and Cuba to the south, the Commonwealth is the predominant English speaking nation on the North American continent. The capital is located in the city of Philadelphia, though other prominent cities include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Calgary, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Halifax, Houston, Las Angeles, Las Vegas, Liverpool, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, New York, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg.
A highly developed nation, the Commonwealth boasts an abundance of natural resources and a long tradition of industry. With the seventh highest GDP per capita and ranked first by the Human Development Index, the Commonwealth of America is both the foremost economic power of both North America and the broader British Empire. Its advanced economy, the fourth largest in the world, relies on well-developed trade networks, agricultural and industrial export, finance, technology, and tourism. America is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7 (formerly G8), the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The Commonwealth of America is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with King Charles III reigning as head of state, though executive powers are wielded through the Governor-General, who is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister. The American Parliament is a bicameral legislative body, with the lower chamber, the House of Commons, allocating its seats in proportion to population whereas the Senate consists of only two members for each province. The Commonwealth is a realm within the Imperial Federation of Nations, and is officially bilingual. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries.
Various indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. What followed after was a period of unrest over taxation, colonial autonomy, and corruption led to the ultimate Confederation of Britain’s continental holdings. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and culminated in the American Constitution Act of 1982, which severed the last vestiges of colonial rule over the Commonwealth.
Chapter One:
Leif Eriksson discovers America. (1893)
[1]
The first European contact with the Americas today remains disputed, though it is widely accepted that the first settlers were most likely of Nordic origin in the late 10th century who had reached Newfoundland by 1001 A.D. There, a short lived settlement named Vinland was established, though this early effort at European colonization of the America’s failed and the existence of the colony was largely lost to history within a hundred years of its initial establishment. For centuries, the legend of Vinland faded and interest in exploration was greatly limited. It was not until the travels of Venetian merchant Marco Polo were published in Europe did interest in opening trade with the East sparked up again.
The Portuguese were the first to look into exploring a possible route to India by way of the sea. In the early 1300s, they had successfully colonized the Canary Islands and were opening up trade among the west coast of Africa. Prince Henry the Navigator, the fourth child of King John I, was one of the most notable figures in the onset of the age of exploration. Having led the conquest of Ceuta in Morocco, Prince Henry set his sights on dominating the high seas. The Prince went on to invest further in the exploration efforts, resulting in the discovery and colonization of the Azores by 1427. By the middle of the 1400s, Portuguese explorers managed to make it as far as Senegal and later, Sierra Leone, where they soon found themselves immersed in the slave, spices, and gold trade.
In 1488, the first expedition to round the southern tip of Africa was made by Bartolomeo Dias, who proved that the Indian Ocean was accessible by the Atlantic. While this news was welcomed in Lisbon, the Portuguese monopoly on West African trade would soon come under threat. In Iberia, the marriage between Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon united their realms into the Kingdom of Spain, and they subsequently turned their attention to driving the Moors out of Europe once and for all. Following the fall of Grenada, they were approached by an Italian born merchant by the name of Christopher Columbus, who ascertained that there was a route to India by way of the sea. Inspired by the travels of Marco Polo, Columbus’s proposals were rejected by the Kings of Portugal and England, and likewise failed to gain traction in the Italian city states of Venice and Genoa.
Having consolidated their position, the Spanish court was far more receptive to Columbus’s proposals. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella both agreed to name him “Admiral of the Ocean Seas” and to award him 10% of all income generated from any discovered lands. Setting out with three ships – the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria – Columbus sailed westward, crossing the Atlantic by the Canary Islands before landing on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas; it would be the first western contact with what is now the Commonwealth of America in hundreds of years. Travelling onwards, Columbus sailed down the southeastern coast of Cuba before exploring the northern coast of Hispaniola, which he named and claimed for the crown of Spain. Though contact with indigenous peoples were limited, their brief interactions were peaceful. Leaving a settlement of 39 men behind in what is now northern Haiti at “La Navidad,” Columbus continued back across the Atlantic to bring news of his discoveries to his Spanish benefactors. The settlers at La Navidad would soon break out into infighting and angered the indigenous population with their frequent attacks on villages in search of women and gold. When Columbus returned on his second voyage, he found the settlement in ruins and the bodies of eight of the original settlers.
The Return of Christopher Columbus
[2]
Upon his return to Spain, word of Columbus’s discoveries spread like wildfire across Europe. As he set out on his second voyage, the royal courts in Paris, Lisbon, and London soon had their eyes on the “New World.” Columbus made three more voyages, going on to chart and claim the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and parts of the Bahamas for Spain, while also exploring the Central American coast. But he would not be alone; in 1494, a Papal Bull issued by Pope Alexander VI divided the New World between Spain and Portugal, dividing the New World along geographic lines. The Portuguese King was not entirely satisfied with the arrangement, however, and instead directly negotiated with the Spanish monarchs in order to obtain a better claim. The result of these negotiations was the 1494 “Treaty of Tordesilla,” in which Portugal agreed to limit their exploration to the southern hemisphere while Spain would claim the north.
Meanwhile, in England, King Henry VII had caught wind of Columbus’s exports and soon began weighing his options. In 1497, an Italian born sailor known in England as John Cabot approached the King with an offer to lead an expedition to the “New World.” Tacking to a northerly course (which Cabot believed would lead to the quickest route to India), the English expedition instead stumbled upon Newfoundland, which centuries earlier was home to the first Norse settlers. Landing near modern day Saint Johns on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, Cabot explored the eastern coast of the island before returning to England with news of his discovery. While the English looked towards the north, the Spanish and the Portuguese meanwhile continued to explore the south, with Columbus’s third expedition to the New World resulting in the discovery of the Orinoco River. Upon discovering the freshwater river in what is now Venezuela, Columbus returned to Spain to boastfully declare that he had discovered “the true Indies.”
Eventually, Vasco de Gama eventually led a successful Portuguese expedition to India by way of crossing the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. This did not quell the interest in the “New World” however, and attempts to settle Hispaniola were successful the second time around. San Juan, Puerto Rico, the oldest continually occupied settlement within the modern borders of the Commonwealth of America, was founded in 1521. Later on, using indigenous peoples as slaves, the Spanish would build settlements in Central America, Cuba, Florida, and Mexico that would result in the lower Caribbean being known as the “Spanish Main” for centuries onward.
The French meanwhile had begun exploring the Newfoundland area as well as the delta of the Saint Lawrence River, establishing Port Royal in what is today western Nova Scotia in 1605. The settlement, nestled between the Annapolis Bay and the North Mountain range, provided the French with a secure outpost that could harbor a large fleet. Fertile soil attracted many colonist, and the settlement prospered quickly. Despite the success of the settlement, the French did not make any further attempts to colonize the area. In turn, the French largely focused on expanding their presence along the Saint Lawrence River where the profitable fur trade exploded. Port Royal primarily served as a defensive outpost on the outskirts of what became known as “Acadia.” These settlements would be the genesis of the region’s very large Francophone population. It was around this time Jacques Cartier launched his first expedition into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence after crossing the Straight of Belle Island and exploring the west coast of Newfoundland. A second expedition in 1535 took Cartier further down the Saint Lawrence River, making him the first European to explore inland North America. His journey down the river took him as far as modern day Montreal, and he named this land “Canada” (after an Iroquois phrase) and claimed it for France. A third and final expedition saw the establishment of trading posts along the Saint Lawrence River; these two sites would grow into the modern day cities of Montreal and Quebec.
Cartier's first expedition.
[3]
The Spanish meanwhile were content to conquer their way across the Caribbean and Central America, establishing colonies in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, and Florida, often at great cost to the indigenous peoples of the region. The “Columbian Exchange” saw dramatic changes to global trade, as North American produce such as corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and tobacco were introduced to European markets while indigenous people in return received communicable diseases that had not been exposed to the native populations until this point, resulting in mass death. Those who did not die from the influx of new and deadly diseases were often taken into slavery by the Spanish, who justified their actions in the name of Christianity as they forcibly converted their captives. In comparison to the Spanish, the French were considerably more benign in their approach to the “Indians” they discovered, preferring to trade in peace.
By the end of the 16th century, the great Aztec and Incan civilizations had been subdued by the Spanish, while the Portuguese were establishing settlements across Brazil. The English had tried and failed to establish a settlement in Newfoundland, but the venture proved unprofitable and the settlers returned to England. Likewise, an attempt to settle Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina ended with the mysterious disappearance of those residing there that remains unsolved well into the 21st century. These early failures did not deter the English, and the Virginia Company was founded in 1606 after King James I issued a royal charter offering the company the rights to establish a settlement in the New World in the name of the King. This was the genesis of Jamestown, the first English settlement in the New World.
[1] Taken from Wikipedia Commons.
[2] Taken from Wikipedia Commons.
[3] Taken from Wikipedia Commons.
Blow by blow, the passion dies:
I also constantly skim between timelines, due to primarily basing them on OC characters (ranging from world-changing girlbosses to Third World dictators) and being passionate about few timeline ideas.
Atlas Has Shrugged:
Chapter Two:
The Jamestown colony was the first English settlement in the New World.
[1]
Jamestown was constructed in 1607; originally a small fort along the James River, the settlement grew in spite of hostilities with the local native population to become the colony of Virginia. The area was well suited for the growth of tobacco, and by 1619, with several small farms branching outwards from the original Jamestown settlement, the first African slaves had been imported. The colonies’ rapid growth resulted not only in an influx of English colonists seeking to make their fortune, but also in the later settlement of Bermuda in order to use it as a port and supply center for transatlantic trade between London and Virginia. While the Jamestown colony in Virginia flourished, there was no serious attempt by the English to settle the region of New England for over a decade after these charters were issued. As the coastal regions of the northeastern portion of the New World were explored, a continued trickle of knowledge continued to reach across the Atlantic to the continent. Henry Hudson, an English explorer, first charted Long Island in 1609 and on a second expedition landed in what is now known as Manhattan. Hudson was followed by the Dutch, who further explored what became known as the Hudson River and made contact with the native peoples of Long Island, which was then appropriately named Nassau Island in honor of the Dutch leader.
Following the ascension of King James I to the English throne after the demise of Queen Elizabeth I, the Kingdom of England saw a period of minor religious strife. The growing Puritan sect protested what they saw as the excesses of the Church of England, but the King refused their demands for reforms. Facing persecution from a King who enforced religious conformity rigorously, many of the Puritans immigrated to the Netherlands. However, life in the industrious, commercial centers of Holland was simply too fast paced for the agrarian Puritans, and the small exile community in Leiden began to evaporate. After much negotiation, the Puritans were given the right to settle in the Americas, and in September of 1620 the Mayflower set sail for the New World.
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document established over the Americas.
[2]
In November, it would land off the eastern peninsula of Massachusetts. Here, the colonists drew up the “Mayflower Compact” and established a small settlement of “New Plymouth.” Their relatively amicable relations with the native peoples of the area resulted in the harvest festival that eventually became known as the “First Thanksgiving.” The Massachusetts Bay Company was founded after the success of the Mayflower expedition, with the towns of Salem being founded in 1629 and Boston in 1630. Puritans flocked to the region in droves, and by 1640, they numbered nearly 20,000. The Puritans enforced a rigid social system that tolerated little dissent, resulting in religious outcast Anne Hutchison and Roger Williams being banished in the mid-1630s to the regions south of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies. The settlements founded here became known as Providence Plantations, and the colony quickly became a haven for those seeking religious freedom and toleration.
In 1629, a failed attempt by Scottish settlers to establish a colony in Nova Scotia drew them into conflict with the already existing Acadian colonists. There would be three years of sporadic fighting between the two factions before the French were able to permanently expel the Scottish from the area. The French hold on Nova Scotia was lost in 1658, when English raiders acting under the authorization of Oliver Cromwell captured Port Royal. Nova Scotia would remain under English occupation until 1667, when King Charles II returned the territory to France. Despite the loss of the colony, many English settlers chose to remain and a few autonomous English settlements remained, more or less tolerated by their French colonial masters.
The Dutch meanwhile established New Amsterdam in Manhattan, a development which alarmed colonial authorities in Boston. To establish a firm hold on the region, King Charles I issued a charter to Sir William Alexander, allowing him to claim all of Long Island. Alexander soon sold the eastern portion of the island to the colonies of Connecticut and later New Haven, the latter of whom would establish administrative control over the island as English settlers began to form sparse outposts on the eastern tip of the island. The Dutch resented the English claim and allowed settlers to cross the river East River into what is now Brooklyn, which the English authorities tolerated for the time being.
The colony of Maryland, which bordered the rapidly prospering Virginia colony, was settled in the 1630s as well. Named in honor of the wife of Queen Henrietta Marie, the colony was implied and advertised as a haven for English Catholics, with the proprietor of the original settlement being George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore. Calvert, an English peer and politician, had fallen out of favor with King Charles I for openly declaring himself a Catholic but continued to maintain a friendship with the monarch, who like his father was also privately inclined to the Catholic faith. This was the leading factor that led to the King granting the Maryland charter, with the unspoken implication being that religious freedom would be respected to a considerably greater degree than in the New England colonies.
1637 saw New Haven and later, Seabrook, established in and around the mouth of the Connecticut River. New Haven’s centralized location resulted in it becoming an important port strategically placed between the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and the growing city of Boston. However, the colony was not legally chartered, and was very restrictive as to who could settle there. Settlement would continue up the Connecticut River, with the towns of Hartford, Mitford, Stamford, and Windsor rapidly being established. Ultimately, the collection of hamlets and farming villages would be incorporated into the colony of Connecticut in 1662.
In the 1640s, northward expansion from Massachusetts as well as a continued influx of immigration from England resulted in the colonies that would eventual constitute New Hampshire being settled. The primary town was Portsmouth, though settlers quickly moved up the Merrimack River to establish small settlements at Concord and Manchester. The surrounding towns around Portsmouth, primarily Dover and Essex, also became decently sized centers of colonial life. As was the case in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, New Hampshire was primarily a self-sustaining agrarian society.
The Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 1660s saw major boundary changes in the region; by 1660, Long Island had become the third most populous colony in New England. After the English seized New Amsterdam and all of Brooklyn, King Charles’s brother, the Duke of York (the future James II) was gifted the conquered lands. What is now the American state of New Jersey was sold off to pay the Duke’s debts, whereas the rest of New Amsterdam was rebranded as New York. The western portion of Long Island was placed in the control of New Haven, thus uniting the island under English rule. The proximity of Brooklyn to Manhattan resulted in the western island attracting far more settlers than the original coastal outposts on the island’s eastern shore. Soon after the island was charted as its own province, but this was short lived due to mismanagement and corruption among local authorities, and by 1685 Long Island was totally transferred to the colony of New York. All the while, New Jersey remained in English hands, albeit as a relatively underpopulated afterthought, briefly divided as “East Jersey” and “West Jersey” until 1702.
There was growth in the south as well; by the 1660s, Virginia boasted a large population and multiple settlements. The land to the south was virtually untouched, however, and from the Spanish settlement in Saint Augustine in Florida all the way up to Warwick River Shire (known today as Newport News, Virginia) there were no firmly established colonial settlements. This changed when King Charles II, shortly after retaking the throne, issued a charter establishing the Carolina colony. Charles Towne, established in 1670, would be the first major port city in this colony and would serve as it’s capital. However, economic differences and geographical divides made governing this colony difficult, and starting in 1691, two separate governors were in charge of “North Carolina” and “South Carolina” until the early 18th century, when they were finally legally separated as two distinct entities.
There was growth in the south as well; by the 1660s, Virginia boasted a large population and multiple settlements. The land to the south was virtually untouched, however, and from the Spanish settlement in Saint Augustine in Florida all the way up to Warwick River Shire (known today as Newport News, Virginia) there were no firmly established colonial settlements. This changed when King Charles II, shortly after retaking the throne, issued a charter establishing the Carolina colony. Charles Towne, established in 1670, would be the first major port city in this colony and would serve as it’s capital. However, economic differences and geographical divides made governing this colony difficult, and starting in 1691, two separate governors were in charge of “North Carolina” and “South Carolina” until the early 18th century, when they were finally legally separated as two distinct entities.
[1] Taken from this website.
[2] Taken from Wikipedia Commons (Public Domain)
Frodo:
You're not continuing with this?
Atlas Has Shrugged:
Quote from: Frodo on February 07, 2024, 06:48:53 AM
You're not continuing with this?
I am, I just haven't had time to update it recently.
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