Carolina
| Carolina | |
|---|---|
| Commonwealth of Carolina | |
| Carolina | |
 | |
 Location of Carolina | |
| Established | Argentine Purchase - December 1st 1756 British Carolina Home rule Act - March 5th 1914 |
| Capital | Port Leonabelle |
| Largest City | Buenos Aires |
| Government Type | Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
| Languages | English (Official) Spanish (Regionally Official) |
| Currency | Caroline Pound (CLP) |
Carolina; officially the Commonwealth of Carolina (Spanish: La Mancomunidad de Carolina) is a country located on the southern cone of South America. The country is also bordered by Peru and Paraguay to the north, the Riograndense Republic to the northeast, Chile to the west, the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south.
The earliest recorded human presence in modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century. In the mid 18th century the Spanish sold their Rio de la Plata colonies to their British allies who further expanded their holdings and colonized the region of Patagonia. After during with multiple periods of ethnic and linguistic tension; Carolina is currently is a officially bilingual federal state with a diverse population and a strong economy. Many consider Carolina to be one of the two big regional powers of South America (the other being Colombia) and has strong international relations with it's neighbors as well as other commonwealth nations.
History
Spanish Rule
Europeans first arrived in the region with the 1502 voyage of Amerigo Vespucci. The Spanish navigators Juan Díaz de Solís and Sebastian Cabot visited the territory that is now Argentina in 1516 and 1526, respectively. In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza founded the small settlement of Buenos Aires, which was abandoned in 1541 but was re-founded by Juan de Garay in 1580.
Further colonization efforts came from Paraguay with the Spanish establishing the Governorate of the Río de la Plata in 1549. Under the Spanish Empire the economic potential of the Argentine territory was untapped and focused was placed on the immediate wealth of the silver and gold mines in Peru, and as such the governorate fell underneath the authority of the Viceroyalty of Peru. From 1700 to the Argentine purchase, the governate was seen as a backwater of the Spanish Americas and in turn received little immigration and investment.
During the 18th century the region to the north east of the Río de la Plata, known as the Banda Oriental was a point of contention between the Spanish and Portuguese empires with the area going back and forth between the two empires multiple times. At the time of the of the Argentine purchase, the region was de facto under the control of Spain since 1738.
The Argentine Purchase
During the aftermath of the great Silesian war and Treaty of Vienna (1755), the British empire offered to buy the Governorate of the Río de la Plata (including the disputed region of the Banda Oriental) east of the Andes from Spain in return for a lump sum payment and forgiveness of debts incurred by the Spanish Crown during the war. On August 19th 1756 the Spanish Crown agreed to the terms sent by the British and on December 1st the colony was transferred to British sovereignty. The British motive for the purchase involves lack of opportunities for expansion in their North American holdings and a want to exert control over the important straits of Magellan.
Colonization and expansion under British rule
The first settlement set up by the the British was Williamsburg south east Buenos Aires on the Río de la Plata. In 1760 former Royal Naval Admiral John Forester founded a settlement on the white bay south of existing settlements along the Río Plata, Uruguay and Paraná river on a crown land grant called Port Leonabelle (allegedly named after Forester's first wife).
The first areas settled by land grants given by the British were the white bay area, the Banda Oriental and east of Buenos Aires. Between the Argentine purchase and 1793 there were a series of border disagreements between Portugal and the British over the Banda Oriental culminating with the Anglo-Portuguese treaty of Sacramento (1793) that set the boundary line between the two colonies. Additionally during the early period of British rule in Carolina the colony saw a wave of English-speaking immigrants from New France during the Acadian Exodus.
In 1799 Carolina was divided into three separate crown colonies, Argentine, the Banda Oriental and New Wales (centered around the white bay). Starting in the early 19th century a series of waves of Welsh and Cornish settlers arrived in southern and central Carolina and started intensive ranching operations and coastal whaling settlements. Additionally Buenos Aires, Sacramento and Port Leonabelle started to grow as an important stopping point of travelers and traders heading from the Pacific to the Atlantic and vice versa.
In 1842 the West Patagone treaty was signed between Spain and the British over where the boundary in the Andes is, the territory gained by Carolina in this treaty plus the rest of Patagonia were reorganized as the colony of Patagonia. During the Irish Potato famine, Carolina became an important destination for Irish immigrants, with most immigrants settling near Buenos Aires, Port Leonabelle or along the white bay.
War of the Montoneras
Starting in the late 1850's and lasting until the early 1870's Carolina was wracked by a series of revolts led by paramilitary cavalry units from the Northern Argentine province who agitated for local autonomy, independence from the British and sometimes operated as bandits. The vast majority of these Montoneras were Argentinos and hispanophone and most operated in rural areas. During this period the first signs of hispanophone discontentment with British rule made itself known, with many rural Argentinos joining Montoneras units due to lack of economic opportunities and ethnic tension with anglophones being favored in the colony.
Eventually Montoneras activity started to decline with the establishment of local hispanophone officials in the Argentine province and increased economic opportunities associated with the rise in global trade and the ranching industry. Additionally many rebellious Montoneras leaders were ran off from the Argentine province during Captain Marcus Knox's " Anti-Banditry" campaigns of 1864-1868, with many of these leaders being forced across the border into Peru.
Carolina in the 20th century
Argentino revolts and the Argentine Troubles
Government and Politics
In the present day Carolina is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy with the crown monarch of the United Kingdom as the sovereign monarch. According to the Caroline constitution, the Crown holds final executive power; but since 1914 the crown has acted as a figurehead monarch while the government Carolina is ran as a parliamentary democracy. The Crown is represented by an appointed representative called the Governor General of Carolina who in effect communicates and mediates between the Crown and the elected government of Carolina. The government of Carolina uses a unicameral system where the executive branch derives power from the legislature (composed of members of parliament or MPs who represent a proportional population constituency of the country). Additionally, Carolina has 6 provincial governments which run day to day affairs and certain cultural and internal policy of the country (divisions of power are outlined in the Caroline Constitution).
Administrative Divisions
As of 1952 the 8 provinces of Carolina are:
- Rio Plata (capital: Buenos Aires, RP)
- New Wales (capital: Port Leonabelle, NW)
- The Banda Oriental (capital: Sacramento, BO)
- Cordoba (capital: Córdoba, CD)
- Chaco (capital: Santa Fe, CH)
- Catamarca (capital: Salta, CM)
- Tupsheid (capital: Saint-Mary-on-the-Rock, TH)
- Patagonia (capital: Drakesport, PG)
