History of Tussenland
Early Colonial History
Early Years (1624-1655)
The Dutch colonial venture in North America started when Henry Hudson, an English-born explorer working for the Dutch, sailed west seeking a northwest passage to Asia. However, he did not find this passage. Instead, he stumbled upon lush land filled with beaver and natives who were interested in trading. As soon as the Dutch States-General heard of this, they sent more sailors and explorers to establish a presence on this uncharted land. Thus, the colony of New Netherland was established, with New Amsterdam as its capital.
Throughout the first half of the 17th century, the Dutch West India Company (GWC) ran the colony. To attract settlers, the GWC established the patroon system: anyone who could bring in at least 50 settlers to the colony would be awarded land grants. This system proved to be successful and bolstered the young colony's population.
By the 1640s, multiple settlements already hugged the eastern coast, and several factorÿen (trading forts) dotted the upstream course of the Noordt River. However, as the population grew, so were the settlers' disgruntlement over the GWC's corruption and the colony's mismanagement. The settlers denounced the GWC and pleaded to the Dutch Republic's States-General to establish a more representative colonial government. The States-General heard their demands and enacted the Municipal Charter of New Netherland (1656), which established a popular government and expelled the GWC out of New Netherland.
A New Colony: Tussenland (1655)
New Netherland's municipal charter forbade the GWC from operating in their territory. Despite this, the company was never disbanded. The company knew the fur trade was too invaluable. They would never let the French up north dominate the fur business. Instead, the company moved further west, away from New Netherland and into the American interior.
The GWC convinced the Dutch States-General to give the company a new trade charter. The new charter allowed them to establish new factorÿen and engage in commerce with the Iroquois. The charter effectively split the Dutch Republic's territorial holdings in North America into two. On the coast was New Netherland (a settler-oriented colony), and on the interior was the GWC-controlled territory.
The GWC allied with the Iroquois nation (Hoodenoshieöné) and fought against the French trying to expand into the interior. With the French out of the way, the GWC expanded southwestward, following the Ohio and Mississippi rivers' downstream course and into the Gulf of New Spain.
Throughout the 17th century, the GWC maintained a stable partnership with the Iroquois and the colonial government of New Netherland. With the bolstered population of New Netherland and an alliance with the Iroquois, the GWC was able to defend their western territorial holdings against the English during the 2nd Anglo-Dutch War.
Treaty of Perpetual Alliance (1658), and the Quiripi Wars (1659)
In 1658, the Dutch Republic signed the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance with the Iroquois confederacy. This treaty stipulated the Dutch recognition of Iroquois sovereignty, a stronger trade partnership, and a ''perpetual'' mutual defense treaty. This treaty also allowed the GWC to build forts inside of Iroquois territory. The first fort built on native land was Fort Hedel. Additionally, the treaty forbade Dutch settlers from founding new settlements inside native land.
In 1659, the Iroquois entangled themselves in the Quiripi Wars, where they fought against the Quiripi tribe (plus several other English-allied tribes) near the English frontier. In 1661, after the Quiripi attacked a band of Iroquois, the Iroquois attempted to invoke the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance to get the GWC to join the war on their side. However, the company refused to participate, not wanting to get involved in a petty conflict against England and the other natives. The GWC justified this decision by saying that the Iroquois were the aggressors, thus rendering the Treaty of Alliance inapplicable. However, the GWC reversed this decision after the Second Anglo-Dutch War erupted in 1664; the war forced the GWC to join the Iroquois in attacking the English-allied tribes. Together with New Netherland and the Iroquois, the GWC successfully repelled the English invaders.
The name "Tussenland"
The region covered by the GWC's trade charter did not have an official name or title during its creation in 1656. However, some records show GWC personnel calling the region Tussenland as early as the 1690s (Dutch: Tussenlandt; lit.: country in between). Historians generally agree that this was due to the traders' belief that the region was between two mountain ranges: the Appalachian range on the east and a supposedly uncharted mountain range on the west. There is no clear evidence of what western mountains they were referring to, but historians generally agree that it might have been the Rocky Mountain Range.
Tussenlandt first appeared on a GWC document in 1702, referring to the region as Nederlandse Besittingen ter Tussenlandt (lit.: Dutch possessions on the Tussenland).
Prince Maurice's War (1750-1755), and Acquisition of Meerenland
In 1750, the Great Silesian War had erupted in Europe due to Prussian ambitions in the Silesian region. This conflict dragged France, a Prussian ally, to war against Britain and her allies (which included the Dutch Republic). This spawned a colonial war on the North American continent, called Prince Maurice's War (named after the Dutch Republic's stadtholder at the time). The war was one of the most significant colonial conflicts in North America, pitting the North American colonies of Britain, Spain, and the Dutch Republic against France and her native allies.
In the early years of the war, New France saw significant gains on the Western Tussenland front, occupying key areas. However, Dutch forces soon overpowered the invading French troops and marched northeast towards the Great Lakes region in 1751, capturing several important forts. Meanwhile, the rest of the French army had marched south from Montreal to invade the Iroquoian homeland. The French were ultimately unable to take the Iroquoian land, and in late 1752, combined Dutch and British forces occupied Montreal. They then occupied Quebec and other forts along the St. Lawrence River in 1753.
The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vienna on 16 February 1755. As part of the treaty, the French renounced all their claims west of the Mississippi River (which overlapped Tussenland's claims) and transferred the Great Lakes region's possession (Pays d'en Haut) to the Dutch.
The First Provinces of Tussenland
Meerenlandt: A Francophone Colony
The newly acquired Pays d'en Haut territory was promptly renamed Meeranlandt (Dutch for "lake country") and became a separate Dutch colony in 1756. The first Director-General of Meerenlandt, Pieter Evertsz de Vries, ruled over a predominantly French-speaking and Catholic population. De Vries won over the loyalty of the people through a policy of appeasement and placation. He allowed the French to practice Catholicism freely and even participate in the fur trade, a privilege that the GWC did not give to settlers in the GWC-controlled territories.
Mississippi: A settler colony
In 1761, to strengthen the legitimacy of Dutch claims on the Mississipi region, the Dutch West India company adopted a policy of inviting settlers from New Netherland, which experienced overpopulation since the 1760s. This policy differed from the earlier colonization schemes they had set in New Netherland decades before. This new policy would have fewer entry barriers and allowed the upper-middle-class to own land plots in the region. This policy had boosted the Dutch population west of the Mississippi River, and many Dutch settlements sprouted up throughout the rest of the 19th century.
An Era of Revolutions
Fall of the Dutch Republic
In 1795, the French Republic subjugated the Dutch Republic in Europe during the French Revolutionary Wars. The neighboring Dutch colony New Netherland had declared independence. Despite this, the GWC in Tussenland remained loyal to the Dutch Republic government-in-exile in Britain and tried to prevent revolutionary ideas from spreading from New Netherland.
During the republic's absence, the Dutch West India company faced an invasion by Britain but was able to repel it. The victories against the British and the mother country's absence helped the GWC consolidate and exercise greater power over the Tussenland colony.
The Iroquois Split (1805)
Despite the treaty back in 1658 forbidding the Dutch from creating new settlements inside Iroquois territory, the Dutch settlers from New Netherland were still able to do so on the interior due to the Iroquois leasing their lands to colonists.
By 1780, more than half of the Iroquois territory had Dutch settlements. After their independence in 1796, New Netherland claimed all territory with Dutch settlements to be part of New Netherland territory. This claim included parts of the Iroquoian homeland. The Iroquois initially remained neutral, hoping that the Dutch Republic would eventually regain control of New Netherland. However, this did not happen.
The Iroquois had to act. The Iroquois Grand Council was convened multiple times throughout the late 1790s and early 1800s over the matter. The Seneca and Cayuga nations saw it necessary to move south, away from New Netherland's influence and land claims, as the only way to protect their sovereignty. Furthermore, they feared that if they become part of New Netherland, the New Netherland government would stop paying land dues, especially now that New Netherland was no longer subject to Dutch laws protecting the Iroquois. However, the other Iroquois nations (the Mohawk, Onondaga and Oneida) wanted to stay in their traditional homeland. With the nations having different opinions on the matter (especially between the Cayuga and the Oneida, who had to reach the same consensus before the process progressed to the next stage), the Grand Council process was stuck on a deadlock had to be dismissed and reconvened multiple times. Tensions between the Iroquois nations even became tenser as the Onondaga showed interest in the invitation to join New Netherland, offered by the New Netherland government led by Marÿn van Beeke. Eventually, it became clear that the grand council could not make a decision. In 1805, the Cayuga and Seneca migrated south and escaped to the Dutch Tussenland without the other Iroquois nations' approval. This effectively marked the end of the Iroquois confederacy.
The Third Province: Irokesenlandt (1816)
After the Kingdom of the Netherlands was created in 1814, the fledgling kingdom still recognized the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance. Together with the GWC, the Netherlands offered the Cayuga and Seneca land within the Tussenland colony, which they could rule as their own. In 1816, the Irokesenlandt Land Grant Treaty was signed in Fort Hedel by the Dutch West India Company, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the three nations' sachems. The treaty officially recognized the Iroquois nations ruling autonomously within the Tussenland colony.
This land grant put the Kingdom of the Netherlands in a strong position against the Iroquois. The Iroquois' status as a sovereign nation became moot. The kingdom and the Dutch West India company manipulating Iroquois policy would be a common trend throughout the 19th century (including the controversial strong-arming and pressuring of the Dutch to sell the eastern part Irokesenlandt to Virginia in 1848).
The Threefold Dilemmas of Irokesenlandt's Creation
The creation of Tussenland's first "nation within a nation," Irokesenlandt, did not come without problems. New Netherland historian Lucille Hopkins had identified three critical issues of the creation of Irokesenlandt and their effects on the history of Tussenland in her book A History of Modern Tussenland (1974). Although problematic, these problems and their effects are important factors that shaped future Tussenland policy. These three problems are:
- The Amerikaner Settler Dilemma: During the creation of the Irokesenlandt, there were already a few Dutch settlers setting up settlements in the area. They were disgruntled with this new land treaty and viewed it as an "eviction notice." They were displeased with the Kingdom of the Netherland's favoritism towards the natives instead of the Dutch settlers. Despite protests, the kingdom enforced this treaty by coercing Dutch colonists to move westward into the predominantly Dutch/Amerikaner provinces of Mississippi. Some of the settlers even went as far as the west coast, in what would become known as the Voortrekker Trails, which would soon form the foundations of the modern nation of the Amerikaanse Free State. This westward expansion would quickly bring the Kingdom of the Netherlands into a conflict with the Spanish Empire and culminate in the 2nd Dutch-Spanish War in 1850.
- The Native Dilemma: The borders of Irokesenlandt ignored the pre-existing native population within. Initially, the Iroquois had adopted a policy of coexistence with these other natives. However, the other natives (most especially the Choctaw, Shawnee, and Chickasaw) were unreceptive to their new landowners, increasing tensions between the native groups. These tensions soon evolved into raids, attacks, and battles between the Iroquois and the other natives, collectively known as the Irokesenlandt Wars. The Iroquois won these wars. The natives, defeated, were forced by the Iroquois to migrate westward, just outside the southwestern borders of Irokesenlandt (in the regions of what would become the modern-day nation of Opdamsland). In the coming decades, the Opdamsland region would be used by Tussenland as a destination for a series of native removals throughout the late 19th century.
- The Virginian Settler Dilemma: Despite being claimed by Tussenland (and part of the new Irokesenlandt), the western regions of Irokesenland were also claimed by Virginia (which was a British colony at the time). Virginian yeomen had already migrated to the area since the late 18th century and established settlements there. The creation of Irokesenlandt would only agitate Virginia and would lead Great Britain to send more settlers in the region to reinforce their claims. The Kingdom of the Netherlands warned the Iroquois not to attack these Virginian settlers, as they did not want to get into a conflict with Great Britain.
19th century
Creation of the Royal Tussenland Company (1817)
In the aftermath of these revolutionary wars, the new state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was created in 1814. The Dutch West India Company swore loyalty to this new kingdom. However, the fledgling kingdom was wary of the strong influence that the Dutch West India Company held in the new world. Thus, the new state decided to dissolve the Dutch West India company and found new smaller and independent companies in its place. The goal was to spur innovation and competition between these companies and to prevent one company from becoming stronger than the other companies or than the kingdom itself. One of these new companies was the Royal Tussenland Company (Dutch: Koninklijke Tussenlandt Compagnie). As the fur trade started to decline, the new company would shift its focus to plantations in the southern regions of Tussenland and would employ slaves imported from the Dutch Gold Coast Company. By the 1850s, southern Tussenland would become the region with the most slaves in North America.
Virginia Purchase (1848)
The Kingdom of the Netherlands had feared that the contested region in west Irokesenlandt would lead into a colonial war between Tussenland and Virginia. Additionally, they also feared that a military conflict against the Spanish Empire was imminent, due to Tussenland settlers' continous westward expansion, and the fact that the kingdom was recently accused by the Spanish Empire of financially supporting separatist rebels in their colony of New Granada in the 1830s. The Kingdom of the Netherlands was faced with a dilemma. However, in 1847, a delegation from Britain sent a formal offer to purchase the contested territory from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Kingdom of the Netherlands was reluctant to renounce their claims, as were the Iroquois. However, as the threat of war with Spain became more imminent, the Kingdom of the Netherlands agreed to the purchase and pressured the Iroquois to give up the contested part to Virginia. However, despite the Dutch West India's efforts to placate Great Britain, in mid-1849 the Kingdom of the Netherlands still get involved in a war against Britain and France over China.
2nd Dutch-Spanish War (1850-1855)
With the Dutch now fighting the British and French in Asia, the fear of an imminent war against Spain grew larger. Border tensions in the west came to a head in 1850, when Spain finally declared war against the weakened Netherlands. This war would be known as the 2nd Dutch-Spanish War. The war ended in a humiliating Dutch defeat. In the resulting treaty, the Dutch had ceded a large portion of the Mississippi basin region to New Spain, and they were forced to release Southern Tussenland as an independent nation, effectively locking the Dutch out of the Gulf of Florida. This had soured relations between the Dutch and the Spanish, until in 1881, Mexico had declared their independence as the Empire of Mexico.
The Tussenland Upheavals (1850s-1860s)
The Tussenland Upheavals (also known as the Tussenland Revolution Period) was a series of events that led to radical change within Dutch Tussenlandic government and society. This period saw the transformation of Tussenland from being colony operated by the Dutch West India company into a loose confederation of several states.
South Tussenland declaration of Independence (1850)
Having plantations operated by the Royal Tussenland Company, the southern region of Tussenland had a significant population of slaves. A unique Dutch creole culture had evolved in the southern region of Tussenland. In the midst of the 2nd Dutch-Spanish War, Tussenland saw a slave insurrection beginning to form in the south, spearheaded by a "prophet" who had claimed to be sent by God to liberate the slave-population of southern Tussenland. A religious movement soon formed in southern Tussenland, named the Church of the Second Ascension. To undermine the Dutch, Spain had supported this slave insurrection. The southern region declared independence officially as the United Gemeenten (religious communities) of South Tussenland (Dutch: Verenigde Gemeenten van Zuyd Tussenlandt), led by the ex-slave prophet Abayomi van Tussenlandt. Spain was the first nation to recognize this new nation. The now independent South Tussenland fought alongside the Spanish against the Dutch.
Flight of the Suyderlings (1855)
Southerners flee to Irokesenlandt.
Suyderling Land Agreement (1856)
Dutch bought land from the Iroquois and gave them to the Suyderlings to appease them. However, they still demanded addirional monetary compensation because.
Meerenland Rebellion (1857)
Frenchies doing their thing and rebel (as an offshoot of the Spring of Nations). The royal tussenland company was still weak and had a hard time supressing the rebellion. The Frenchies establish their own parliament and own governor/prime minister.
Battle of [Place Name] (1859)
Suyderlings decide to take advantage of the situation and tried to launch invasion of a fort in Irokesenlandt. The local Iroquois army was able to defeat the 600 men strong rebellion. Maybe they could evolve into part of a regiment in the modern day Tussenland army.
Tussenland Act of 1861
Negotiations with the French rebels were successful. The Royal tussenland company was dissolved and Irokesenlandt, Mississippi, and Meeeranland was given responsible gov