South Tussenland: Difference between revisions

Much of the nation's lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp areas. These contain a rich southern biota; typical examples include birds such as ibises and egrets. There are also many species of tree frogs and fish, such as sturgeon and paddlefish.

South Tussenland was a Dutch colony until 1855, and had the highest number of slaves in all Dutch American territorial holdings during the 19th century. This led to the largesizeable Afro-Amerikaner population in the present- day. South Tussenland is also the birthplace of the African diaspora religion known as [[Zoekerism]], which was South Tussenland's official state religion after their independence in 1855 until the republican revolution in 1911.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the region of what is now the country of South Tussenland was inhabited by Native Americans for many millennia. The first European explorers to visit South Tussenland came in 1528 when a Spanish expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez located the mouth of the Mississippi River. Two decades later, an expedition by Hernando de Soto skirted the northern region of South Tussenland and followed the Mississippi River arriving at the Gulf of Mexico in 1543. AlthoughHowever, they were the first to explore and chart the area, the Spanish lost colonial interest in the region over the nextfollowing decades.

In the late 16th century, Dutch explorer Cornelis Jacobszoon van Duvenvoorde Opdam was hired by the Dutch West India Company to lead an expedition from the Dutch Tussenland Colony to find a route to the Pacific, following the Ohio River and then down the Mississippi River. He claimed the land around the river for the company and named it the Dutch Possessions on the Mississippi (Amerikaens: ''Nederlands Besittingen ter Misisibie'') (although the country of [[Opdamsland]] formed in 1903 would be posthumously named after him). Along the journey halfway into present-day South Tussenland came an escort of Chitimacha Indians whowhom Opdam had befriended. Opdam reached the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1679.

The territory of modern -day South Tussenland was part of the charters given to the Dutch West India Company (in 1700) and then later the Royal Tussenland Company (in 1817). In the 17th century, the Southern Tussenland became one of the largestmost prominent importers of African slaves, to work the sugarcane and cotton plantations. Slaves were introduced into the region, mostlymainly from the Gold Coast and the Guineas, to work the sugarcane and cotton plantations.

In 1812, Dutch filibusters started settling the regions west of the official boundaries of Southern Tussenland, in hopes that the Kingdom of the Netherlands would annex them. They established a short-lived republic called the Republic of Anahuac. This was in violation ofviolated the borders settled in the Treaty of Vienna in 1755. However, the issue was settled in 1817 when Spain decided to sell the Anahuac strip to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in exchange for a part of the central plains.

[[File:Southern Tussenland in 1850.png|alt=|thumb|263x263px|Southern Tussenland in 1850 with modern-day borders in red.]]The Royal Tussenland Company (established 1817) was the successor of the defunct Dutch West India Company, which was disbanded in 1815 after financial troubles during the French Revolutionary Wars. The scope of the Royal Tussenland Company was smaller in scope than the Dutch West India Company, focusing only on the North American territory. The Royal Tussenland Company took over the operation of plantations in the South, as well asand constructed new plantations in the northern part of the region. The taking over of the RTC saw the importation of more slaves.

Tensions between the slaves and the Dutch ruling minority waswere at a high in 1840. The Royal Tussenland Company practiced harsh treatment towards the slaves, causing a lot ofmany slaves to either die, flee to the Spanish colonies, or hide in maroon communities. In the midst ofAmid the [[2nd Dutch-Spanish War]] that erupted between Spain and the Netherlands, Tussenland saw a slave insurrection beginning to form in the south. One of the leaders of this insurrection was a "prophet"," Abajomie, who had claimed to be sent by God to liberate the slave- population of southern Tussenland. A religious movement soon formed in southern Tussenland, called Zoekerism (from Dutch: ''Zoek'' 'to seek'). To undermine the Dutch, Spain had supported this slave insurrection and religious movement. However, the prophet was captured by the Dutch and died in captivity. Despite this, the religious movement and insurrection waswere continued by his fellow revolutionary, Tegbesoe, who would proceded to become the leader of an independent South Tusssenland in 1855.

The white Dutch minorityplantation owners in South Tussenland were dubbed by other Amerikaners as the Suyderlings (lit. Southerlings). During the Southern Tussenland revolution, a majority ofmost Suyderlings fled to the Irokesenland Protectorate north of South Tussenland. However, there weresome Suyderlings who fled to the west, to the Anahuac strip (a haven for Suyderlings), confident that the Dutch would eventually retake the colony. However, in 1851, Southern Tussenland revolutionaries were able to take the city of Anahuac. On the eve of September 12, 1851, a group of radical fringe radical Zoekerists ambushed a caravan of Suyderlings who were trying to escape to Dutch -controlled Tussenland in the north. A total of 48 adult Suyderlings and 12 radical Zoekerists were killed. Upon hearing of the tragedy, revolutionary leader Abayomi van Tussenland condemned the attacks and ordered the purging of the radical group. The Suyderling Memorial (built in 1998) in South Mizoerie, Tussenland, is dedicated to the memory of the killed Suyderlings and Afro-Amerikaners alike during that fateful day.

Most of the surviving Suyderlings ended up in the Irokesenland Province of the Federation of Tussenland, where theythe wereIrokees givengovernment gave them plots of lands by the Irokees governmentland. However, slavery was outlawed, so the Suyderlings had to rely on a system of sharecropping to run the plantations. In 1903, after Tussenland declared independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a majority of the surviving Suyderlings and their descendants migrated to the provinces of North Mizoerie and South Mizoerie, which was initially blocked by the Kingdom of the Netherlands from European settlement. A lot ofMany indigenous groups in these two provinces were forcibly migrated to the newly formed country of Opdamsland (which was created as a buffer territory, and is essentially a puppet of the new government of Tussenland).

A month later, on April 1, 1864, Tegbesoe died in his residence within the temple of Elegasthaven. Several close friends and followers were present during his death. Shortly before his death, he had given the Holy Scepter to Kodjo de Heylig, an exclusionist elder from Acola-Pisa, signifying a transition of leadership within the Zoekerist Church and state (under the Zoekerist constitution: "''he who holds the sceptre holds the duty to shepherd and lead the children of God toward salvation''"). The Theological Council was made aware of this the following day. They did not recognize Kodjo de Heylig as the new Protector of South Tussenland and instead convened to elect a new Protector. They selected a Salvationist Elder, Piet de Kotter, as the new protectorProtector. However, without the Holy Sceptre, this election became moot. The Theological Council refused to convene in the Temple of Elegastland and resume their duties in protest in the next few days. They demanded that Kodjo de Heylig step down as protectorProtector and abdicate to Piet de Kotter. However, this would not come. Instead, Kodjo de Heylig purged the salvationist members of the Theological Council.