Tussenland
| Tussenland | |
|---|---|
| Tussenlandt | |
 | |
 Location of Tussenland | |
| Established | 1655 |
| Capital | Daesemus |
| Largest City | Peoria |
| Population | 105 Million |
| Languages |
|
Tussenland is a nation in central and northern North America. By land area and population, it is the largest country on the continent.
Etymology
Tussenland is the English form of the country's name in the Amerikaans language: Tussenlandt, which in turn is derived from tussenin (in between) + landt (country). This refers to Tussenland's geographical position in the 18th century: in between the Appalachian and Rocky mountain ranges. Although its territory has expanded over the 19th and 20th centuries, its original name is still preserved.
History
Main article: History of Tussenland
This is summary of New Netherland's history. See History of Tussenland for the unabridged and complete history
17th Century
Dutch Colony under New Netherland
In the early years of the Dutch colony, the first settled regions of what is now Tussenland was part of the colony of New Netherland and governed by the Dutch West India Company's colonial government. Since the region was further up northwest, the region was governed from Fort Orange instead of New Amsterdam. However, as the population increased in New Netherland, the settlers have become disgruntled over the Dutch West India Company's mismanagement over the company. The settlers had protested against the Dutch West India company, and pleaded to the States-General of the Dutch republic to give the colonists a new colonial government. This led to the enactment of the [[History of New Netherland#[PoD] The Municipal Charter of 1656|1656 New Netherland Municipal Charter]], which (1) gave New Netherland its own colonial government, and (2) expelled the Dutch West India company from New Netherland government and policy.
A New Trade Charter (1655)
After their expulsion from New Netherland, a new charter was granted to the Dutch West India Company to establish trade posts in the land west of New Netherland and engage in commerce with the Iroquois in what is now the province of Irokesenlandt. This charter effectively split the Dutch American territorial holdings into two. The Dutch West India company would then soon expand southeastward, following the downstream course of the Ohio river and the Mississippi rivers. Throughout the 17th century, the Dutch traders had a stable trade partnership with the Iroquois (Hoodenoshieöné), as well as with the colonial government of New Netherland (now outside the jurisdiction of the Dutch West India company). With the bolstered population within New Netherland, and an alliance with the Iroquois, the Dutch West India company was able to help defend their western territorial holdings 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 (Hoodenoshieöné). This treaty stipulated the Dutch recognition of the Iroquois nation's sovereignty, a stronger trade partnership, and a ''perpetual'' mutual defense treaty. This treaty also allowed the Dutch West India company to build forts inside of Iroquois territory. The first fort built on Iroquois territory was Fort Hedel. Additionally, settlers from New Netherland would no longer be allowed to found new settlements inside Iroquois claimed territory.
In 1659, the Iroquois had gotten been entangled in the Quiripi Wars, where they fought against the Quiripi tribe (and other English-allied tribes) near the English frontier. In 1661, after a band of Iroquois was attacked by the Quiripi (or some other English-allied tribe), the Iroquois attempted to invoke the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance to get the Dutch West India compnay to the war on their side. However, the Dutch refused to participate, not wanting to get involved in a futile conflict against England and the other natives. The Dutch West India company then reported that the Iroquois were the ones who first incited war, rendering the treaty of alliance inapplicable. However, after Second Anglo-Dutch War erupted in 1664, the Dutch West India company was forced to join the Iroquois in attacking the English-allied tribes. Together with New Netherland, they had won against England.
18th Century
The name "Tussenland"
The region covered by the new Dutch West India company trade charter did not have an official name during its creation. However, in the 1690s, people working under the Dutch West India company began referring to the region as Tussenland (Dutch: Tussenlandt) meaning "land in between". This was due to their beliefs that a supposedly uncharted mountain range existed west of the region, putting the it right in the middle of two mountain ranges (the other one being the Appalachian range). This mythic mountain range was soon discovered to be the Rocky Mountain range.
The name Tussenlandt first appears a Dutch West India Company document in 1715, referring to the region as Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Tussenlandt (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 dragged Prussian allies (including the French) to a 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 stadtholder of the Dutch Republic at the time). Prince Maurice's War was one of the largest colonial wars in North America, where the colonies of Britain, Spain, and the Dutch Republic were pitted against those of 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 forces and marched northeast towards the Great Lakes region in 1751, capturing several key forts in the area. Meanwhile, the rest of the French army had marched south from Montreal to invade the Iroquoian homeland, which was a now a protectorate under the Dutch. The French were ultimately unable to take the Iroquoian homeland, and in late 1752, the city of Montreal was occupied by combined Dutch and British forces. Quebec and other forts along the St. Lawrence River were occupied 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 was also claimed by the Dutch), and granted the Dutch possession of the Great Lakes region (Pays d'en Haut, then renamed by the Dutch to Meerenlandt or "lake land"). These newly acquired territories were integrated and became part of Tussenland.
Late 18th Century Expansion
To further strengthen the legitimacy of Dutch claims on the newly acquired territories, the Dutch West India company adopted a policy of inviting settlers from New Netherland (which was starting to experience overpopulation by the 1760s). This policy differed from that of the earlier colonization policies they had set in New Netherland decades before, as this new policy would have lesser barriers to entry and allowed the upper middle-class to own their own plots of land in the region. This policy had boosted the Dutch population west of the Mississippi and soon new Dutch settlements started sprouting up through the 1760s to the 1780s. This policy, however, was less successful in Meerenlandt, which had a large pre-existing native population as well as a sizeable Francophonic population.
With the French contained to their own land up north, the Dutch in the 1780s began claiming territory far west of territory they had actually controlled and had a presence in.
Fall of the Dutch Republic
In 1795, the French Republic subjugated the Dutch Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. Despite this, the Dutch West India Company in Tussenland remained loyal to the Dutch Republic government-in-exile in Britain and tried to prevent any revolutionary ideas from spreading from New Netherland (who had declared independence from the Dutch Republic during this period of turmoil).
19th Century
Tussenland entered the 19th century without the Dutch Republic. During the republic's absence, the Dutch West India company faced several problems, but were still able to keep the colony in order through a series of diplomatic and military actions. The mother country's absence also helped the Dutch West India company to consolidate and exercise greater power over the Tussenland colony.
The Iroquois Split (1805), and the Irokesenlandt Land Grant Treaty (1816)
Despite the Treaty in 1658 forbidding the Dutch from creating new settlements inside Iroquois territory, the Dutch settlers from New Netherland were still able to build new settlements on the interior. This was due to the fact that the Iroquois had leased land to New Netherlander colonists interested in making new settlements. It was illegal to buy or take land from the natives, but the leasing of land was not. There is debate in the historical community regarding these leases. Some historians argue that the Iroquois willingly allowed their land to be rented, while others argue that the land was leased after coercion by the New Netherland elites.
By 1780, more than half of the Iroquois territory had Dutch settlements. After their independence in 1796, New Netherland claimed all territory that had Dutch settlements, and this included half of the Iroquois territory. The Iroquois remained neutral at first, believing that the Dutch Republic would eventually regain control of New Netherland. However, this did not happen, as the Dutch Republic was subjugated by the French Republic during the French Revolution, and it wouldn't be until 1814 that Dutch rule would be restored in the European low countries.
The Iroquois Grand Council was convened multiple times throughout the late 1790s and early 1800s over the matter. The Mohawk, Seneca, and Cayuga nations saw it necessary to move south, away from the influence and land claims of New Netherland, as the only and necessary 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 the independent New Netherland was no longer subject to Dutch laws protecting the Iroquois. The other Iroquois nations (Onondaga and Oneida), however, 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 progresses to the next stage), the Grand Council process was stuck on a deadlock and had to be dismissed and reconvened multiple times. Tensions between the Iroquois nation even became more tense as the Onondaga showed interest in the invitation to join New Netherland, offered by the New Netherland government led by Adriaen van der Donck. Eventually, it became clear that no decision could be made. In 1805, Cayuga, Mohawk, and Seneca migrated south and escaped to the Dutch Tussenland, without the approval of the other Iroquois nations. This effectively marked the end of the Iroquois confederacy.
After the Kingdom of the Netherlands was created after the end of the wars in Europe (1814), the fledgling kingdom still recognized the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance dating back to 1658. The kingdom, together with the Dutch West India company, offered the Cayuga, Mohawk, 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 sachems of the three nations. 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' influence started to wane and 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 of Irokesenlandt to Virginia in 1848).
The Threefold Dilemmas of Irokesenlandt's Creation
The creation of Tussenland's first "nation within a nation", Irokesenlandt, was not without problems. New Netherland historian Lucile Hopkins had identified three key problems of the Irokesenlandt Land Treaty 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 considered to be 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" for the Dutch settlers. They were displeased with the Kingdom of the Netherland's favoritism towards the natives instead of them. Despite protests, the kingdom enforced this treaty by coercing Dutch settlers to move westward, into what is now 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.
- The Native Dilemma: The borders of Irokesenlandt ignored the pre-exiting native population within. Initially, the Iroquois had adopted a policy of coexistence with these other natives. However, the other natives (most especially the Cherokee, 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 place for a series of native removals.
- 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). Some Virginian yeomen had already migrated to the region since the late 1700s 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.
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.
Virginia Purchase (1848)
Another problem of the newly-created Irokesenlandt territory, was
Dutch sold stuff to Virginia (british had claims) so that they wouldnt attack them in case of any war with the Spanish.
1859 Daesemus and the Great Lakes Rebellions
Tussenland Act of 1861
Government and politics
Provinces
Tussenland is a federation composed of ten provinces (see here for a map of the provinces):
- Meerenlandt
- Irokesenlandt
- Mississippi
- Zuyd-Mizoerie
- North-Mizoerie
- Crynssenslandt
- Ruyterslandt
- Westerzee
- West Vorstlandt
- East Vorstlandt