Huadao

Huadao is an island in the Trade Islands area that is part of Urcea. Prior to the 19th century, Huadao was inhabited on an inconsistent basis, and it was claimed by Daxia. The island was rich in deposits. Following Urcea's acquisition of Rapa Rapa, it was able to project naval power into the Ocean of Cathay, and the guano-rich island became a possible target for expansion. Urcea took the island from Daxia in the Guano War and began mining operations while also colonizing the island. In the early 20th century, most of the accumulated guano was depleted, but the island remained economically viable due to trade with Alshar and other parts of the Trade Islands, as well as its importance as a. Huadao in the 21st century is primarily inhabited by people of Levantine descent or by Audonian mainlanders. In addition to the civilian settlement, the island remains a Royal Navy base.

Etymology
"Huadao" is the Daxian language name for the island, meaning "Flower Island". This name is used for various applications related to the island, including "Flower City", the Cathedral City of the island.

Geography
Huadao is a single island with smaller, tertiary jetties and reefs that is part of the Trade Islands sitting roughly halfway between the equator and Australis in the Ocean of Cathay. It has been commonly observed to be shaped like a, with an angular main landmass and a long, thin tail to the northeast forming two partial lagoons. It is characterized by significant hilly rugged landscape in the northwestern interior with flat, forested areas on the southern slope of the island. Prior to its colonization, large parts of Huadao were covered in large deposits of, and many of the forested parts of the island are post-colonial growth.

Pre-colonization
Prior to the 19th century, Huadao never had a permanent human population. Various reports and archaeological evidence suggests the island was occasionally home to bands of fishermen or whalers who would use it as a temporary base of operations, and some records indicate Daxian prisoners were occasionally exiled to the island, but beyond these limited instances the island was unpopulated on a permanent basis. The island was, however, home to large numbers of seabirds, and over the course of hundreds and thousands of years, Huadao became covered in accreted bird feces, creating a rich deposit.

Along with several other of the Trade Islands, Huadao was claimed by Daxia in 1512. Though the island was never colonized by Daxia, Daxian ships occasionally patrolled the region over the next several centuries, and it continued to be occasionally used as the site of camps for fishermen and whalers.

Guano War
In the late 1850s and 1860s, Urcea was undergoing a major naval expansion which included new bases in Arona and Rapa Rapa, allowing it to project power into the Ocean of Cathay. Following Urcea's purchase of Rapa Rapa in 1861, it began to seek another island that could serve as a naval base or to the west in the Trade Islands region. Huadao, sitting in the far southeastern corner of the Trade Islands region and unpopulated, appeared to be an ideal target, and the fact the island was rich in (a key agricultural product) made it an even more appealing target. The Royal Navy began to chart the region in early 1863. Daxia had claimed the islands for more than three centuries, and these first exploratory ships were fired on and driven off by the Daxian Navy, sparking the so-called Guano War. The "War" was comprised of two and a half years of naval skirmishing between the Daxian and Royal Navies in the Trade Islands region. The conflict, which was undeclared, eventually resolved in Urcea's favor as most Daxian squadrons had been driven out of the southeastern Trade Islands by February 1865. A small guano mining outpost and military dock were built on Huadao in May 1865, establishing Urcean control over the island. In October 1865, Urcea paid Daxia three million talers as compensation for their claim to the island plus claimed damages against Daxian ships in the last two years, resolving the dispute and formally giving Urcea control over the island.

Demographics
The population of Huadao, as of 2020, was 10,782. The majority of people on Huadao are ethnic Urceans who have settled on the island since the 1860s. A minority of Huadaoic people are of eastern Audonian ethnic descent, primarily those of Daxian but also Rusanan descent, descending from workers brought to the island during the guano mining period. A small remainder of the population are of Polynesian, Derian, or Veltorine descent.

The vast majority of people on Huadao are members of the Catholic Church. The initial settler makeup of Huadao provided an early Catholic majority, given the primarily Urcean descent of the people living on the island, and in this context many of the arriving immigrant workers from the Audonian mainland and elsewhere adapted to the majority religious belief on the island. A small number retained their ancestral religion, including both Muslims and adherents of Daxian historic folk religion and ancestor worship. Due to the 20th century religious persecutions in Daxia, a small handful of families of Daxian ancestry have preserved a number of ancient Daxian religious traditions in Huadao that have been otherwise non-observible by Occidental religious scholars.