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{{Infobox settlement | {{Infobox settlement | ||
|name = Rectory of Rapa Rapa | |name = Rectory of Rapa Rapa | ||
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==History== | ==History== | ||
===Prehistoric settlement and isolation=== | ===Prehistoric settlement and isolation=== | ||
Rapa Rapa was settled by prehistoric [[Polynesian people]] with a range of dates proposed beginning around | Rapa Rapa was settled by prehistoric [[Polynesian people]] with a range of dates proposed beginning around 2000 BC with the upper limit being around 1600 BC, when nearby [[Truk]] was settled. Whenever it was settled, the island coalesced generally into about five distinct villages, all of which survive today as parts of Rapa Rapa City: Waka Aiwiaka, Waka Ruaiihai, Waka Tiati, Waka Haetae, and Waka Wokolo. "Waka" is the local language name for "canoe", implying that each village was founded by a separate family settling as soon as they came ashore. The five villages existed in a state of political and economic equilibrium until the 13th century. Historians generally believe the villages kept to themselves in terms of marriage and social relationships, with extensive rituals required for individuals from another village to be integrated in. However, geneticists argue the island could not have sustained enough genetic diversity to survive if inter-village restrictions were heavily enforced, implying that some periods saw more lax enforcement of social norms than other periods. | ||
===Arrival of Truk=== | ===Arrival of Truk=== | ||
In the late 13th century, Rapa Rapa's long isolation and irrelevance came to an end with the rise of the [[Capture_of_Truk#Background|Emirate of Truk]]. The new expansionist Emirate unified their [[Truk|home island region]] but also launched major expeditions to outlying islands in the [[Polynesian Sea]], including Rapa Rapa. According to the traditional story, the villages of the small island of Rapa Rapa sighted a large flotilla of Truk ships off their shore and immediately welcomed the powerful foreigners onto shore. The Truk people taught the people of Rapa Rapa their newfound {{wp|Muslim}} religion, and the general of the force named a paramount chief from among the villages. From the 1260s until the [[Capture of Truk|conquest of Truk]] in the 1670s, Rapa Rapa was an outlying dependency of the Emirate of Truk, paying occasional tribute and recognizing paramount chiefs chosen by the Emir. In this period, Rapa Rapa became almost entirely Muslim. The Trukite ascendancy over the island inaugurated a four-century long period of peace and relative prosperity on the island, though a lack of natural resources prevented significant economic activity beyond subsistence fishing. | In the late 13th century, Rapa Rapa's long isolation and irrelevance came to an end with the rise of the [[Capture_of_Truk#Background|Emirate of Truk]]. The new expansionist Emirate unified their [[Truk|home island region]] but also launched major expeditions to outlying islands in the [[Polynesian Sea]], including Rapa Rapa. According to the traditional story, the villages of the small island of Rapa Rapa sighted a large flotilla of Truk ships off their shore and immediately welcomed the powerful foreigners onto shore. The Truk people taught the people of Rapa Rapa their newfound {{wp|Muslim}} religion, and the general of the force named a paramount chief from among the villages. From the 1260s until the [[Capture of Truk|conquest of Truk]] in the 1670s, Rapa Rapa was an outlying dependency of the Emirate of Truk, paying occasional tribute and recognizing paramount chiefs chosen by the Emir. In this period, Rapa Rapa became almost entirely Muslim. The Trukite ascendancy over the island inaugurated a four-century long period of peace and relative prosperity on the island, though a lack of natural resources prevented significant economic activity beyond subsistence fishing. | ||
===Second isolation period=== | ===Second isolation period=== | ||
The destruction of the Emirate of Truk in [[1675]]-[[1676|76]] brought Rapa Rapa's immediate political association to an end. Too far from the main new [[Daxia]]n colony in [[Truk]] and too small to attract much notice, the island once again became largely isolated. Limited evidence suggests that the system of paramount chiefs may have continued into the 1700s, using a system of election among all the chiefs. By the time [[Occidental]] explorers reached the island in [[1772]], the unified political system had dissolved and the island was characterized by intermittent skirmishing and raiding between the villages. By this period, the people of Rapa Rapa had developed a martial culture following what appears to have been decades of unending struggle. Accordingly, the people of Rapa Rapa were extremely hostile to outside explorers arriving between 1772 and the arrival of [[Urcea]] in the 1860s. During this period, seven different Occidental exploratory vessels came to or anchored off the island, each time being greeted with extreme hostility. | The destruction of the Emirate of Truk in [[1675]]-[[1676|76]] brought Rapa Rapa's immediate political association to an end. Too far from the main new [[Daxia]]n colony in [[Truk]] and too small to attract much notice, the island once again became largely isolated, though Daxian raiders would occasionally come and pillage the island until around [[1690]]. Limited evidence suggests that the system of paramount chiefs may have continued into the 1700s, using a system of election among all the chiefs. By the time [[Occidental]] explorers reached the island in [[1772]], the unified political system had dissolved and the island was characterized by intermittent skirmishing and raiding between the villages. By this period, the people of Rapa Rapa had developed a martial culture following what appears to have been decades of unending struggle. Accordingly, the people of Rapa Rapa were extremely hostile to outside explorers arriving between 1772 and the arrival of [[Urcea]] in the 1860s. During this period, seven different Occidental exploratory vessels came to or anchored off the island, each time being greeted with extreme hostility. | ||
===Urcean colonization=== | ===Urcean colonization=== | ||
As [[Urcea]] began to expand its interests abroad in the 19th century, it inaugurated a period of [[History_of_Urcea_(1798-1902)#Birth_of_a_global_navy|major expansion of]] its [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]]. These efforts accelerated following the acquisition of a naval base in [[Arona]], giving Urcea westward access across the [[Polynesian Sea]] and [[Ocean of Cathay]] for the first time. As a new naval power in the era of coal-powered steam ships, Urcea was disadvantaged relative to other great powers in its lack of an expansive island colony network, a fact which limited its ability to project power due to a lack of {{wp|Fuelling station|coaling stations}}. Accordingly, the Royal Navy began to seek a new island in the Polynesian Sea to acquire as a forward refueling and logistical center, and after several options were examined Rapa Rapa was chosen, both due to its viable natural harbors as well as legal situation. The island had no Occidental claimant and was nominally owned by the [[Daxia]]n government via its conquest of Truk, but Daxia had no interest in the island. Accordingly, Urcea purchased the island in November 1861 and dispatched a force from Arona to subdue the island in January 1862. | As [[Urcea]] began to expand its interests abroad in the 19th century, it inaugurated a period of [[History_of_Urcea_(1798-1902)#Birth_of_a_global_navy|major expansion of]] its [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]]. These efforts accelerated following the acquisition of a naval base in [[Arona]], giving Urcea westward access across the [[Polynesian Sea]] and [[Ocean of Cathay]] for the first time. As a new naval power in the era of coal-powered steam ships, Urcea was disadvantaged relative to other great powers in its lack of an expansive island colony network, a fact which limited its ability to project power due to a lack of {{wp|Fuelling station|coaling stations}}. Accordingly, the Royal Navy began to seek a new island in the Polynesian Sea to acquire as a forward refueling and logistical center, and after several options were examined Rapa Rapa was chosen, both due to its viable natural harbors as well as legal situation. The island had no Occidental claimant and was nominally owned by the [[Daxia]]n government via its conquest of Truk, but Daxia had no interest in the island. Accordingly, Urcea purchased the island in November [[1861]] and dispatched a force from Arona to subdue the island in late January [[1862]]. | ||
Urcea's Brenedine Squadron arrived from Arona in February 1862 and deployed a small detachment of marines ashore. The expedition immediately experienced significant resistance; though the indigenous Rapans possessed less sophisticated weapons than the Urceans, their martial culture and the jungle of the mainland made it difficult to defeat their warbands, and by the end of the month all five villages had agreed to a truce to resist the encroachment. After malaria began to set in, a change of strategy occurred and the marines retreated from the main island to the less populous island now known as Navy Island, and established a fortified camp there. The ships of the expedition periodically bombarded the main island, while sailors from the squadron helped the marines clear Navy Island and, eventually, the lands of "the shield". Accordingly, throughout most of spring 1862, a stalemate ensued, with the Urceans controlling the outlying islands but the indigenous peoples remaining in control of the main island. Small scale skirmishes occurred that spring, with small raiding parties from the main island landing in canoes on Navy Island at night, but these efforts were insufficient to eject the Urceans. In early June, reinforcements arrived in the form of a {{Wp|regiment}} from the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]]. The Army forces, together with some marines, re-landed on the main island on 18 June 1862. The regiment was enough to pacify the island, as they far outnumbered the island's population at the time, estimated to be around 700-800. The Army established small garrisons in each village but allowed the tribal leadership structure to largely continue uninterrupted, with peace being kept while the naval base could be constructed. Civilian contractors arrived that July and by September 1862 Navy Island had been transformed into an adequately fortified coaling station and naval base. The base attracted a very small civilian counterpart, and by the middle of 1863 workers from the villages began to be transported for work on Navy Island. The Army would remain on Rapa Rapa until [[1870]], as their village garrisons remained key to keeping peace and order on the atoll; after 1870, smaller marine garrisons and civilian police took their place. | |||
In [[1864]], a civilian rectory was established over the island. In [[1866]], the rector established the Municipal Corporation of Rapa Rapa, forming the basis of today's Rapa Rapa City. At the time, the municipality was envisioned more as a method to provide normal governance for the small civilian component of the naval base rather than the main island villages. The status quo remained in place on Rapa Rapa until around the late 1870s. The Urcean and indigenous parts of the atoll began to grow increasingly integrated due to the growing number of indigenous peoples working in and around the naval base in some form, and in [[1879]] the five villages submitted a petition for their incorporation into Rapa Rapa City. This request was granted and, effective 1 January 1880, Rapa Rapa City came to cover most of the atoll. Political and cultural integration were not instantaneous, however; most Rapans continued to prefer their village-oriented cultural and political structures for decades to come, with only the generation born in the 1880s and beyond viewing Rapa Rapa more as a cohesive whole rather than five villages. The villages had temporarily united to face the arriving Urceans in [[1862]] but the presence of the Urcean military had permanently halted the centuries of village feuding, allowing a new sense of the island's unity to grow in the following decades. Rapa Rapa remained relatively conflict free during the [[Red Interregnum]] and [['97 Rising]], recognizing whichever government held [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and its military forces being far too remote to participate in the conflict. | |||
By around [[1920]], life in Rapa Rapa had changed significantly. Modern roadways connected the five villages in the preceding decades, and Rapan people began to live outside their villages for the first time. Levantine people began settling on the main island - largely in the spaces between the villages - in the early 1890s, and the main island began to take on a new urban cosmopolitan character. Construction began on a major port on the main island in [[1925]] to correspond to the naval base and port infrastructure on Navy Island, which was completed in [[1929]]. Although foreign goods had become available via trade on Navy Island begnning in the 1860s, by the late 1920s Rapa Rapa was undergoing a cultural revolution as building materials, foods, clothes, and other outside goods became widely available for the first time. In the years immediately preceding the Second Great War, the island was undergoing a major transformation. The 1910s and 1920s also saw the first widespread adoption of [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] by indigenous Rapans, with the first churches having been constructed on the main island in around [[1912]]. Missionary activity first began among the populace in around 1890, with only limited success among the workers of the Navy Island for the first several decades. | |||
===Second Great War=== | ===Second Great War=== | ||
The beginning of the [[Second Great War]] and subsequent conflicts between Urcea and [[Daxia]] introduced hardships to the island not present in the preceding decades. Though the atoll was never directly invaded, it was subject to occasional Daxian naval bombardment, aerial bombing, and blockade, and generally speaking supply by Urcea to Rapa Rapa was difficult due to the presence of superior Daxian forces in [[Truk]]. Daxian agents were captured on Rapa Rapa on four different occasions between [[1935]] and [[1937]] attempting to foment rebellion among the indigenous Rapan people. As Urcea and [[Burgundie]] gradually established global naval supremacy during the conflict, the supply crisis eased by around [[1938]], but rationing was still in place for years after the war. The war also saw the Urceans construct a [[Royal Air Force (Urcea)|Royal Air Force]] airfield on the atoll in [[1934]], and this base helped prevent significant attacks from Truk on Rapa Rapa. The shared hardship had the effect of easing decades-old tensions between those of Levantine-descent and the indigenous Rapans on the atoll. Contemporaries noted that the Daxians had a poor reputation on Rapa Rapa prior to the arrival of the Urceans, and that the presence of a common Daxian enemy solidified bonds between the Rapans and Urceans in a way that a different enemy would not have. | |||
===Modern period=== | ===Modern period=== | ||
Rapa Rapa emerged from the Second Great War a more unified place culturally, with the hardships of war having eased tensions between the indigenous peoples and Urcean colonists. As a result, the municipal government of Rapa Rapa was trusted with additional responsibilities, and universal suffrage was expanded to all residents of Rapa Rapa in [[1952]]. Elections were called for [[1955]], and 1952 is commonly cited as the beginning of the era of self-governance on Rapa Rapa. Significant cooperation with the Urcean government, particularly with regard to economic development, has existed since that time. | |||
The decades just prior to the war had created new cultural integration among the indigenous peoples and had expanded economic opportunities on the island greatly, and the period between [[1950]] and [[1980]] saw tremendous growth on the island. This growth included major economic, infrastructure, and even demographic strides, and by [[1965]] nearly all distinctions between villages had been erased. The end of the [[Occidental Cold War]] in [[1984]] created a minor recession as the presence of the Royal Navy was partly scaled down, but the economy recovered by [[1990]]. Steady, but slow, growth has characterized Rapa Rapa in the intervening years. Since the dawn of the 21st century, the Rapa Rapa municipal government has attempted to increase the atoll's tourist economy. Throughout the Occidental world, Rapan culture has gained increasing exposure and awareness since the 1990s, with Rapan cuisine, fashion, and music entering the lives of many Occidentals since. | |||
==Government== | ==Government== | ||
Rapa Rapa is a [[Government_of_Urcea#Overseas_Possessions|civil rectory]] of [[Urcea]] and is governed as an overseas territory in accordance with the provisions of the [[Consolidated Laws of HMCM's Kingdom and State|Rectory and Overseas Territory Law]]. Accordingly, the island is governed by a Rector appointed by the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] by the non-binding advice of the [[Government of Urcea]]. A vast majority of day-to-day governing functions on Rapa Rapa are handled by the municipal government of Rapa Rapa City. The City functions in the style of a Urcean [[Government_of_Urcea#Executive_polis|executive polis]], meaning it has an elected mayor and city council, with a municipal administrative apparatus. As almost all of Rapa Rapa is part of Rapa Rapa City, the atoll is largely self-governing, and political scientists have observed the island functions more like a {{wp|protectorate}} than an overseas territory. The Rectory's government is largely responsible only for environmental protection, liaising between the [[Government of Urcea]] and the City government, and serving as the main coordinating office between the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]] and City government, given the importance of the Navy's base on the island. As stated, most of the atoll's landmass is part of Rapa Rapa City, with around 5% of the outstanding land area being part of environmental preserves and another approximate 5% under the direct ownership of the Royal Navy. | Rapa Rapa is a [[Government_of_Urcea#Overseas_Possessions|civil rectory]] of [[Urcea]] and is governed as an overseas territory in accordance with the provisions of the [[Consolidated Laws of HMCM's Kingdom and State|Rectory and Overseas Territory Law]]. Accordingly, the island is governed by a Rector appointed by the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] by the non-binding advice of the [[Government of Urcea]]. A vast majority of day-to-day governing functions on Rapa Rapa are handled by the municipal government of Rapa Rapa City. The City functions in the style of a Urcean [[Government_of_Urcea#Executive_polis|executive polis]], meaning it has an elected mayor and city council, with a municipal administrative apparatus. As almost all of Rapa Rapa is part of Rapa Rapa City, the atoll is largely self-governing, and political scientists have observed the island functions more like a {{wp|protectorate}} than an overseas territory. The Rectory's government is largely responsible only for environmental protection, liaising between the [[Government of Urcea]] and the City government, and serving as the main coordinating office between the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]] and City government, given the importance of the Navy's base on the island. As stated, most of the atoll's landmass is part of Rapa Rapa City, with around 5% of the outstanding land area being part of environmental preserves and another approximate 5% under the direct ownership of the Royal Navy. | ||
[[File:Samoa | [[File:Samoa - Apia Govt buildings.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Rapa Public House and its associated complex, home of the Rapa Rapa City government.]] | ||
Rapa Rapa City's government is led by its Mayor, an officer holding five year terms coinciding with those of the [[Government of Urcea|government of Urcea]]. The Mayor holds most executive authority and oversees the City's various departments and agencies. The All-Island Assembly serves as the city council for Rapa Rapa City and is comprised of 17 members elected proportionally at large, also serving five year terms. There are two political parties on Rapa Rapa: the Rapan Action League (RAL), which is pro-autonomy, cautious of increased economic globalization as it relates to Rapa Rapa, semi-nationalist, and socially conservative, and; the Island Prosperity Association (IPA), which is pro-global trade, agnostic on the issue of increased political autonomy, and largely culturally cosmopolitan. The RAL is associated with Urcea's [[Solidarity Party (Urcea)|Solidarity Party]], while the IPA is associated with the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]]. The Rapan Action League has held the Mayor's office and Assembly majority since [[1995]]. | Rapa Rapa City's government is led by its Mayor, an officer holding five year terms coinciding with those of the [[Government of Urcea|government of Urcea]]. The Mayor holds most executive authority and oversees the City's various departments and agencies. The All-Island Assembly serves as the city council for Rapa Rapa City and is comprised of 17 members elected proportionally at large, also serving five year terms. There are two political parties on Rapa Rapa: the Rapan Action League (RAL), which is pro-autonomy, cautious of increased economic globalization as it relates to Rapa Rapa, semi-nationalist, and socially conservative, and; the Island Prosperity Association (IPA), which is pro-global trade, agnostic on the issue of increased political autonomy, and largely culturally cosmopolitan. The RAL is associated with Urcea's [[Solidarity Party (Urcea)|Solidarity Party]], while the IPA is associated with the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]]. The Rapan Action League has held the Mayor's office and Assembly majority since [[1995]]. | ||
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