Medimeria: Difference between revisions

Unlike many other Occidental colonies of the time, the settlers on Medimeria were greeted by a favorable and mild climate and few diseases, enabling most of the first settlers to survive the first winter. In March [[1579]], the Patroon Council enacted and the Middle Seas Refuge Company approved the Manor Writ, which formally divided the the island into the twelve patroonships envisioned before settlement. The island was separated largely radially from the center of the island though borders largely were based on natural features. Madix was excluded from the patroonships and instead put under the direct control of the company-appointed governor. The success of the island to date induced significant influx of new Protestant refugees and additional funding and support for the Refuge Company. Between [[1579]] and [[1590]], almost 3,000 Protestants were transferred to the island. This influx created a large pool of labor on the island, though many new refugees signed agreements to transition from free laborers to tenant farmers and a small number remained in Madix. In [[1585]], Company leaders ordered their governors to begin searching for a profitable export as private patronage in [[Levantia]] started to dry up due to fading interest in Protestant relocation and a greatly reduced Protestant population by the end of the 1580s. Very few cash crops, at least ones suitable for transport to [[Levantia]], could be grown in the sprawling patroon plantations, who instead grew either food or relatively less valuable cash crops to be sold on the [[Audonia]]n mainland. Accordingly, {{wp|whaling}} soon became the focus of many of the people living in and around Madix. The position of Medimeria allowed for it to become a long-distance base for arctic whaling, giving it a significant advantage over other Levantine possessions. The island's newfound focus on whaling brought in the last major surge of Protestants, this time skilled fishermen and whalers rather than refugees, between [[1590]] and [[1600]]. By [[1605]], the island was self-sustaining and profitable in the production and trade of {{wp|whale oil}}. The relative profitability of the territory allowed it to remain self-governing as the small, but sustainable, profits allowed the Refuge Company to remain in operation as a business enterprise rather than charitable endeavor.

[[File:Järvsökyrka02.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Église du Divin Rédempteur'' in [[2030]].]]

The progress of the island precipitated the growth of free laborers in the city of Madix as many Medimerians began to end their tenancy contracts or even abscond from them, causing a shortage of farm labor. The ever-expanding whaling industry also began to have additional labor needs by the 1630s. The stream of Protestants from [[Levantia]] was reduced to a trickle by this period, more than a half-century after the end of the Confessional War, and most new arrivals were nobles or prominent burghers imprisoned by the [[Imperial Inquisition]] and deported to Medimeria. In [[1634]], facing continued labor shortages, the Refuge Company approved the importing of [[Audonia]]n laborers. Attempts were made to launch slave raiding parties into modern day [[Soirwind]] and [[Zaclaria]], but these were easily repulsed by local authorities and perpetrators executed by local authorities. Instead, two different solutions were implemented. First, Audonian peasants and poor Audonian city-dwellers were offered relatively decent terms to live and work on patroonships as tenant farmers for a twenty year period of {{Wp|Indentured servitude|indentured servitude}}. Second, the Refuge Company began to offer to buy the rights to petty criminals imprisoned by various Audonian realms, who would then serve thirty year periods of indentured servitude. The result of both of these programs were mostly the same; the majority of those voluntarily becoming indentured servants were often absconding from the law or some other obligation, transforming Medimeria's patroonships into de facto penal colonies. These Audonians and their descendants formed the ethnic group now known as the "{{wp|Abidi|Ebidi}}", a [[Burgoignesc language]] corruption of the Audonian term {{wp|abeed}}, meaning servant. By the end of the 17th century, the original group of the {{wp|Abidi|Ebidi}} had descendants numbering multiple generations. The {{wp|Abidi|Ebidi}}, primarily now tenant farmers rather than indentured servants, faced de facto segregation by the island's Levantine-descended Protestant majority; accordingly, they largely kept to themselves, building small villages within the Patroonships and practicing a number of different religions and indigenous Audonian practices.