Huadao

Rectory of Huadao
Overseas territory of Urcea
Flag
Huadao from the southeast
Annexed by Urcea	1865
Cathedral City	Flower City
Government
• Rector	Carlentina Sanda
Population  (2020)
• Total	10,782
Demonym	Huadaoic

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 guano 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 coaling station. 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. The exact reason for this name is unclear, though it is attested to as early as 1580. Scholars have surmised that the name is either based on the observation of sailors of literal flowers visible on the island, its stem-and-flower shape, or that the name was devised by sailors ironically due to the large amount of bird feces historically present on 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 manta ray, 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 guano, and many of the forested parts of the island are post-colonial growth.

Huadao as observed from orbit.

History

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 guano 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

Main article: 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 coaling station 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 guano (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.

Mining operations and early colony

In May 1865, the first civilian contractors arrived on the island to setup a rudimentary guano mining operation. Given the distance to Levantia, it was envisioned most of the guano would be sold at a profit to countries in mainland Audonia. As part of the initial construction, a small naval dock was built and the island's first coaling station was completed in June 1865, with coal supply ships first arriving the next month. Over the course of 1865 and 1866, most attention focused on improving both the port and mining infrastructure, with living quarters being a secondary concern. Most of the first workers - at this stage still guilded professionals - lived either in shacks directly near their mine or aboard ships stationed in the dock. The Royal Navy brought in several barracks ships both for its own personnel as well as the civilian workforce. Only in January 1867 was the first freestanding navy barracks constructed on the island, after which time economic activity and growth accelerated to meet the needs of the more permanent human presence.

Government

Huadao is a civil rectory governed in accord with the provisions of the Rectory and Overseas Territory Law. Accordingly, it is governed by a Rector appointed by the Apostolic King of Urcea by the non-binding advice of the Government of Urcea. Unlike many of Urcea's other insular rectories, Huadao has a relatively robust Rectory government sitting atop a number of local government structures. The three localities of Huadao are enabled to make their own regulations regarding to construction, zoning, fire protection, taxation, public sanitation, and similar issues. The Rector's government, meanwhile, retains total control of all transportation infrastructure constructed on the island, including roads, rail, bridges, and the port. Additionally, the Rector's administration oversees the Insular Police Department, which handles all law enforcement responsibilities for the island. There is also only a single court on the island, authorized by the Rector's government and sitting in Flower City. The Rector's government also serves as the liaison between the Urcean military and the people of Huadao and its localities.

Local governments

There are three distinct localities on Huadao - Flower City, which is the Cathedral City and only incorporated "city", and the towns of New Coria and Hookshead. Flower City encompasses the land along the southern lagoon and the island's only major harbor, and is governed as an executive polis according to Urcean Law. It has a Mayor and 7-member City Council which provide for its laws and administration. New Coria sits on the north coast of the island and is governed as a civil commune, with collective decisionmaking. Hookshead is on the eastern portion of the main island in the smaller, eastern lagoon, and is also governed as a civil commune. Collectively, the three localities provide for some of the day-to-day administrative needs of the people, with a large number of prerogatives retained for the Rector's government.

Culture

Huadaoic culture is generally regarded to be a melting pot of Levanto-Occidental cultural traditions with those of eastern and southern Audonia. Huadaoic culture traces its roots to the large number of foreign workers brought to the island during its earliest years as a guano mine, with workers imported both from Levantia as well as from the Audonian mainland. Both groups brought their traditions with them and interacted on a daily basis in-and-out of the mines, sharing cuisine, social mores, and other cultural hallmarks. In the process, this worker interaction created new cultural traditions incorporating elements from both Levantia and East Audonia.

Huadaoic is

Cuisine

Huadaoic cuisine reflects the island's primarily Levantine cultural heritage with modifications based on the presence of people of Audonian backgrounds. Most prominently, rice has been eaten on the island in large quantities supplanting bread and other wheat-derived products since its earliest days, a fact that was heavily commented on by late 19th- and early 20th-century observers.

Language

Though Julian Ænglish is spoken nearly universally on Huadao, interaction with Audonian culture has introduced a number of regional variance to the language, especially with regard to slang. Various terms from the Daxian language have entered common usage among the people of Huadao.

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.

Religious affiliations in Huadao (2030)

  Catholicism (84.2%)

  Islam (8.6%)

  Daxian folk religions (4.1%)

  Collegiate Protestantism (2.9%)

  Other (.2%)

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.