Æonara: Difference between revisions

It has been accepted that the first humans to settle Æonara and Tævuon arrived around 12,000 years ago. Indigenous peoples in Æonara today can trace their ancestry to those groups, the two most significant being the [[Anahuak]] and [[Cahokian]] peoples found also in what would become [[the Cape]]. Originally hunter-gatherers, these indigenous societies would become increasingly sedentary and socially complex over the succeeding millennia. Although it is difficult to estimate the indigenous population of Æonara at the time of Coscivian colonisation, the generally accepted number is between 200,000 and 900,000; with the modern Federacy's [[Kiravian Cultural Executive|Cultural Executive]] recognizing a figure of 600,000. By the 1200s, these societies would coagulate into the [[Cahok Confederation]], a loose federation of three Cahok nations and two Anahuak nations, people of the {{wp|longhouse}}. The Confederation would expand to include most of the interior of the modern-day Cape, fighting two documented wars against Polynesian empires and the indigenous states of modern-day [[Paulastra]].

Initial contact between Coscivian settlers and the nations of the Confederation were relatively peaceful, in large part because early Coscivian settlements remained confined to the coast, leaving inland indigenous settlements generally undisturbed. Those of mixed Indigenous and Coscivian descent played a vital role in establishing Kiravian colonies and trade connections. Indigenous relations with Coscivian Æonarans would remain relatively peaceable until the transplantation of {{wp|coffee}} spurred a rush of Coscivian settlers into the interior, severely disrupting the lives of the upland Indigenous, who would find themselves violently displaced, subjugated, and even exterminated.  

====Highland Coffee Civilisation====

Late in the 18th century, it was demonstrated that the mild ''lúaśad'' altitudes of the Æonaran uplands harboured ideal growing conditions for a valuable Audonian crop, coffee. The healthful and stimulating brew derived from the roasted beans of the tree was in extremely high demand, globally - yes, but even more acutely in the chilly and dismal climes of [[Great Kirav]], where people of all classes were taking a liking to a draught of the fortifying beverage before venturing out into their cold and wet surroundings for the day. The first coffee plantation in Æonara was established in 1776 by Águstin Xiráus, in what is now County Xiráus, [[South Æonara]]. Although the trees took time to mature and bear fruit, once they did the results were delicious. The subsequent proliferation of coffee plantations, mostly by the younger sons of landed aristocrats and wealthy yeomen from the South, Baylands, and Farravonia, quickly drew great wealth to the Æonaran colonies, as well as great numbers of colonists. Before the advent of coffee cultivation, the central uplands of the state ha been settled by Coscivians, but only sparsely, due to distance from the coast, limited infrastructure, and relatively few economic incentives. However, opportunities in the coffee plantations drew thousands of immigrant workers from Kiravia to the more agreeable climate of the uplands, where good working conditions and high pay made possible by the crop's high value encouraged them to settle permanently, putting down roots and sending for wives and families of metropolitan origin, solidifying the ''Farakoskix'' ("Sea-Coscivian") transplant culture of the uplands.