Rapa Rapa
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Rectory of Rapa Rapa | |
|---|---|
Overseas territory of Urcea | |
 | |
| Colony established | 1862 |
| Cathedral City | Rapa Rapa City |
| Government | |
| • Rector | Jennifer Cesco |
| Area | |
| • Land | 11.29 sq mi (29.2 km2) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 5,539 |
| Demonym(s) | Rapan |
Rapa Rapa is an atoll in the Polynesian Sea that is part of Urcea. It is located immediately to the west of Truk.
Etymology
"Rapa Rapa" is the indigenous Polynesian name for the island. The term, which employs the Polynesian linguistic characteristic of reduplication, means "small island".
Geography
Rapa Rapa is an atoll actually consisting of three distinct landmasses, approximately 11.29 square miles in land area, much of which is in a main section of the island known as "the mountain" with smaller, thin jetties forming a partial lagoon by surrounding Rapa Rapa. Most, but not all, people living on Rapa Rapa live on the mountain, with the five historic villages surrounding the outer, low-lying perimeter.
In terms of political geography, almost all of Rapa Rapa's 11.29 square miles are covered by Rapa Rapa City, an urban settlement which gradually integrated all five historic villages on the island after Urcean colonization. The city has varied levels of density throughout, with the five village centers remaining the most dense parts of the urban landscape. The overall city density, 313 people per square mile, means that significant parts of the island within city limits remain forested to some degree or are part of the main mountain dominating the island.
History
Prehistoric settlement and isolation
Rapa Rapa was settled by prehistoric Polynesian people with a range of dates proposed beginning around 1000 BC with the upper limit being around 600 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
In the late 13th century, Rapa Rapa's long isolation and irrelevance came to an end with the rise of the Emirate of Truk. The new expansionist Emirate unified their 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 Muslim religion, and the general of the force named a paramount chief from among the villages. From the 1260s until the 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
The destruction of the Emirate of Truk in 1675-76 brought Rapa Rapa's immediate political association to an end. Too far from the main new Daxian 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.
Urcean colonization
As Urcea began to expand its interests abroad in the 19th century, it inaugurated a period of major expansion of its 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 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 Daxian 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.
Second Great War
Modern period
Government
Culture
Rapan society is heavily influenced by its historic association with Islam brought to the northeastern Polynesia region by Sayed Ali Qumi in 1251. However, due to Qumi's own mystical predilections, intensive interaction with Polynesian polytheism and Daxian religious influences, as well as the island's longterm bouts of isolation, Islam as practiced in Rapa Rapa is extremely divergent of mainstream Islamic trends. However, most Rapan Muslims identify themselves as "just Muslim" rather than as a local sect or divergent school of thought. Islamic influence is such that many Islamic religious traditions - such as calls to prayer, specific prayer times, specific prayer orientation, and keeping Halal - have become generalized Rapan cultural items observed even by non-Muslim Rapans. Accordingly, Rapans do not eat frog or alligator despite the introduced presence of both on the island following Urcean colonization. People of Rapan descent living in Urcea, who are predominantly Catholic, have been widely observed to keep halal.
Rapan cuisine typically consisted of small fruits and various kinds of fish, with the availability of various maritime birds serving as a delicacy until the 19th century.
Demographics
Religious affiliations in Rapa Rapa (2030)
As of 2020, the permanent population of Rapa Rapa was 5,539. The vast majority of people living in Rapa Rapa - 91.2% - identify as ethnically Rapan. Accordingly, the vast majority of people speak the Rapan dialect of the general Polynesian linguistic tradition. A majority, around 54%, are also fluent in Julian Ænglish, a figure that has risen significantly since the year 2000.
Most Rapans - 62.5% - are Muslim. A sizable minority, 36.9%, are members of the Catholic Church, introduced to the island following Urcean colonization in the 1860s. These are the two predominant religious traditions on the island.
Economy
Rapa Rapa has an urban-focused economy due to the extent of Rapa Rapa City over most of the island's habitable landmass. Traditionally, the island engaged in subsistence fishing activity and very limited trade, but the arrival of the Urceans introduced port-related economic activity to the island following the construction of their coaling station on the island in the 1860s. The presence of the Royal Navy on the island and various Urcean support personnel stimulated a need for a service sector economy on the island to support the expectations of their Levantine-based lifestyle. Accordingly, since the arrival of the Urceans, port infrastructure and the service economy have become the two largest industries on the island, with fishing remaining an important third leg of the economy. The Port of Rapa Rapa employs 1,284 Rapans and many non-residents as well, by far the largest employer on the island. Many lower class Rapans remain dependent on the fishing industry for work, and fish are the primary form of food processed and sold on the island.