Bulkh: Difference between revisions

==== Colonization ====

The area being arid was of little use to colonists. They moved on and found other more temperate sites for settlements in the late 1570s. From [[1578]]-[[1614]] there was no recorded colonial activity in the area. However in 1615 a [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Marialanii Ularien Trading Company]] surveyor mapped the salt flats of the Chott al-Rezid and the company made a mad dash to secure the area.

Main article: [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Marialanii Ularien Trading Company]]

Due to their nomadic lifestyle and their disinterest in engaging the [[occidental]]s, the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Marialanii Ularien Trading Company]] largely left the Bedouins of the Bulkawan Peninsula alone and built their colonies around them. By the 1630s timber from Majanub was being brought to build a sprawling complex of fortified towns and salt mining operations. Businesses to support the efforts became very lucrative and wainwrights, shipwrights, and engineers flocked to the area. Beyond the Chott al-Rezid the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Company]] build operations at the Chott al-Mouza and the Ben Ghilli Salt Flats. These operations brought millions into the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Company]]’s coffers and is one of the primary financial activities that allowed for unfettered expansion in [[Audonia]] and [[Alshar]]. The salt mines brought tens of thousands of colonists from [[Burgundie]], the Levantine Protestant communities on [[Torlen]] and [[Medimeria]], as well as from other parts of [[Audonia]]. The port cities of Avelie and Sant Marten both surpassed 20,000 residents in the 1690s making them bigger than [[Vilauristre]] and [[Port Diteaux]]. The back-breaking work and the blistering heat made for a seedy type coming to seek work in the colony of Bulkawa. This led to rapid development of the vice sectors like prostitution and drinking halls. It also required the establishment of a vast drinking liquid network. This drove the development of the tea plantations in Vitale, [[Pukhgundi]], and other parts of [[Alshar]]. Becoming the most profitable colony of the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Company]] also made it the most important and the center for the formation of the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Marialanii Ularien Trading Company]]. Seeking to exert more control on the political environment that fed into its colonies and to which it exported, the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Company]] formed a government in Avelie and formalized its army, navy, and diplomatic corps reorganizing itself as the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Marialanii Ularien Trading Empire]]. This was met by outrage in many nations both in [[Audonia]] and the [[Occidental]] world, however fear of embargo brought most countries to recognize the sovereignty of the empire in [[1757]].

In the Presidency Act of 1771, the Presidency of Bulkhawan was announced, covering much of the colony of Bulkhawa but ceded some of the western interior to the nomads as they were pushed out and forced to renounce their nomadic traditions. This led to intense bad blood between the colonial state and the locals. Colonial [[Battagnuur]]i knights were brought into to escort the Bedouins from their villages but clashes erupted in a number of areas leading to the massacre of the tribal peoples. In the 840 recorded Bedouin encampments in the area with an estimated population of 969,000 people, only 694 encampments and 539,000 people were successfully relocated. The remainder were assumed killed or dispersed into the vast desert waste. The brutal effectiveness of this dispossession of tribal homelands become a model for colonial powers post-independence powers for centuries afterwards. These “Trails of Trauma” paved the way for a huge boom in colonial growth and land redistribution. Vast areas formally reserved for the Bedouin were settled and huge irrigation projects were started to reclaim parts of the desert that were adjacent to littoral areas. There was even an ambitious plan to dredge a channel to the salt-stripped Chott al-Mouza in [[1793]] that was never realized.

Following the start of the [[Kandara|Great Slavers Bay Rebellion]] a similar call to arms led the Bedouins to unite under Ali Malik, becoming known as Malikites, a proto-communist who wanted to rid the Bulkawan Peninsula of colonial influence and establish a collective paradise. Malik gathered a force of 20,000 Bedouin cavalry and rode west to forcibly gather support for his attempts. The following year, [[1824]], he returned with an army of 250,000. It is unclear if these reports are just of combat troops or included his train but regardless it was a sight to behold. The colonial troops balked and retreated with each engagement and the few occidental soldiers and officers did their best to forestall the inevitable. Fearing the loss of their imperial capital and the salt mines, the [[Burgoignesc Kandahar-Kandara Trading Company|Marialanii Ularien Trading Empire]] hastily made treaties across [[Audonia]] and [[Alshar]] and redirected its troops to Presidency of Bulkhawan. A force of 45,000 colonial and imperial troops was formed and force-marched through the desert to meet the Malikites head-on. Arriving at the western edge of the desert in March of [[1825]], the Imperial army set about building a camp and reinforcing its supply lines. The massive, cumbersome western-styled army immediately fell prey to the sprightly and spirited, lightning-fast raids of the Malikite army. Their supply lines disrupted and their supply of food and water dwindling, they made a forced march to the northern coast. 540 men died of starvation and thirst along the way, but the remainder were met by the navy and brought back to Sant Marten. As equatorial winter set in all they decided to wait. Garrisons were established at the salt mines and some recently created farming communities were forcibly abandoned and the men impressed into a militia. January of [[1826]] saw the first attempts by the Malikites to probe the defenses of the colonial forces. The Ben Ghilli Salt Flats came under attack January 12th. A small detachment of Malikite cavalry attacked the forward watch posts and were met with cannon fire from the fortified town. A squadron of [[Battganuur]]i knights and [[Umardwal|Umardi]] Sipahis were dispatched to try to find the main Malitike force.