Jumaane

Jumaane is a colony of the Tirnreich Republic located in southern Africa.

European Exploration and Colonization (1500-1800)
Although the Portuguese basked in the nautical achievement of successfully navigating the cape, they showed little interest in colonization of Jumaane and neighboring South Africa. The area's fierce weather and rocky shoreline posed a threat to their ships, and many of their attempts to trade with the local Khoikhoi people ended in conflict. The Portuguese found the Mozambican coast more attractive, with appealing bays to use as way stations, prawns, and links to gold ore in the interior.

The Portuguese had little competition in the region until the late 16th century, when the English and Dutch began to challenge the Portuguese along their trade routes. Stops at the continent's southern tip increased, and the coast became a regular stopover for scurvy-ridden crews. In 1647, a Dutch vessel was wrecked in the present-day Kasaba Bay. The marooned crew, the first Europeans to attempt settlement in the area, built a fort and stayed for a year until they were rescued.

Shortly thereafter, the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement. The VOC, one of the major European trading houses sailing the spice route to the East, had no intention of colonising the area, instead wanting only to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could shelter, and where hungry sailors could stock up on fresh supplies of meat, fruit, and vegetables. To this end, a small VOC expedition under the command of Jan van Riebeeck reached Kasaba Bay on 6 April 1652.

Once settled in present day Jumaane the Dutch moved inland acquiring more farmland. On the way many Dutch found native wives and the resulting generation helped lay the foothold for the Afrikaner race. These Dutch settlers brought with them their Christian religion which is now an intrical part of Jumaane culture. Unfortunately the Dutch also wiped out much of the native population on their conquest with wars and introduced diseases. However, the large Bgoni and Ihrzaka tribes, which had survived and expanded towards the extreme north and south areas along the coast, retreated through conflicts back to their traditional lands in the east. The Dutch settlers engaged in attrition that saw the tribal warriors stand strong on the lines of their traditional lands.

Later, around 1688, Germans and Scandinavians also arrived in Jumaane. There was very little conflict as these were very similar neighbors in Europe, with the only difference their languages.

British Arrival (1800-1900)
As the 18th century drew to a close, Dutch mercantile power began to fade and the British moved in to fill the vacuum. They seized the Bay in 1795 to prevent it from falling into the hands of Napoleonic France, then briefly relinquished it back to the Dutch (1803), before definitively conquering it in 1806. British sovereignty of the area was recognised at the Congress of Vienna in 1815; despite this, Dutch investors and tradesmen in the area requested to have cultural protection, in exchange for their economical and geographical assistance in the region.

At the tip of the continent the British found an established colony with 25,000 slaves, 20,000 white colonists, 15,000 Khoisan, and 1,000 freed black slaves. Power resided solely with a white élite in Kasaba Bay

Like the Dutch before them, the British initially had little interest in the Bay Colony, other than as a strategically located port. As one of their first tasks they tried to resolve a troublesome border dispute between the Boers and the Bgoni on the colony's eastern frontier. In 1820 the British authorities persuaded about 5,000 middle-class British immigrants (most of them "in trade") to leave Great Britain behind and settle on tracts of land between the feuding groups with the idea of providing a buffer zone. The plan was singularly unsuccessful. The "zones" were in the fringe areas between tribal kingdoms, which although technically outside the tribal-held lands, the tribes protected fiercely from settlement. Within three years, almost half of these 1820 Settlers had retreated to the towns, notably Georgetown and Port Royal, to pursue the jobs they had held in Britain.

In the late 19th century many of the native Africans in the interior north and south had had enough with the white control of the area by the Dutch and British. Several central tribes in Jumaane formed an alliance vowing to put an end to the white regime. The Dutch and British, despite their superior weapons, the whites were no match for the natives as the natives knew the land extremely well and they outnumbered the whites by about a million. Around 1892 the natives finally defeated the whites and greatly weakened the British control of the region. The white regime had relinquished power to a bi-racial council of cooperating Boers and Natives, as not all European settlers were viewed as the enemy. This was the building blocks for avoiding the same Apartheid fate as South Africa.

Early 20th Century
After the turn of the century, and the restructuring of the Jumaanian government, the country made great efforts to integrate the natives with Boers, Englishmen, and the Northern Europeans that settled here. In 1904, the ruling Council decided to have 3 trial settlements, known as the "united Townships," that featured native and settling peoples in the same location. However, in the land-purchasing stage, Europeans bought land adjacent to each other, across the town from the native populations. The government remedied this by making certain land plots available to Europeans and Natives, alternating between the two in neighborhoods. This brought discrimination and sometimes violence into the community.

The program was abandoned after 3 years, and 9 deaths from either side, in 1907. Of the 3 united townships, 2 were nearly completely abandoned, making ghost towns of the settlements within; the last united township, Gabbensville Township, was a literal battleground between the whites and blacks. Settlements (read: towns and villages) in the township were bought out and administered by either the Natives or Europeans, with either group having a complete ethnic dominance of the settlement; however typical Euro-African culture survived by the long-settled Europeans, and only one town, Hasting, had a majority of newly-arrived Europeans.

Gabbensville, the seat of the Township, was also the central town in both the township and the conflict. A property and gang war raged for about 4 years, as native and European control of public offices and land majority fluctuated. This is the first wave of the Gabbensville Conflict.

World War I (1914-1917)
Jumaane was a British Domain and automatically joined with Great Britain and the allies against the German Empire. Both Prime Minister Casey Alphonzo and Defence Minister of Jumaane were part of significant military operations against Germany. In spite of Boer resistance at home, the Afrikaner-led government of Casey Alphonzo unhesitatingly joined the side of the Allies of World War I and fought alongside its armies. The Jumaane Government agreed to the withdrawal of British Army units so that they were free to join the European war, and laid plans to invade German South-West Africa. Elements of the Jumaanian army refused to fight against the Germans and along with other opponents of the Government rose in open revolt. The government declared martial law on 14 October 1914, and forces loyal to the government under the command of General Casey Alphonzo and Denis Joshua proceeded to destroy the rebellion. The leading Boer rebels got off lightly with terms of imprisonment of six-seven years and heavy fines.

Geography
Jumaane is very diverse geographically. To the west there is the Namib and Kalahari Deserts. To the east are the highlands. The Atlantic Ocean forms a narrow oasis on the western coast. Many of Jumaane's major cities are located in this oasis, such as, Okoboji, Kasaba Bay, Port Royal, and Mokolo.

Climate
Jumaane's climate is typical of semi-desert terrain, hot days and cool nights. The coastal regions are cooled by the cold Benguela current, causing fog and inhibiting rainfall. Over the eastern plateau in the country which is higher up, temperatures are understandably lower.

With 300 days of sunshine on average per year, Jumaane enjoys a sunny, dry climate. Only during the summer months from November to February does rain occur, mostly as heavy thunderstorms. Then the usually dry riverbeds become saturated with torrents of muddy water in a very short time. It is during this time that the sun-scorched land comes to life and develops a colourful horizon to horizon floral carpet within a few days. The interior enjoys two rainy seasons: the short season is between October and December, marked by frequent thunderstorms. The longer season is from mid-January to April.

Summer is from October to April. Temperatures can reach 40º C which plummet at night to cool levels. Average daily temperatures range from 20 to 34º C. Winter is from May to September with wonderful warm days which are contrasted by very cold nights, when temperatures often drop to below freezing.

Government
Jumaane is currently a colony of the Tirnreich Republic, under the colonial name of Jumaania. It is represented in the Ministry of the Interior by Jumaanian Governor Jonathan Khombass, who is also head of the Governate Office of Jumaania in that Ministry. Prior to colonial acquisition, Jumaane was a Constitutional Monarchy.

Culture
Jumaane has a complex past, from the ancient tribes to the early Dutch and German traders, to the British colonial settlers.