NATION APPLICATION
Shortform name: Jayadweep; 捷島
Long/native name: વિજયદ્વીપ, Vijayadvīpa ("island of victory")
Real life culture influence: Siddi people, other Indian coastal groups
Real life culture of former colonizer: Teochew (Ziemgok)
Population: 942,796
GDP (PPP) per capita: $30,718
GDP (nominal) per capita: $19,621
Military manpower (active/reserve): 5,000 / 5,000
Language(s): Swahili, Gujarati, Teochew
Nation description:
Jayadweep is a small, highly urbanized and densely-populated island nation off the coast of Bhatsara, known for its multiethnic culture and its status as a commercial hub, making it one of the more prosperous if fractious nations in Tagol.
In the early modern period increasing numbers of Vanhu people were brought from Miju to Tagol as slave, mercenaries, and merchants, forming the Sawari ethnic group. In Bhatsara, Sawaris became particularly important as mamluk soldiers. When the Sawari mamluk general Ambar Khan won a crucial battle for Bhatsara in 1489, the Lakhani monarchs granted him the island of Liladweep off the coast as a Tularajya fiefdom in reward, renamed Jayadweep ("victory island"). As the Lakhani dynasty declined and Bhatsara fractured over the course of the 1600s, the Sawaris of Jayadweep became effectively independent, and increasingly powerful and prosperous both from their successes as mercenary kingmakers on the mainland and from the island’s strategic position as a major trading hub.
In the 1700s, Sawari martial strength began to falter in the face of increasing colonialism, and Sawari armies were decimated by Sinjuan guns in the Saffron War, leaving the rulers of Jayadweep weakened and reliant on Ziemish patronage. Ziemgok’s trading post was expanded into a treaty port in 1740, and a protectorate established over the rest of the island after a royal succession crisis in 1799, formalizing what had already been true in practice. The Ziemish built spice plantations all over the island and imported large numbers of migrants to work them, both from mainland Tagol and from other Ziemish colonies further afield, shifting the island’s demographics.
During the Eulhae War, the Battle of Jayadweep was fought in the waters around the island between Allied and Contingent navies seeking to control the crucial passage between Yoju and Miju. After the war, Ziemgok began gradually transferring sovereignty back to the monarchy. This set off communal tensions between the Sawaris, who supported the monarchy, and mainlanders, who opposed it and wanted to unite with Bhatsara, culminating in the riots of 1959 that forced the monarch to free. However, subsequent negotiations to join Bhatsara broke down, leaving Jayadweep with no choice but to become an independent republic in 1961.
The Republic of Jayadweep was established on a consociational basis of power-sharing between communities and dedicated itself to pursuing developmentalist policies, shifting the economy away from export agriculture and towards services and tourism and re-establishing Jayadweep as a major shipping and transportation hub. While politics remain polarized along ethnic lines, there have been few violent incidents since the founding of the republic - though there is concern over rising religious sectarianism between the Sabbatarian plurality and Bhavanist minority.
Are you willing to drastically alter your nation in order to fit with Tiandi canon?: yes
Main/puppet/NPC: Puppet
User (Wiki profile, Discord username, or NS nation): Keperry
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