Añcasāra is an
Espérian colony comprising the island of Añcasāra, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Añcasāra is located where the northern
Guerrerian Sea, Gulf of Akecheta, and Anduin Ocean meet. Añcasāra is located east of the Minataano Peninsula, south of both Pascua and the
Lucayans, west of Hispéria, and north of both
Rimnoque and the Cayman Islands.
Inhabited by the indigenous Taíno and Ciboney peoples for centuries before the arrival of the Espérians, the island came under Espérian rule following the arrival of Victorino Marcos Aureli in 1464. Many of the indigenous people either were killed or died of diseases.
Geography
Añcasāra is an archipelago of nearly 4,200 islands, cays and islets located in the northern Guerrerian Sea at the confluence with the Gulf of Akecheta and the Anduin Ocean. Añcasāra is the principal island, surrounded by four smaller groups of islands: the Colorados Archipelago on the northwestern coast, the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago on the north-central Anduin coast, the Jardines de la Reina on the south-central coast and the Canarreos Archipelago on the southwestern coast.
The main island, named Añcasāra, is 1,250 km (780 mi) long, constituting most of the nation's land area and is the largest island in the Guerreros. The main island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains apart from the Sierra Maestra mountains in the southeast, whose highest point is Pico Turquino (1,974 m or 6,476 ft). The second-largest island is Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) in the Canarreos archipelago
Climate
With the entire island south of the Tropic of Cancer, the local climate is tropical, moderated by northeasterly trade winds that blow year-round. The temperature is also shaped by the Guerrerian current, which brings in warm water from the equator. In general, there is a drier season from Novema to Apelila, and a rainier season from Kann to Oktopia. The average temperature is 21 °C in Leden and 27 °C in Lulai. The warm temperatures of the Guerrerian Sea and the fact that Añcasāra sits across the entrance to the Gulf of Akecheta combine to make the country prone to frequent hurricanes. These are most common in Setema and Oktopia.
History
Pre-contact era
Before the arrival of the Espérians, Añcasāra was inhabited by two distinct tribes of indigenous peoples: the Taíno, and the Ciboney.
The Taíno arrived from Hispéria sometime in the 3rd century A.D. When Aureli arrived, they were the dominant culture in Añcasāra, having an estimated population of 150,000. It is unknown when or how the Ciboney arrived in Añcasāra, having both a different language and culture than the Taíno; it is inferred that they were a relict population of pre-Taíno settlers of the Greater Antilles.
The Taíno were farmers, as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers
Espérian colonization and rule
After first landing on an island then called St. Salvador, Lucayans, on 12 Oktopia 1462,
Victorino Marcos Aureli commanded his three ships: La Pinta, La Niña and the Santa Saraí, discovering Añcasāra on 27 Oktopia 1462, and landing in the northeastern coast on 28 Oktopia. Aureli claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Espéria and named it Isla Juana after John, Prince of Asturias.
In 1511, the first Espérian settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other settlements soon followed, including
Luantina, founded in 1519, which later became the capital. The indigenous Taíno were forced to work under the encomienda system, which resembled the feudal system in medieval Ereon. Within a century, the indigenous people were virtually wiped out due to multiple factors, primarily Eronean infectious diseases, to which they had no natural resistance, aggravated by the harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation. In 1529, a measles outbreak on Añcasāra killed two-thirds of those few natives who had previously survived smallpox.
On 18 May 1539, conquistador Hernando de Soto departed from Luantina with some 600 followers on a vast expedition through the Aurelian Southeast, starting in Pascua, in search of gold, treasure, fame and power. On 1 Setema 1548, Dr. Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was appointed governor of Añcasāra. He arrived in Santiago, Añcasāra, on 4 November 1549, and immediately declared the liberty of all natives. He became Añcasāra's first permanent governor to reside in Luantina instead of Santiago, and he built Luantina's first church made of masonry.
By 1570, most residents of Añcasāra comprised a mixture of Espérian, Tabaxi, and Taíno heritages. Añcasāra developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Guerreros, had a diversified agriculture. Most importantly, the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Espérian colonial empire. By the early-18th century, there were 50,000 slaves on the island, compared to 60,000 in Barbaras and 300,000 in Virginia; as well as 450,000 in Saint-Domingue, all of which had large-scale sugarcane plantations.
