Difference between revisions of "Espandorra"

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The Colchthian conversion to Christianity is largely attributed to [[St. Neoma]], a Christian slave girl who entered the service of [[Queen]] [[Mariam Abamelek|Mariam]], the wife of one of the most powerful tribal rulers, sometime in the fourth century. Mariam had virtually no influence over her husband, [[King]] [[Ruslan Abamelek|Ruslan]], who scorned her beliefs. However, she was able to greatly influence her son, [[Vakhtang Abamelek|Vakhtang]]. Vakhtang, against his father's wishes, entered into a marriage arranged by his mother with [[Adeodata Abamelek|Adeodata]], a powerful Byzantine noblewoman. Mariam hoped that this would lead to the conversion of the tribe to Christianity, technological progress and good relations with the Byzantine Empire. All three came to pass. Vakhtang established the first sedentary communities in Colchthia. He used more advanced weapons than his rivals. He allowed the Christian Church access to his lands at his wife's behest, himself converting in his last year of life. Although these advances never gave him complete political control of a unified country, they did grant his tribe a certain hegemony which led to the general adoption of Christianity. Neoma, Mariam, Vakhtang and Adeodata are all local saints popular in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Neoma is the patron saint of Espandorra to this day.
 
The Colchthian conversion to Christianity is largely attributed to [[St. Neoma]], a Christian slave girl who entered the service of [[Queen]] [[Mariam Abamelek|Mariam]], the wife of one of the most powerful tribal rulers, sometime in the fourth century. Mariam had virtually no influence over her husband, [[King]] [[Ruslan Abamelek|Ruslan]], who scorned her beliefs. However, she was able to greatly influence her son, [[Vakhtang Abamelek|Vakhtang]]. Vakhtang, against his father's wishes, entered into a marriage arranged by his mother with [[Adeodata Abamelek|Adeodata]], a powerful Byzantine noblewoman. Mariam hoped that this would lead to the conversion of the tribe to Christianity, technological progress and good relations with the Byzantine Empire. All three came to pass. Vakhtang established the first sedentary communities in Colchthia. He used more advanced weapons than his rivals. He allowed the Christian Church access to his lands at his wife's behest, himself converting in his last year of life. Although these advances never gave him complete political control of a unified country, they did grant his tribe a certain hegemony which led to the general adoption of Christianity. Neoma, Mariam, Vakhtang and Adeodata are all local saints popular in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Neoma is the patron saint of Espandorra to this day.
  
===Khazar Colchthia==
+
===Khazar Colchthia===
  
 
In the ninth century, most of Colchthia fell to the Khazar Khaganate. Because the ruler and most of the aristocrats of the Khaganate were of the Jewish faith and were themselves converts, many Colchthians converted and were assimilated into the Jewish population. The king and court of [[Sambalut]] converted and ma substantial number of Jews from Christian and Muslim lands immigrated to Colchthia in order to escape persecution. [[Bichvinta]] was the only kingdom which never fell to the Khazars.
 
In the ninth century, most of Colchthia fell to the Khazar Khaganate. Because the ruler and most of the aristocrats of the Khaganate were of the Jewish faith and were themselves converts, many Colchthians converted and were assimilated into the Jewish population. The king and court of [[Sambalut]] converted and ma substantial number of Jews from Christian and Muslim lands immigrated to Colchthia in order to escape persecution. [[Bichvinta]] was the only kingdom which never fell to the Khazars.

Revision as of 00:55, 3 October 2007

Kingdom of Espandorra
Motto: Plus Ultra
Anthem: Marcha Real
Capital Hadriana
Languages Dzidhi, Georgian, Spanish, Uzbek
Government
King
President
Democratic Confederation
Abel XIII
Jaime Badillo Acarons
Establishment 30 September 1846
Population 5,912,000
Currency peseta

The Kingdom of Espandorra is a nation located on the western fringe of Central Asia. It claims only a small pocket of land on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea to connect it with the rest of Central Asia. The bulk of Espandorran territory stretches between the Caspian and Black Seas. It is the fourth largest country in the region and, in many ways, the most western.

Espandorra is a semi-constitutional monarchy organized along parliamentary lines. Constitutionally, it is a unitary state but the government devolves limited power to provincial governments, some more than others. It is an unevenly developed country with industrial development concentrated in a few provinces.

History

What is now Espandorra has a long and complex history. Until the 19th century, it was never and unified and independent political body but a collection of disparate and often warring kingdoms. Before the foundation of Espandorra, the area was generally known as Colchthia. A majority of the population converted to Christianity in the fourth century although some of the tiny kingdoms and city-states held to other faiths. In the ninth century, most of the country was conquered by the Khazar Khaganate and Judaism became a serious presence in the country for the first time. In the tenth century, the Khaganate fell and most of the area returned to the power of local kings. In the eleventh century, most of the area's Christians adhered to the Orthodox position in the great schism. It was at this time that most of the area fell under the control of Georgia. There was another brief period of local rule with the collapse of Georgia in the fifteenth century but this was followed by a Persian invasion in the early sixteenth century. The Persians ruled most of the country until 1846 when an embattled Catholic king, Akakide, made a deal with Infante Fabio which involved transplating a great number of Carlist settlers onto the largely unsettled and unclaimed plains which constituted most of the country, the help of these same forces against the Persians and the formation of a Christian kingdom with Fabio and Akakide's daughter Iya as coregents with any offspring slated to inherit the throne according to semi-Salic succession.

Pre-Christian history

Very little is known about the earliest inhabitants of what is now Espandorra although it is known that the land was very sparsely inhabited for all of its pre-history as well as most of its recorded history. The first inhabitants were nomadic people who kept sheep, hoats and cattle. The area was marked by frequent conflicts between different tribal groups. There is no evidence that they shared any common group identity and what artifacts have been found dating from this period show a wide diversity of styles as well as styles from neighboring societies. Because of their nomadic lifestyle, tribes did not make territorial claims although they did fight over the right to short-term land use as well as over livestock and water. Despite the lack of a common ethno-culutral identity and the fact that later groups have almost completely absorbed, the first inhabitants are generally referred to as the Colchthians. It is generally believed that, genetically, Espandorrans of all major ethno-cultural groups are largely descended from the Colchthians despite their cultural identification with various later groups.

Christianity

The Colchthian conversion to Christianity is largely attributed to St. Neoma, a Christian slave girl who entered the service of Queen Mariam, the wife of one of the most powerful tribal rulers, sometime in the fourth century. Mariam had virtually no influence over her husband, King Ruslan, who scorned her beliefs. However, she was able to greatly influence her son, Vakhtang. Vakhtang, against his father's wishes, entered into a marriage arranged by his mother with Adeodata, a powerful Byzantine noblewoman. Mariam hoped that this would lead to the conversion of the tribe to Christianity, technological progress and good relations with the Byzantine Empire. All three came to pass. Vakhtang established the first sedentary communities in Colchthia. He used more advanced weapons than his rivals. He allowed the Christian Church access to his lands at his wife's behest, himself converting in his last year of life. Although these advances never gave him complete political control of a unified country, they did grant his tribe a certain hegemony which led to the general adoption of Christianity. Neoma, Mariam, Vakhtang and Adeodata are all local saints popular in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Neoma is the patron saint of Espandorra to this day.

Khazar Colchthia

In the ninth century, most of Colchthia fell to the Khazar Khaganate. Because the ruler and most of the aristocrats of the Khaganate were of the Jewish faith and were themselves converts, many Colchthians converted and were assimilated into the Jewish population. The king and court of Sambalut converted and ma substantial number of Jews from Christian and Muslim lands immigrated to Colchthia in order to escape persecution. Bichvinta was the only kingdom which never fell to the Khazars.

Under Khazar rule, Christianity was generally tolerated. However, the Khagan would frequently retaliate for attacks made against Jews in Christian countries by launching proportional attacks on the Christian populations of his own lands. The ancient polytheistic practices, still strong in some isolated rural areas, were officially banned. However, no serious effort was made to crack down on them.

The Khazars are responsible for the first attempts to centralize authority in Colchthia, although they did so as a conquering external power and did not seek to organize it as any sort of independent polity. The Khazars created a sort of high kingship vested in the King of Sambalut with the right to coordinate the activities of the other kingdoms, all of which were in a state of direct vassalage to the Khagan.