Principe Perfeito
| Grão-Ducado de Príncipe Perfeito Grand Duchy of Perfect Prince | |
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 Flag and coat-of-arms of Principe Perfeito | |
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| National Motto: | Pola Ley e Pola Grey (For Law and People) |
| National Anthem: | Sobre as ondas (Over the waves) |
| Region: | Portugal |
| Official Languages: | Portuguese; Innu-aimun |
| Capital: | Nova Évora |
| Head of State: | Grand Duke Duarte VIII |
| Population: | 5 Million |
| Founding Date: | 21st June 1782 |
| Government: | Crowned Parliamentary Republic |
| National Animal: | Pelican |
| Currency: | Real Joanino |
| Major Cities: | Nova Évora; Vila Dias; Porto Nascente |
| Time Zone: | GMT -04:00 |
| Internet TLD: | .pp |
| UN Status: | Member |
| Stats: NSEconomy Pipian XML | |
Contents
Overview
The Grão-Ducado de Príncipe Perfeito (lit. Grand Duchy of Perfect Prince) is a sovereign nation off the coast of Canada and the direct heir of the Order of the Pelican. It has been compared to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, but only to some extent: both started as an organization with a specific set of goals, but while one eventually lost its possessions on the island of Malta and survived only as an institution, the other - the Order of the Pelican - retained a territory of its own which first became a Republic and later a Grand Duchy in the 18th century. It owes the name Perfect Prince to the Portuguese king John II, whose birthday remains a national holiday.
History
Main article: History of Principe Perfeito
Having started as an organization founded to realize a 15th century imperial project, the Order of the Pelican would turn into a keeper of the memory and legacy of a king, an underground network of spies who protected runaways from religious intolerance, a founder of a colony overseas where knowledge, philosophy and free-thinking were gathered and nurtered, a highly influencial group in 17th century Europe, the shadow-government of an independent country in North America and, finally, the revealed backbone of a Nation State.
King John II
John II (Portuguese João II) was born in 1455, became king of Portugal in 1477 when his father retired to a monastery and was crowned only upon his death in 1481. In the first years of his reign he had to face the powerful nobility to whom his predecessor had lavishly given lands and titles at the expense of the Crown's power and treasury. After the execution of the Duke of Braganza and the death of the Duke of Viseu at the hands of John II himself, the monarch has enough power and authority to concentrate the kingdom's energies on reaching India by see and become a world power. He recruited men like Diogo Cão and Bartolomeu Dias, sent them on journeys overseas, dispatched spies to Europe's power centres, the Middle East, India and Eastern Africa, assured Portuguese exclusive control of the western African coast, granted protection to runaway Jews so they could put to use their financial means and scientific knowledge and even tried to ensure that if an Iberian Union was to take place, it would not be under Spanish rule but Portuguese. That plan came to end when his son and heir died only one year after he had married a princess from Spain. John II tried to legitimize a bastard son, but in the end he had to nominate as his heir a relative of his wife and brother of the same Duke of Viseu he had killed.
Faced with these events and fearing for the king's Indian project, a group of men which included several royal spies, Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama founded the Order of the Pelican, named after John II's seal, a pelican with the words Pola Ley e Pola Grey (For the Law and For the People), and made their goal to ensure that his plans would be protected and executed.
A country overseas
With the establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal in 1536, the Order was faced with a decision of either assist the Jews to escape the country or to extinguish itself as it had already served its original purpose. It had already helped Jewish traders and scholars in 1497, recognizing their importance in Portuguese expansion, but to face an organized and pemanent Church court was an audacious move in many ways. After an internal debate of several years, the faction that support the continued existence of the Order to perpetuate the memory and an mental legacy of John II, it had to reform itself to go deep underground and protect its secrets and members. It also had top expand its network beyond Portuguese dominated areas so it could supply the runaways with a safe escape route and resting places. Many of them went to Flanders, namely Antwerp, where the Order eventually established a local structure of its own.
But as religious tensions in Europe increased, the need for another and alternative safe haven arose. Since the Order was aware of the existence of land overseas, in 1569 it send an expedition westwards that landed in an island north of Labrador. The captain of the ship that reached it called it Ilha de São Vicente or Island of St. Vincent in honout of his patron saint and when word of it reached the Grand Master of the Order, he sent a second and much bigger expedition as soon as possible. On the western shore of St. Vincent a settlement would be founded on October 1571 with the name Vila Dias (Dias Vilage) in memory of the Order's first Grand Master Bartolomeu Dias. In 1574 a second group of settlers arrived and with them came Damião de Góis, humanist philosopher who founded the island's first government and established a treatry with the native Innu indians.
Years later, England would begin its own colonization in the area. As St. Vincent's only metroplis was the Order, whose existence could not be revealed, the settlers made use of the political situation in the Iberian Peninsula where Portugal and Spain had been united under a same king in 1580, and presented themselves to the English as being a Portuguese colony that refused to accept Spanish rule and which was being run with the support of rebels on Iberian soil. A mostly true cover-up to which the Order lended consistency without ever revealing itself and which gave the English something they wanted: a well informed and well structured ally inside their enemy's heartland. A treaty was signed with St. Vincent's government (which acted under the Grand Master's supervision), preserving the island in the hands of the settlers and the natives under England's protection in exchange for information on Spanish fleets and armies.
When Portugal rebelled against Spain in 1640 and started a restoration war, the Order made extensive use of all its resources to aid in the fight, by consequence expanding its spy network and political influence as never before. When Spain finally made peace in 1668, the organization was at the height of its political power. Portuguese sucessful restoration, however, posed a problem for St. Vincent as the English would naturally ask Lisbon about its colony in North America, risking the haven's security. Therefore, the Order made use of its influence to play with England's and France's mutual suspision and the skirmishes between both sides in America. Managing to convince the English of the advantages of a neutral country next to Quebec in case a war against the French broke out, the Republic of St. Vincent was born on March the 10th of 1675. Its political system was reformed to fit the new political reality, the treatry with the native Innu was revised and expanded, a militia was organized and a merchant and war fleet to guard the island was built. The Order of the Pelican maintained its control through a senate that had veto power over any decision made St. Vincent's assembly and government that had implications on international politics.
The Grand Duchy
When France and England fought on Noth America in the King William's War from 1689 to 1697, St. Vincent remained neutral, though it had to come to an agreement with the English on the presence of French ships and soldiers on the island. The deal was kept in the next two conflits between the two European nations: the Queen Anne's War from 1702 to 1713 and the Seven Years War from 1754 to 1763. In the aftermath of the fall of New France, when England no longer had any adversary in North America, the Order of the Pelican saw the danger to St. Vincent, as the island would be of little use to the English as a neutral country. A new political move was needed.
The American Revolution opended a window of opportunity by keeping England busy while the Order made an expected change: to expose itself and move its core power to St. Vincent, mixing the struture of the organization with the political system of the island to maximize its influence and diplomatic strengh. Thus the Republic of St. Vincent became the Grand Duchy of Principe Perfeito, named after king John II, whose image crowned the centre of a new capital, Nova Évora. The new country was officially declared on June 21st of 1782, with the former Grand Master as now the Grand Duke, hence head of State.
The 1960's would see the final change in the Order of the Pelican, when it became a national humanitarian, educational and environmental organization, still presided by the Grand Duke. It has representatives all over the world and grants prizes and scholarships for both national citizens and foreigners.
Political system
Main article: Politics in Principe Perfeito
Politically speking, the Grand Duchy of Príncipe Perfeito is best described as a crowned republic, in that the Head of State - the Grand Duke - is an elected citizen who's given a limited period of time to perform a political function, but he or she receives and wields power with all the trappings typical of a monarchy. This, like other features of the Grand Duchy's system, is a consequence of it being the direct heir of the Order of the Pelican which, having to adapt its entire power structure to a national government, kept both traditional apparatus and hierachical elements.
Voting is compulsory, the minimal age is 18 and suffrage is universal. The political parties or individual candidates cannot receive large private donations and depend largely on their membership fees and or State support to run a campaign.
The Góis Assembly
Named after the founder of St. Vincent's first organized form of government, Damião de Góis, it is the the lower house of Parliament and the island's national assembly, composed of 301 representatives elected every four years from a single nationwide constituency. Only political parties are allowed to run for seats in the Góis and the one that ellects more representatives is invited by the Grand Duke to form a government. It wields the legislative power by discussing and either approving or rejecting proposals presented by the government, opposition parties or popular petitions pushing for law changes or a referenda. There's a compulsory daily schedule for all representatives, who can legally skip it no more than seven times a month, family or State emergencies not included, and always under presentation of a written justification and proof.
The Senate
The upper house of Parliament, modern day Senate reflects a territorial organization by being composed of three senators elected by each major cities' constituency, amounting to a total of 21 members. Their function is to direct all the work committees and parliamentary enquiries and to scrutinize the legislation approved by the Góis, over which the Senate has veto power. It is also responsible for the election of all the members of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts and it has the symbolic duty of endorsing a newly elected Grand Duke, who is crowned by the senior senator in a largely televised and attended public ceremony. Senators are ellected every five years, they must run for office individually with no party endorsement and are also subject to a compulsory daily schedule.
Until the first half of the 20th century, the Innu natives had three senators of their own, but after the indians were given full citizenship in 1968, those seats were abolished to give way to a fully equal set of constituencies. The Senate, however, keeps an Indian Affairs Committee where all Innu chiefs must be represented.
The Government
Presently composed of ten ministers, several secretaries of State and the prime-minister, it wields the island's executive power. Since the rulling or leading party of a coalition must be the one with more seats in the Góis, the government's electoral cicle coincides with that of Parliament and a prime-minister cannot hold office for more than two mandates.
The Grand Duke
It is the country's Head of State, ellected every seven years. It wields little political power, but if one or both houses of Parliament plunge into caos, the Grand Duke may dissolve it and call for early elections. If the government resigns, the Grand Duke will have to choose between asking the leader of the majority in the Góis to form a new executive office or, again, calling for early elections. Decisions approved by Parliament must be signed by the Grand Duke in order to become legally binding, as do declarations of war or deployment of troops to war zones. This means that the Head of State is the supreme leader of the country's army, though the administration of the armed forces rests in the hands of the government and Parliament. Every citizen who is at least 30 years old is allowed to run for Grand Duke, also with no party endorsement of any kind, and the winner may re-run only once.
The Grand Duke remains the Grand Master of the Order of the Pelican, now a State owned humanitarian, educational and enviromental organization. Its budget is approved by the Senate, but the decisions regarding the yearly awards and scholarships are internal, being determined by the Order's High Council which is composed by its executive board, its worldwide representatives - the former regional Masters - and presided by the Grand Duke himself.
The Innu People
The Innu Indians arrived at St. Vincent several thousand years ago, at a time when the island and continental America were linked by a frozen sea. Their tradicional way of life revolves around fishing and hunting, especially of caribou, moose and deer, all of which are still existing in Príncipe Perfeito.
Contact with the first settlers in 1571 was peaceful and in some ways fruitful, but a few years later there were already signs of confrontation. In 1574, however, a second wave of settlers arrived and with them came Damião de Góis, bringing a letter from the Grand Master of the Order of the Pelican that empowered him to form a first government of the island. Góis quickly initiated contacts with the native leaders and began working for a treatry and common instituions. In 1576, his efforts resulted in the Agreement of Horn Mountain, an old Indian sacred place, establishing the native's right to property, hunting and fishing grounds, trade, religion and mutual aid between them and the European Settlers. The treaty also established an Indian-Settlers Assembly, fot the resolution of future problems by consensus.
Horn Mountain's Agreement lasted until 1968, when the Innu were given full citizenship. Articles refering to hunting and fishing grounds and religion were transfered to a new treatry, an Indian Act and some were even incorporated in the country's Constitution. The Innu preserve their traditional hunter-gatherer way of life by means of a network of natural reserves supplied with social and health services. The native language, Innu-aimun, can be legally used in any political institution and services, both public and private, and is a compulsory subject in all schools along side with Portuguese. In 1991, Príncipe Perfeito had its first Innu Grand Duke.
Religion
Reflecting the diverse origin of its population, religious practices and beliefs in Príncipe Perfeito are of various types. The latest census (2002) indicated that 23% of its citizens follow native American beliefs, 19% are Roman Catholic, 12% Jews, 9% Lutherans, 7% Calvinists, 5% Muslims, 4% Buddhists, and 1% Hindus. Following a world trend reinforced by increasing Indian awareness, as much as 10% of the island's citizens declared a belief in some sort of pagan or reconstructed European polytheistic religion. According to a more detailled study of the matter conducted by the University of Vila Dias in 2005, almost half of those citizens are wiccans, followed by an growing number of practicioners of Celtic polytheism, Asatru and Religio Romana. Due to the nation's historical and family ties with Portugal, the cult of the old Lusitanian gods such as Endovélico and Nábia is also on the rise. The remaining 10% of the population described itself as atheist.
Languages
Appart from Portuguese and Innu-aimun, Hebrew is the other vastly spoken language, although it is not official in the country and it is used mostly in ceremonial contexts. Its presence in the island is a result of a centuries long arrival of Jews on St. Vincent, many of which remained and are a considerable part of the population's ancestry. French and English are also popular, not the least because of the geographical proximity to Canada and Quebec, and there's a growing interest in Latin which was, by 2005, a subject attended by many students in almost every High Schools and Colleges.
National holidays
Príncipe Perfeito's holidays are linked not only to the country's History, but also that of the Order of the Pelican. The only purely religious national day of celebration is Christmas.
January 1st: New Year's Day
February 3rd: Good Hope Day
Commemorates the crossing of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 by Bartolomeu Dias, the Order of the Pelican's first Grand Master. The name and timing of the holiday has led to its popularity as a Spring announcing festival.
March 21st (or 20th): Spring Day
Celebrates the Equinox and the official arrival of Spring.
May 3rd: King's Day
Commemorates the birth of King John II in 1455. It is a highly ceremonial day during which the Order of the Pelican announces the winners of its world and national awards.
June 21st: Foundation Day
Commemorates the founding of the Grand Duchy in 1782.
August 16th: Friendship Day
Commemorates the signing of the Horn Mountain's Agreement.
September 21st (ot 20th): Autumn Day
Celebrates the Equinox and marks the official arrival of Autumn. Traditional activities in this day include a family party during which wishes of health and good fortune for the dark part of the year are exchanged.
December 25th: Christmas
In its origin, it was, of course, a celebration of the birth of Christ, but religious diversity in Príncipe Perfeito gives it all sorts of meanings, usually associated with Winter Solstice.
External Links
Biography of John II (English) [1]
Biography of John II (Portuguese) [2]
