History of Indrala

Prehistory
Some reports have the earliest settlement in Indrala around 10,000 years ago, although this date is considered very early by most; the leading theory has it settled around 5000 years ago.

Mengmai
The city of Mengmai is considered the earliest city in Indrala. It was founded around 2600 BC. The area around the city was part of the Kingdom of Eesi. It was invaded around 560 BC by an unidentified people from the north, who ruled the area as the Kingdom of Gemu-Erka for over 600 years.

The Gemu-Erka are the people who first introduced writing to Indrala. The Indralan Syllabary, a system which had a symbol for each syllable, was used up until the late 1800s, when foreign influence caused the Latin alphabet to become the dominant alphabet.

Gemu-Erka rule was ended abruptly in 113 CE, the first solidly recorded date in Indrala. In the spring of that year, Mount Shomi, a volcano just outside of Mengmai, erupted. The city and much of its outskirts were destroyed in what is known as the "great burning", and the Gemu-Erka kingdom fragmented within a year.

It has been said that the Gemu-Erka created small colonies to the north on Vintalli and Ananto islands which remained relatively intact after the fall of Indralan Gemu-Erka, but these have since been destroyed by colonizers from mainland Seleya.

Indralan Dark Ages
The fragmentation of the Gemu-Erka kingdom started the Indralan Dark Ages, or Qin period. Due to the loss of almost all written work in the great burning, most Indralan culture was preserved orally or in monasteries.

During this period, a number of warlords controlled different parts of the island. These largely united under Venshi in 630, and the subsequent kingdom remained in control for about 300 years, but it never had control of the entire island. The government collapsed in 944 and the island fragmented into numerous city-states in what is now known as the Talmu period.

Dureas' United Indrala
Shuro Dureas was born in 1193 in a northeastern Indralan village of peasants on the outskirts of Beizhou. When he became old enough, he joined the army of the Lord of Beizhou and quickly rose the ranks and stature. The Lord of Beizhou adopted Shuro Dureas as his son and heir, and when the Lord died, Shuro Dureas succeeded him. Shuro Dureas was an ambitious ruler and skilled warrior. He sought to become the ruler of "All under heaven". He raised and trained large army to accomplish this goal. Shuro Dureas' Army unified all of Indrala by 1213, when he was just 20, and created the United Indralan Commonwealth and became the Zuigao lingdaoren (Paramount Leader) of the United Indrala state. In return for their service in uniting the island under his authority, Dureas granted territories and titles to the commanders of his grand army. One notable example was Deng Qihong of the Clan Deng, who became the Beiyi of Akuzia.

Elective monarchy and the Beiyis' Republic
When Shuro Dureas died at the age of 60 in 1253, he had no legitimate children and did not make the determination who should succeed him. The Beiyi (regional-military chieftains), many of who were former commanders in Dureas' Army, decided that they would elect amongst themselves the new leader of United Indrala. Indrala essentially became an elective monarchy and a Beiyis' (Nobles') Republic. This system of elected Paramount Leaders continued until the collapse of the United Indrala Commonwealth in 1450.

Although United Indrala was not economically developed and was not wealthy, there was a major rise in art and literature in the 1300s, a period known as the Gudian Gudai or the Indralan Golden Age. This flourishing of Indralan culture lasted until 1450, when United Indrala collapsed. The fall of the United Indralan state resulted from a dispute over whether rice or corn should be served at state banquets (the ruling north said corn, the more populous south said rice). The United Indralan period was followed by the relatively peaceful Enzo period in which the country was divided and ruled by the various Beiyis (regional-military chieftains). This period in Indralan history lasted until 1744.

Company Rule
In the 1710s, a group of Alorian merchants decided to try to circumvent the Selayan monopoly. In 1718, a four-ship expedition led by William Prescott was the first Alorian contact with the island of Indrala. The expedition reached Quibashi, and the Alorians gained footing in Indrala in 1722, when the first permanent Alorian trading post on the island was established in Quibashi, after the Beiyi of Quibashi granted it the rights to establish a trading post near Hazhou. In 1725, another was established at Nanzhou. Next, in 1728, an Alorian factory was established on the west coast of Indrala, again after receiving such rights from the Beiyi, and Aloria now began its lengthy presence on the Indralan island.

In 1729, the newly found Alorian Eastern Trade Company was granted a monopoly over the Eastern trade by the Alorian government. The charter of the new company empowered it to build trading posts and conclude treaties with Indralan rulers.

During this time, other trading posts were similarly expanding in the region. This resulted in the domination of the sources of valuable spices that gained control over most of the Eastern trade routes. Indrala became a way-station for Alorian ships on the route between Artania and Dovani. The Company soon expanded its commercial trading operations, by setting up trading posts in Guozhou (where a factory was built in 1734), Zhongjing (1736), Jingzhou (1737) and Tianzhou(1741). By 1750, the Company had 21 factories, each under the command of a master merchant and governor if so chosen, and nearly 100 employees in Indrala.

The Alorian exploration of Indrala comprised a varied collection of Beiyidoms and City-States that were occasionally at war with each other but maintained significant inter-island and international trade. The company's mainstay businesses were by now in pepper, tobacco, silk and tea. All the while, it was making inroads into the Luthori monopoly of the spice trade in the Anantonese Ocean. Besides being great commercial masterminds, the Alorians were also great diplomats. Instead of the agressive and colonial additude of the Luthori, the Alorians were able to maintain peaceful relations with the inland rulers.

Their monopoly over the spice trade became complete after they drove the Luthori finally from Indrala at the end of the Great Artanian War (1764-1779). Richard Hayes, the Company's Governor General at that time, led the Company to an astounding victory against the Luthori forces on Indrala, and captured the Luthori settlements in the north in 1778. After this, Luthori ambitions on Indralan territories were effectively laid to rest, thus eliminating a major source of economic competition for the Company. In contrast, the Company, fresh from a colossal victory, and with the backing of a disciplined and experienced army, was able to assert its interests in Indrala without facing any further obstacles from other powers.

The Company's dominance of Indrala took a major form. This was the use of subsidiary alliances between the company and the local rulers; these agreements were essentially feudal in nature and under them the local rulers gave up much of their control on foreign affairs to the Company and in return had their independence guaranteed. This development created the Native States of the local rulers. Gradually their increasing influence led the local rulers to grant the Company permits for duty free trade in allmost of every part of the island.

Protectorate Governments


In 1795, the Governor General of the Eastern Trade Company Sir John Penn was instructed by King Peter and Queen Isabella to visit the Beiyi of Quibashi to arrange for a treaty which would give the Company exclusive rights to reside and build forts on the southeastern Indralan coastal area and rights to explore and to exploit the beiyidom's mineral and forest resources. In return, the Company afforded the Indralan leader Alorian protection. Loss of power deeply upset the Beiyi, but he was beholden to the Alorians for sending military aid to suppress a rebellion by a rival.

Aloria established closer bonds in treaties with the Beiyi of Luratha (1806), Karula (1808), and Kathuran (1812). The Beiyis agreed not to dispose of any territory except to Aloria and not to enter into relationships with any foreign government other than Aloria without its consent. In return, the Alorians promised to protect the Indralan states from all aggression by sea and to help in case of land attack.

This in fact led to the de facto control of Indrala by the Alorians. The local rulers became puppets to the Company, who ruled behind the scenes.

The Beiyi of Akuzia was the last of the Beiyis to sign the Alorian treaties in 1820.

Colonial era
The end of the Company was precipitated by a mutiny of Pundijuns (Native soldiers) against their Alorian commanders, due in part to the tensions caused by Alorian attempts to westernise Indrala. The rebellion took nine months to suppress, with heavy loss of life on both sides. Afterwards, in 1836, the Alorian government assumed direct control over Indrala, ushering in the period known as the Alorian Protectorate of Indrala, After the Alorian Eastern Trade Company was dissolved in 1836, Indrala came under the administration of the Alorian government, and an appointed viceroy administered Indrala and King James IV of Aloria was crowned the Emperor of Indrala.

Responsible Government and the Alorian Dominion of Indrala
In 1912, the native Indralans were granted partial self-rule and responsible government was introduced, thereby establishing the Alorian Dominion of Indrala. The new Alorian Dominion was still ultimately the responsibily of the Government of Aloria and its Viceroy, however, day-to-day administration was left to the newly established Lifa Hui (legislative assembly). This semi-independent territory and the Alorian presence lasted until 1938 when a Communist uprising began.

Communism in Indrala
In 1938, Communist rebels in the south of the country gained control of the capital and imposed a Gongchan (Indralan for communist) government. This effectively expelled the Alorians from Indrala and Indrala became fully independent.

While the Communists liberated Indrala from Alorian colonialism, their rule was quite authoritarian and they suppressed opposition until 1984, when a Gaduridos-led international force drove them from power and replaced them with a pro-capitalist dictatorial government under Arturo Shinohe. His unpopular government fell to communist rebels in 2031, who founded the Xingongchanguo (new communist state).

Minren Ziyou Revolution
In 2075, a popular, liberal revolution drove the communists from power. The revolution created the modern Indralan State and established Gezhongguo (United States of Indrala).

Civil War
In 2404, the Workers' League of Indrala began the Indralan Insurrection, a rebellion against the Indralan state. Approximately 85,000 rebels and 53,000 government soldiers died in the conflict. The rebellion ended in March 2451 when the Workers' League collapsed and its militant arm surrendered. While general members and soldiers of the Workers' League of Indrala were granted amnesty, however, both its military and civilian leaders were tried and convicted on the charge of war crimes, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Annexation of Dalibor and of the Dovani Mainland
In 2459, the Indralan Minguo Lifa Yuan (Parliament) voted by a large margin to annex the as-of-then unclaimed island of Dalibor. The Indralan state subsequently annexed portion of the Dovani mainland when non-Dovani countries began claiming and colonizing territories on the continent.

Indrala at the end of the millennium (2875-Present)
The year 2875 saw the rise of a new political force in Indrala: the Kuomintang. Within three years of their first election, the Kuomintang formed a majority government and implemented government policies that saw significant growth to the national economy. The Kuomintang has been consecutively led by members of the Clan Deng (鄧）who were the Beiyi of Akuzia during and after the United Indralan Commonwealth era.

With the appearance of the Diguodang, the country saw the rise of the monarchical movement that sought to establish their leader Liu Che as the Emperor of Indrala, a title only historically held by the Alorian colonial government and the House of Battenburg until 1938 when the colonial administration and its institutions were expelled from the island by the Communist insurgents.