New Penzance

The Island of the Constitutional Republic of New Penzance
Flag Seal
Motto: "Os et cortex" Bone and bark
Anthem: Anthem of the Island
Capital and Town	Mapleville
Official languages	English
Recognised national languages	Wampanoag
Ethnic groups (2011)	By race: 76% White 22% Chickchaw Indians 1.5% African Americans 0.5% Other
Demonym(s)	New Penzancee
Government	Federal constitutional republic
• President	Hank Williamson (D)
• Vice President	Joyce Etherson (D)
Legislature	Congress
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Independence
• Declaration of Independence	May 16th, 1794
• Sovereignty	July 4th, 1918
• United Nations admission	June 2nd, 1948
• Compact of Free Association	1 November, 1986
Area
• Land	346 km2 (134 sq mi) (190th)
• Water (%)	Neglible
Population
• 2011 estimate	12,450 (193rd)
• 2017 census	12,433
• Density	35.9/km2 (93.0/sq mi) (143rd)
Gini (2011)	0.12 low
HDI (2011)	0.954 very high
Currency	United States Dollar (USD)
Time zone	UTC-05:00 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-04:00 (EDT)
Date format	abbr-dd-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+349
ISO 3166 code	NP
Internet TLD	.np

New Penzance (/pɛnzæns/), officially known as The Island of the Constitutional Republic of New Penzance is an independent constitutional federal republic in free association with the United States on New Penzance Island. The island, located 82 miles outside of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, USA, is situated on the North American Continental shelf and neighbors New England to the west and Nova Scotia to the north. With an area of 346 km2, it is the world’s tenth smallest country in the world, the smallest country in North America, the smallest island state, and the smallest federal republic. Additionally, its population of 12,433 is the world’s third-smallest.

First populated by Chickchaw Indians since the late 900s, encountered by Portuguese sailors in 1506, then abandoned, New Penzance was claimed by settler leader John Wiggins in 1793, who proclaimed independence a year later. Following this proclamation of independence, the republic was not internationally recognized and operated under relative stability with no intervention from the newly founded United States. The republic was not officially recognized by the United States until 1918, following the Liberty Treaty and not recognized internationally until 1948. Due to its small size, New Penzance managed to avoid both world wars and continued to thrive in relative peace. Following international recognition, New Penzance continued to rely on mostly fishing and tourism. Since 1986 New Penzance has been a minor partner with the United States, following the Compact of Free Association.

Today, New Penzance’s economy relies on tourism, fishing, and specialized industry. The country has seen exponential economical growth since the late ‘90s, primarily due to relatively widespread internet accessibility. Today, over 36 percent of the economy consists of sole proprietorships. New Penzancian culture is primarily based on New England heritage, with some elements of Chickchaw Indian culture. Almost all New Penzancees have historical New Englander heritage, a majority Caucasian, and a minority, roughly 22 percent, Chickchaw Indian. New Penzance is highly homogeneous, with close to 96 percent being born in and ethnically New Penzancees.

Etymology

The first known name for the island is unknown and it is believed that the native Chickchaw Indians simply called the island “Nantucket”, which loosely translates as “Island”. The only accounts of this name are from the first generation of settlers. The Portuguese name for the island is unknown but is theorized to be 'Ilha Chickchaw'.

The name 'New Penzance' was first announced by settler leader John Wiggins in late 1792. The Penzance is the name honors his parent's birthplace of Penzance, England. The name was progressively used more and more until declared independence with the same name.

History

Main article: History of New Penzance

In the 900s a couple of Wampanoag Indians residing in Cape Cod ventured out for fishing far off the coast and eventually found New Penzance Island, and settled near what is now Millie's Bay and modern-day Elford. It is believed that the Indians had settled the entirety of the Island by the 1000s, and begun residing permanently, instead of sheltering and fishing for a few days or weeks. Not much is known about the history of the Chickchaw Indians, as all of the histories are oral history. Eventually, chiefdoms appeared throughout the island, which reduced the Chickchaw population in battles over territory. By the 1500s, only the Sequia, Nauset, and Namskaket tribes remained. Reunification began in order to avoid inbreeding and by the arrival of the settlers, the Chickchaw were in danger of inbreeding and subsequent death.

The Portuguese sailors stayed for less than a year and resided near modern-day Mapleville, and no known contact with Indians was attempted by the sailors, who later left the island. Subsequently, little to no evidence of these Portuguese sailors remain today.

In late 1792, British descendant John Wiggins started his own philosophical society, which held similar beliefs to modern-day spiritual Universalism. However, his beliefs were not accepted in Nantucket, where he resided at the time. In 1793, the settler John Wiggins along with his close friends and followers arrived at Lavender Beach and traveled up along the Potchet Plains and Northern Lowlands, to where they settled in modern-day Mapleville. As the settlers began to work the land they simultaneously began to explore the island. At some point, the settlers made contact with the Chickchaw Indians, in the Sequia Woods. Wanting to work the land, John Wiggins bartered with the Indians and was granted a small part of the woods for felling. However, as fellow settler James Morrison had found rich amounts of tree in the southwestern Northern Lowlands, little felling occurred in the Sequia Woods.

The settler's activity continued and settlers began to split off and settled elsewhere, the first of these new towns being Harwick, in the eastern Northern Lowlands. As Mapleville grew and required more wood, Harwick and Mapleville stayed well connected, and Harwick essentially worked as an outpost for the first years. After the founding of Elford in the late winter of 1793, John Wiggins and his settlers, along with the Chickchaw Indians, together claimed independence from the newly created United States in early 1794. However, with no actual recognition, independence remained de jure. A constabulary was instated, and an election for President was held. John Wiggins won the election by 92 percent. Elfords creation was widely celebrated as a new frontier and the beginning of a new period in the history of New Penzance. Two years later Concord was founded, in order to work the fertile lands in the Potchet Plains. A year later, Gansett was settled by a couple of families. However, Gansett's founding was not on terms with the Chickchaw Indians, who demanded compensation for lost land. The compensation was eventually settled on as arranged marriage of 10 maidens from the settlers in order to save the Chickchaw Indians from inbreeding. This was agreed upon, with the connotation that John Wiggins was to marry Chief Chqio fifteen-year-old maiden daughter. Whilst polygamy wasn't allowed on the island, excluding the Chickchaw Indians, John Wiggins regardless of married four different women, two of which were Chickchaw. This polyamorous marriage would eventually cost John Wiggins's presidency, as his approval ratings dropped immensely during his second and last term.

Following John Wiggins's final term, two main parties arose in the contemporary New Penzancian political climate, the Independents and the Libertarians. Whilst both parties were relatively similar in political ideology, they nonetheless spawned tribalism throughout New Penzance. The second president to take office, Lyndon R. Warren, was a Libertarian and as such, firmly implemented his values of smaller government in New Penzance. Settlers were given more freedom to work their land and as such the economy experienced a hefty economic growth. This economic growth continued well into the 1830s and would not stop until the Great Depression. In the following years, the settlers ventured further south down into the Oxford Highlands, where Oxford was founded. Shortly after, Tickenwood was also founded. Oxford grew quickly and worked the land more efficiently compared to other towns, and as such became more affluent, and a secondary hub to Mapleville. In the following years, the New Penzancian population grew, both from some immigrants, but mostly from the increased birthrate of the settlers. This was due to a propaganda campaign by the New Penzance state, which encouraged couples to have as many children as possible, in order to work the land and progress the country.

After Warren's final term in 1810, the Independent party leader Dale E. Watson won the presidency by a landslide and began implementing more liberal values into the New Penzance state. Watson both increased the size of the national constabulary, as well as creating the New Penzance military. In 1811 the Indian Act was signed, which protected the Sequia Woods, Wauwinds Mountain Range, and to an extent, the Namskaket Peninsula and Nauset Peninsula from felling as protected Indian lands. The reforestation initiative was also introduced the same year, with prosperous results. Later in, early 1812, both Pilgrimstown, Wiscasset, and Pentucket were founded. As wood production increased, merchants began selling the wood to people in Nantucket and Cape Cod, which greatly improved the local economy and boasted newly formed companies.

As the settler's towns increased in number the road network was formed. First between Mapleville and Concord, and then it expanded and connected the towns throughout the island. In the following year, both Emmaville, Ebb-upon-Falling-Leaves, Wellfleet, and Provincetown were founded by travelling settlers. As rich amounts of potable spring water were found in the lower Potchet Plains surrounding Gansett and Emmaville their population grew in size, particularly Gansett. The spring water would eventually become bottled and sold in high-status rings which Gansett, and to a lesser extent Emmaville profited highly off of. Following the discoveries of cleaner potable water in Potchet Plains, the Water feud of 1814 begun as Gansett began charging exorbitant fees to the neighboring towns, particularly the growing Mapleville for their water. Water prices could reportedly peak at $2 per gallon, and given the lack of potable water in many of the towns, this caused outraged as many households could barely afford the expensive prices for their daily needs. As such, many of the townspeople began rioting against the water suppliers in Gansett, which peaked in the 16th of June uproar, which saw 5 severely injured protesters after the Gansett constabulary opened fire. This rapid instability led to Watson removing some autonomy from the townships and instigating a search team for wells, which eventually led to the first water well map of New Penzance in 1826.

In the following years, settlers moved deeper down south, as Oxford became a second hub and an equivalent to Mapleville up north. Following the travels along the Chichester Cape, Westboro and Eastham were founded in 1816. In the same year Barnstable, as well as Nauset on the Nauset Peninsula was founded. However, the Wauwinds Mountain Range was largely left alone, as they were difficult areas to settle and to cross. It remained until 1820 for the general area of the Wauwinds to be settled, numbering small in people, and until 1901 for Sevierville, the only town in the Wauwinds, to be incorporated. As the settlers moved southward, Mapleville continued to advance technologically and the first factory in New Penzance, Jernem's Woodworks, began construction in 1818 and stood finished 1820.

The previously exclusively Chickchaw populated Wauwinds began to be settled by settlers in the early 1820s as the expansion spread southward. The mountains remained a difficult place to settle, and many difficulties restrained the settler's capability to reside permanently. As such, several mountainmen from Sevier County, Tennessee were employed to help the local settlers to navigate and settle throughout the mountains. The venture into the Wauwinds saw coal, iron, and later on zinc extraction. As the Wauwinds mining industry kickstarted in 1823 with the coal discovery in Sappachapp, subsequent settlement in the region flourished. Small towns like Terrioke, Bannack Creek, and Genevive were founded to mine the minerals, and the Wauwinds quickly turned into a financially well-endowed region. Soon after in 1826, Congress officially turned the Wauwinds region into the Wauwinds Territory, in order to better regulate the quickly growing businesses and infrastructure. The hired mountain men of Tennessee, returning to their families, often with the newfound wealth of the contemporary mining industry in the Wauwinds began to return to the Wauwinds with their families in hope of better economic opportunity. This was the start of the Great Smoky-Wauwinds migration which continued until the 1880s. Seeing a large influx of Smoky Mountain immigrants, the region naturally began to be influenced by Smoky Mountain culture, traces of which are still very much visible to this day.

Following the Jeffersonian democracy movement in the neighboring United States, the New Penzance government continued introducing laws focused on both individual and corporate rights. After the often questionable and bad working conditions of the workers in the Wauwinds territory, the Abolition of Slavery bill was introduced and subsequently saw workers rights significantly improve.