Harvian Islands

The Harvian Islands (East-Bavanda language: Ana Heanatui, West-Bavanda language:Ene Janti) are a small archipelago and autonomous country within the federation of New Shetland. It is situated in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of mainland New Shetland. It is a former colony of the United States, and since 1923 a part of New Shetland. The capital is Stamadri. The country has an estimated 310.000 inhabitants. The official language is English.

The Harvian Islands are one of the five census regions in New Shetland. It is usually referred to as dependency or country and its states are referred to as districts. It is the only census region with its own government. This Estates governs the region autonomously.

The archipelago consists of eleven islands, divided over four districts. The largest island is Leeward Island. The other islands are Lower Island, Lion Island, All Saints Island, Midland Island, Princeton Island, Southern Island, Georgetown Island, Washington Island, Peaceful Island and Bridge Island.

The Harvian Islands have a high economical level, and the inhabitants are a mix of indigenous people and descendants of colonists. The country has many museums, natural parks and little towns. It's situated a little southwest of Hawaii. The archipelago is governed by a Prime Minister and his secretaries, who are member of the Estates, and are called Estates Member.

Geography
The Harvian Islands consist of two archipelagos, gradually formed by volcanic eruptions, since the islands lie on a geological fault. Most of the islands have highest points that exceed the 1500 meters. There are many forests, but the archipelago is not tropic, due to cold sea currents. The climate can be described as Cf, or sea climate. There is no dry season.

Places
There are eight inhabited places in the Harvian Islands. They are all referred to as towns, despite the fact that many of them are rather small.


 * East-Leeburg (Pepei ’U’a)
 * Little Harbor (A’ua ’Ire-’Ire)
 * Port Philip (Hene U’a, Pepeipei Filipu, Pota Filupa)
 * Stamadri (Suta Madi’u)
 * Trinity (Noa ’Unati)
 * Thousand Apples (’Aforao)
 * West Rock (Banao ’U’a)
 * Westville (’Ere ’Uantahui)

Precolonial history
Already thousands of years ago, Polynesian settlers made the Harvian Islands their homeland. Archeological evidence proved that there were probably two rivaling "kingdoms" roughly between 800 and 1100. From 1300 onwards, almost no artifacts have been found. Scientists suspect that the unnamed culture of the early medieval times ceased to exist because of climate changes or fluctuating amounts of fish.

Colonial history
Englishman Thomas Harves discovered the isles in 1804. He claimed it for the United Kingdom, which didn't set a foot on the island again for another 30 years. In 1834, Jack Shinger, the second European to arrive on the Harvian Islands, officially founded the colony of the Hemisphere Islands, in name of the united Kingdom. In 1859 another colonial power, the United States, claimed the territory. After a territorial dispute which involved a short battle between two warships of either side, the united States signed a treaty with the United Kingdom in 1870, after which it became an US colony. It was renamed the Harvian Islands in 1869, after Thomas Harves.

From 1870 to 1923 the islands thus were an US colony. Various, mostly peaceful, revolts and riots were fought, including the 1907 Washington Island Revolt, the 1919 Revolt and the peaceful 1921 Midland Island Revolt. The 19 Harvians who lost their lives during these revolts altogether are still commemorated each year.

On Lion Island there was a cruel governor and plantation owner named Buck Leeburg (founder of the city East-Leeburg) who treated the Samoans as his subjects and slaves and saw himself as a king. The otherwise peaceful islanders rebelled against their cruel masters and Leeburg was killed; his family and overseers were driven out of the island. After this there was a period, albeit short, of independence on Washington Island, lasting a few months. Almost immediately after the news of the revolt reached the United States, a warship was sent out to recapture the island. It succeeded, and since 1908 there have been no major fights in the archipelago.

In 1918 the Samoan people, still feeling repressed and badly treated, created a new party, called Samoan Power (SP). It was founded by David Makaluau, one of the rebels of the 1907 rebellion. The Americans outlawed the party, believing it to be dangerous, and had Makaluau executed as a traitor the following year, in 1919. He has been an idol of freedom ever since.

New Shetland
It's since 1923 that the Harvian Islands are part of New Shetland, after a treaty with the United States, that states that the Harvian Islands are independent since 18 september 2010.

Administrative division
The archipelago is divided in four districts, alternatively called states. (analoguous to the rest of New Shetland) The largest district is Leeward and Princeton. The other three districts are Maritima, Northern and Reefs. Each district is led by a governor. Each district consists of one or more islands and has an high level of self-governance and autonomy.

Demography
There live about 310.000 people in the Harvian Islands. Many of them are either Christian or atheist but there are also small groups of Muslims and Hindus, mostly Asians who migrated in the early 20th century to the Pacific. Then there is the native religion called Hamapan Ukulanuko, which worships all God's who live in a paradise located somewhere on the globe. This religion is not very common nowadays, and is decreasing in size steadily, making way for atheist and Christian streams. The largest religious group is atheism, followed by Christianity.

Most Harvians are either Bavanda Samoan (descendants of Tuvaluans), Samoan or Tongan. There are small groups of Europeans and North Americans as well.

Transport
The archipelago is easily accessible by plane or boat. There are not many roads, since most of the traffic goes by ship or railway. The Harvian Islands have an extensive but not very effectively maintained road system consisting of so-called Carriageways. The most important carriageways are Carriageway 1 and Carriageway 2. Not each island possesses a carriageway.

There are three railways, operated and maintained by the United Harvian Railways Corporation (UHRC or UHR for short). These railways are well-preserved and built in the mid-1930s by the US government. However, they fail to attract many commuters and will cease to exist, were the Harvian government to stop subsidies. The Harvian Railroads Company is a daughter company of the United Harvian Railways Corporation and maintains the Leeward Island Railway. The other two railways, the Reefs District Railway and the Oak Forest Railway are maintained by the United Harvian Railways Corporation itself.