Colonisation of Ipina

The Colonisation of Ipina was a major historic event in the history of The Producers. It marked the point in which all cilivisations on Rellar were in contact with each other.

Discovery of Ipina
Ipina, the eastern continent on Rellar, was discovered by Eto Maruar Tim in 1333. Tim was of the Timo Kingdom, a major power in the west of the continent of Apa. Developments in naval technology facilitating transport to Ijubo had meant that boats were now able to sail through stormier and deeper waters. Most exploration remained around the Ijubo posessions with the markets of the Pintus and Pan growing due to the influx of new resources and technology from the old Ijubo Empire.

Tim's voyage was to set to discover whether new lands were on the planet Rellar or whether sailing west would return the sailors to Apa. In 1333AP Tim's crew landed in the territory of the A'Ko in Eastern Ipina. Tim then spent the next 3 months exploring before sailing back to Apa.

The news of the discovery spread quickly across the continent of Apa with most states sending explorers to find these far off lands to begin trading and settling small colonies. These colonies were easy to begin in some areas as the sprawling Kingdoms of Ipina often only held power through the loose allegiance of tribal leaders. Within thirty years there all of the major powers of the day had their own colonies on the continent.

Imperialism
Imperialism on the continent of Ipina began as the Pintus Technocracy realised the potential for market expansion. The first beginnings of a new Empire happened in 1380 where the Pintus invaded the Empire of Ako'Kokola. The Invasion of Ako'Kokolaland lasted 12 years before the lands fell into the hands of the Pintus. The war was short, considering the size of the territory, due to the technological advantages which the Pintus had, including modern ships, guns and strategies.

The Fel Empire, a longstanding power in the South East, began to attempt to spread its influence on Central and Southern Ipina due to the sudden change in the balance of power. This was stalled by the invasions of Ipina by the Timo Kingdom who landed in Milltland in 1393.

The increase in resources heralded by the new lands led the Pintus to absorb its Protectorates as states of the wider Technocracy in 1412. The location of the Pintus territories and posessions were of benefit as it granted the State access to most of Western Ipina. These posessions had grown to include the Gren lands and the lands surrounding the Great Lake.

Splitting of Ipina


In order to prevent a future conflict, the largest Empires of the day including the Timo, Pan, Pintus and Ato States, held the Ato Conference in 1415. This conference split the continent of Ipina into zones of occupation with the Fel Empire granted to the Pan, the West granted to the Pintus, the Elt'nae and South East to the Timo and the North to the Ato.

The Treaty set the grounds for states aiding each other in the conquest of the continent. Each state recognised that this method of division would be of mutual interest due to the losses of the wars with the Ijubo. This formed the basis of conflicts on Ijubo until 1515.

By 1500 a number of problems began to weaken the Empires of Apa. Firstly, the focus on land-grabbing had left the local populaces poor in comparison to their colonial invaders. This gave credence to rebel movements on the continent. Secondly, smaller powers on Apa were demanding that they should be able to open territories on Apa. Thirdly, the Pan invasions of other lands on Apa had destabilised the treaty and led to a number of wars which had weakened the Imperial grasp on Ipina.

The main factor which ended the Treaty was the nature of the continent. Much of the continent was covered by vast grasslands and forests which had only loosely been controlled by the old Kingdoms of Ipina. The experience and armament of the groups which owned these lands made them a strong opposition to the occupiers. These factors led to the Third Global Strife which lasted from 1515 to 1540.

Revolutionary Ipina
Ipina's revolutions and the declaration of War on the Pan by the Pintus in 1515 stregnthened the local leaders across the continent. Within the next 30 years as many as 130 short-lived states had been declared and 16 larger Monarchies declared. Rather than re-take these lands, the Colonial Powers often attemtped to stregnthen them in order to weaken the stregnth of the other powers of Ipina, creating a stable state system of indigenous peoples.

At the conclusion of the Third Global Strife the map of Ipina had altered dramatically, with what was little was left of the Pan and Timo posessions going to the Pintus and Ato. The Empires of the Pintus and Ato were to decline slightly as the focus remained on rebuilding the states of Apa. This created the bi-polar world of the Pintus and Ato Empires which would last until 1833.

Effects
The effects of the Colonisation of Ipina were mainly cultural and economic. The period of Colonisation intruduced the Pintic languages as the languages of law and trade. These languages would not be absorbed completely, but would remain in use across the lands. New practices, such as adopted names, were introduced to the continent.

The general oppressive nature of Colonisation was not conducive to the adoption of Apan ways, with local traditions remaining well into the 5th Millenium AP. People with Ipinan heritage are normally proud of their roots. The nature of the oppression and abuse of the local peoples also helped develop the post-Fourth Global Strife rights systems.

Economically the Colonial Period opened new systems of governance and running markets. The adoption of Apan Markets helped lay the basis of the future Corporatist approach of the Producer Technocracy.