History of Freedemia

The Budrian peninsula has had a long history of human occupation along its coasts, with a vibrant and somewhat advanced native population living along its coasts for centuries. However, common attributions of Freedemia's "modern history" typically begin largely with colonial settlement around 1300.

Pre-History

The Budrian People

While many groups existed in the area at one point or another, Freedemia was most prominently home to the Budrian peoples before colonial settlement. The Budrian people occupied most of the eastern part of the peninsula, mostly populating along the coasts and eastern plains. One of the most significant pre-colonial settlements was what is now known as the city of Jhuandan, a name closely derived from its original native name. Some historical evidence suggests that there was trade and travel across the strait with Antarephian native populations in Ohesia, explaining much of the shared language despite many ethnic and cultural differences. Jhuandan was a fairly modern settlement by most standards. It is partially believed that one reason Castellanese settlers were more willing to intermix with the Budrian people than with some other native populations was that they were impressed with their "advancement" over other native groups.

Colonization

Independence

The Ingerish-Castellanese front

At a global scale, the Ingerish and Castellanese had agreed to some degree of colonial alliance/truce. There was intermingling across the borders between the Castellanese and Ingerish colonists, and use of Jhuandan as a shared trading hub. However, at the ground level, by 1650 the alliance between Ingerish Reedemia and Castellanese Tierra Redimida had fallen apart. The colonial heads of Ingerish Reedemia had pushed east to take Jhuandan, breaking the truce and creating a series of land wars between the two colonies pushed by the colonial heads and their militaries. Most of the colonists didn't want any fighting, and the fatigue from the growing land wars led by the colonial governors yet opposed by most colonists would lead to many desiring independence from Castellan and Ingerland.

The Free Reedemia Compact, Rivagien Frankelyn Territory

Emboldened by Paroyan revolutionaries' actions around 1729 and realizing that the Ingerish empire had been weakened significantly by the Ingerish Civil War and other ongoing independence battles, many pacifist Christic pro-independence leaders from within Ingerish Reedemia began to develop plans to fight back against the Ingerish for independence. However, it became clear that everyday citizens in Castellanese Tierra Redimida were also in favor of joining the effort, and that the neighboring "enemy" Rivagien Cabelia colonists were equally fatigued.

Having previously lost Paroy to the Ingerish, the remnants of the Rivagiens, now Cabelia, still possessed the Frankelyn territory to the west of Quentinsburgh.

As such, around 1732, as the Paroyan war for independence began coming to a close, Ingerish and Castellanese pro-independence leaders reached out to independence leaders in the Rivagien colony. The Free Reedemia Compact was signed in March 1733 after news of Paroyan independence, unofficially unifying the pro-independence colonists under the "Free Reedemia" banner. During the debate over the compact, movement leaders from Ingerish Reedemia and from Tierra Redimida debated about what to call the unified country, but with the Ingerish "Reedemia Colony" occupying most of the land in question, "Free Reedemia" was agreed on over Tierra Redimida. Since the Ingerish had most control over the area at the time of independence, the pacifist Christic pro-independence leaders from the Ingerish territory largely led the peace talks. Some Castellanese-descendants still see this as unfair considering how much of the land was taken from the Castellanese by the Ingerish. Independence was declared shortly after on April 23rd, to which the Ingerish and Castellanese colonial heads responded with a war declaration. The colonists reluctantly put together a ragtag militia.

Colonies Without the Support of their Empires

Ingerland and Castellan were in a tough predicament. Unable to agree on how to address the uprising by the Free Reedemia militias, but largely spread thin, weakened by other independence movements, and desperate to keep the peace with each other, Ingerland and Castellan pulled support from the warring colonies, to the colonial governors' dismay. This sharply changed the balance of the independence war, which the governors had gone into expecting to have the power of two empires behind them. Without this, the colonists were easily able to overwhelm them.

The Rivagien Front, Peace Treaty

The Ingerish and Castellanese colonial heads would retreat around 1735 after giving up on any hope of support from their empires, at which point all focus was turned on the final front with Frankelyn, now under control of Cabelia after the relative collapse of the Rivagien empire. With some support for the Free Reedemians from within the Frankelyn territory, as well as the full force of the now semi-independent Free Reedemian militia turned on the Cabelian front, the Cabelian armies were also largely overwhelmed. The fatigue on both sides would eventually lead to a treaty for peace, allyship, and official independence with all three colonial governments, signed in Quentinsburgh on March 29th, 1735. The original Freedemian monarchical government was put into place in early 1737 after negotiations with chosen king Cholmondeley to put a parliamentary check on his power.

Throughout the independence war, often known among Freedemians as "The War for Peace from War", a sense of unity over the shared fatigue of war and shared desire for peace and unity grew among pro-independence civilians, helping lead to a society somewhat unified in the end.

At Independence: The Weak Monarchy Era 1736-1809

Free Reedemia would initially begin with a very weak monarchy under king and queen Benjamin and Chloe Cholmondeley, modeled slightly after the Ingerish monarchy, but with significantly less power due to the strong parliament existing alongside that was created to keep the monarchy in check. Benjamin had been a central figure in uniting the colonies into Free Reedemia, and thus had near-unanimous support when choosing a king. However, even establishing as a monarchy, there was a strong anti-monarch movement growing within Free Reedemia. While seen as relatively benevolent rulers compared to many around the world, Benjamin and Chloe fought anti-monarchy sentiments, seeing their granting of a parliamentary check on their leadership as enough of a compromise.

Benjamin and Chloe would give birth to a son named Riley in 1752. Riley was never as convinced that his family was rightfully in power, had no interest in becoming king, and generally sympathized with the anti-monarchy movement, but was frequently critiqued and punished by his parents for speaking in favor of the anti-monarchy movement. However, King Benjamin would pass away in 1789, allowing prince Riley to rise to power as the only rightful heir. King Riley struggled heavily to fill his father's shoes, and saw both a sharp increase in anti-monarch sentiments and a large decrease in support. After queen Chloe's passing in 1809, Riley decided to step down from power and work with the parliament towards crafting a new constitution that would transform Freedemia into a parliamentary republic.

The Constitutional Parliamentary Republic Era- 1811-1894

During this era, executive leaders of Freedemia were known as premiers and vice premiers, and the govermental system operated very similar to parliamentary monarchies of the time, but without a monarch. Most power was given to the premier and the leaders of the minority governing coalitions.

However, there wasn't a very strong checks and balances system during this era. While people did get to vote for governing coalitions (which fairly quickly evolved (devolved?) into a partisan system), they had no direct say in the leaders of said governing coalitions, and in some cases didn't even have a say in who filled a seat in a region. Coalition leaders and premiers were appointed by the majority coalition/party and were not required to be elected officials from said party. Coalition leaders had no term limits, and had the power to overrule any decision made by the governing coalition, and similarly, the premier had the power to overrule any decision made by parliament at large, though he or she could be overruled by a supermajority vote. Thus, the parliament mostly acted as a lower level extension of the executive branch.

This would become a serious issue and lead to the proposal and ratification of a third constitution that addressed the issues with a clearer checks and balances system, a system that included taking votes directly to the people (this is why the House of Referenda, Freedemia's third legislative house, exists), and a more direct voting system that attempted to decouple candidates from parties so voters could vote based on individual politicians and their platforms.