History of Garránia
Garránia was established on 2 July 2022 as a successor to two previous nations run by the same individual.
Pre-Garránian History
Calusa Habitation
Starting from around 500 CE, the area was inhabited by the Caloosahatchee Tribe, who were a part of the greater Calusa culture. The Calusa capital was close nearby to Garránia, on Mound Key in Estero Bay. By 880 CE, a complex society had developed, with high population densities. The Caloosahatchee and preceding cultures had lived in the area for roughly 1000 years before European contact. Early Spanish and French referred to the tribe, its capital, and its chief by the names Calos, Calus, Caalus, and Carlos. A Spaniard held captive by the Caloosahatchee in the 16th century recorded that the name Calusa meant "fierce people" in their language. A Jesuit missionary, Juan Rogel, was sent to the Calusa at Mound Key in the 1560s and noted the chief's name as Carlos. It was around this time that the Calusa first made contact with the Spanish, who named the nation Escampaba.
European Contact
The first recorded contact of Europeans with the Calusa was in May 1513, when Juan Ponce de León landed at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River, following his earlier "discovery" of Florida in April of that year. The Calusa, however, already knew of the Spanish, as they had taken refugees from Cuba, following the island's subjugation. Initially, the Calusa offered to trade with the Spanish. A Spanish ship careened one of the Calusa's ships, and after ten days a Calusa interpreter who could speak Spanish approached one of Ponce's ships with a request to wait for the Calusa's chief. Soon after, 20 war canoes attacked the Spanish. The Spanish retaliated by driving off the Calusa, killing or capturing many of them. The next day, a further 80 shielded canoes attacked the Spanish ships, resulting in the Spanish retreating to Puerto Rico. In 1517, conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba landed nearby to the mouth of the Caloosahatchee on his return voyage from "discovering" the Yucatán. He was driven off by an attack from the Calusa. In 1521, Juan Ponce de León returned to plant a colony, but again the Calusa stood their ground, where in the resulting battle Juan Ponce de León was mortally injured.
Calusa Decline
In 1566, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés met with the Calusa. Menéndez and Carlos came to agree to an uneasy alliance, whereafter Menéndez married Carlos' sister. She was converted to Catholicism and took the baptismal name Doña Antonia at conversion. Hostilities erupted after Menéndez left a garrison of soldiers and a Jesuit mission, San Antón de Carlos, in the Calusa capital. The Spanish murdered Carlos, his successor, and several Calusa "nobles" before they abandoned their fort and mission in 1569. Following this incident, there was little contact between the Spanish and the Calusa. Over time, the Calusa began to decline. In 1614 they saw heavy casualties in a war against the Spanish and Spanish-allied tribes from the Tampa Bay area. After Great Britain and Spain broke out into war in 1702, slaving raids by the Uchise Creek and Yamasee native Americans allied with the Province of Carolina began to reach far into Florida. The Yamasee and Creek were supplied with firearms by Carolinian colonists, but the Calusa, having isolated themselves from the Europeans, had not. Having been ravaged by plagues spread from colonists, the remaining Calusa migrated away from the Caloosahatchee, moving into the Everglades, where any remaining survivors either died off or integrated into already present Seminole populations.
Calusa Native Americans ~10,000 BCE–1513
Spanish Florida 1513–1763
East Florida 1763–1783
Spanish Florida 1783–1821
Florida Territory 1821–1845
State of Florida 1845–1861
Confederate State of Florida 1861–1868
State of Florida 1868–2021
Serene Canton of Radnia 2021–2022
Shulin Empire 2022–2022
Empire of Garránia 2022–Present
Colonisation
In 1763, following the Seven Years' War, the territory which Garránia now rests upon was traded from the Spanish to the British, in exchange for control over the city of Havana, Cuba. This trade caused many of the remaining indigenous population to migrate to Cuba. To encourage settlement in the newly-acquired territory, land grants were given to British veterans of the French and Indian War. In England, reports of Florida's natural wealth were published to encourage settlement. In 1783, the territories of East and West Florida were ceded back to the Spanish. Loyalist immigrants fled to the colony following the American Revolution, ignoring Spanish authorities and mixing with the previously settled English and American settlers. It was this group that in 1810 rebelled from Spanish rule and established the Republic of West Florida. In the same year, President James Madison annexed parts of West Florida as part of the United States, claiming it as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Border tensions in East Florida and Georgia grew, as the local Seminole tribes had provided refuge for escaped African slaves, where they would integrate into the Seminole culture as the Black Seminoles, or where they would live independently. Georgian slave owners accused the Seminoles of stealing their human property and encouraging African-Americans to escape to freedom. Plantation owners organized raids to African-American settlements, where they would capture individuals accused of being escaped slaves. They would also harass Seminole settlements near the border, which caused Seminoles to lead parties across the border to stage reprisal attacks.
First Seminole War
On 26 December 1817, the US War Department wrote an order for General Andrew Jackson, directing him to take command in person and bring the Seminoles under control. This act of war precipitated the First Seminole War. Jackson led his forces into territory in northern Florida, where he occupied and destroyed many cities, to the chagrin of the Spanish monarchy. His rampage through the area made it clear that the Spanish could not control the territory, and Spain agreed to cede it to the United States in 1819 as part of the Adams–Onís Treaty. The territory was handed over in 1821, and in 1823 the Seminoles signed the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, ending the First Seminole War. As part of the agreement, all Seminoles were moved from northern Florida to reservations in central and southern Florida.
Second and Third Seminole Wars
In 1835, the Second Seminole War came about as a result of the United States unilaterally agreeing to void the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, as a result of the terms specified in the Indian Removal Act. The United States wanted the Seminoles in central Florida to relocate to the specified Indian Territory in modern-day Oklahoma. During the war, a settlement at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River was founded by American forces, then named Fort Dulaney. In October 1841, a hurricane destroyed Fort Dulaney and in its place, Fort Harvie was built. Throughout the state, Seminole and American forces clashed, all the way down to the Florida Keys. When the war began to wind down in 1842, the fort was eventually abandoned until 1850, when the US Army returned to the fort in response to a white trader who was killed by Seminoles on the Peace River. Fort Myers was founded on top of the burned ruins of Fort Harvie. It grew in size until it was eventually abandoned at the conclusion of the Third Seminole War in 1858.
American Civil War
The fort was again reoccupied, this time by the Confederate States, who used the fort's port to dock blockade runners during the war. In January 1864, towards the war's conclusion, the fort was captured by Union forces before the Confederates who remained could act on orders to burn it. It was converted to serve as a refugee centre where the Union could house Confederate deserters and escaped slaves. In the final months of the war, it was here that the Battle of Fort Myers was fought, when the Union sought to cut off the Confederacy's beef supply by confiscating cattle from local ranchers. At the conclusion of the war, the fort was again abandoned.
Resettlement
After the Civil War concluded, Captain Manuel A. Gonzalez sailed from Key West to the abandoned Fort Myers to begin a new community at the fort. He and his family began a trading post, the first one in the area, where he traded tobacco, beads, and gunpowder, and sold otter, bobcat, and gator hide to the neighbouring Seminole. In the late 19th century, the area began to be moved into by upper-class people to escape frigid northern winter temperatures. Industrialists saw an opportunity, including businessman Thomas Edison, who built his summer home along the Caloosahatchee. The town was incorporated in 1885.
Micronational History
Micronational History
Pre-Micronational Era
Ensor moved to Fort Myers from Westminster, Maryland in November 2018. Several fictional nations were drafted, unrelated to micronationalism, as Ensor had an interest in worldbuilding and a budding interest in geopolitics. After being introduced to micronationalism by a now infamous video by the Youtube channel "Not Exactly Normal," Ensor began to come up with ideas for a micronation, originally wanting to adapt one of the fictional nations from the past. However, they changed their mind and instead chose to create an original micronation.
Era of Young Micronationalism
Radnian Era
On 21 June 2021, Ensor founded the Serene Canton of Radnia. An originally isolationist state, it was founded on centrist ideals and Taoist philosophy. It was not very serious, as it was Ensor's first experience with micronationalism. It was inspired primarily by micronations such as the Democratic Republic of Benjastan and the Republic of Molossia. Many early connections were made, operating as young micronationalists often do, forming pointless intermicronational organizations and signing shallow alliance treaties. Some of these early connections were formed through the foundation of the Euro-American Micronational Alliance and its successor, RANE.
Starting from 16 January 2022, a major restructuring to Radnia had gone underway, taking a more serious and realistic approach to micronationalism, seeing the more serious side of the community. At the suggestion of others, Radnia had made a cultural shift, leaning heavily into Chinese cultural motifs.
Fuchsia Era
This era began on 10 February 2022 following the transition from Radnia to Shulinguo. After the transition was made, Shulinguo made an attempt at democratizing. This was largely in vain, no progress was ever made and Ensor eventually lost patience.
Shulin Era
On 26 April 2022, the Shulin Empire was established. Ezekiel Ensor was pronounced Emperor. After involvement in several foreign civil disputes including the Zepranan Civil Conflict, the Emperor decided to bring their attention back to Shulin. On June 30, the Emperor put into motion a "closing period" to finish projects before dormancy was to be declared while the Emperor developed Garránia.
Establishment of Garránia
On 1 July 2022, Garránia was established to replace the Shulin Empire. Over the next weeks, a stable system was established, based off of the Norwegian, Swedish, and British Monarchies, as well as the Republic of Ireland. On about 17 August 2022, Ensor made the decision to leave the online community. "The online micronational community is no longer a place to exercise a fun hobby and share it with others, but now a cesspool of racist teenagers with behavioral issues to be bigoted against anybody without consequence." They began to transition to a more physical, traditional form of micronationalism and micronational diplomacy.
Isolationist Era
Garránia adopted a new policy of only establishing diplomacy with nations that they could feasibly conduct physical diplomacy with. The Emperor also removed many members of the Parliament which they did not know personally, preparing to reform parliament when enough people got involved in person. Online involvement was resumed, but only as a forum for discussion and not for diplomacy. Slowly, over time, the isolationist policy relaxed and though they remained mostly isolationist, a newer, more mature approach to micronationalism was assumed and though they did not sign treaties with just anybody, as had been done in the Radnian and Shulingese Eras, they engaged in online conversation and light diplomacy. The government began to greatly expand, with more becoming interested in joining the government Ensor knew personally.
Golden Era
This era is believed to have formally begun when Garránia joined the Cupertino Alliance as a provisional member on 1 March 2023. A proliferating feeling of clarity and maturity washed over the nation, as it expanded into new artistic frontiers and began to establish more well-standardized systems of classification.