| 1493 and 1516-1582 | 1586-1630 | 1654-1660 |
1586 January 15th
On this day, British ‘well wishers’ who caught their own men invading Haudenois territory bring them to the local akwashë. They insist that the violators should be held by the Haudenois for their blatant disregard for border agreements. The akwashë refuse since no trustworthy evidence was presented but the British also refuse to take their captives back. All seem rather sick and malnourished and the British play on the Haudenois humility by leaving the men out in the snow. The akwashë reluctantly has the supposed violators brought in and has them taken care of, intending to eventually send them to a nearby labour force.
1586 January 22nd
After several days, many of the Brits’ symptoms of irregular black bruising and rosy rings proliferate, and the mens’ fevers and pains increase. None of the herbs from the kanötayë (town remember?) stores stop the sickness completely and soon many citizens of the Malacite kanötayë become sick with the same symptoms. Many different diseases develop, from the black bruising to disfiguring pox, the whole of the city reverts to chaos and many people flee, the diseases trailing them.
1586 January 29th-1587 March 14th
in this time, many pandemics sweep the Haudenois Confederacy, a huge amount were killed, wiping out whole tribes in the diseases’ march across the country. The British and French amass armies and push the Haundenois back from the coasts, into their own heartland. Only after many months of thought and action from the greatest remaining military minds of the Confederacy do they stop the westward march of the Europeans. In early 1586 the Haudenois population was about 460 000 with 33 member tribes (in the OTL the epidemics didn’t hit until 1650 and the Iroquois population at the time was 25,000). The Haudenois’ experience with vermin, crowding related diseases, and their better understanding of medicine kept the die off rate down to 38%(285 200 survived). But the British still conquered Nova Scotia and the French much of the St. Lawrence and the Northern Mik’maq region (all of Mik’maq province included New Brunswick, PEI, and Nova Scotia). Masaunötya'kö (Boston) and Tkanôtu' (New York) (These were the “Island of Hills’ Navy main shipwrights) were taken by the British.
By 1587 the Haudenois had lost all their east coast citadels although it was at a great cost to the British and French to conquer them. Tribes like the Wappinger, Malacite, Powhatan, and Massachuset were lost completely. The Cree to the north fled further north, their provinces taken by the French. The French now had access to the Usk Kanyutae (Great Lakes) through the port-town of Ottawa although it is only a single port (in the OTL Ottawa was almost 100km more northeast). The British had all of the south east coast, sea battles being easily won against the sparsely crewed and sick Haudenois ships. The Haudenois see these as terrible defeats and make oaths for the lost tribes that their lands will be reclaimed.
The Unenö'keteka'tæætö (the Miami Fort (South Fort)) is the only Haudenois possession unaffected by the epidemics and it successfully fended off the Europeans, its long range cannons, ambushes and kaeu'ta (gun powdered rifles) giving them the upper hand. Vaccinations against the diseases would later ensure the base’s security from these plagues, its populations stayed steady at 1035.
1590-1630
Over the next 40 years the Haudenois begin to rebuild, having become more than resistant to the European plagues by then. Unenö'keteka'tæætö has grown and prospered and the Haudenois raids continue. Even in 40 years the British and French have not been able to break the Haudenois border although they continue their expansion into native areas. There are border conflicts between Britain and France over the possession of the Vermont colony. This tension causes colonial taxes to increase to sustain the battalions on the boundaries and the frequent bouts between the two Empires makes them relax their Haudenois borders to the west.
The British have expanded south and two colonies, Virginia and Carolina are established. Jamaica is also colonized and many African slaves are imported when sugar crops prove plentiful. Slaves are also imported to the east coast colonies.
The French have expanded their Québec Territory northward but, in the also-expanding Louisiana territory, border skirmishes with Nueva España and also the conflict with Vermont have compromised France’s Leonez position. This weakness makes the Haudenois eye Québec as their first target for their reclaiming of land. Spain, although a rich and growing empire from the East Indies to Peru, is starting to falter. Rising independence movements in the Portuguese regions is on the rise and in 1579 (actual OTL year) the Dutch members of the Union of Utrecht revolted, wasting more funding, not only that, but the new Trade Empire of Duchy (not OTL name) is tampering with Spain’s mineral rich Indy colonies in the Orient. The Gold of the old Inca and Mex-itec empires is basically all that the Spanish Empire has to draw on for a surplus. Spain can feel its great armada and empire start to crumble as whole recessions based on single Nueva España trade and tax shipments cause chaos in the homeland.
| 1493 and 1516-1582 | 1586-1630 | 1654-1660 |