Infinitos Mundos

The lands that are now considered part of Mauritsland were originally claimed by the Portuguese under the Treaty of Tordesillas in the year 1500. However the first Portuguese settlements didn't begin until closer to the 1550s. Early Portuguese settlement was limited to the coastal areas and defined by conflicts with the native people of the land. The northeast region quickly became one of the wealthiest sugarcane growing regions in the world at the time.

In 1630 the Dutch West India Company (GWC) launched an invasion of the Portuguese holdings and conquered the city of Recife. In the following 7 years the Dutch also managed to conquer much of the coastline in the north east. By 1641 the Dutch had extended their control to the entire northern coastline, from the Amazon river to the Sao Francisco river. In May 1638 Maurits launched a risky assault on the city of Salvador, successfully taking it and securing the future of Dutch Brazil. In 1642 Portugal agreed to a truce with the Dutch, temporarily ending hostilities. By 1654 the Treaty of the Hague was signed between Portugal and the Dutch Republic, officially agreeing upon the new borders of the colony, and forcing Portugal to pay around 4 million reis to the Dutch. This money went into repaying some of the military expenses from the war, as well as to Maurits and the GWC to further develop the new colony.

In 1637 the GWC gave control over their new Brazilian lands, now known as Nieuw Holland, to Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen (John Maurice of Nassau). Maurits had a deep love for Brazil due to its beauty and people, and under his rule the colony thrived. During his rule he founded the town of Mauritsstad across the bay from Recife, also known as Mauricia in Portuguese, which would go on to become the capital of the colony. The GWC would also make Mauritsstad their capital, like Jakarta (Batavia) was for the VOC, lasting until the British Occupation. Mauritsstad was considered to be the crown jewel of the GWC, who invested heavily into the city over the years. During his rule Maurits also invested heavily into the entire colony, modernizing it and building bridges and paving streets in Mauritsstad, and building roads throughout the rest of the colony.

Additionally, Maurits established municipal and rural councils with both Portuguese and Dutch members to represent the population. This system was later expanded to include the native Potiguara people, and would become the foundation for the modern governmental system of Mauritsland. Further, Maurits established a law of religious freedom, allowing Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians to come to the region and practice their religion freely. Under these freedoms many Jews came over to the colony to escape religious persecution in Europe. Similarly, this policy permitted the Catholic monastic orders to maintain their monasteries and friaries and to preach Catholicism amongst the population. Which in turn resulted in Mauritsland becoming a predominantly Catholic nation. After the peace with Portugal, Maurits also recognized the various native groups in the region, integrating them into his council system, publishing a Potiguara dictionary (and Bible), and granting them the same rights as Portuguese and Dutch settlers. Many Potiguara would go on to own slaves and become rich from the plantations.

One of the major obstacles Maurits faced was an overall lack of Dutch colonists coming to the region. Though many Portuguese would settle in Nieuw Holland instead of Brazil due to the freedoms of worship and the security of property laws. Following the war with the Portuguese, Maurits began advertising campaigns in Europe, promising a new start, a peaceful life, and a loan for up to 12 slaves for those wishing to start a plantation. These advertisements proved successful, especially in the Spanish/Austrian Low Countries and for those seeking to escape the 30 years War, and around 25,000 people migrated to the colony. Further, following the Treaty of the Hague in 1654, Portugal passed a law forbidding Portuguese settlers from moving to Nieuw Holland.

Over the years after Maurits' death the GWC strengthened its rule over the colony, investing heavily in the development of the colony. After Maurits' death, it became company policy to appoint his heirs as Governors of the colony, leading to the dynastic system that was in place during the home rule period. During the subsequent years, the GWC used their position in Nieuw Holland as a base of operations throughout the Atlantic, favouring the cities of Mauritsstad, Salvador, and Saint Louis. These three cities grew over the years as the trade through the region increased significantly. GWC colonies in the region included Amazonia in the Amazon, several Caribbean islands, and Suriname, however they were administered separately from Nieuw Holland, and never incorporated into the colony.

There continued to be a steady flow of Dutch colonists to the colony over the years, with the Dutch settlers overtaking the Portuguese as a majority by the early 1700s. As the Dutch population grew, both through immigration and natural population growth, the GWC began expanding their language laws to favour Dutch over Portuguese, thus further increasing the use of the Dutch language over the population. Similarly, in order to prevent slaves from being able to converse without their owners being aware, it was mandated in the late 1600s that slaves could only converse in Dutch or Potiguara.

In order to prevent Napoleon from gaining extra income during his war in Europe, the British occupied all the Dutch colonies during the Napoleonic War. During the occupation the mindset of those living in Nieuw Holland began to gradually change, as they began to see themselves as separate from the Dutch in Europe. Similarly, this period marked a gradual decline in the GWC's power, as the British refused to let them operate their trade routes to the same extent as they had been. After the Napoleonic War had ended, the British returned the colony to the Netherlands due to increased unrest amongst the population who were displeased by the British occupation. Despite British regulations over the GWC the company managed to survive the occupation. Though it lost its exclusive grasp over the colony, as Nieuw Holland became a Dutch crown colony after being returned by the British. The GWC continued on as one of the major companies in the colony, and although they never fully managed to reclaim their former glory, they have managed to survive to this day as a significant economic force in Mauritsland.

Slavery had been practiced in Nieuw Holland since the Portuguese settlement of the area in the early 1500s, since slavery was seen as the only way in which to viably run a sugar cane plantation, and later other plantations as well. However many have argued that the slaves were better treated under Maurits than they were under the Portuguese, as Maurits viewed them as one of the key aspects of Nieuw Holland, and as such passed laws regulating the treatment of slaves. These laws included giving the slaves a day off (usually Sunday), allowing them to marry, allowing them to earn some money and possibly buy their freedom, and allowing them to own a small house with a garden. Despite this, slavery continued in Nieuw Holland up until the British occupation during the Napoleonic War. During the period of slavery, most of the slaves in Nieuw Holland came from the GWC trading posts in Angola and the Congo. In 1807 the British officially abolished slavery, which the local GWC government was pressured into recognizing in 1809, beginning the process of ending slavery in Nieuw Holland. Following fierce debates with the Dutch government in the Hague, slavery was officially abolished in the colony in 1814, with slave owners being compensated at a rate of 20 Guilders per slave.

Following the Dutch regaining the colony of Nieuw Holland they were faced with a dilemma, as the colony was no longer able to bring in the income that it once had, nor could the Dutch continue managing the colony as it had in the past under the GWC. As such, and in part to avoid a revolution akin to what was happening in many of the Spanish colonies in the Americas, a bill was passed and the colony was granted home rule in 1820. This home rule permitted the colony of Nieuw Holland to govern itself, much as it had been under the GWC, but this time with the power to appoint its own Governor and the power to tax itself. It would also decide how these taxes were spent, and only had to send a minimal amount back to Europe. This was partly due to the fact that the colony was not bringing in as much money as the Dutch East Indies were, and as such was viewed as less valuable than it had been. This new ability to tax themselves was used to help fund further inland development in the colony.

Under home rule the colony decided upon continuing the tradition of a hereditary Governor from Maurits' line, as they had under the GWC. It was during this period that a marble statue of Maurits was built in front of the Vrijburg Palace and the Palace underwent renovations to replace some of the old wooden facades with marble. A new chamber was also added to the Palace for the new parliament for the colony. Shortly after home rule was granted to the colony the people voted to rename it from Nieuw Holland to Mauritsland, after Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, the one who founded Mauritsstad and implemented many of the policies behind the nation. To this day he is seen as the father of the nation. After the ending of slavery a policy of indentured servants was instituted, with the colony bringing over many people from the Dutch East Indies, primarily of Javanese descent. However these indentured servants were treated little better than slaves were, and were forced to abandon their language and adopt the Dutch language. Interracial marriages were also quite common, and before long the new arrivals started to become part of a new developing ethnic identity: Mauritslander.

Members of Maurits' line ruled as Governors of Mauritsland through until 1843, when a disgruntled Javanese indentured servant smuggled in gunpower and bombed a government meeting in the GWC headquarters the city of Mauritsstad. This explosion killed not only the current governor of Mauritsland, but also his wife and three children, who had been visiting the headquarters at the time. Following this the Dutch government in Europe intervened, officially outlawing the practice of indentured servitude in the colony, and beginning the implementation of a more democratic home rule system, based upon Maurits' representative council system. Despite this change, indentured servants would continue to be shipped to the colony for another 7 years. The new representative council reformatted the ruling of the colony to be an elected Stadtholder who would govern with a council of governors, each also elected from across the colony, all elected for a period of 14 years, with an unlimited number of terms. This new representative council also changed the policy from the Vrijburg Palace being the residence of the Governor of the colony to being the official site of the government. This new elected council began a period of what is known as 'Dutchification', adjusting the language policies to promote the use of Dutch in all aspects of life and decreasing the usage of Portuguese and Potiguara. These policies, although focused on Dutch, would still permit the use of Portuguese and Potiguara in the home settings, with any official business needing to be conducted solely in Dutch. Schools were also taught solely in Dutch during this period. This period also saw the beginning of a focused 'Mauritslander' identity, with the government pushing education and other policies to eliminate the multiple identities of the people, focusing instead on a singular Mauritslander identity.

The 'Dutchification' policies were overturned in 1881, being replaced with a new language policy of recognizing the Portuguese and Potiguara heritage of the nation. This new policy, which remains to the present day, allows the use of Portuguese and Potiguara by their native speakers, with schools being permitted to teach in both languages. However Dutch is recognized as still being the official language of the colony, and the Portuguese and Potiguara schools are still expected to ensure students are fluent in Dutch. After the implementation of this policy the number of those speaking Portuguese as their first language was 17%, down from over 35% in the 1840s, and Potiguara was around 13%, numbers which remain constant to this day. The focus on establishing a single identity was not changed, however, and continued to be used. This policy remains in place today, and is responsible for creating a unified Mauritslander cultural identity throughout the nation. By the mid 1870s people were no longer identifying as 'Portuguese', 'Potiguara', or 'Dutch', but rather as 'Mauritslander'.

Throughout the 1800s, as trade between Europe, America, and Asia increased, the cities of Mauritsstad, Saint Louis, and Salvador saw a significant increase in trade as ships going to and from Asia stopped over in their ports for refueling and resupplying. This let to a significant increase in trade and profits, which were subsequently funneled into the cities, their ports, and the colony as a whole. This helped contribute to the overall development of the colony, allowing it to develop at the same pace as the Netherlands. Although Mauritsland was lacking in many natural resources necessary for industrialization, the colony, utilizing its home rule and freedom of trade, formed strong trade agreements with the United States, Britain, and France, in addition to the Netherlands. These trade agreements allowed Mauritsland to gain the resources it so desperately needed in order to further speed the development of the colony, leading to a rapid industrialization in the early 1900s. During the late 1800s and early 1900s more freedoms were slowly granted to the colony, including the ability to raise its own military, which served during the Second World War to help liberate the Netherlands from Germany, and the minting of its own currency - the Mauritslander Guilder.

After the Second World War the Dutch government officially passed laws granting their colonies the status of constituent countries within the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands. As these laws were being discussed, there were also discussions to integrate the Dutch colonies of Suriname, Amazonia, and Mauritsland into one constituent country. But the talks ultimately failed. Although an official reason for the failure of the integration talks was never given, the people believe that it was caused by outside factors, and to this day most Mauritslanders believe that Amazonia and Suriname should be rightfully part of Mauritsland.

Upon being granted the status of a constituent country, Mauritsland began a final reform of its government system, changing the period of office for Governors from 14 to 3 years, with the Stadtholder's office being brought down to 5 years. The number of Governors was also increased to be based upon population, in keeping with the historical municipal and rural council system. It was also decided that electoral zones would be drawn up, with one Governor representing every 500,000 people, rounded up, for the elections. Further, in keeping with the historical municipal and council system, the nation would not be divided into provinces or states, but would be governed directly from Mauritsstad by the Stadtholder and the Governors. Being able to see the chaos caused by different parties running against each other for office, it was decided to officially outlaw any creation of a party system, instead allowing the governors to run directly to represent their municipalities and rural areas. The Council of Governors, as it came to be called, was set with a majority needed to pass laws and the like being 55% +1, with a 2/3rds majority being needed to declare war, and with a 2/3rds majority plus a 55% +1 referendum by the people being needed to institute changes to the constitution or governance system. The Stadtholder would have veto powers, and was viewed to be the one in charge of the nation's military. Unelected ministers for key areas of running the nation (military, healthcare, economy, etc), who were mandated by law to be experts in their fields (having 10+ years of experience), were also to be appointed by a majority vote of Governors after the election of each new Stadtholder. Further, this new government officially decreed the creation of a court of 7 judges to interpret the laws created in accordance with the constitution and the over 300 years of pre-established laws of Mauritsland. These judges would be appointed by majority opinion by the Council of Governors for 5 year terms. One of the first actions of this new government, upon finalizing their system of rule, was to officially create a constitution.

The status of Mauritsland as a constituent country within the Netherlands lasted for only 6 years, long enough for one stable election of the Stadtholder to take place, before the population requested a referendum on independence from the Netherlands. This referendum saw a massive turnout, with almost 89% of the population turning out to vote. In the end 73% voted for independence, well over the 2/3rds required, with 27% voting to stay part of the Netherlands. Unlike many other South American nations who gained their independence, Mauritsland did not suffer from any coups and was a relatively stable nation, due in large part to its developed nature and high standard of living.

Shortly after gaining their independence, the Dutch colonies in the southern Caribbean held a referendum, voting overwhelmingly to join Mauritsland. The Mauritslander government, after some debate, approved their request and the islands were welcomed in as fully fledged parts of the nation.

In the years following independence, Mauritsland has continued to invest highly in its trading capabilities and its ports. It has also maintained strong relations with its neighbours, as well as the former Dutch colonies both in the region, and across the world. Mauritsland has also invested heavily in its agricultural resources over the years, both prior to its independence, but especially after gaining it. These investments have allowed the nation to become one of the largest agricultural producing nations in the world. This is believed to have been due to a policy of creating desalination plants for water used for plants and livestock, in order to effectively weather droughts, as well as a policy of government subsidies encouraging the diversification of crops. Being just south of the equator, Mauritsland is also well suited for the growth of many crops year round, further helping the growth of its agricultural industry. The strong focus on trade and development of its ports over the years has greatly benefited its agricultural industry, allowing for multiple ports for the export of Mauritslander agricultural products.

The outline of the palace can be seen on the north side of Mauritsstad.
Take a tour of the palace.