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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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Kingdom of New Israel
By Rarath
POD: In 1530 David Braham, the son of a prominent Jewish rabbi, has a vision in which Moses tells him that he must lead the Jews across the ocean to the New World, and found the second Israel
History:
1530-40: for the first two years David try’s to convince enough people to accompany him across the ocean to found the new Israel. In the end he gathers together approximately 1000 people, and gathers sufficient funds to buy some ships, and supplies, they depart on January 1st, 1533 and set sail for the new world, by a bizarre stroke of luck the only thing to go wrong is the death of a chicken and the people arrive in the Caribbean on March 5th 1933, they spend a few days recuperating in one of the ports in the greater Antilles and move more on westward into the gulf of Mexico. They come across a little island which would have been called Galveston island in OTL. They pilot their way into the natural harbor and drop anchor. They found the little town of New Jerusalem and name the island Abrahams Island. New Jerusalem over the next few weeks is built form the supplies brought along from Europe and parts of the ships which were broken down to help build the settlement. The rest of 1533 is spent setting up farms along Abrahams Island and building the settlement at years end the New Israelites have developed a small yet happy little island pseudo-nation. As word spreads of the new Jewish "nation" new settlers begin arriving from all across Europe (the vast Majority being from western Europe) in the following years the population grows quite a bit, the first decade ends with the little Jewish settlement growing and prospering. They also have a few small settlements along the mainland coast. there have been a few clashes with the native population but nothing too big enough for the settlers to raise a very small military force to defend themselves, as of right now the settlement gets all its manufactured goods from the Caribbean islands 1541-1550: yet more settlers arrive from Europe in this decade eventually bring the population up. During this time the settlers also decide they want a more formal government and after weeks of debate it is decided David Braham will be crowned the King of New Israel. David accepts. At this time the Spanish Inquisition begins to persecute the Jewish minority within Spain more heavily than ever before which causes a large migration of the Spanish Jews to the Kingdom of New Israel. I this year decade the Jews are attacked by pirates multiple time forcing them to divert resources to the defense of the new nation, building cannon and rifles and making gunpowder. The New Israelites also begin building merchant vessels. By the end of the decade the KoNI controls the southern coast of eastern Texas along with a small portion of the interior 1551-1600: the next 50 years brings with it a small war with the Spanish the end result being Israel gets to exist and effectively gains control of what would have become eastern Texas and what would have become the state of Louisiana. The population of the Kingdom of New Israel has swollen again. Things carry on much as they would have OTL. The Israelites sign a treaty with the Spanish to more claim any more territory east of the Mississippi river except for the little bit that’s part of Louisiana state in OTL, this also give the Israelites control of Mississippi delta and the rights to found a city were New Orleans would have been and the Spanish gain free passage through the Israelite port 1601-1650: the Israelites are growing and prospering expanding to the north and west eventually founding trading posts settlements all along the Rio Grande. In this time the 30 years war occurs and has much the same result, people who had lost their homes in the fighting moved to the KoNI (not many and the ones that did come were mostly Jews) European powers begin to colonize the east coast of North America with Quebec, and Acadia by the French, the Dutch colonize New Netherlands, Sweden colonizes Delaware, England founds Virginia, Plymouth, Maryland, and various pother colonies in the new England area, and with the Spanish taking Florida. By the 1650 the Kingdom of New Israel has solidified its control of the Mississippi delta with the city of Davidsburg (OTL New Orleans) growing and prospering, the Jews have also built a new temple in their city of New Jerusalem (OTL Houston) the original city of New Jerusalem was captured and bombarded in one of the many wars they’ve had with the Spanish, and while being rebuilt and becoming a great port it never became the capital again it was also renamed. 1651-1700: this era marks the beginning of the inter-colonial wars between the great powers, as well as the Anglo-Dutch wars, along with various others. The English end up in control of the entire eastern seaboard along with what would have become the eastern US. The French claimed "the lands from the delta to the arctic" which didn’t sit well with the New Israelites so when it came time for war they sided with the British against the French. Eventually by the end of the century the French have been pushed north and confined to Quebec. The Spanish have bee pushed out of eastern North America with the English taking Florida. In gratitude the English recognize the Israelites claim upon land up to the Missouri river with the border going east along Kansas northern border to the Colorado river and the then follow it to Mexico which is were the New Israelites frontier is 1701-1750: more inter-colonial wars occur mainly between the British and the Spanish the end result being the British controls the Caribbean islands all of eastern North America including Quebec, the New Israelites having been allies to the British gain what would have become in the far future the northern tier of Mexican states (Baja peninsula, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas) and now begins the Indian wars, the Israelites are settling the interior of their country all the way from Brahamsville to the little port of Abrahamsburg on the pacific coast (OTL Guaymas) the Kingdom of New Israel is a happy little country, with problems of continual clashes with the natives and frequent border clashes with New Spain. Also the Kingdom begins to feel some rather interesting social changes firstly with the death of the previous king who was rather insane and oppressive and the ascension of his son who was more liberal minded the people wanted a constitution, which was granted by the new king, it limited the kings powers and gave more power to the people (the constitution was a bit like the British and American constitutions with various differences) the immigration shifted more to the eastern Europeans when most of the immigrants had come from western Europe. The population is as of right now 87% Jewish, 5% Natives with the rest being Christian or various religious minorities. 1751-1800: the Indian wars continue for the British and Israelites and the British attempt to mollify the Indians by the proclamation of 1763, the Americans hate it, and along with all the other unacceptable acts the colonists rebel gain support form the French and win all the British territory south of what would become Canada (this includes the northern half of OTL French Louisiana) the Fledgling nation of the USA is born and its history is much the same for a while articles of confederation followed by the drafting of the constitution which borrows some from the Israelite constitution. The British keep the Caribbean and Canada and then there’s the French revolution and the start of napoleon and all that. 1801-1850: the US settles their western territories, the Kingdom of New Israel continues to settle their lands as well. The 2 north American nations meet to settle all their boundary disputes and the result is much the same as before (the border the Israelites had with the British stays the same) Mexico rebels during this time as does a lot of Latin America, the Napoleonic wars occur much the same as they did in OTL with the US fighting a crappy little war with the British for no reason reasons that ended without anything changing. The US gains Florida during this time as well as the Oregon Territory. The British Caribbean also gain independence at this time (this is all the greater Antilles, basically Cuba, and Hispaniola, Bahamas went to the Americans, and Puerto Rico stayed British) California is taken from Spain by the US at in this time as well. Railroads begin to make their appearance in KoNI and the USA, the first continent spanning one beginning in New Israel (New Jerusalem to Abrahamsburg) was to be finished in 1862. The US also experiences its first crisis with the attempted secession of Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama when the southerners thought the north was going to end slavery. This era marks the final expansion of the KoNI with the Annexation of Nicaragua 1851-1900: the creation of the German Empire occurs, along with the scramble for Africa with things ending up much the same way as OTL (some differences here and there like the British trading the Gambia to the French for the gold coast, and the Italians gaining Tunisian instead of Libya which goes to the French, along with a German Morocco) the telegraph and many other things are invented during this time the Mexicans attempt a war with the KoNI losing badly, the Israelites don’t take any land but do force reparations from Mexico (not a lot) the Dominion of Canada is also formed during this time plus Alaska is bought from Russia by the US and Hawaii is annexed, the US also annexes Cuba during this time marking the end of its expansion, the only other areas which the US expands into are the pacific gains various pacific islands and eventually opening Japan (unless this was done earlier) 1901-1925: the next 25 years see ww1 which ends in because of economic exhaustion by all sides the KoNI sends this time building its little army/navy along with its air force becoming a small yet strong country. The KoNI also has the Nicaragua Canal
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