Masoa

Masoa, officially the Democratic Republic of Masoa is a small island nation in the South Pacific, comparable in size to Chatham Island. The main island, now known as Masoa Island, was first colonised by Polynesian fisherman approximately 30,000 years ago. Since then, English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portugese and Chinese traders visited the island to take on fresh supplies of water before reaching the Spice Islands, and the island soon became famous for its natural springs.

The island was colonised jointly by traders of English, French and Spanish ethnicity with the friendly indigenous people after only a small number of skirmishes. A few years later, the inhabitants of the island declared independance from all foreign powers, but was largely ignored.

Since then, the island has flourished on a small scale. It is famous for its technogical advancements and its ability to compete with other larger nations. Its low population has led to a high GDP, but restricts the amount of progress being made in the current day. It is currently attempting to rectify this population shortage, but the nation faces a land shortage inherent with such small island nations.

Etymology
The origins of the word "Masoa" are steeped in mystery. Many Masoan historians have attempted guesses. The most generally accepted theory is that the name derives from the indigenous words 'mAs' and 'Hūá' meaning 'mother' and 'land' respectively. However, many other popular theories exist. Some rumours and popular myths have been fuelled by the rise of the Internet, including that of Masoa was named after the first trader to set foot on the land, a cabin boy named Henri Masoe who first disembarked from the cutter of the schooner Discipline. However, French records show Henri Masoe served on the barque Discipline in the West Indies, and never went to the South Pacific.

The earliest known recording of the word 'Masoa' is in a letter from English trader Johnathon Smythe to his wife in Lancaster, in which he describes "...the great isle Masoah on which we have made port...". It was once believed that 'Masoa' was first used in a primitive constitution drawn up in 1778 between indigenous Masoans and settlers, but this has since been proved to be a forgery.

History
It is believed Masoa Island was first reached by Polynesian fisherman some 30,000 years ago. This is supported by cave paintings in Berembong, an indigenous settlement on the northwest coast of Masoa Island, which have been carbon dated to this period of time. A wooden fising boat, found fossilised approximately 5 feet under the ground in a digsite just north of Berembong, was carbon dated to be over 25,000 years old and a recently excavated burial site is expected to yield similar reults. Indigenous Masoan culture distinctly resembles Australian Aboriginal culture moreso than any other closer relative, which puzzles archeologists to this day. The current accepted theory is that the Polynesian fishermen who colonised Sièg'm Island (as it was then known) were descendants of Indigenous Australians.

Traders from all over the world stopped by Masoa Island to rest and replenish supplies, especially water, from as early as 1657. The water of the island was praised as being amongst the best tasting in the world, and having healing properties. It was also considered a possible location of the Fountain of Youth. However, due to its small area and inhospitable looking landscape, no national power attempted to set up a colony. However, many traders of different ethnicities set up various self-serving colonies without governmental permission. Eventually, the founders of these colonies, whose identities are unknown, recinded their citizenship and united the various colonies under a singular island rule. Soon enough, colonists ran into skirmishes with natives, losing many men to their bush hunting skills, and were forced into a treaty. Language boundaries proved a difficult problem to overcome, but thanks to the natives' patience and peace-loving nature, the colonists and natives lived in harmony thereafter.

These colonies joined together to become the nation's first ever town, which was named New Madrid, and from this small town of under two hundred people, the colony of Masoa declared its status of being a fully fledged nation state on September 23rd, 1791, to which was largely ignored by all governments of the world, until in the space of the next five years many merchant vessels of various states, especially France, lost high numbers of sailors due to a lack of fresh supplies, as the newly formed Masoan provincial government declared no ship from any nation which refused to recognise its new status was to land to take on supplies at the New Madrid port. After sufficient losses, all major European states declared recognition of the Masoan state, although this was never recorded except in the annals of Dutch records, which have since been lost.

Over time, the town of New Madrid grew into a city of modest size. Trade continued, if somewhat diminished by the bad reputation it had from what came to be known as the 'Nationhood Incident'. Amends were made in 1803, however, by Prime Minister Alexander Mills, when he held a conference between the foreign ministers of Masoa, France, United Kingdom and Spain in which Masoa apologised for its brash policy (at much a blow to national pride) and allowed foreign ships in its ports, much to the relief of those nations, who had trouble finding a suitable replacement island for supplies. Mills began an economic revolution in which the Masoan economy boomed to an all-time high and Masoa became the richest it had ever been, employing a new currency, the Masoan Pound. This became the era of exploration for Masoa, as prior to 1800, only approximately 30% of the island had been explored. Explorers in search of knowledge, wealth, and everything in between together charted the rest of the whole island to within a 5% margin of error, a fantastic feat for such an isolated, rainforest covered landscape.

In 1875, on December the 18th, the Constitution of Masoa was signed by all members of Parliament, leading to Masoa finally being seen by the major European powers as a civilised nation. By this time, Spain's power had decreased, and many descendants of the original settlers left as their culture was swamped by the influx of British and French immigrants. In 1900, a competition was held for a national flag to be designed to bring Masoa into the new era. The winning entrant's flag was flown everyday on top of Parliament House since. At the beginning of World War I in 1914, Masoa announced it supported the Allies wholeheartedly, but was unable to contribute any soldiers due to its lack of military personnel. However, many men fought for the British, French, Australian or New Zealand Armies, and their names are recognised on a marble wall in Aberfeldie outside the Masoan War Museum.