History of Masoa

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 at the capital city of Port Masoa, 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 this year, Masoa also took up the metric system of measurement. 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.

Comparative to the outside world, however, after WWI Masoa was fairly lacking in monetary wealth in relation to other nations more closely linked to the US economy from 1921 to 1929. Masoa fell behind in terms of technological advancements and wealth, which led to a micro-depression in 1927, which ended as soon as it began. However, this separation from the US economy also meant it was saved from the Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash and Stock Market Collapse.

At the beginning of World War II, Masoa declared war on Germany at the same time as the Commonwealth, and President Adam Fambia decided to take active action against Nazi Germany, and sent the newly formed Masoan army to France along with the British Expeditionary Force. After Dunkirk, Masoa had lost a total of around 5,000 men, Masoa's greatest ever loss of life in a single campaign. After news of this reached home, an election was called for immediately, in which President Fambia won by a margin of only 900 votes. After this, Masoa's military was crushed, and so the Masoan Army decided to begin a low-profile, low-number special forces unit to supplement the army and provide defence when it was at its weakest, such as at that time. The Masoan Special Forces Unit was deployed with the British SAS for combat experience, and soon became known as a formidable force, relative to its number of members. It served in France and North Africa until it was pulled out of use when the Army was up to minimum strength again. Masoa was attacked by Japanese forces in 1944. The Masoan Army, Air Force and Navy fought bravely to hold off the Japanese, holding them off just long enough for US reinforcements to arrive when all other allies were unable to assist.

Following World War Two, a government census found that a large percentage of the nation's French-realted citizens had left to live overseas in France and other French territories. The reasons for this mass French emmigration are still not fully known. It appears to have just become a trend caused by an unknown trigger. They were replaced by a large number of Italian immigrants. Following the Vietnam War, an influx of Vietnamese people sought citizenship, and more recently, Chinese people.

This inability to assist led to a short-term shift away from France and the United Kingdom and towards the United States. After the Second World War, the government which succeeded President Fambia was offended by the United States' hardline stance on communism, and so Masoa became isolated from the rest of the Western world. President Max Grammin realised that this seriously hurt public perception, and rather than reassess his position, he stepped down as President. His successor was arguably the most conservative President Masoa ever had, introducing a zero-tolerance policy towards communism and bringing in an amendment to allow conscription, and attempting to ban the Communist Party in Masoa. In 1960, the Masoan pound was replaced by the Masoan dollar, consisting of 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 30c, 50c, $1, $2 and $5 coins. In 1965, the 1c, 2c and 30c coins were eliminated, and $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes were introduced. The $5 coin is currently under review, and may be replaced by a note.

Masoa actively involved itself in the Vietnam War, in which 34 men were killed, 563 injured and 95 missing in action. Masoa pulled itself out of the War when the Conservative Party was lost power to President Johnson in 1965. In 1968, Masoa's classical/rock-esque national anthem, Masoa, Nation for the People was seleted in a competition of 1000 entries. In 1970 Masoa introduced its new flag, which it currently bears prouly today, and in 1972 a new capital city was built to ender interstate rivalries. This decision, initially extremely controversial, proved to be an enormous success. The new capital city, annointed 'Aberfeldie', became both a cultural hub and a centre for new ideas. Conscription was banned and the amendment removed from the Constitution. President Johnson went out of power at the end of the 70s, ending an era of immense socio-political change.

In 1990, the Western world saw its first ever socailist government for over 100 years. The Masoan Socialist Party gained popularity following the fallout from the religious fundamentalism that followed a major tsunami that wiped out the business district in Masoa City, the most populous and wealthy city in Masoa. The Socialist Party made sweeping changes to the governmental policy installed by previous governments, such as a brand new foreign relations policy, in which large amounts of aid were distributed among Third World nations. All war commitments were abandoned immediately, businesses were banned but freedom of speech was at an all time high. The Socialists' approval rating started off high, but soon plummeted due to the failing conomy. They even attempted to bring in a new currency throughout the Pacific, the Pacific version of the Euro and gave Masoa its first motto, "Look Behind to Move Ahead". Even though the Socialist Party's time in power lasted only one term, Masoa became a world leader in humanitarianism and gave Socialism a new face. President Mechzec was considered for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, but did not win it.

His successor is the incumbent President, Adam Magee. Originally Foreign Affairs Minister of the Mechzec Government, he 'crossed the floor' in 1991 to start his own political party, the Republic of Masoa Party. Following the breakdown of the economy in late 1993, the Republic of Masoa Party gained support as an economically driven, centralist party, and a direct competitor to the right-wing Conservative Party. In the 1994 election, the RMP won in a landslide. President Magee declared the Masoan Army would act as a peacekeeping force in the Pacific. Within 6 months inflation was once again at a reasonable level and Masoa's trades flourished. In 1995 the motto was changed to its current form. In 1996, formerly positive relations with the Baradise Islands turned sour when the centre-right economic powerhouse government was voted out and replaced by an extremist right-wing dictatorship. Relations worsened in 1997 when the Baradise Islands covered up the extinction of the endangered native species the Bird of Baradise. In 1998, Masoa threatened war against the newly created extemist-left Chingra. The following year, tensions between Haratsia and Communistia grew so fierce Masoa was forced to consider an intervention on behalf of Haratsia. However, when King Declan of Haratsia suffered a serious illness, Me A. Miles of Communistia took the advantage and took upon a huge money making scheme in the style of capitalist nations, but maintaining its communist position. This caused the national strength to skyrocket.

In 2000, the Baradise Islands threatened attack on Masoa, and so Masoa took pre-emptive action, staging a coup and installing a more stable government. In 2001, the Masoan government helped the creation of the Captalist state of Boridien, led by Luther Crom. In 2002, Masoa assisted in the creation of two nations, the Talon Headquarters headed by President Vader and the Armed Republic of Terravincunt, a militaristic but well meaning nation which unfortunately dissolved in 2004. In 2003 Communistia took over control of Boridien peacefully, giving it a huge boost in strength due to its donations in excess of руб 20,000,000. Once the Communistian occupation ended in 2006, Luther Crom announced himself king, and the economy began to slow. In late 2006, President Magee decided due to international pressure an alliance should be formed. This alliance was named the International Security and Commerce Organisation and consisted of Masoa, Chingra and Communistia holding seats in the Upper Council and Haratsia, Boridien and the Talon Headquarters in the General Assembly. The Charter was signed in Aberfeldie on November 24, but is still yet to be published. The Coat of Arms went under review in late 2006 and is still in danger of being altered. The year 2007 has seen unrivalled approval rates for President Magee, which continue a positive trend toward the 'friendly politician'.