New Holland

Dominion of New Holland Te Tominiona o Niu Hōrana
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: Onward
Anthem:  Our Southern Land God Save the Queen
Dominion of New Holland, excluding other territories and states within the Realm of New Holland.
Capital	Gloucester 47°5′S 164°1′E
Largest city	Georgetown 44°3′S 143°5′E
Official languages	English a Mātou French b
Ethnic groups (1985)	?% European ?% Matoū ?% Asian ?% Pacific Islander ?% Other
Religion	?% Anglican ?% Presbyterian ?% Catholic ?% Other Christian ?% Other Religion ?% No Religion ?% Not Stated
Demonym	New Hollander
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Queen	Elizabeth II
• Governor General	James Lewis
• Prime Minister	Elizabeth Norton
Legislature	New Holland Parliament (House of Representatives)
Independence from the United Kingdom
• Federation	1870s
• Constitution Act	1890s
• Statute of Westminster	1940s
Area
• Total	3,812,345 km2 (1,471,955 sq mi) (6th)
• Water (%)	1.65
Currency	New Holland Dollar ($) (NHD)
Time zone	Western New Holland Time (UTC+10) Central New Holland Time (UTC+11) Eastern New Holland Time (UTC+12)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Drives on the	left
Calling code	61
ISO 3166 code	NH
English is a de facto official language, but is not legally recognised as such. French is only recognised as an official language in Saint Denis Province.

History

Human Settlement

1932 painting depicting the arrival of Matoū in New Holland.

New Holland was one of the last major land masses to be settled by humans. The indigenous Matoū were the first to arrive. Originally from Polynesia, these seafaring pioneers crossed the Pacific Ocean in large double-hull canoes propelled by sail. Determining the exact date of their arrival is difficult and estimates vary. The earliest archaeological evidence, a bone from the exotic Polynesian rat or kiore, has been dated to approximately 950 CE. This indicates that New Holland was settled concurrently with the Cook Islands some 3000 kilometres (1864 miles) north-east. However, deforestation in northern New Holland has been tenuously linked with Matoū settlement as early as 300 CE. It is ultimately unclear whether this deforestation is anthropogenic in nature. Some historians assert that Matoū oral traditions indicate human settlement between 400 and 600 CE, while others speculate that Matoū sailors periodically visited New Holland for centuries before social upheaval in their homeland forced actual migration. It is hoped that emerging genetic studies and improved archaeological techniques will shed more light on Matoū settlement. Regardless, it is almost certain that New Holland was permanently settled by 1000 CE.

The first Matoū on the continent settled what is now Roheraki and spread from there to all corners of New Holland. Their society was quite different to that which existed when Europeans arrived in the 17th century. Larger social units such as iwi (tribe) and hapū (subtribe) were less important as most Matoū lived in isolated whānau or family groups. Hunting, fishing, and gathering were the primary sources of food. While early Matoū were certainly capable of agriculture, it was a secondary source. The fortified villages or pā associated with later Matoū did not exist. Land and food was in abundance, and the competition over natural resources necessitating their construction had yet to arrive. Early Matoū also maintained contact with the rest of Polynesia for a time, whereas later Matoū limited their navigation to the islands around New Holland. There are areas in which early Matoū society was less distinct, however. Mythology and oral tradition, for example, remained significant throughout precolonial Matoū history.

The conditions in which Matoū lived changed dramatically during the 14th century. Overhunting and deforestation had pushed common staples, such as the flightless moa, to the point of extinction. To make matters worse, global cooling following the Medieval Warm Period devastated the cultivation of food plants across southern New Holland. Sweet potatoes or kūmara, one of the few vegetables available to the Matoū which could be stored over winter, could not grow in the colder climate. Productive agricultural land once in common became rare and valuable, leading to increased competition between various groups. Smaller whānau groups coalesced into larger groups to seize and control locations where vegetables could grow and hapū became the principle unit of Matoū society. War became a fundamental element of Matoū society and the fortified pā emerged as an icon of their civilization. A fierce honour culture developed and much ritual evolved around war. Despite this conflict, Matoū battles were rarely existential. War parties were more interested in the seizure of land, the raiding of food stores, or the satisfaction of honour than the wholesale destruction of competing groups. The use of nephrite jade and bowenite in art and weapon production also became common during this latter phase of Matoū society.

European Discovery

Edward Burton's ship Veritie as depicted in a 1690 illustration.

The first recorded European sighting of New Holland occurred in 1619 when the Veritie, an English ship under the command of Edward Burton, stumbled upon its western coast. Burton had been instructed to exploit the Brouwer Route discovered by Dutch navigator Hendrik Brouwer eight years prior. His employers, the English East India Company, had yet to exploit the route. Burton relied on Dutch descriptions of the route which failed to account for the reduced distance between meridians at southerly latitudes. When calm winds forced Veritie to seek winds as far south as 45°, Burton was inclined to overshoot the point at which he was supposed to turn north. Other factors, such as the inability to determine speed and longitude accurately, exacerbated the issue. Thus, Burton found himself off the coast of New Holland some 2,400 kilometres (1,491 miles) east of his intended turning point. Burton's exploration of New Holland was brief. He landed to take on water at a location now called Veritie Bay and then sailed north along the coast until it turned eastward. Veritie subsequently sailed onward to the East Indies and Surat in India. There is no record of Veritie encountering the indigenous people of New Holland.

While Burton's discovery of New Holland is undisputed, some assert that other European seafarers reached the continent earlier. Java le Grande, a landmass which appears in 16th century French maps, is sometimes associated with New Holland. Other 16th century maps show Terra Australis, the hypothetical southern continent, in New Holland's vicinity. These maps are said to be proof of New Holland's exploration by Europeans a century before Burton's voyage. However, most modern historians reject these claims. In 1975 a small horde of Ming dynasty coinage was discovered on Dalrymple Island off the northern mainland border of New Holland and Roheraki. Minted in the early 15th century, the exact origin of these coins and the date of their burial is unclear. Though no robust evidence exists, it has been argued that a Portuguese ship carrying these coins visited Dalrymple Island at some point before Burton's voyage. Unfortunately, military-related construction at the site has precluded further investigation.

There was little interest in New Holland following Burton's return to England. The known coastline was marked on English maps as Smythe's Land, after Sir Thomas Smythe who governed the East India Company, and largely ignored until Dutch explorer Abel Tasman embarked on a voyage of discovery in 1642. The Council of the Indies assumed that Smythe's Land was the westernmost extremity of Beach or Locach, a wealthy country south of China identified by Marco Polo. They instructed Tasman, a captain of the Dutch East India Company, to follow the Brouwer Route and obtain further knowledge of Beach and its riches. Tasman had participated in an earlier expedition to the North Pacific and was considered well-suited for the role. Two ships, Heemskerck and Zeehaen, were provided.

Tasman departed Batavia in August 1642 and arrived in Mauritius the following month. From there, his ships sailed south into the Roaring Forties and followed the Brouwer Route east towards Smythe's Land. Land was sighted 2 December. Two days later Heemskerck and Zeehaen took on water near the present location of Ruataniwha and then sailed north. In contrast to Burton, Tasman and his ships followed the coastline as it turned east and charted the northern edge of New Holland. A number of landings took place over the following month. However, the wealth of Beach eluded Tasman. Beyond the dense rainforest adorning Smythe's Land, he found a dry wasteland bereft of riches populated by "violent savages". His opinion of the Matoū was no doubt tainted by a hostile encounter at Black Bay in which Zeehaen was surrounded and attacked by a Matoū war party in waka. Tasman nevertheless claimed New Holland in the name of the Dutch East India Company and, recognising that it was not the fabled Beach, named it 'Staten Landt' in honour of the States General. This was also the name of Isla de los Estados off the coast of South America. Tasman incorrectly believed that Terra Australis connected the two.

Heemskerck and Zeehaen departed New Holland's coast at the northernmost point of Roheraki around New Year's Eve. Tasman noted that the climate appeared to change as the coastline turned south and, upon returning to Batavia in June 1643, recommended that another expedition might find land suitable for exploitation on beyond the explored coast. The Council of the Indies, upon learning that Staten Landt was not in fact Beach, expressed little immediate interest and the Cambodian-Dutch War soon consumed their attention. It was not until 1657 that another Dutch expedition visited New Holland. The Council did explore a new name for Staten Landt, having discovered that Isla de los Estados was in fact an island following the Dutch expedition to Valdivia. 'New Holland' was chosen in honour of the largest province of the Netherlands.

The outcome of the First Anglo-Dutch War spurred the Council of the Indies into action. While did not suffer greatly in the Treaty of Westminster, it did signal a new age of strategic competition with English merchants in the Far East and there was a desire to secure all potential sources of trade then known. A second expedition to New Holland was launched in 1657. Two ships under the command of Frans Jacobszoon Visscher, Tasman's former navigator, departed Batavia in March. Progress was slow, due in part to unfavourable winds. However, land was sighted towards the end of July. The expedition had instructions to proceed east from the lands discovered by Tasman and chart the undiscovered coast of New Holland. However, Visscher correctly deduced that he had landed beyond Tasman's Staten Landt and proceeded north-west. He mapped the north-eastern coast of what is now Roheraki, discovered a large gulf which he named Maetsuycker Bay in honour of the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, and eventually reached the coast charted by Tasman. Visscher and his expedition were back in Batavia by the end of the year. Their reports were more favourable than Tasman's. The coast of Roheraki was warmer and drier than Smythe's Land, but not nearly as arid as the land Tasman had explored. Visscher's encounters with the indigenous Matoū, though limited, were largely peaceful. Maetsuycker Bay, now called Haumaruwai, appeared to penetrate inland a great distance and offered a large, sheltered water for future expeditions. These positive factors would spur future European colonisation of the New Holland continent.

First Dutch Colonisation

New Holland's first European settlement, a Dutch East India Company trading post in what is now Roheraki, was established in 1660. The Council of the Indies was impressed with Visscher's promising account and despatched Willem Broek, an army officer, to the continent. A permanent settlement would cement the Company's claim to New Holland, provide greater insight into exploitable resources, and serve as a repair station for damaged ships. Broek arrived in Maetsuycker Bay in August and chose a coastal island for the Company's new trading post. He correctly assumed that defence would be a key consideration in the young settlement's future. The trading post was named Matewe, evidently a corruption of the phrase motu nui or "big island", after an early encounter with local Matoū.

Assessing the relationship between local Matoū and the Dutch settlement is difficult. In Broek's account of life at Matewe, the Matoū welcomed the European colonists. They eagerly exchanged food, wood, and other items for for manufactured goods. Doctor Block, a naturalist who accompanied Broek to New Holland, apparently exploited this trade to gather plant samples and was able to compose a basic dictionary of five hundred Matoū words. Matoū oral traditions relating to Matewe paint a different picture, often describing Broek's men as thieves, murderers, and rapists. Archaeological excavations on the mainland near Matewe have exposed the graves of Matoū killed and wounded by muskets.

Regardless of Matewe's true relationship with local Matoū, it was ultimately a failure. There were resources of value in New Holland, such as phormium (flax) which was identified for its potential in rope-making. However, New Holland was too remote for profitable exploitation. To make matters worse, Matewe's secondary role as a station for ship repair was largely irrelevant as few ships plied the area. Broek was recalled in 1666, the Dutch East India Company seeking to cut losses as the Second Anglo-Dutch War disrputed trade, and Matewe was abandoned. Little remains of Matewe today and archaeological investigations have been disrupted since Roheraki's independence, the Matoū-led communist leadership largely disinterested in European colonial history.

Geography

New Holland resides on a continent of the same name, which it shares with Roheraki. The continent of New Holland is the smallest landmass recognised as such, with a land area approximating 4,396,935 km² (1,697,666 square miles). It is surrounded by the Indian, Southern, and Pacific oceans which lie to the west, south, and east respectively. The Janszoon Sea, a marginal sea of the Indian Ocean, hugs the northwestern coast. New Holland the country occupies 3,812,345 km² (1,471,955 square miles) and is sixth largest in the world. The Realm of New Holland, which encompasses territories administered by or freely associated with New Holland, also includes a number of islands across the Pacific Ocean and Indian Oceans. New Holland also claims the Ross Dependency which lies between 150°W and 44°38'E, except for those lands between 136°E and 142°E which are claimed by France as Adélie Land.

Mainland New Holland lies between 141°W