Vistari Kabeiland

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Kabeiland Mercantile Territories
(1651–1710)
Mercantiel Gebiedsdelen Kabeiland
Merchant Colony of Kabeiland
(1710–1753)
Handelskolonie Kabeiland

1651–1753
Flag of Kabeiland
Flag of the Vistari Colonial Company
Anthem: Along the River Vistara
Map of Kabeiland
StatusDe jure Akuan republic within the Confederation under military occupation (1651-1662)
Disputed territory of the Vistari Colonial Company (1662-1710)
Rijk territory under VCC administration (1710-1753)
CapitalHeindstadt
Common languagesNys'tat'en, Vistarian (official), Vorpestian
GovernmentColonial Administration by the Vistari Colonial Company on behalf of the See of Supremacy
Emperor 
• 1710-1726
Hendrik III
• 1726-1753
Reiner III
Administrator-General 
• 1651-1678
Thijs-Jan Visser (first)
• 1751-1753
Lodewijk Scheer (last)
Historical eraVistari Golden Age
• Xagelt expedition began
14 April 1651
• Purchase by the Norgsveltian Borean Trade Company
12 March 1753
CurrencyGildemerk
Preceded by
Succeeded by
The Confederation
Norgsveltian Borean Trade Company
Today part of Hvaloaszna

Vistari Kabeiland refers to a period of rule by the Vistari Colonial Company (Vistarian: Vistari Koloniale Compagnie) on the island of Kabeiland. Company rule on the island began in the mid-17th Century with the founding of Heindstadt, however a significant portion of the island remained under control of the Confederation - who claimed the island until their dissolution in 1710 - until the Xagelt expedition between 1651 and 1654. The expedition, under the command of Thijs-Jan Visser, established a formal colonial administration on the island, declaring the formation of the Kabeiland Mercantile Territories (Vistarian: Mercantiel Gebiedsdelen Kabeiland) as a possession of the Vistari Colonial Company.

Following the expedition's success, Visser was appointed as Administrator-General of the island and worked to establish the groundworks for the economic exploitation of Kabeiland whilst working to enshrine company rule over the island through successive military campaigns and the forceful establishment of a monopoly on the island's exports.

Despite success in the military conquest of the territory and the establishment of a framework for extraction under Visser, Kabeiland struggled to maintain profitability, with resources found to be scarce beyond fish. Due to this, and the focus of the Vistari Colonial Company towards more lucrative trading routes in the Concordian, Kabeiland was deemed of lesser importance to its occupiers, with botanical and geological surveying of the island in the 1660s resulting in an affirmation of the unviability of establishing a greater colonial presence.

Vorpestian labour, who had been brought over to the island by Visser in an attempt to cultivate the land for an agricultural export-based economy, were given the option to return to Vorpest and stripped of company support in 1661 due to minimal returns. While most returned to their homeland, some remained in order to take advantage of Kabeiland's still-viable fishing industry. Despite half-measures taken by successive Administrator-Generals to regulate participation in the fishing industry, rampant overfishing became a constant during the remainder of the century.

Due to the damage caused to the ecosystem of the island and its ripple effect on Kabeiland's economic output, more extreme measures were taken in order to recuperate some of the losses accrued. Beginning in the 1680s and continuing until there was no more substantive wealth to extract, colonial officials began to order the seizing of property from the native population for the purposes of selling at foreign markets to the highest bidder. Historical and religious artefacts, as well as personal effects of value, were forcibly taken from the native people and exported, beginning a period of crackdowns on the expression of native Valoasan culture and identify, going far beyond the usual extent of company interference in the cultural expression of its subjects.

This policy would only further following the dissolution of the Confederation in 1710, with the Treaty of Non-Compliance and Commerce formalizing Kabeiland as a Rijk territory of Vistaraland, owned by the See of Supremacy. Under the newly-established Merchant Colony of Kabeiland (Vistarian: Handelskolonie Kabeiland), lands were allocated to a number of Vistari landowners to administer and exploit as they saw fit, under the lax oversight of the Vistari Colonial Company. 40 more years of colonial rule on the island proved almost entirely a loss for the Vistari Colonial Company beyond the use of the island's ports as stops for trade ships. As such, when the Norgsveltian Borean Trading Company put forward intentions to purchase the island in the 1750s, Lodewijk Scheer was placed in charge and ordered to attempt to gain the best possible deal for Kabeiland. Scheer would do this through taking advantage of the lack of a formal survey of the island by the rival company, falsifying a number of reports to a drastic degree in order to evaluate the island far beyond its actual worth - a tactic also performed by the Borean Trading Company.

With falsified evaluations and the conveying of the implication the island had began copper production, despite no copper ever being found on Kabeiland, the island was sold in 1753 for an amount close to Scheer's exorbitant asking price. During the island's handover that same year, tensions arose between the Norgsveltian and Vistari corporations over images and samples provided of copper that actually originated in Vistari North Gondwana. The Vistari Colonial Company denied ever making any notion that the copper was from Kabeiland, and reportedly told the Norgsveltians that the copper had been sent on accident, and was meant for an assessment of the innovations in mining practices in Chibilaba. Regardless of the false pretences established, the Vistari refused to accept any alteration to the deal after it had been signed, leading the Norgsveltians to acquiesce so as to not risk the goal of obtaining the island, which would later prove extremely detrimental in the long term due to the same issues faced by the previous colonizers.