Afrocolumbia (An Honorable Retelling)

Republic of Afrocolumbia République de Afrocolumbique et États Associés Timeline: An Honorable Retelling
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  We Shall Overcome
Location of Afrocolumbia (An Honorable Retelling) Location of Afrocolumbia (green)
Capital (and largest city)		Mobile
Other cities		Lille, Sainte-Helene, New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfport
Official languages		English, French
Government		Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic with an executive presidency
-	President	Lloyd Austin
-	Vice President	Heath Brown
Legislature		Central Assembly
Establishment		13 October 1942
Population
-	estimate	40,281,801
Currency		Afrocolumbian dollar (AFR$)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+38

Afrocolumbia (French: Afrocolumbique), officially the Republic of Afrocolumbia and Associated States (French: République de Afrocolumbique et États Associés), is a country in Columbia. It shares borders with the United States, Comancheria, the Cherokee, and Saint Photios. Its capital is Mobile, and its largest city and financial center is New Orleans. It is one of the multiple countries in Columbia that has an ethnic majority of people of African descent. It has also a significant minority of Eurocolumbians, largely descended from the old plantation class of the Grand Confederation. The largest religion in Afrocolumbia is Christianity.

Afrocolumbia is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic with an executive presidency and a representative democracy. It has a high democracy index, good human rights record, and low incarceration rate, but it has a medium corruption index.

Afrocolumbia has been a mostly neutral nation since 1946, when the country's role in global affairs was presented as a semi-second world country with cultural influence but a wealth divide that was bigger than all first world countries. The economy has been focused on decreasing this wealth divide, which has worked and slowly decreased over time, which allows the economy to prosper in food trade, global companies in music and drinks, and most importantly, sporting events.

Etymology

The Name Afrocolumbia derives from the term "Afrocolumbians" which means a person from Columbia of African Descent, the suffix "ia" means "land of" so the name roughly translates to "Land of the Afrocolumbians".

History

Pre-independence (pre-1942)

Indigenous history (12000 BCE-1312)

[TBD Indigenous history]

European colonization and slavery (1312-1776)

Following the discovery of the Western Hemisphere by the Mali Empire in 1312, both Islamic and Christian European Empires had begun to actively pursue active colonial empires and permanent settlements on the Columbian continent by the end of the 1400s. While the Portuguese and Castilians had initial settlements in what would eventually become Afrocolumbia, the English and French eventually drove them out, establishing what then became known as the English Thirteen Colonies and the French colonies of Louisiana and Ribault.

In 1498, the first enslaved Africans would be brought over from West and Central Africa to the New World, with Charleston, Carolina and Saint-Helene emerging as the predominant points of entry. The transfer of slaves from the African continent through the Middle Passage proved to be a horrific process, with many dying of diseases, malnutrition, deliberate suicide, or brutalization before even reaching the New World. It is estimated that the survival rate of enslaved people through the Middle Passage was 14.5 percent. Despite brutal practices both in the slave trade and the plantation, slavery became institutionalized within the economies of both the southern half of the English thirteen colonies and the French colony of Ribault, with a significant white planter class emerging during this period.

Following the outbreak of the First Great War, many enslaved Africans in Ribault mutinied against the French colonial governor and joined up with the English Army in hope for emancipation in exchange for their conscription into the English army. England conquered Ribault and Louisiana at the conclusion of the First Great War, but the status quo of the plantation economy continued as the overextended English Empire gave significant concessions to the white planter class in order to maintain their rule in Ribault and to not alienate slaveholders in the English colonies of the Columbian South. Believing that the English had betrayed them, a large slave rebellion occurred in southern Ribault in 1765 before eventually being suppressed in 1766. While European colonization of the south would come to an end in the late 18th century, the plantation economy and the horrific conditions that came with it would continue to persist in the following centuries.

United States, Grand Confederacy and the rise of black resistance (1776-1913)

Despite the promises of The Enlightenment such as "inalienable rights" which fueled the Columbian Revolutionary War, these rights were not extended to the African Columbians in the plantation-dominated Southern United States. Due to the ethnically and politically fragmented nature of the new country, many English and Dutch abolitionists ended up compromising with the slaveholders in the southern states in order to protect other areas of interests. As a result, institutions such as the Electoral College, the General Assembly, and the 3/5ths compromise gave disproportionate power to the slaveholding states at the detriment of the abolitionist effort and the millions of enslaved black Columbians who lived in the south.

Nat Turner, the orchestrator of Nat Turner's Rebellion

By the early 1800s, many black Columbians had become heavily involved in the abolitionist movement. Unlike many white abolitionists who often sought compromise or gradualism in their approach towards slavery, African Columbian abolitionism directly called out the moral abuses of slavery and the necessity for black resistance and solidarity to overcome the issue of slavery. This abolitionist activism often materialized itself in the publication of pamphlets, such as David Walker's An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World which highlighted the necessity of active resistance. This activism also often materialized itself in violent rebellion, such as Nat Turner's Rebellion which saw enslaved preacher Nat Turner and his followers slaughter slaveholders and their families in order to force white Columbians to take the issue of slavery seriously. These acts of resistance and rebellion would fuel the Black Power Movement that would serve as a founding doctrine for Afrocolumbia a century later.

Enslaved African Columbians on a cotton plantation (Alabama, circa 1850)

The election of Martin Van Buren and the Free Soil Party in 1848 was met with outrage and fear from the white planter class of the United States. As a result, the slaveholders had congregated in Richmond and proclaimed a new country, the Grand Confederation of Columbia. Unlike its predecessor, the Grand Confederation did not pretend to adhere to the principles of inalienable rights or the enlightenment and was created for the primary purpose of preserving the institution of slavery as attested to by prominent Confederates such as John C. Calhoun and Alexander H. Stephens. The Grand Confederacy was instead modeled after the despotic Napoleonic French Empire, with a Bonaparte placed upon the Confederate throne. As a result, the country was a de facto oligarchy, with the Prime Minister completely subservient to the planter class and elections largely being procedural and uncompetitive. These conditions created very little opportunity for African Columbians to achieve emancipation and the situation was worsened by a wave of xenophobia that had grasped the United States and restricted border crossings for black Columbians fleeing the Confederacy. Those who could not escape to the United States became involved in more radical movements such as the "Back to Africa" movement and the Black Hebrew Israelites, serving as a precursor to the modern state of Hebron.

With reform through the government made impossible and the United States turning its back to the plight of African Columbians in the south, the black abolitionist movement had begun to become more separatist and revolutionary in its message. African Columbians in the United States, such as Frederick Douglass, began to call for more militant action to be taken against the Confederacy, which he deemed "an empire of immorality." As a result, armed rebellions against the Grand Confederation would occur throughout the late 1800s, forcing the Grand Confederation to simultaneously defend its massive border with the United States and protect plantations from internal rebellions. This increasingly tenuous position led to Confederate Emperor Louis III to order the Edict of Richmond in 1901, a royal decree which officially abolished slavery in the Grand Confederation and bypassed the slaveholders in Congress.

Despite the de facto end of slavery in the Confederacy, the institutional power of the white planter class persisted, and many freed African Columbians ended up working on the same plantations that they had been enslaved in, often working for minimal pay and in poor working conditions. Despite the abolition of slavery, citizenship still was not extended to African Columbians in order to prevent them from voting in Confederate elections. Political violence and hate crimes against African Columbians also remained widespread, leading to international condemnation from humanitarian groups. The continued oppression of African Columbians led to revolutionary ideologies such as socialism and communism gaining popularity among the African Columbian workers of the Confederacy. The works of W. E. B. Du Bois began to be published and spread orally throughout the Confederacy. Amidst the chaos of the collapse of the Confederate monarchy in the Third Great War, African Columbians in the state of Mississippi had seized a local armory and proclaimed the "Socialist Republic of the Mississippi" in the city of Meridian on 12 June 1919. However, this republic would be crushed by the white Confederate militias that eventually consolidated the former Confederacy into a white-dominated republic in 1921.

Fascism and the Atrocity (1921-1942)

During the early phases of the republican period in the Grand Confederation, there was talk among some white Confederate politicians among extending citizenship, and therefore enfranchisement, towards African Columbians in the Confederacy due to concerns of continued political instability if their ongoing exclusion continued. One of these reformers was Prime Minister John Nance Garner, who sought to extend citizenship to both African Columbians and the Comanche people in order to prevent more ethnic rebellions. While still being an ardent segregationist and being on the record as calling African Columbians “inferior, unruly, and undesirable as Confederate citizens”, Garner believed that extending citizenship to these groups would help integrate them into the state structure of the new republic, allowing it to remain viable against the United States going into the 1930s.

These series of gradual reforms, which eventually became known as the Garner reforms, were kept discreet and weren’t discussed outside of the Garner cabinet or trusted government officials. However, a whistleblower leaked alleged plans from Prime Minister Gardner to secretly meet with African Columbian civil rights leaders in Charleston, South Carolina. This scandal sparked outrage among many white conservatives, resulting in the collapse of the Garner government and the election of the fascist First Union to a majority in government. Prominent fascist congressman Theodore G. Bilbo blamed the African Columbians and the Four Tribes for the worsening economic and political conditions in the Confederacy and began openly calling for violence against black and indigenous people residing within the Confederacy. Bilbo had proposed the re-establishment of chattel slavery and the removal of African Columbians from urban centers, these calls for ethnic cleansing soon escalated into genocide by the start of the Fourth Great War. During the duration of the Fourth Great War, an estimated 100,000-200,000 African Columbians and Indigenous people were murdered at the hands of the Bilbo regime. This horrific event eventually became known as the Atrocity. However, once word of the attempted genocide became widespread amongst the people within the camps, widespread riots and unrest swept the Black Belt of the Confederacy. With the Bilbo regime losing control over its internal territory and U.S. weapons being smuggled to black partisans, the Afrocolumbian Revolution officially began.

Afrocolumbian Revolution (1942-1946)

"Bloody Biloxi" and Paul Robeson's March (1942-1944)

In the early hours of 12 June 1942, the internment ghetto in Biloxi, Mississippi was engulfed in uprising as order broke down in the city. As Confederate troops were increasingly overextended and fatigued during the course of the war, black partisans were able to gain more ground as their leadership became more organized and United States weaponry began arriving in the black belt of the Confederacy. Around the same time, Paul Robeson, a left-wing revolutionary leader who had been exiled to the United States, had returned to the Confederacy with his militia of 2,000 northern African Columbian volunteers. Robeson's army had crossed the border from U.S. occupied Tennessee into northern Mississippi, rallying the locals and overwhelming the Confederate forces to capture the city of Tupelo on 29 September 1942. It was at Tupelo where Robeson proclaimed the "Socialist Republic of Afro-Columbia" on 13 October 1942 with himself as President. From Toledo, Robeson would amass an army of nearly 20,000 African Columbian partisans from both the United States and Confederacy and led a march on Natchez, the state capital of Mississippi with the goal of capturing the governor, paralyzing the state government, and reinforcing the uprising in Biloxi.

In the eastern provinces of Ribault, a more conservative African Columbian revolt would occur under the leadership of Franck Lavaud following a mass uprising at an internment camp north of Sainte-Helene. Despite ideological differences between Robeson and Lavaud, they had settled their differences and formed an "Afrocolumbian United Front" which unified their armed forces against the remaining forces of Bilbo's regime.

Cold War (1946-1994)

"Afrocolumbia of the Future" Program (1974-1994)

Afrocolumbia had been still suffering the effects of the slaughters earlier in the decade, so the support from countries like Germany, Mali (due to African descent), and surprisingly the United States were all needed to help recover from the genocide that came before. This set up the country's role as a developing country during the Cold War with not a lot of promise for the present, but could be useful way down the road. Their development and technology grew more advanced through the technological revolutions that happened during the Cold War, which was priming them to be a bigger country in terms of political affairs and economic influence, which were both happening before the world's very eyes.

After the annexation of Louisiana in 1956 due to them, Comancheria and the United States invading there due to a dictator and all 3 agreeing that the land should go to Afrocolumbia, the country's landscape hasn't changed despite many changes around them happening. Their relations with the United States and Comancheria were both positive throughout the Cold War era and beyond, but the nation itself would continue to be neutral, just like they were throughout the Fourth Great War.

Modern era (1994-present)

In the modern day, they maintain their political neutrality, and they have quickly become one of the more developed nations in the world. Thanks to trade deals with the United States and Comancheria in 1997, the nation has a railroad system called the AfCoTrak, which allows the nation to quickly travel between their major cities and do it in a way that has invalidated the need for the car for most families. This time was also when the cultural Revolution of Afrocolumbia hit the streets worldwide, as the funk and very unique style of the Afrocolumbian 90s culture became a global phenomenon. This revolution of counterculture was so impactful that the clothing and music industries feel the effects of this counterculture revolution to this very day.

The 2000s was a time of change for Afrocolumbians, as the modern era of tensions between Persia and the USC has garnered the Afrocolumbians with a massive amount of controversy as their economic ties to both nations, something that they maintain to this day, but not something that politics have not talked about. The life of the Afrocolumbians changed as well, due to the cultural spread of Christian Conservatism, something that was wildly controversial and heavily disliked by many, especially in Mobile. The ideal was about mixing Christianity with Conservative beliefs, with the side effects of Homophobia and Christian Nationalism not being ignored.

The 2010s was the end of the Christian Conservative era in Afrocolumbia, with the ideal being very rarely followed starting in 2012. This led to a resurgence of Christian Socialism, which became one of the biggest ideals of the 2010s for Afrocolumbia. This idealization of Christian Socialism combined with the street culture of Afrocolumbia made it so that cities like Sainte-Helene, Lille, and especially Mobile were covered in spray art showing a combination of Christian and Socialist beliefs in a matter that caught global attention again for how unique the designs were.

In the 2020s leading to 2024, the 2022 IFF World Cup was a massive success economically, and the naturally inclusive nature of Afrocolumbians meant that there was very few controversies regarding the hosts actions in the tournament. Today, Afrocolumbia stands as a politically neutral developed Christiosocialist nation that is as welcoming to new ideas as they are to trades with anyone, and despite their controversial ties to nations like Persia and Comancheria, they are one of the more highly regarded nations in the world, having observer roles in both the Orthodox Christian Economic Community and the African Union and a positive reputation with most nations globally.

National subdivisions

States

Flag	State	Population	Capital	Ratification
	Alabama	15,666,734	Selma	1942
	Palmetto	12,543,902	Sainte-Helene	1942
	Mississippi	7,381,092	Natchez	1942
	Palmetto	8,317,982	Clemson	1942
	Louisiana	15,372,091	Baton Rouge	1942

Government and politics

Legislature

Afrocolumbia has a bicameral Congress consisting of a lower House of Representatives and a upper Senate. There are 38 total seats in the Afrocolumbian House of Representatives, 7 for Alabama, 14 for Tubman, 4 for Mississippi, 7 for Palmetto, and 6 for Louisiana. The Afrocolumbian Senate consists of 20 seats, four for each state.

Political parties

Symbol	Name	Abbreviation	Ideology	Leader	House	Senate
	Christian Labor	ChrLa	Social democracy, Christian democracy, Democratic socialism	Raphael Warnock	13 / 38	0 / 20
	National Congress	NatCong	Social liberalism	Terri Sewell	11 / 38	0 / 20
	Washington Alliance	WA	Social conservatism, Christian democracy, fiscal conservatism, prosperity gospel	Tim Scott	7 / 38	0 / 20
	Independent Party	IndParty	White Afrocolumbian interests, regionalism, fiscal conservatism	Katie Britt	5 / 38	0 / 20
	Bloc de Louisiane	BdL	Francophone interests, Louisiana regionalism	Charlie Melançon	2 / 38	0 / 20

Culture

Afrocolumbia is world-renewed for a "funky" and "fresh" culture that has sent ripples across the entire world. This culture is filled with sports fans flying flare and waving flags for rugby and baseball, and Afrocolumbia arguably has the most passionate sports fans in the entire world. The food-life varies from where you live, as a traditional southern breakfast of biscuits and French toast could be leading up to a swamp-style Louisiana special dinner of shrimp and po-boys have both become staples in the country.

Religion

The religious form of the Afrocolumbians is also defining with churches being some of the more common types of buildings in cities like Mobile, Lille, New Orleans, Sainte-Helene, and Biloxi. Despite there being a tie between Christianity and politics inside of Afrocolumbia, this tie has been beneficial to Afrocolumbia and has allowed for the nation to be rather peaceful and tie into the political neutrality that Afrocolumbia has.

Although homosexual marriages are not legal yet, there is a widespread acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in Afrocolumbia due to the community never being outlawed in the nation's history. Surprisingly, an unspoken tradition of Afrocolumbians is to come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and what part of the community they represent as at church. This has come with controversy from some Christian Nations like Japan, but generally this tradition, although niche, defines Afrocolumbia as a nation where most can be accepted and passable with, just like their foreign policies.

City Specific Culture

New Orleans is claimed as the most unique city in the world and the unique lifestyle that New Orleans has is proof of its uniqueness. Bourbon Street has global acclaim for its unique nightlife and it's defining power to create an attraction out of anything you see fit. The city also has defined the Mardi Gras parades that have been spread to other French-speaking countries like Armonìa, Canada and surprisingly France themselves are celebrating Mardi Gras come February. Musically, the city has produced 2 main types of music in the highly energetic brass style and the more low-key, sadder tone, and more quiet jazz music that has become great background music for studying or having a nice conversation. In the sporting world, the New Orleans Crescents for baseball and the Krewe Rugby Club, the city has a loud and historically rough atmosphere that have become staples for club matches.

Sunset of Mobile, June 2022

New Orleans isn't the only city which has become globally renowned for its cultural influence, the capital Mobile in Alabama is also globally defining, especially come to the 80's and the 90's, arguably the most influential times in modern culture. The city has defined their culture via spray-paint art beautifully covering the city in colors that "even a rainbow could be impressed at". The city has also been profound for the traditional wear of a backward cap, a hoodie, and sweatpants which still has ripple effects in the fashion industry to this day. The city has 2 other defining traits as the city is the birthplace of modern funk, a music type that has evolved into a global staple and street beatbox battles are not rare to see in the city at all. With the Mobile Grey Sox in baseball, the Mobile Yellowhammers in Ollama, and the national teams of Afrocolumbia, Mobile is also a strong stable in sports.