Most Serene Republic of Saint Photios Γαληνοτάτη Δημοκρατία του Αγίου Φωτίου Timeline: An Honorable Retelling | ||||
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Location of Saint Photios (green)
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Capital | New Smyrna Beach | |||
Largest city | Agios Augustinos | |||
Official languages | Greek | |||
Religion | Orthodox Christianity | |||
Demonym | Photian | |||
Government | Unitary presidential constitutional republic | |||
- | President | Elias Koteas | ||
- | Vice President | Iakovos Milotis | ||
Legislature | Parliament | |||
Establishment | ||||
- | Scottish colony | c. 1768 | ||
- | First Republic of Saint Photios | 12 April 1819 | ||
- | Annexation by the Grand Confederation of Columbia | 19 August 1850 | ||
- | Confederate Territory of Saint Photios | 3 January 1852 | ||
- | Second Republic of Saint Photios | 19 June 1944 | ||
Population | ||||
- | 2024 census | 5,302,836 | ||
Currency | Saint Photian pyron (η ) |
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Drives on the | right |
Saint Photios (Greek: Άγιος Φώτιος), officially the Most Serene Republic of Saint Photios (Greek: Γαληνοτάτη Δημοκρατία του Αγίου Φωτίου), is a country located in the continent of Columbia. It is bordered by Afrocolumbia to the north and Pahokee to the south.
History[]
Pre-colonial history[]
Early European colonization[]
The first Europeans to claim the Pahokee peninsula were the French in the 1500s. Following the conclusion of the Pilgrim Crusades, the French solidified their rule over the peninsula by establishing tribute over the Calusa people. Despite this control over the peninsula, French Pahokee would not experience the same level of growth as neighboring Ribault due to swamp lands and its humid climate making permanent settlement difficult.
By the mid-1700s, the French were placed in a financially tedious situation as they had lost Ribault and New France to the English empire at the conclusion of the First Great War. While the Treaty of Paris ensured France retained control over Pahokee and the island of Champlain, the French were looking to sell the peninsula due to growing resistance from the insurgent Seminole and the increasing unprofitability of the territory. As a result, Scottish colonist and diplomat Andrew Turnbull would successfully negotiate the Scottish acquisition of the Pahokee peninsula in 1768 for a relatively cheap price of 7 million francs.
Scottish colony (1768-1819)[]
Dr. Andrew Turnbull, a renowned Scottish colonist and general who was previously active in the colony of New Caledonia, led the first Scottish colonial settlements in Saint Photios. Turnbull, who had been a Scottish consul in the Rhomanian city of Smyrna, married a Roman woman and had begun to learn Greek. Due to Scotland’s low population and vicious Hungarian rule in Rhomania, Turnbull began inviting Rhomanian settlers to the colony in order to increase its population and economic productivity. By 1780, over 1,500 Rhomanians from the Mani peninsula and 150 Scots called the city of New Smyrna home.
By 1800, the population of New Smyrna had risen to over 100,000 settlers, 87,000 of which were of Rhomanian origin. Rhomanians would establish prominent cities in the peninsula include Agios Augustinos and Anixi while Scottish colonists would largely remain concentrated around the New Smyrna Beach area. Despite forming a clear ethnic majority within the colony, Rhomanians were excluded from the governance and administration of the colony, all of which was still handled by ethnic Scots. Inspired by the values of the enlightenment and the successful Columbian Revolution which occurred on their northern border, the Rhomanian settlers of Pahokee began calling for independence from Scotland. These calls for independence went ignored by Scottish Governor-General John Tufton who instead chose to uphold the caste system within Pahokee and pay Seminole mercenaries to harass Rhomanian settlers into submission.
In 1819, after decades of tension, Rhomanian colonist and former militia member Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis would lead a mutiny against the Scottish forces in the city of Agios Augustinos and successfully captured the city on 12 April 1819. That evening, Mavromichalis and his top advisors would gather in the Church of St. Photios and officially proclaimed an independent republic ruled by "the free Romans of Pahokee." The new country quickly became known as the "Saint Photios Republic" before the name would officially be adopted by Mavromichalis 5 months later in September.
The independence of Saint Photios would alarm Scotland, which quickly mobilized forces from New Caledonia in order to reinforce Pahokee. Despite the efforts of the Scottish reinforcements, it was believed that Mavromichalis' army outnumbered the Scottish loyalists 15 to 1, resulting in bloodbaths against Scottish forces at the Battles of McGill Springs (June 1819) and New Smyrna Beach (October 1819). By the end of the year, it became apparent that the Scottish forces would be unable to operate within Pahokee peninsula due to their colonial army being stretched thin reinforcing Borneo, Naomh Lazarus, the Scottish mainland, and New Caledonia. As a result, the Scottish military instead engaged in a scorched earth policy, giving Seminole soldiers weapons to attack and destroy Rhomanian settlements in the central peninsula. However, this plan backfired almost immediately and the Seminole tribes of southern Pahokee joined the Rhomanians in their rebellion. Under pressure from the United States, Scotland would be forced to negotiate with the rebels on the peninsula.
After the defeat of the last Scottish forces in the peninsula on 12 June 1820, Scotland signed the Treaty of New Edinburgh which would see the partition of the Pahokee peninsula between the Greek-dominated Republic of Saint Photios and the Seminole-dominated Republic of Pahokee and Scotland formally recognize both countries as independent. While Scotland would withdraw from the region, the newly proclaimed Republic of Saint Photios would face challenges from both the insurgent United States and the Seminole to the south.
First Republic (1819-1850)[]
Population exchange and conflicts with the Seminole (1819-1822)[]

A Seminole soldier in southern Pahokee preparing to ambush Photian soldiers (c. 1820)
Immediately after its independence, Saint Photios would be dragged into a border conflict with the Seminole nation of Pahokee to the south. The conflict was driven by a lack of clearly defined borders and large Seminole ethnic overspill in Saint Photios. Eventually the Treaty of New Smyrna Beach in 1822 would end the conflict, establishing a clear border between Saint Photios and Pahokee. At the same time, an agreement was reached between President Mavromichalis and the Principal Chief of the Seminole to engage in a series of population exchanges to ensure Greeks would live in Saint Photios and the Seminole would live within Pahokee. While this arrangement remained controversial due to the forced relocation of communities, it would effectively stave off conflict between both nations throughout the 1820s, though underlying tensions continued to remain.
Birth of Photian nationalism (1822-1842)[]
Following the death of President Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis in 1822, he would be succeeded by his brother Petrobey. As President, Petrobey Mavromichalis continued to rule the newly created republic of Saint Photios as a stratocratic dictator.
Conflict with the United States, Grand Confederation and annexation (1842-1850)[]
Confederate territory (1850-1944)[]
Independence (1944-present)[]
Government and politics[]
Culture[]
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