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| Capital (and largest city) |
Akinnahborg | |||||
| Population | 975,000 | |||||
Wampanoagmark Fylk is autonomous province of Álengiamark in the northeast of the country. To the south lies the Fylk of Sudervik and to the north is Passamaquoddia. Its largest city and capital Akinnahborg is on the Atlantic coast. It is the smallest territorially of Álengiamark's fylk and the second smallest by population.
History[]
The Wampanoag people formed the most stubborn and warlike of the tribes which the early Norse settlers in Leifia met. When second and third generations of Vinlanders looked to expand their farms it would be the Wampanoags who would repeatedly drive them back out out of the islands and peninsulas of what would become Sudervik. It would take two wars, one of which was branded a crusade to attract attention from distant Europe, to momentarily subdue the tribe and the tribe was divided between the nascent Álengsk government coalescing in St. Hafdiss and the lands under the Passamaquoddy kings.
Divided, Christianised, and ruled over either by the Norse incomers or local tribes they had once dominated, the Wampanoags did not however lose their identity. They converted to Lutheranism en masse in the 1530s thanks to preachers trained in Passamaquoddia and in 1560s as the Leifian War of Religion began to gather pace they were coerced into revolting against the Catholic crown by Vinlandic diplomats eager to make common cause.
The rebellion would falter and fail but would become the backbone for a 'national myth' which would sustain the tribe through the dark period after the war's close. As forced reconversion was implemented many of the fallen Lutheran priests and military leaders were venerated as martyrs. After the country was reorganised during the reign of Herridr I rather than split between multiple competing cities, ecclesiastical estates and minor lords, the Álengsk Wampanoag found themselves united once more within Sudervik Fylk. This unity came much at the same time as a opening up of the country's education system which allowed for the dissemination of history, the recovery of the language (which had been in steep decline) and the formation of several Wampanaog Nationalist groups. The northeast of Sudervik was soon regularly voting for Wampanoag candidates whom, as time went on, advocated a separate 'Wampanoagmark'.
The sclerotic nature of Álengsk and Sudervik politics frustrated many and by the 20th century some groups were committed to violent means to achieve their goals of a separate nation. Wampanoag 'Determinism' would be at the forefront of Álengsk politics through much of the 1940s and 50s as bombs and assassinations on the streets of Akinnahborg, Nahigavik and St. Hafdiss became unfortunately commonplace. In 1960 the Sudervik government, working with more peaceful Wampanoag politicians agreed to hold a referendum throughout the Fylk. Any county which voted for separation would be collected into a new Wampanoag-dominated fylk. Though the vote was tightly controlled it was peaceful, and in 1962 the pro-autonomy counties were split away from Sudervik and would form the self-ruling Wampanoagmark. Henceforth it would no longer send representatives to St. Hafdiss while St. Hafdiss would largely step back and allow it to govern itself. Central government retains control over borders, defence and various key policy decisions but otherwise lets Akinnahborg follow its own path with a small degree of oversight.
This did not solve the problem entirely as several other counties in Sudervik hold high Wampanoag minorities and some only voted by a slim margin to remain in Sudervik. Many activists are convinced the votes here were rigged but calls to rehold elections in these have so far been rebuffed. Moreover the very existence of an autonomous Wampanoagmark has emboldened their cousins to the North in Passamaquoddia to call for greater powers. Relations between the two countries over the issue has been strained at times. Internal politics in the Fylk are often fraught too as the previously hard-line and conciliatory factions became entrenched.
The Fylk is well-noted for being relatively industrialised compared to the rest of the country and the old Akinnahborg university, founded in 1690 and once attached to Akinnahborg Cathedral, is often regarded as the one of the best on the Eastern Leifian coast. The Kónunggur Korset Verkesmiðjur is supposedly the highest single employer of women in the whole of Leifia.
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