Elaeneth

Ynys Elaeneth
Elaeneth Island

National motto: --
Languages
Official	Arvorec
Major Religions	Cravethism
Capital	Treaf Elaeneth
Government Type	Armorican
Head of State	King Caradoc of Ceasaer
Head of Government	Dewrad ab Olammad
Area	410 sq km
Population	7,367 (1991)
Currency	Arvorec denaer
Main subdivisions

Elaeneth Island (natively Ynys Elaeneth), is the smaller but more populous of the two Armorican Isles' overseas colonies.

History

Elaeneth was originally discovered on May 21, 1502, by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova, on his voyage home from India. The Portuguese named the island "Saint Helena" after St. Helena of Constantinople. They found the island uninhabited and imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables, built a chapel and one or two houses, but established no permanent settlement.

Occupation after this point was intermittent, and by 1645 the Dutch had taken posession of the island, only to abandon it in 1651. The island remained uninhabited until "discovered" by Arvorec sailors in 1685, carrying out King Maesyf's mission to discover the southerly sea-route to Norway. They then went on to discover the Samonios Islands.

The Arvorec sailors renamed the island Ynys Mynydhol, "Mountainous Island", and in 1687 some twenty families, principally from Saern, left the Isles to settle this new territory. Unlike those settlers who left for the Samonios Islands, most of those who settled Ynys Mynydhol were Cravethist pagans and to this day the island is relatively homogeneous in matters of religion.

The settlers established their first community in a narrow wooded valley on the north coast, which they named Elaeneth Newyth, New Elaeneth, after Cead Elaeneth on Saern, the Isles' only heavily wooded area. By 1750, the name had come to be used for the whole island.

During the 18th century, Elaeneth began production of coffee and flax, but the main source of revenue was its use as a sailing post on the route from the Isles to the Samonios Islands and as a stopping-off point on the Middle Passage en route to India. In 1761, a French ship bearing a cargo of slaves making for Louisianne was wrecked off the coast of Elaeneth. With their characteristic anti-French and anti-slavery attitude, the Elaenedhaed set about rescuing the crew, setting the slaves free and offering them citizenship of the Island, while holding the French sailors as hostages.

Today, with the decline of the shipping trade, Elaeneth's main concerns are the export of fish and coffee and a nascent tourist industry, which has seen a sharp growth since the Cae Adeanad aerodrome was completed.