Sonora, a Nation of Beauty!
Etymology
Sonora is derived from the city of Sonora in the rural foothills of northern California, which in turn gets its name from the Sonoran region of northern Mexico.
History
Sonora's roots go back thousands of years when the first settlers made their home in the land around northern California's bay area. Many Wintun tribes roamed these lands including the Patwins. These Patwins included tribes of Suisunes, Tolenas, Malacas, Labaytos, and Ululatos. Their diets consisted of nuts, acorns, berries, and Miner's lettuce. These native people's lived in wikiups, conical huts made of tule reeds and mud. During the late 14th and 15th centuries, the Spanish conquistadors moved in and occupied most of what is the western United States today, including the native lands in northern and southern California. This new crown territory would come to be known for the next few centuries as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1821, Mexican settlers overthrew their Spanish rulers in revolutionary war of independence and established an empire of their own. Over the next twenty-five years, California was governed by four different Mexican regimes: the First Mexican Empire (1821-1823), the post-monarchial provisional Supreme Executive Power (1823-1824), the United Mexican States (1824-1835) and the autocratic Centralist Republic (1835-1846). Following western settlers from the east and growing expansionism from the United States, the Mexican government threatened to expel any and all settlers who were not Mexican citizens. In response, Californians led by the Mexican General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and pioneer William B. Ide sent a proclamation declaring their independence from their Mexican rulers and declaring the region of Alta California (present day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of western New Mexico, western Colorado, and southwest Wyoming) to be an independent republic. The raising of a singe-starred white banner with the picture of a brown bear over Sutter's Fort in Sonoma became the rebellious act known as the "Bear Flag Revolt". While the republic was short-lived and the California Republic consumed by the expanding imperialist power of the United States, the act served as a rallying cry for Californian independence, a spirit that shows in the culture of its people today. As years past, settlers came from near and far, the area around California saw the great boom of the entertainment industry and the late 20th century brought new technology and ideas that allowed for the tech boom and digital age to take root and home in the regions of northern California. Social media, video sharing, internet superhighways, and the high powered electric vehicles all began to take shape in this region of the world. It is here that our nation began to take shape....
In 2009, a micronational project blossoms into a two and a half year long experiment called "Starland" (formerly Star Kingdom). This young nation grows and under the leadership of a charismatic, albeit immature political leader, it grows, learns, falls and rises again to form a new nation called Sonora in the summer of 2012. Though short-lived and marred by its predecessor's scandalous past, the great Sonora too rises to form the territory of Costa Dorada. In December of 2012, a young Titus Smith takes the reigns of his young nation again, returning from a four month retirement and partners with friend and micronational colleague, Casey Hamlin, as they actively participate in the Republic of the Oasis Islands. For 18 months, they effectively run their states and the nation with utmost care and precision. In June of 2013, Smith ascends the rankings to become Vice President of the Oasis Islands and helps Hamlin in shaping and running the country. The win reelection the following November, only for Smith to leave to form his own political party. The Oasis Islands fell into decline and would never fully recover from its long winter slumber and in April 2014, it dissolves. Smith declares Costa Dorada independent and runs it for the next seven months until it too is dissolved. During this time, Smith left micronationalism yet again to travel cross country and pursue personal endeavors. It is upon his return in a mild, sunny but damp California winter, that just like before a people, persistent and independent rise again. This nation would last for nearly two years before eventually dissolving only for a predecessor to rise once more to take its rightful place as its legal successor.
In 2009, a micronational project blossoms into a two and a half year long experiment called "Starland" (formerly Star Kingdom). This young nation grows and under the leadership of a charismatic, albeit immature political leader, it grows, learns, falls and rises again to form a new nation called Sonora in the summer of 2012. Though short-lived and marred by its predecessor's scandalous past, the great Sonora too rises to form the territory of Costa Dorada. In December of 2012, a young Titus Smith takes the reigns of his young nation again, returning from a four month retirement and partners with friend and micronational colleague, Casey Hamlin, as they actively participate in the Republic of the Oasis Islands. For 18 months, they effectively run their states and the nation with utmost care and precision. In June of 2013, Smith ascends the rankings to become Vice President of the Oasis Islands and helps Hamlin in shaping and running the country. The win reelection the following November, only for Smith to leave to form his own political party. The Oasis Islands fell into decline and would never fully recover from its long winter slumber and in April 2014, it dissolves. Smith declares Costa Dorada independent and runs it for the next seven months until it too is dissolved. During this time, Smith left micronationalism yet again to travel cross country and pursue personal endeavors. It is upon his return in a mild, sunny but damp California winter, that just like before a people, persistent and independent rise again. This nation would last for nearly two years before eventually dissolving only for a predecessor to rise once more to take its rightful place as its legal successor.