It’s true. I have a serious love of everything Pacific and the Indies. I have had this dynasty in me longer than any other. Make a Polynesian nation with the nation editor tool in one of the expansions to EU4. Have a Pacific themed dynasty. Enjoy.
I hope that you are staying safe in our modern COVID world, by the by!
Where does my love come from?
Probably from this game series circa EU2. But it’s one I’ve had for a while. I have followed Pacific Islander news websites for you as a dynasty. I have loved this region. I have fallen in love with Nan Madol, which to visit is on my bucket list. My love for this region and my potential still-undone dynasty was reignited when I watched the nature serial Wild Pacific by BBC Earth. Afterwards I decided that I wanted to take Hawaii as my nation of choice.
I did some research on ancient Hawaiian culture and history and religion. It was one of the last areas colonized by the Polynesians that colonized the rest of the ocean, spreading from New Zealand to Easter Island. They were colonized a few hundred years before 1444, the start of EU4. Their culture was stratified in peasants, nobles, merchants, etc which fits EU4, and they had almost 160,000 people in the archipelago. That’s a lot. But they were a long way from unity. They were still divided tribes. No island was united. The Kingdom of Hawaii doesn’t form until the 1700s. To play them would be ahistorical.
Who then?
What is Polynesia? They are three major things can impact the game:
1. They were lovers of the sea, navy, ships, trading and colonization. Hawaii for example traded with people as far as Japan and the coast of the Americas. They set out on colonial cruises long before Portugal or Spain were even formed. They loved the ocean and the sea.
2. They were builders. From the heads of Easter Island to the great temple capital complex of Nan Madol, They built in the hardest place in the world. They even built artificial islands. In the Pacific Ocean.
3. They were religious animists lovers of nature. Their faith was a key part of their identity and went with them from island to island, incorporating the local flora and fauna. Their faith drove them on.
They were religious, building, explorers.
What about the capital of Nan Madol in modern Micronesia? Where was it in 1444?
The Saudeleur Dynasty ruled Pohnpei from 1100 to 1628, which includes 1444, my start date.
You can read more about them here:
Saudeleur dynasty - Wikipedia
Nan Madol is the capital of this empire, and was built over time for hundreds of years and would have been at it’s prime in 1444. Named the 8th wonder of the world, the great mystery (how was it built, there’s no quarries for it’s size), artificial islands in the city, called the Venice of the Pacific, and more.
Am I doing Micronesia?
I think I am!