Babbio- see Ossola.

Bactria- Bactria was a remnant of the conquests of Alexander the Great, located in the area known today as Afghanistan. Ruled and dominated by the descendants of Greek mercenaries, it seceded from the Seleucid Empire in 250 BCE. It managed to outlast every other Hellenic kingdom in the East by over a century, finally succumbing to Scythian invaders in 50 BCE.

Badakhshan- Badakhshan makes up the eastern half of the republic of Tajikistan, and its Shiite inhabitants consider themselves distinct from Sunni Tajiks. Tajikistan's independence was marked by the eruption of civil war between a variety of factions within the state; infighting between geographic cliques within the Communist Party prevented the emergence of a true Tajik identity under the Soviet Union. Badakhshan was able to strengthen its influence in the government thanks to the Afghan war and perestroika. After independence came in 1991, Badakhshan and other regions demanded a role in the government. President Nabiev, despite winning an election in November, was forced to form a coalition government in May of 1992 with various religious and ethnic parties. Nabiev's compromise turned out to be too little, too late. Demonstrations quickly turned into vicious civil war, and the Badakhshan and Leninabad regional governments ominously threatened secession. Tens of thousands were killed in fighting over the next few months. In September of 1992, Russia and the other Central Asian states sent in peacekeeping troops to stop the war from spinning out of control. CIS peacekeepers remain in Tajikistan to the present day.

Bahia, Republic of- In November of 1837, a cabal of discontented army officers and civilian radicals under the leadership of Francisco Sabino took the city of Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. The revolutionary forces, which became known as the Sabinada, were flooded with mulatto and black volunteers. As these new recruits began agitating for the adoption of their own goals, the Sabinada quickly adopted a strong anti-slavery posture. While the onset of the winter rains prevented campaigning, many of Salvador's landowning aristocracy fled to the hinterlands around the mouth of the Amazon and recruited a mercenary force. A fleet of Brazilian warships also began a blockade of Salvador's harbor. The seige began in earnest in March of 1838, and Sabinada defenses cracked in less than four days. Several hundred Sabinada members, including Sabino, were executed for treason.

Baja California- see also Lower California. The Baja California revolt of 1910 was the brainchild of Ricardo Flores Magón, a liberal and later anarchist publisher who emigrated to the United States in 1904. Flores Magón kept in constant touch with many of the border raiders who were endemic in Texas during the early 20^th century, and supported them as fellow resisters of U.S. hegemony. He organized an expedition to set up an anarchist commune in Baja California, but was arrested before the declared republic could claim any territory. He died in Fort Leavenworth in 1922, of what was apparently a heart attack.

Baja California was effectively independent three years later. Following the collapse of the Mexican government's position in Sonora, the federal forces regrouped in Baja California under the leadership of Major Esteban Cantú. Cantú carefully maintained his distance from the other factions in Mexico's civil war, governing Baja as an independent fief and encouraging a thriving commercial economy (as Cantú and his officers got a healthy cut of the proceeds). In 1915, Cantú cut a deal with the victorious Sonorans, recognizing the new government of Carranza and ending Baja's de facto independence.

Baku- see Centro-Caspian Dictatorship.

Balubas- see North Katanga.

Baluchistan- also Khanate of Kalat. The Khan of Baluchistan declared his nation's independence on August 15, 1947, one day after India and Pakistan declared independence. After intense diplomatic pressure, the Khan relented and acceeded Baluchistan to Pakistan in 1948. The Baluchis revolted again in 1958 when their autonomy was rescinded, and the Khan was deported for several years. Abortive revolts since then have claimed over 10,000 lives.

Bantustans- see Bantustan in Subject Index.

Barataria Bay- see Galveston.

Barga- also Hulunbuir. Barga is a region in northwestern Manchuria slightly larger than Illinois. It was a major goal of Russian expansionism during the early twentieth century, due to its abundant natural resources. While the area was under Chinese jurisdiction, many Russians emigrated to the area, and by the Chinese Revolution of 1911 outnumbered the Chinese, although not the native Mongols. As Chinese central authority collapsed, the Bargut Mongols (with a great deal of Russian "assistance") declared their independence, announcing their intention to join Mongolia. When Manchu troops were dispatched to Barga, they found that the Mongols had large stockpiles of Russian materiel, and Russian troops had entered the territory to train and assist the Bargut fighters. The Chinese were steadily pushed out of the province, and in March of 1912 Barga formally seceded. At this point, the Russians generously offered to step in as mediators. The weak Chinese Republic agreed to Russian conditions, and Barga was made an autonomous province, while the Russians gained a great deal of influence. At several times, Chinese troops entered Barga to test the Mongol defenses, and Russian troops intervened rapidly. Barga's autonomy was revoked in 1920, as Russian power in the east collapsed.

Bashkiria- Bashkiria is a Muslim nation along the Volga River. The Bashkirians fought alongside the Whites until March of 1919, when they accepted an offer of autonomy within the Soviet Union. The Bolshevik leadership hoped to stop the Bashkirs from falling into the Idel-Ural camp. When the threat of Tatar nationalism had faded in 1920, the Red Army occupied Bashkiria and installed a group of Russians as Bashkiria's ruling council. The Bashkirian council went into hiding and organized a rebellion. Outnumbered, outgunned, and surrounded, the Bashkirians were quickly forced into subjection.

Basters- see Rehoboth.

Bavaria, Räterepublik (Soviet Republic) of- In the wake of Germany's defeat in the First World War, the Socialist Kurt Eisner deposed the Wittelsbach dynasty and declared Bavaria an independent republic. Following Eisner's assassination in February, 1919, the Bavarian Social Democratic Party decided to stage a revolt of their own. Government officials were expelled from Munich, and the Social Democrat "coffeehouse intellectuals" began issuing a stream of decrees, rather than organizing an army or government. Encouraged by this dilletantism, the Munich garrison launched a coup, which failed. However, the government was now too weak to avoid a takeover by the Communist Party, which immediately began a series of effective reforms (which alarmed Berlin considerably). The Communists held the city until (ironically) May 1, when Weimar federal troops and Freikorp irregulars retook the city and instituted a bloody purge of Communist elements.

Bayano- Bayano was a Maroon settlement in the highlands of Panama. It flourished during the 1550s.

Beaver Island- James Strang was an early leader in the Mormon church. He split with Brigham Young after the death of Joseph Smith, Mormonism's founder, and settled in Voree, Wisconsin with over 2,500 followers when Young left for Deseret. He soon moved his settlement to Beaver Island, and in 1848, the Mormon settlement had grown enough to elect Strang to the state legislature. In 1850, following a shootout that forced most of the remaining non-Mormons from the island, Strang had himself crowned king, and anointed several of his lieutenants as nobility. Upon meeting the teenager Elvira Eliza Field, he promptly took up polygamy, and soon had five wives. Angered and disappointed, former followers of Strang killed him in June of 1856. Soon afterwards, a Gentile mob egged on by land speculators chased the Mormons off Beaver Island.

Beggars of the Sea- The Beggars were a band of pirates under the command of the Huguenot Prince de Condé, based out of Rochelle in the Netherlands. Formed in 1570, the Protestant Beggars carried out savage raids against Catholic commerce, eventually fielding over a hundred ships. After the Beggars began to attack Protestant commerce as well, virtually closing the English Channel, Queen Elizabeth sent a fleet under Sir Francis Drake to destroy them in 1573.

Belém- The city of Belém sits at the mouth of the Amazon River, and was a vital strategic possession of Portugal and then Brazil. However, Belém’s distance from the capital meant that agitators found it a convenient rallying point. After the declaration of the Empire of Brazil in 1822, republicans in Belém refused to accept the new government and declared independence. A military expedition forced Belém to submit the following year.

Belorussian Democratic Republic- After the October Revolution, many Russian political parties opposed to the Bolsheviks were forced into exile or into areas controlled by White forces. The Social Revolutionary Party managed to hold onto control in Belorussia (now Belarus). On March 25, 1918, after the Social Revolutionaries broke with the Bolsheviks, Belorussia was declared independent. Unfortunately, the SR government had little army support, and the region was quickly overrun by Communist forces.

Bendery- see Tiraspol.

Bene Israel- For several hundred years, the Bene Israel have lived along the Malabar coast and in the Konkan in western India. Jews from Europe migrated to Malabar to escape persecution in the wake of the Black Death. The Jews, although relegated to the lowest castes, developed a caste system within their own community. The community has been decimated by emigration to Israel and the United States, and only 5,000 Jews remain in the Bombay area.

Benin- Benin is a region of Nigeria's central coast occupied by the Edo people. Invaded by Biafra in August of 1967, the Edo responded by declaring themselves independent of Biafra and Nigeria. Nigerian troops ended the rebellion in September.

Berbers- see Rif, Confederal Republic of the Tribes of the.

Bessarabia- see Moldavia, Autonomous Republic of.

Biafra, Republic of- Biafra's secession from Nigeria in May of 1967 was declared by Lt. Colonel Chukwueseka Ojukwu, who wished to create a state for the Igbo ethnic group. Despite early Ibo successes, the conflict soon became a war of attrition. Military losses amounted to 100,000, although a Nigerian blockade caused anywhere from 500,000 to two million deaths from starvation. Biafra surrendered in January of 1970.

Biaknabato Republic- The Biaknabato Republic was established at Bulacan in the Philippines in November of 1897. Led by the Filipino patriot Emilio Aguinaldo, Biaknabato's army fought the Spanish to a stalemate. A truce required Aguinaldo to go into exile at Hong Kong. He returned amid the chaos of the Spanish-American War and declared the Philippines independent in May of 1898. However, he was declared an outlaw by William H. Taft, who was then merely governor of the Philippines. The subsequent guerrilla war cost over a million Filipino lives, ending when Aguinaldo swore loyalty to the United States.

Bihac- see Western Bosnia, Autonomous Province of.

Bluefields- see Caribbea.

Bodoland- In July of 1996, the Bodos of Assam joined many other ethnic groups of east India in revolt. The Bodo National Front attacked several villages populated by Muslim refugees, killing over a hundred. A swift Indian response subdued the Bodo revolt.

Bolívar- see Cauca.

Bom Jesus ma Cruz- Bom Jesus was a Maroon settlement in northeast Brazil near Belem. It was destroyed in 1676.

Bophuthatswana- Bophuthatswana was granted independence as a Bantustan in 1977. Its performance as a nation was less than stellar, as evidenced by the two coups of 1988 and a 1990 coup thwarted by South African troops. Bophuthatswana's President Lucas Mangope refused to rejoin South Africa after the end of apartheid in 1994, which predictably led South Africa to cut off all funding to the Bophuthatswanan government. Without South African loans, the government ran out of money to pay the salaries of its employees and soldiers. After Mangope ignored the March 1994 deadline to register for national elections, the population of Bophuthatswana rioted, and dozens were killed. Mangope meekly asked for South African assistance and was immediately removed from office, ending Bophuthatswanan independence.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serb Republic of- also Republic of Srpska. The Serb Republic was proclaimed in 1992 under the leadership of Radovan Karadzic. The republic's territory was cobbled together from an alliance of Serb enclaves that had rebelled against Bosnia's secession from Yugoslavia. While the Serbians functioned as an independent republic during Bosnia's civil war (albeit one heavily dependent on the Yugoslav federation), the Dayton Accord of December, 1995 required the Serb Republic to acknowledge its subordination to the central government in Sarajevo. UN troops have enforced the peace with some degree of success since the signing of the Dayton Accord; this can be seen in the relative quietness of the area even after the creation of the Brcko District effectively cut Srpska into two separate enclaves.

Bougainville, Republic of- also Republic of Meekamuii, Republic of the North Solomons. The island of Bougainville seceded from Papua New Guinea as the Republic of the North Solomons in September of 1975, after the Papuan government began development of a major copper mine on Bougainville without employing residents of the island or returning some funds to Bougainville. In August of 1976, the Papuan government conceded provincial status to Bougainville and the islanders withdrew their secession. Bougainville seceded again in May of 1990 as the Republic of Meekamuii, after the government of Papua New Guinea reacted to demonstrations by sending in combat troops and blockading Bougainville. The independence movement collapsed after the fall of its capital in February 1993.

Bou Regreg Republic- see Republic of Salé.

Bowling Green Republic- see Provisional Government of Kentucky.

Brcko, District of- The city of Brcko occupies a strategic position in eastern Bosnia, controlling a corridor between the western and eastern halves of the Republic of Srpska. Consequently, neither of Bosnia’s governments was eager to relinquish control to the other. In 1999, the UN decided to separate Brcko from both the Bosnian Federation and the Republika Srpska. Brcko remains under UN occupation, and is technically a possession of Bosnia’s federal government.

Brotherhood of the Coast- see Tortuga.

Buenos Aires- After Argentina gained its independence, the nation was paralyzed by tension between the Federalist provinces and Centralist Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires did not want to give up its commercial privileges, its political leverage, or to pay taxes to a central government. The Federalists ratified a constitution in 1854, establishing the Argentine Confederation with a capital on the Plate River at Santa Fé. Buenos Aires repudiated the constitution and declared itself independent. The Confederation hovered on the brink of economic ruin, and its President, Justo José Urquiza, invaded Buenos Aires in 1859. He won a military victory, but was forced to retreat in the face of determined local resistance. Buenos Aires began bankrolling insurrections throughout the Confederation, and after Urquiza surrendered to a Buenos Airean army in 1861, the Confederation quickly collapsed. Buenos Aires imposed a largely Centralist constitution on the new Argentine Republic.

Buganda- Buganda was a small kingdom located north of Lake Victoria. It became the center of Britain's Uganda protectorate. After failed attempts at independence and the deportation of Buganda's ruler (the Kabaka) in 1953, the majority of Bugandans refused to participate in the elections of 1958. As a result, anti-Buganda parties came to power in the protectorate government, which escalated tensions throughout Uganda. In December of 1960, Buganda declared itself independent. The movement lost steam when faced with stony silence from the British, and the kingdom rapidly began efforts to repair relations with the rest of Uganda.

These efforts did not achieve their goal. In 1966, in the wake of several incidents along Uganda's borders and some saber-rattling in Buganda, President Milton Obote declared the constitution suspended. Outraged, the Kabaka demanded the removal of government troops from Buganda. While some Bugandans rallied to the Kabaka, many more stayed quiet, dooming the independence movement. The Kabaka's palace was stormed by troops commanded by the promising young Colonel Idi Amin, and two thousand supporters were massacred. The Kabaka went into exile in London and died three years later.

Buhtan- The Kurdish tribes were loosely autonomous under Ottoman administration during the 19th century. In 1820, Badr Khan assumed the throne of the minor principality of Buhtan, near the junction of the modern Syrian, Iraqi and Turkish borders. In a bid to consolidate his power, he launched an attack against the Nestorian Christian villages to his east, massacring and pillaging as he went. Following an outcry from the European powers, Constantinople launched a punitive expedition against Badr Khan. He defeated the Ottoman force and declared himself independent, rallying support from other Kurdish tribes. However, the Ottomans qiuckly recovered, and Badr Khan surrendered in 1825, following an eight-month siege of his capital. He was exiled to Crete, and the Turkish government took advantage of the situation to crush the autonomy of the other Kurdish tribes.

Bukovina- Bukovina is a region in the northern Carpathians, whose population at the end of the First World War was divided roughly equally between Ukrainians and Romanians. As the Hapsburg Empire collapsed, Bukovina declared itself independent, largely to announce its own annexation to Romania a month later in November 1918. Until the Romanian Army occupied the region at that time, parts of the north were under the control of West Ukraine. The USSR annexed the region after the Second World War, and Bukovina remains part of the Ukraine.

Bumba- Bumba was a Maroon society which controlled an enclave on the western coast of Cuba during the nineteenth century. Bumba maintained trade relations with Jamaica and Santo Domingo until Spanish troops overran the enclave during the Cuban Revolution.

Buraco do Tatú- Buraco do Tatú, Portuguese for "Armadillo's Shell", was a Maroon settlement of about 200 inhabitants near Bahia in northern Brazil. Settled around 1745, it survived by raiding Bahia's oustkirts for food and supplies. The Brazilian National Guard destroyed Buraco do Tatú in 1763.

Burma, People's Republic of- The Burmese Communists have been deeply involved in many of the nationalist conflicts in Burma. They controlled a series of enclaves along the Burma-China border for several decades, funneling arms and money to nationalist groups and spying on American and Mong Hsat Kuomintang activities for China. The Communists often drafted local tribes into their army. In 1990, following a string of defeats inflicted by Burma's military government, the large Wa element of the Burmese People's Army rose up and attacked the ethnic Burmese leadership. Today, most of the Communist leaders have taken refuge in China.

Buryatia- also Transbaikal Republic. The Buryats are a Mongol nation who live in the region of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Nationalist plans were first hatched after 1917's February Revolution. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviets swiftly took control of Buryatia west of Lake Baikal. East of the lake, White Cossacks organized a raiding force. Both the Soviets and the Whites made concessions to the Buryats, hoping to win them over. The Buryats lost little time in assembling the Buryat People's Duma, and participated in the Japanese-sponsored "Pan-Mongol" conference. The hope of the participants was to found a "Greater Mongolia," including Inner Mongolia, Buryatia, and Mongol areas of Manchuria as well as Mongolia proper.

While the new state, dubbed Dauria, was without territory, it did have a Lama and elected legislature, although the real power behind Greater Mongolia was the White general Semenov and his Japanese backers. The Bolsheviks made steady progress from their base west of Lake Baikal, and by the end of 1920 all of Buryatia was under Red control. The Daurian project was abandoned by the Japanese as their influence in Mongolian territory faltered but later resurrected during the Sino-Japanese war of the 1930s.

Footnote: Beaver Island. It should be noted that that U.S. Navy gunboats stood at anchor watching while the Mormons were evicted with what they had on their backs. It should also be noted that those U.S. Navy gunboats helped transport the Wisconsonian mob to Beaver Island. Back.