Cabinda, State of- Cabinda is a small Angolan enclave separated from the rest of the country by a strip of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The area is extremely rich in petroleum deposits, which are operated by Gulf Oil. Many leaders in Cabinda were interested in independence, hoping to use oil revenues to build an "African Switzerland". To that end, independence activists held a summit at Pointe-Noire in Congo-Brazzaville in 1974, coordinated by the Liberation Front of Cabinda's Enclave (FLEC). FLEC maintained a low profile until the 1974 left-wing coup in Portugal, which led to Angola's declaration of independence. Soon after the declaration, the MPLA (supported by the USSR), the FNLA (supported by the former Zaire and the CIA), and UNITA (supported by South Africa and the CIA), Angola's main rebel groups, held their own summit. The sole issue on which the groups agreed was that Cabinda and its oil belonged to Angola. The MPLA then occupied the enclave. Spurred into action, FLEC participated in an invasion of Cabinda spearheaded by Zairean troops and the FNLA, with considerable American logistical support. The MPLA defeated the joint invasion, and undermined U.S. support by cutting a separate deal with Gulf Oil. Cabindan independence rapidly became a lost cause, although FLEC has continued sporadic guerrilla resistance to the present day.

Cadiz, Hanseatic Republic of- In 1821, Spain's reactionary King Ferdinand VII appointed a wildly unpopular conservative prime minister. Many of Spain's provinces fell into turmoil, and the declining port city of Cadiz was seized by radicals who closed the town to government officials. The city government declared itself independent, and some members of the city council urged destruction of the bridge linking Cadiz to Spain. The crisis ended when French troops deposed Ferdinand and a liberal government came to power.

California, Free State of- During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Spanish missions of California were replaced by a small group of landowners, descended from soldiers, as the dominant force in the neglected colony. Feuds between the dominant families were constant but largely bloodless; a major component of many battles was the artillery duel, in which competing clans would fire cannonballs just short of each other, which would then be retrieved and fired back. One of these fracases (what is the plural of fracas, anyway?) resulted in Juan Batista Alvarado declaring himself President of the "free and sovereign state of California." A year later, Mexico ended the grand experiment in revolution by declaring Alvarado governor of California. Alvarado settled into the role nicely. Another abortive revolution in 1845 ended with the deaths of a horse and a mule. In 1846, upon hearing of President Polk's declaration of war against Mexico, American settlers declared the Bear Flag Republic, which ended when the United States landed troops in California and ushered in a somewhat more boring model of government.

Callaway, Kingdom of- Missouri's Callaway County managed to pick up this high-faluting title during the Civil War without actually declaring its independence or having a king. According to some reports, Confederate militia colonel Jefferson Jones referred to Callaway County as this during a standoff with Union troops at the beginning of the war, and the title stuck enough for a state representative to proudly declare himself "from the Kingdom of Callaway... and all South, by God!" in 1862. The Union legislature promptly sent him home.

Cancuc- In 1712, Dominican priests ordered the removal of a shrine to the Virgin Mary in the village of Cancuc, saying the miracle it commemorated was false. The Mayan inhabitants of Cancuc rose up in outrage. The revolt soon spread throughout much of Chiapas, an area on the Mexican-Guatemalan border, and the Mayans slaughtered priests and tax collectors. The Spanish sent an expedition two months later which scattered the rebels and executed their leaders.

Canje River- During the 17th and 18th centuries, nearly all of Guyana's population was involved in the production of tobacco. Conditions on the tobacco plantations were hellish for the slaves, who revolted a dozen times against their captors. The most successful of these Maroon revolts was headed by a slave named Cuffy, who led an uprising in the eastern Canje River region in 1763. His followers took control of every plantation in the area, and Cuffy's forces soon numbered over 3,000, enough to threaten colonial rule in all of the Guyana colonies. The Dutch army retreated to a fort along the coast. Cuffy threw away the lives of many of his poorly-armed followers in a series of frontal assaults against the Dutch, and a series of failed negotiations gave the Dutch time to bring in fresh troops from Europe. Cuffy committed suicide, and his rebellion fell apart. Many of Cuffy’s followers were returned to slavery; the rest fled to other Maroon settlements in Guyana’s interior jungle.

Cansiglio- see Ossola.

Canudos- Canudos is a city in the impoverished state of Bahia in northern Brazil. Antônio Conselheiro, a wandering preacher and mystic, arrived at Canudos in 1893. He began preaching that a holy land would spring up in the wilderness. Thousands of Bahians, with nothing left to lose, came to Canudos and gave Conselheiro their support. The surrounding communities were frightened of Conselheiro and the fanaticos; more to the point, the politically powerful landowners resented Conselheiro's depletion of their labor supply. The Bahia state government railed for several years against Canudos, although political infighting prevented any action.

In 1896, a lumberyard in the city of Juazeiro failed to deliver lumber which Conselheiro's followers had already paid for. The mayor of Juazeiro appealed hysterically to the Brazilian government, claiming that Conselheiro intended to invade Juazeiro and take the lumber by force. Three military expeditions, the last with over a thousand soldiers and sixteen million rounds of ammunition, were rapidly deployed and just as rapidly beaten back by Canudos. In June of 1897, a fourth expedition was mounted, fielding twenty-five battalions supported by machine guns and Krupp cannons. Reinforced by a second force of eight thousand men in July, the Brazilians settled into a bloody siege. Canudos finally fell on October 5. Fifteen thousand people were killed on both sides. Only 150 women and children were taken prisoner, although this number does not include the male prisoners whose throats were slit.Predictably, the Canudos affair did not boost the government's flagging popularity, and several other religious movements rebelled during the following decades.

Caprivi Republic- The Caprivi Strip is a long finger extending from northeast Namibia. A remnant of colonial mapmaking, the Caprivi Strip is occupied by the Lozi, a people who also occupy western Zambia. The Lozi have long complained of mistreatment and neglect by the central government, and in 1998 launched a guerrilla war to gain their independence. The Lozi in Zambia began organizing as well. After a 1999 attack that killed 12 people, the Namibian government cracked down on the Caprivi Liberation Army, and while the area suffers continued unrest, Namibia retains control of it.

Caquetá- see El Pato.

Caribbea- Throughout the late 19th century, conditions in Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast declined. Unrest was especially high after President Zelaya's refusal to apply taxes from the Mosquito Coast to local development funds in the 1890s. An American named Clifford Sands, who had fought as a mercenary for Zelaya against Liberal rebels, was angered when the Nicaraguan government refused to pay him back wages. Backed by a railroad engineer and a small party of Miskito Indians, he occupied the city of Bluefields in July of 1914 and declared it the Republic of Caribbea. He was soon apprehended and deported to the United States.

Carlota- A Maroon settlement in the jungles of Mato Grosso province in central Brazil. Founded in 1770, the settlement was discovered in 1795 and the inhabitants sent back to slavery.

Carnia- see Ossola.

Carpatho-Ukraine- also Ruthenia, Transcarpathia. Ruthenia is an area which comprised the eastern tip of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars. The Ruthenes consider themselves a separate people, with ethnic ties to the Ukrainians. On November 1, 1918, Ruthenia declared its independence, but was incorporated in Czechoslovakia in 1919. When Czechoslovakia was partitioned in 1939, the Ruthenes seceded again on March 2. Two weeks later, Hungary occupied and annexed Carpatho-Ukraine. After the Second World War, the Ruthenes briefly declared independence again, but Carpatho-Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union.

Cartagena- Cartagena is a province of Colombia. While it was part of the United Provinces of New Granada, it was the first of the provinces to declare absolute independence from Spain, in November of 1811. The rest of New Granada soon followed suit.

Casamance- also Cassamoukou. Casamance is the name of the southern portion of Senegal, inhabited by Christians of the Diola ethnic group, which is separated from the Muslim north by the Republic of the Gambia. Casamance has long rejected central authority, and declared its independence from France in 1947. The French authorities responded swiftly, and the demands for independence dissolved after confrontations with the French police. After Senegal gained independence in 1960, the Diola continued their tradition of resistance. In 1982, the MFDC (Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance), an insurgent group intent on gaining independence, launched attacks on government targets. The civil war, despite a 2001 peace agreement, continues to the present.

Casanare- Casanare is a region in Colombia’s remote interior plains, the Llanos. At the end of New Granada’s war of independence, Casanare remained alienated from the central government. In 1830, General Juan Moreno, a local hero of the revolution, seized control of the province, declared it independent, and announced that he would seek annexation to Venezuela. When Venezuela rejected Moreno’s overtures, Casanare reaffirmed its allegiance to New Granada in December of 1831.

Casbah- see Hornachero Republic.

Cassamoukou- see Casamance.

Catalan Republic- Catalan nationalism has deep roots, stretching back to the development of a Catalan national identity by the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. The traditional Catalan legislature, the Generalitat, first declared its independence from the Spanish crown in 1640, during the Thirty Year's War. The war ended in 1651 with the Catalans defeated. Another revolt in 1711 also met with defeat. Catalonian nationalism found no political expression again until 1931.

The elections of that year brought the Republicans to power throughout Spain. Exulting in the victory, the Republican leader Companys declared the independence of the Catalan Republic from the balcony of Barcelona City Hall. A few hours later, another nationalist leader, Macià, arrived and announced that Catalonia was part of a vague "Iberian federation". When Socialists took power in Madrid in 1934, they announced their hostility to claims of Catalan autonomy. In reaction, Companys again declared an independent Catalan State. Unfortunately, the Catalans had no way of resisting Republican militias, and the Generalitat surrendered ten hours later. Franco's military government put an end to further discussion of Catalan independence.

Catalonia- see Catalan Republic.

Catarinan Republic- see Santa Catarina, Republic of.

Cauca- In 1858, the nation of New Granada (now Colombia) ratified a new federal constitution which declared the region the Granadine Confederation. The government soon proved itself unable to resolve the differences between the Liberal and Conservative factions, and in 1860 a guerrilla war broke out. As the fighting spread, the national government introduced a bill that would give the President wide-ranging powers to reassert control. Governor Mosquera of the southern state of Cauca announced that if the bill was not repealed, he would secede. Mosquera made good his threat on May 8. He was promptly followed by the governors of Magdalena and Bolívar. Mosquera assumed control of the rebel armies, and presided over a new Colombian consitutional convention after he subdued the last Confederation troops on October 25, 1862.

See also Rio Chiquito.

Central America, Greater Republic of- see Central America, United Provinces of.

Central America, United Provinces of- After the collapse of Spanish authority, Agustin Iturbide declared himself Emperor of Mexico in 1822. Agustin I promptly annexed the Central American states, but their subjection to Mexico ended with Iturbide's downfall in 1823. The states of Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador then formed the United Provinces of Central America. The union was riven from its inception by conflict between the Liberal and Conservative factions. Power was finally consolidated in Liberal hands, when Francisco Morazan was inaugarated in 1829.

As Morazan's rule became more onerous to Conservatives, agitation for dissolution of the union increased. Civil war began in 1838, and the UPCA was dissolved when Morazan stepped down in 1840. El Salvador, a Liberal bastion, retained the name of the United Provinces until January of 1841.

Several attempts were made to revive the union; in 1872, a pact of union was signed between Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. However, nothing came of this treaty or of the 1875 congress of all five Central American states. The "Republic of Central America," declared in 1889, was also stillborn. 1895's Pact of Amapala between El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua formed the Greater Republic of Central America. Rechristened the United States of Central America after its 1898 constitutional convention, this union also failed, disintegrating when the Conservative President Regalado seized power in El Salvador.

Central Lithuania- After the First World War, Poland and Lithuania went to war over the city of Vilna (now Vilnius). One day after a truce was signed in October, 1920, the Polish General Lucian Zeligowski seized Vilna and proclaimed it capital of the new state of Central Lithuania. He ceded control to Poland following a plebiscite in late 1921.

Cental Somali States- see Puntland.

Centro-Caspian Dictatorship- After the November Revolution, the Bolsheviks were able to consolidate power in only one part of the Caucasus- the city of Baku, which was politically dominated by Russian and foreign oil workers. However, the chaos unleashed by the revolution broke the strength of the Russian Army in the south, and Ottoman forces overran the area in 1918. The residents of Azerbaijan welcomed the Turks as liberators, and soon Baku was under siege. On July 31, the Baku Soviet abandoned the city.

They were succeeded by the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, led by Russian members of the Social Revolutionary (SR) Party and supported by Armenian nationalists. Desperate to maintain their freedom from the Turks, the Dictatorship invited British forces from Persia into Baku. Led by a General Dunsterville, fourteen hundred British soldiers occupied the city. The British stay was marked by distrust and intrigue, and Dunsterville was soon disillusioned with the SR government. On September 14, 1918, Turkish forces broke through the defensive lines. Faced with impossible odds, Dunsterville ordered a British evacuation. Less than a day later, Azerbaijani troops entered Baku while the Turks waited patiently and spent three days slaughtering 9,000 Armenian civilians.

Cerca Real do Macaco- see Palmares.

Chakma- see Chittagong, Confederacy of.

Champa, High Plateaus of- see Dega-Cham High Plateaus.

Le Champ d'Asile- In 1818, General Charles Lallemand organized a group of French exiles in New York. With the blessing of fellow expatriate Joseph Bonaparte, Lallemand hoped to found a colony in Texas. Lallemand then planned to liberate New Spain (modern Mexico) from its Bourbon captors, and to use the resources of the grateful nation to free Napoleon from imprisonment on St. Helena. The colonists rendesvouzed at Galveston Island off the Texas coast. From Galveston, the French pirate Jean Lafitte transported them to the mouth of the Trinity River. The French loudly trumpeted the charms of their new colony, but within the year their crops failed and the colonists grew restless. When rumors spread a few months later of Spanish troops assembling nearby, the colonists disappeared without a fight to Galveston in classic Gallic style.

Chan State- see Shan State.

Charlesfort- In 1562, a French navigator named Jean Ribault founded a French colony in what is today South Carolina. Shortly after he departed to bring back supplies, the storeroom burned down and the colony was abandoned. Two years later, another French expedition founded Fort Caroline, at the present location of Jacksonville, Florida. Ribault sailed to Fort Caroline with reinforcements in 1565, on the same day that the Spanish commander Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived to expel the French from Florida. A hurricane wrecked the French fleet, and Menéndez stormed Fort Caroline while the survivors marched on his old position. Marching south to meet the French, Menéndez killed most of the force, saving only Catholics and those with useful skills.

Chechnya, Republic of- also Checheniia, Ichkeriya, Noxchijn Republic. The Chechnyans declared themselves an independent theocracy in December of 1917. The Soviets occupied Chechnya in 1919 after overcoming fierce Chechen resistance.

Cherkessy- see North Caucasia.

Cherokee Nation- In 1802, Georgia ceded its land rights to the west in exchange for a guarantee that the federal government would remove the Indians from Georgia. While the early presidents agreed with this and urged the Cherokees and other tribes to move west, they were adamant that the Indians go of their own free will. The Cherokee Nation was the first North American tribe to organize itself as a state along European lines. In 1827, the tribe adopted a constitution which declared the Cherokees a sovereign polity under the United States, therefore rejecting any claim that Georgia had on jurisdiction over Cherokee land. Outraged, and emboldened by the election of Andrew Jackson, Georgia's state legislature annexed a large part of the Cherokee lands.

This ignited a fierce Congressional debate, which ended in the close passage of the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830. The Cherokees immediately launched a court battle, eventually bringing the matter before the Supreme Court. The Court vindicated the Cherokees, agreeing that Georgia had no jurisdiction over nor right to unceded Indian lands. Jackson's administration conveniently ignored this, and the Cherokees were evicted and marched a thousand miles to Oklahoma at gunpoint in 1838.

Chiapas- Until independence in 1821, the Mexican state of Chiapas was governed from Guatemala City. Five days after Central America declared its independence from Spain, Chiapas declared its independence from Guatemala, asking for incorporation into Mexico. This occurred shortly thereafter.

Chinese Alans- In the fourteenth century, a thriving community of Alans, a Germanic tribe expelled from Central Europe by the Hunnic migrations, was reported in southeastern China. They apparently survived as mercenaries, and no trace of the Alans remains in written Chinese history after that. An Alan population survived along the northern coast of the Black Sea until the 17th century.

Chinese Ceylon- In 1405, the Chinese Emperor Zhu Di sent a vast fleet to explore the Indian Ocean and assert his dominance there. The fleet consisted of over five hundred ships, and carried 28,000 troops. It explored the Indian coast and East Africa, bringing ostriches and giraffes back to China. A larger fleet would not sail until the First World War. The Admiral of the Treasure Fleet, as it was called, was Zheng He. Among such insignificant exploits as annexing the Phillipines for China, Zheng made contact with most of the monarchs along the Indian Ocean’s coast. Following a breach of protocol at the court of Ceylon’s dominant ruler in 1411, Zheng landed his troops, removed the king and installed his own candidate, declaring him a Chinese vassal and requiring him to send tribute to the Emperor. In 1459, a newly acceeded king of Ceylon repudiated the tribute to China.

Chinese Irregular Forces- see Mong Hsat.

Chinese Islamic Republic- The Hui Muslims, descendants of Persian and Central Asian refugees, occupy the Ningxia region of central China. After the Communists began suppression of the Islamic faith, the Hui seceded in 1953. The CIR lasted for less than a month before Communist troops retook Ningxia.

Chinese Soviet Republic- The Soviet Republic was declared in December of 1931 under the Presidency of Mao Zedong. It covered a small rural area south of Inner Mongolia with a population of 9 million. Kuomintang forces swiftly surrounded the Soviet Republic, forcing the Communists to abandon the area in the Long March of 1934.

Chios- Chios is an island in the Aegean Sea, whose inhabitants did well for themselves under the Ottoman Empire. During the early stages of the Greek War of Independence, a group of Greeks from the nearby island of Samos landed and declared Chios independent, taking Turk hostages. When a Turkish warship appeared, the Samians slaughtered their hostages and fled, leaving Chios to pay the price. 40,000 Greeks were sent into slavery, and tens of thousands more were killed during the reprisals.

Chittagong, Confederacy of- also Kadesh. Chittagong is a region in southern Bangladesh inhabited mostly by Buddhists. Bengali Muslims have long used the area as an outlet for overpopulation. The population, which was less than 10% Muslim in 1951, is now over a third Muslim. In 1976, the Buddhists rebelled against Muslim immigration. Brutal government retaliation soon reduced the rebels to an underground existence.

Chongqing- see Chungking.

Christiania, Free State of- In 1971, a group of Danish hippies seized the 18^th century citadel of Christiania, located along the waterfront in Copenhagen. They declared the compound independent, and proceeded to ignore most of Denmark's laws regarding drug use. Although the anarchist squatters have faced eviction several times at the hands of Danish troops, they have been left to their own affairs following a negotiated agreement with the Defense Ministry to pay taxes and abide by drug trafficking laws. The Free State was briefly occupied by a biker gang which turned Christiania into a red light district in the late 1970s, although they were expelled by the inhabitants.

Chuang- see Right River Soviet.

Chukotka, Free State of- The Chukotkans live on the eastern tip of Siberia. Although they remained neutral throughout the Russian Civil War, they rebelled when the Soviets tried to collectivize their reindeer herds in October of 1921. The Soviets reconquered Chukotka a year later.

Chungking- The province of Chungking in southern China declared its independence on August 4, 1913, after a revolution against President Yuan Shih-k'ai broke out. Republican troops stifled the revolt in a matter of weeks. Although support for the revolutionary troops had been tepid, many Chungking residents shifted to revolutionary sentiments during military occupation by troops from Yunnan and Kweichow.

Chuquisaca- During the first stirrings of revolt in South America, the city of Chuquisaca in Bolivia declared itself independent in May of 1809, installing a government of local landowners. It was followed two months later by the city of La Paz, whose junta set about hanging Spaniards, priests, and anyone else who dared mumble about the government or, for that matter, the hangings. Both cities were quickly brought to heel by Spanish troops from Peru.

Circassia- see North Caucasia.

Cisalpine Republic- The Cisalpine Republic was formed in June of 1797 by Napoleon, merging the earlier puppet states of the Cispadane and the Transpadane Republics. In 1805, Napoleon turned the Republic into the Kingdom of Italy, soon after his coronation as Emperor. The Congress of Vienna returned the Republic to the control of Austria.

Ciskei- Ciskei was the last of the Bantustans to be declared independent, doing so in 1981. The government rapidly fell into the hands of the Sebe family, who ran Ciskei like a feudal domain. The Sebes squabbled amongst each other, and a faction of the family staged a military coup in 1990, taking advantage of the chaos throughout South Africa. Ciskei's President refused to give up his independence when the homelands reverted to South Africa in 1994, but changed his mind shortly thereafter. During the integration process, Ciskei troops rioted for their back pay, and South Africa dismantled the Ciskei government in March of 1994.

Cispadane Republic- see Cisalpine Republic.

El Cobre- El Cobre was a Maroon nation formed in 1731, when a group of slaves rebelled in western Cuba. El Cobre prospered, and by 1781 the village's population had expanded to over a thousand, occupying a large portion of west-central Cuba. The Governor of Cuba ended the rebellion by granting the entire population of El Cobre their freedom in that year.

Cocos Islands, Kingdom of the- The Cocos Islands are a small coral archipelago in the eastern Indian Ocean. Although they were discovered in 1609, it was not until 1826 that Alexander Hare led an expedition to settle the islands. He was soon joined by a second expedition under John Clunies-Ross the next year. Upon arriving, Clunies-Ross promptly declared himself King. Clunies-Ross ruled benevolently over the small community of expatriates and Malay laborers until his death in 1854. His son, John George, soon gave up his throne, inviting the British to annex the island. John George Clunies-Ross served as Governor until his death in 1872. In 1886, a squabble over land rights led King John's grandson to declare the archipelago independent again. Queen Victoria defused the situation by granting all land in the archipelago to the Clunies-Rosses in exchange for a guarantee of public use. The Australian government bought the land in 1978, ending the last vestige of the Clunies-Ross dynasty.

Cofradía de San José- see Alitao.

Conch Republic- In April of 1982, the U.S. Border Patrol blocked Highway 1, which connects the Florida Keys with mainland Florida. The purpose was to search for illegal aliens and drugs, but it also impeded the lucrative tourism industry in the Keys. The Key West City Council passed a resolution declaring the secession of the Keys as the Conch Republic, in order to protest the action. The Conch Republic declared war on the United States and then, taking their cue from The Mouse That Roared, surrendered and applied for economic aid. A few weeks later, the roadblock was removed and the crisis ended.

Confederation of the Equator- In 1823, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil dissolved the national Constituent Assembly, and restored the absolute monarchy. Liberals throughout Brazil were outraged, and in 1824 rebels in the northeastern city of Recife declared the region independent. The Imperial government reacted swiftly, assisted by a flotilla of British warships. The rebellion quickly spread to neighboring provinces, but rapid reprisal by the Brazilian Army and the guns of the Royal Navy overwhelmed the Confederation's armed forces, and Brazilian government was formally restored on December 1, 1824.

Contestado- The Contestado region lies along the Argentina-Brazil border. Since Grover Cleveland awarded the area to Brazil after arbitration in 1895, it has been a point of contention between the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Paraná. Mountainous and forested, transport through the Contestado has traditionally been difficult.

In 1912, a man named José Maria Boaventura began preaching to the Contestado peasants. He argued that the Brazilian Republic was evil, and that only a monarchy could restore Brazil's honor. Frightened, the local militia fired on an assembly that Boaventura was preaching to. José Maria was killed, but the crowd drove off the soldiers. In mid-1913, José Maria's followers began gathering at Taquaraçu to await his resurrection. In December of that year, they defeated another government force. Clashes continued, with the Contestados winning nearly every battle. By September 1914, there were 20,000 rebels ranging over nearly half of Santa Catarina. The Brazilian commander, General Fernando Setembrino de Carvalho, used his 7,000 troops to burn every field and house in the Contestado region. The last ten thousand rebels concentrated in the fort of Santa Maria. After a two month siege, Setembrino de Carvalho took Santa Maria, killing 600 of the Contestados.

Coro, French Republic of- Coro, a town in eastern Venezuela, was the center of a massive slave revolt in 1795. The revolt’s leader, José Leonardo Chirinos, declared Coro a "French Republic" and announced that the new nation would govern itself by the ideals of the French Revolution. The Spanish government crushed the insurgents, and Chirinos along with his lieutenants was executed in December of 1796.

Corsica- Corsica first became a possession of the Republic of Genoa in the 15^th century. Genoan control was never terribly firm, but open rebellion did not break out until a tax increase in 1729. The Holy Roman Empire intervened, but Corsica refused to accept anything short of independence, and since no noble could bear to see his neighbor as King of Corsica, the crown was offered to Theodore von Neuhoff, a minor German baron. In 1738, France invaded the island. After three years of the first decent administration the island had received in centuries, the French left and Genoa resumed control. However, the damage to Genoan prestige was permanent, and despite the appointment of a moderate governor in 1743, the Corsican nobles organized a "Regency" that ruled "on behalf" of "King" Theodore. The Regency forced Genoa to acknowledge that Corsica would govern itself, although Genoa could continue to appoint governors. Even this tenuous link to the mainland dissolved after Genoa allied itself with Spain and France in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1745, Corsica officially declared itself an independent republic. A year later, the situation had become a fairly stable stalemate between the forces of Genoa, of Corsica’s Consul Gian Pietro Gaffori, and Domenico Rivarola, who commanded 200 mercenaries under the flag of Sardinia. In the aftermath of the war, a highly bloodied and chastised Genoa reasserted control over the island.

Cospaia, Republic of- In 1440, Pope Eugene IV sold a district in the northern Papal States to the Republic of Florence. However, an error in the treaty left a strip of land half a kilometer wide centered on the village of Cospaia outside either state. The inhabitants promptly declared themselves the Republic of Cospaia and flourished, free of taxation, overlords, laws, soldiers, and other related pestilences. The republic maintained its happy independence for nearly four centuries, until 1826. The inhabitants had turned Cospaia into a haven for smugglers, and Florence and the Papal States decided to partition the republic. While the Cospaiesi lost their smuggling revenue, they were allowed to maintain their other main source of revenue, a tobacco plantation.

Counani, Republic of- In 1886, a long-standing border dispute between Brazil and French Guiana was settled by arbitration, awarding the contested area to Brazil. The French author Jules Gros decided not to accept this result, and declared the region the Republic of Counani. After Gros' death, a number of claimants stepped forward to assert their presidency of Counani, although it is unclear if any had even met Gros or set foot in Counani. The farce was ended once and for all in 1905, when Brazil formally complained to Spain about a Spanish citizen claiming to be an ambassador of Counani. The 'ambassador' was arrested and threatened with extradition. Although nothing came of these threats, the idea of Counani was buried.

Courland, Empire of- The Teutonic Duchy of Courland (now Latvia) was at the height of its power in the 17th century, under the leadership of Duke James I. The Duke was an avid mercantilist, and acquired two colonies; Tobago, where he hoped to make his fortune in sugar, and Gambia, to supply slaves for Tobago. The Duke was able to fend off Dutch and English attacks for several years. Sweden invaded Courland in 1658 to stop James from aiding his feudal lord, the King of Poland, in his war against Sweden. A third of Courland's population died, as the Swedes disrupted food production and spread plague. The Dutch took advantage of the invasion to seize Courland's empire later that year.

Cracow, Free City of- The Congress of Vienna in 1815 divided up Europe after the fall of Napoleon. Part of the spoils was the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Nearly all of it was incorporated into the three Continental Powers; Prussia, Austria, and Russia. However, the three disagreed over who should control the town of Cracow (now Krakow) in southern Poland. As a compromise, the city and its hinterland were made independent.

Despite the best intentions of its government, the republic was shaky from its foundation. Party lines soon developed between the aristocracy and the burghers, between the intelligentsia and the aristocracy, and between any other groups that hoped to retain at least a shadow of independent action. The beginning of the end for Cracow's autonomy came in 1827, when the neighboring powers annulled an election which handed the Senate to the middle class. In 1833, Cracow's autonomy was rescinded and power given to representatives of the three powers. In 1835, the Resolution of Teplitz awarded Cracow to Austria, which occupied the Free City the following year. In February of 1846, the Polish revolted and declared Cracow an independent Republic under a lawyer named Tyssowski. Ten days later, Cracow fell to a Russian expeditionary force.

Cree- see Lubicon Nation.

Creek- see Muskogee.

Crete, Republic of- The Greeks of Crete chafed under Turkish rule, especially after mainland Greece gained its independence in 1832. In August of 1866, the Cretans rebelled and declared themselves independent. Four days later, the Cretan Revolutionary Assembly voted for union with Greece. The European powers offered no help, and Greece could provide only the most meager assistance. The rebellion sputtered out in 1868. A new rebellion broke out in 1898, and the Ottoman Empire was unable to restore control. As Greece made moves to occupy the island, it was placed under the protectorate of a consortium of European powers, anxious to maintain Turkish stability against Russian expansionism. Crete was returned to Ottoman control in 1909, and the Candia Assembly governed the island as an autonomous province of Turkey until its annexation by Greece in 1913.

Crimea, Khanate of- After the Mongols were repelled from Russia, a small group migrated south and occupied the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea. They later converted to Islam and became part of the Ottoman Empire, the office of Khan becoming largely ceremonial. It was not until 1783 that Catherine the Great of Russia ended Mongol domination of the Crimea. The Tatar descendants of the Mongols declared independence briefly during the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Crimea, Democratic Republic of the- Crimean Russian leaders announced their separation from the Ukraine on May 5, 1992. Faced with stern Ukrainian disapproval, the Crimeans withdrew their secession on May 10.

Crimea, Republic of - Following the Bolshevik Revolution, an assembly of the Crimean Tatars, the Kurultai, met and declared Crimea's independence. After a brief confrontation, Bolshevik troops overwhelmed the Republic in January of 1918 and the Kurultai was disbanded. In early 1918, German troops began approaching the Crimea. In hopes of forestalling a German invasion, Lenin directed the local Bolsheviks to declare independence as the Republic of Taurida. They did so in March. After the Communists were handed a defeat in elections the following month, the Tatars became increasingly restive, although they refrained from further secessionist activity.

In May, the Germans invaded Crimea despite its nominal independence and the Bolsheviks retreated. Upon the German withdrawal in November 1918, the Russian Kadet Party assumed control of the peninsula. This government was the closest thing to a liberal democracy produced by the Russian Civil War; elections were free and the Tatars were granted freedom to form a new Kurultai and demonstrate for annexation to Turkey. The Kadet republic was overrun by the returning Communists in April 1919. That June, retreating White forces under Denikin organized a second and heavly conservative Republic of Crimea. Wrangel succeeded Denikin as leader of the Crimean Whites, and presided over the peninsula's final occupation by the Soviets in late 1920.

Cuckfield, Independent State of- Cuckfield is a small rural town of 3,000 nestled in Sussex. The town declared itself independent in 1965, but the British government has been lenient in pursuing its rights in the area. This is encouraged by the fact that annual independence celebrations raise money for a wide variety of local charities.

Cuenca- The city of Cuenca in Ecuador declared itself independent on November 3 (or 5), 1820. Cuenca was later absorbed by Gran Colombia.

Cundinamarca- Cundinamarca was formerly a province of New Granada (now Colombia), surrounding the city of Bogotá. Soon after the collapse of Spanish authority in the region due to Napoleon's conquest of Spain, the province's governorship was assumed by Antonio Nariño. He began his term by annexing neighboring territories, and fought a vicious war with Tunja, one of the provinces which founded the United Provinces of New Granada.

Nariño was anxious to join the UPNG, which would increase his legitimacy. However, the United Provinces, urged on by Tunja, demanded that Nariño step down and introduce a civil government. He refused, and New Granada sent troops to force his surrender in November of 1812. After a humiliating defeat in January of 1813, the federal government, harassed by Spanish loyalists in the south, was forced to recognize Nariño as Cundinamarca's President. Nariño declared Cundinamarca's independence from New Granada in 1813. He then left to fight the Spanish in the south, but was captured. With Nariño gone and the Spanish looming, the young nation was shaken. When Bolívar arrived at the head of New Granadan troops in December of 1814, Cundinamarca joined the United Provinces.  

Cyrenaica, Emirate of- see Sanusiyah.

Footnote: Canudos It also does not include the prettiest of the female prisoners, who were separated out and used to 'reward' the victorious Federal troops. Back.

Footnote: Chinese Ceylon The Emperor of China later determined that since China was the richest and most civilized nation on Earth, maintaining the Treasure Fleet would be pointless. The ships were burned at anchor; after all, selling them raised the specter of the magnificent warships falling into pirate hands. Back.

Footnote: Christiania I believe this is the only time a biker gang has taken over an entire nation. I may be mistaken. Back.

Footnote: Conch Republic Key West stills celebrates its brief independence every summer with the "Conch Republic Days" Festival, where patriots can play bingo, enjoy sailing contests, and purchase T-shirts. Back.

Footnote: Corsica King Theodore was back in his ancestral estate on the Rhine by this point. On his better days, he was too drunk to say anything biting about his former kingdom. Back.