First Civil War

From Iscoun

The first civil war of Iscoun was a conflict between Wemberley and the English colonies of Georgeland, Octavia and Brunswick from 1890 through to 1895.

Handover of Braganza

As part of the 1890 British Ultimatum in Africa, the British government also requested that King of Portugal, Carlos I hand Braganza to the United Kingdom. King Carlos I, not wishing to damage the alliance between Portugal and Britain agreed to the demand and on 1 October 1890, Braganza became Wemberley under British rule. The British sent nationalist Michael Thirlmire to be the new colony's governor and he immediately began a policy of "Englishisation" as called by the Portuguese settlers.

Thirlmire's first move as governor was to rename the colony Wemberley as it was a more "English" sounding name. He also renamed the towns of São Cristóvão, Migueles, Belem and Palmela.

A leader emerges

By the middle of 1891 a large number of Wemberley's citizens became discontent with Governor Thirlmire's Englishisation of the colony, with a petition demanding that the name of the colony and the cities be changed back to their Portuguese names. In an attempt to quell this discontent, Thirlmire agreed not to rename any other cities.

In 1892, Thirlmire had Queen Victoria grant self-government to Wemberley. Thirlmire's government consisted of a 40 member elected Legislative Assembly with male British subjects over the age of 21 allowed to vote and a 20 member Legislative Council which was appointed by the Governor. When the first elections were held on 26 May 1892, less than 5% of Wemberley's residents were eligible to vote. Thirlmire had determined that British subjects would only include those born in the United Kingdom or in Wemberley since its handover.

The parliament first met on 20 June 1892 in Barrios where Portuguese born settler Joao Moniz entered the room that the Legislative Assembly convened in and interrupted the proceedings. He said that the parliament was full of "imperialist dogs" and that it was not representative of Wemberley. He said that not one member was Portuguese, even though 95% of the colony's population were of Portuguese heritage. Before he could continue his speech he was removed by the Sergeant-at-Arms and taken to see Governor Thirlmire.

It is reported that while speaking with Thirlmire, Moniz threatened that there would be a backlash by the colony's citizens against the pariament and his governorship. Thirlmire laughed at Moniz, telling him that one person could not change a thing.