Javisaina Archipelago

The Javisaina Archipelago, known to its inhabitants as the String of Pearls, is a chain of volcanic islands, atolls, and reefs located to the west of the Tismidan Jungles in the vastness of the Great Ocean.
==Culture==
The Javisai are an adventurous seafaring people with highly-developed navigation skills. The preferred craft is the sea canoe, which is navigated using the sun and the stars, careful observations of cloud reflections and bird flight patterns, to determine the location of islands. They also have an extensive knowledge of stars and constellations for use in navigation.
Each local tribe developed politically in diverse ways, from fully-developed kingdoms in some islands and island groups, to constantly-warring tribes or extended family groups between various sections of islands, or in some cases, even within the same valleys on various islands. While population pressures caused tensions between various groups, the primary force that seems to have driven unity or division among tribes and family groups is geophysical: on low islands, where communications are essentially unimpeded, the incidence of conflict is much rarer.
Meanwhile, on most high islands, there were, historically, warring groups inhabiting various districts, usually delimited primarily by mountain ridges, with carefully drawn lowland boundaries. Early on, however, many such islands developed a united social and political structure, usually under the leadership of a strong monarch.
==Colonization==
Because of the paucity of mineral or gemological resources, the exploration of the Javisaina Archipelago by colonial navigators (whose primary interest was economic), was of little more than passing interest. Following the initial Barlovian contacts with the Javisaina Archipelago, a great number of changes occurred within Javisai culture, mostly as a result of colonization, the introduction of a large number of alien diseases to which the Javisai had no immunity, slaving ventures to supply plantations in Saldonia, and an influx of missionaries. In many cases, colonizing powers, usually under pressure from missionary elements, forcibly suppressed native cultural expression, including the use of the native Javisai languages.
By the early 1520s, almost all of the Javisaina Archipelago was colonized or occupied to various degrees by Barlovia.
==Geography==
* Map of the Javisaina Archipelago
The Javisaina Archipelago is made up of 16 large volcanic islands and countless smaller reefs, rocks, and atolls. Most of the islands are heavily forested with screwpine (Pandanus), candlenut (Aleurites), and Hibiscus trees, but some of the islands also feature extensive volcanic deserts with little vegetation. Crops raised on the islands include pineapples, coconuts, taro, and sweet potatoes.
Category:Regions
Category:Locations