Timeline of Sham City's history

This is a timeline of Sham City's **history**.

## Early settlement

The island where Sham City stood now was once an uninhabited island in the middle of the Sea of Japan. The earliest modern peoples that arrived on the island were the Hakka Chinese, who first settled in the island in exactly 100 BC. They carried out economic activities on the island, turning it into an entrepôt center which attracted merchants from a wide range of countries, the most numerous being from Arabia. The Arab merchants were responsible for the spread of Islam on the island and contributed to the construction of the island's first and largest mosque, the Sham City Grand Mosque.

## Mongol invasion and settlement

In 1274, the Mongol Empire under the leadership of Kublai Khan has its navy, led by Batyr Khan, landed on the island as a stop during their campaign against Japan. The city center was the setting of the scene of the struggles between the local islanders and the Mongol invaders. Batyr Khan was killed in an uprising in 1285. However, the fighting ceased after the death of Kublai Khan 20 years later in 1294 and the Mongols began to settle on the island while their empire continued to break apart. About half of these Mongols were converted to Islam by the local Muslim inhabitants.

Before the British arrived in the late 19th century, the island remained untouched by foreign forces and for several hundred years it became a notorious hunt for pirates.

## Arrival of the British and the Portuguese

In 1877, the first British merchants arrived on the island and built their first settlement there in the same year. They were met by strong resistance from the local population. Eventually after a great battle that lasted for about ten years, the British defeated the local resistance and executed their freedom fighters in a public execution; and the island and Diamondcutters Island were ceded to Britain. In 1887, the island was transformed into a British Crown Colony.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese became the second European force to settle on the island, establishing a colony on the southwest of the island two years later in 1889. They were followed by the French in 1897.

## The early 20th century and the division of the island between foreign colonial powers

In China, the Boxer Rebellion broke out from 1899 to 1901. During the rebellion, Sham City was used as a base of operations by the Eight-Nation Alliance, where all members (except Japan and the United States) joined by Spain and the Netherlands possess different areas of the island divided into concessions among themselves. As a result of the division, Sham City was colonized by ten European colonial powers, namely:

* British Sham (1887-present)
* Portuguese Sham (1889-2008)
* French Sham (1898-1998)
* German Sham (1900-1945)
* Italian Sham (1901-1944)
* Spanish Sham (1901-1942)
* Dutch Sham (1901-1942)
* Belgian Sham (1902-1942)
* Imperial Russian Sham (1900-1922)
* Austro-Hungarian Sham (1900-1918)

The first of the concessions to be lost was the Austro-Hungarian concession which was swiftly occupied by the German concession in 1918 after the Central Powers lost the First World War. Although the Germans were on the losing side too, they kept the Sham colony until their defeat in the Second World War in 1945. The Russian concession became the second to leave the island due to the Russian Revolution which established the Soviet Union, which eventually seized the island from the British in 1954.

## World War II and the arrival of the Japanese and Soviet Russians

During the British colonial rule, Sham City became a more advanced port. Despite the shared control by the British and Portuguese on the island, the local population continued to prosper due to changes in the Europeans' colonial policy. When the second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, Sham City became a refuge center for Chinese and Korean refugees, who fled there from the advancing Imperial Japanese army. The Japanese Imperial Army attacked and occupied the island on December 7, 1941, the same date as their attack on Pearl Harbor, annexing most of the foreign concessions in the process (except the German and Italian concessions).

Like the Mongols and the British before them, the Japanese were met with strong resistance from the locals, but the island's local resistance was more aggressive towards the new invaders due to their ill treatment to the locals, especially towards the Hakka Chinese. There were also some locals who supported the Japanese arrival due to their policy to expel the British from the island. The Japanese occupation was also warmly supported by the German and Italian concessions in the island, due to Germany and Italy being members of the Axis like Japan. After Italy switched sides in 1943, the Italian concession was annexed by Imperial Japan.

It was also during that war when Soviet Russians first arrived in the island from the Soviet Union. The Soviets, who were allies to Britain and Mongolia during the war, offered support to the British, Portuguese and local forces in the fight against the Japanese. After the Germans lost the war in Europe in late April 1945, the German concession was given to Japan. Eventually in August 1945, the Japanese surrendered. However, some Japanese business and infrastructure companies which built strong relations with the local businesses stayed on the island to rebuild Sham City's damaged infrastructure. British troops returned to the island on August 31, 1945, while the last wartime Soviet troops left the island a day later.

## The Cold War and Soviet control

After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, the Soviet Union experienced de-Stalinization under the rule of new Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. However, Soviet anti-revisionists who reacted negatively to the new policy, did the unthinkable: invade Sham City and annex it as Soviet territory. They succeeded in defeating the British and French troops who worked with them during World War II and turned the British and French portions of the island into the Soviet Sham City Administration in November 1954. During the Soviet invasion of the island, the Portuguese part of the island built a fortification to prevent the Soviets from annexing their zone.

### Anti-Soviet riots

The Soviet period was a hard time for the locals as well as the British settlers. They were suppressed by the Soviets in the same way as the Japanese Army did to them in World War II. For 19 years, the anti-revisionist Soviet government in Sham City launched a purge towards traditionalist and religious elements from the island. Almost all religious organizations were banned and a lot of religious buildings including monasteries and mosques were demolished. The Sham City Grand Mosque, spared from the destruction, was closed until 1977.

As a result of Soviet mistreatment of the locals, multiple riots were carried out against Soviet rule.

* First riot (AKA the Soviet Fare Riot, 8 January-10 January 1966) - caused by the Soviet administration's implementation of the increase in transport fares. It led to the arrest of about 1,880 people, and the perpetrators were executed by the Soviet administration. Days after the riot, the city's Transport Ministry created a petition against the Soviets' fare increase and collected the signatures of roughly 20,000 citizens.
* Second riot (1 September-3 September 1966) - follow-up to the Soviet Fare Riot after the Soviet administration dismissed the locals' petition. The riot resulted in the arrest of 669 people, including Sham City's Transport Minister who began the petition. The Transport Minister was sentenced to death by the Soviet administration, and was hanged in January 1967.
* Third riot (AKA the Soviet Factory Riot, 17 November-18 December 1967) - broke out in a Soviet-owned plastic factory, which erupted into a city-wide riot. The immediate cause of the riot was an assault on a worker from the factory by another, anti-revisionist worker. It ended when the anti-revisionist rioters were commanded to stop fighting by orders of the Soviet president. This riot became an important event in the locals' fight against Soviet rule.
* Fourth riot (AKA the Soviet Hotel Riot, 15 September 1969) - caused by a car accident in front of a Soviet-built hotel. The riot lasted for four hours, injuring 10 people and damaging 14 cars.

### Returning the island to the British

The situation stabilized in the mid-1970s when the Soviet administration on the island decided to embrace de-Stalinization steadily clearing anti-revisionist influence on the island. The Soviet government on the island lifted the religious ban in 1980. Finally, the Soviets handed the island back to the British and French in July 1984 after signing an agreement.

## End of the Cold War and the 1990s

The French Sham territory was given to the British after their lease expired in 1998.

## The Sham Civil War (2003-2008)

A civil war broke out in 2003 between Portuguese Sham Colony and British Sham City.

In 2004, the British administration in Sham City abolished the Air Force Landing Base Policy.

2007 Great Gold Robbery

## Modern history

2009 financial crash

2010 Yakuza War

2011 SARSI outbreak

2012 Pro-independence riots