Origins of the Terran Republic - Part 1
2033
The transition from a community of nations to an interstellar empire began in 2033 when several private and multi-national organizations collaborated to establish a colony on Mars. Under the United Nations treaty [1], the Mars colony was to be governed by a United Nations official. Undersecretary Simon Aldersgate was the first chief administrator of the settlement.
Things went well at first.
In the same year, the Ammanians, a new religious sect emerged in the European Union and began to multiply. They were to have a profound effect on colonization of the solar system.
United Nations Headquarters Campus, Zurich 2048
2041-2048
2041 saw the completion of the South China Sea Mag-rail Undersea Tunnel system linking Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hong Kong. It was a marvel of engineering that improved travel and commerce throughout the region. It would also have a significant unintentional impact on the future colonization of Mars.
By the end of the decade, the Ammanians had spread throughout Europe and Asia, gathering millions of converts but also generating intense hostility by their austere lifestyle and rigid conformity to the dictates of their so-called prophets.
2049 - 2053
As the 2040's came to a close, the Mars colony had progressed far enough to require a significant infusion of new colonists. To meet this need, the United Nations instituted the 'Multinational Martian Colony Candidate Examinations' to be held annually in each of the one hundred forty-two participating nations of Earth. Millions applied each year for a few hundred slots. As the Mars colony began to grow, the number of available slots increased by several thousand each year, and by mid-2053, the commercial traffic between Earth and Mars was sufficient to permit a more open emigration program.
Then everything changed.
South China Coast December 15, 2054
2054-2056
On December 14th, 2054, an Ammanian suicide bomber detonated a one kiloton nuclear device on a passenger mag-lev train during the Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong leg of the South China Sea Magrail Undersea Tunnel. The blast vaporized a section of the tunnel, killing 1,578 passengers and rail crew. Because the bomb detonated near the Hong Kong terminal, the waves generated by the underwater blast killed thousands more at the shoreline. Outrage and hatred for Ammanians world-wide led to the violent persecution of Ammanian communities in several nations.
Meanwhile, a semi-autonomous Martian government was established in 2055 under a multinational treaty. Under the agreement, Mars was divided into provinces reserved for exploitation and development by the Earth-controlled Martian government and provinces devoted entirely to private settlement.
By 2056, sectarian warfare between Ammanian, and other religious sects mixed with ethnic conflicts began to reach alarming levels in Africa and the Asian subcontinent. At the urging of their greatest prophet Demsel, Ammanians started to apply en mass for emigration to Mars to avoid persecution on Earth. To prevent further bloodshed, the United Nations established the United Nations Emigre to Mars Organization (UNEMO) to support the emigration of political and religious refugees to Mars.
For the next thirteen years, hundreds of thousands of Ammanian refugees would make the dangerous trip to Mars, and settle mainly in what was referred to as the Eastern Provinces. They brought only a few personal belongings. Everything else was supplied by the Earth-controlled Martian government.
