Anchorage, Alaska

[HADC10 1]

The following is a City Journal of the region of Anchorage, located within Alaska.  It follows the growth of the city from a small collection of villages to a world metropolis.  A few points of reference are here at the top.  The first is a timeline, to help familiarize yourself with the finer points of Alaskan history:

Timeline of Alaska

18,000 BCE - 10,000 BCE: The first humans in the New World cross over the Bering Land Bridge from modern day Russia, some of them making their homes in Alaska.

50 BCE - 1070 CE: The Ancients build their great stone remnants and canals, then quickly disappearing.  Modern scientists are still mystified as to the lives of these people and the reason for their disappearance.  Perhaps future discoveries will reveal more.

920 CE: Tang Dynasty refugees arrive in Anchorage.

1520 CE: A lost ship from Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigating voyage stumbles upon a great northern land.

1585 CE: Fleeing persecution in France, Hueguenots and Jews make their way to Southeast Alaska.

1609: The first settlers (they are French), arrive in Anchorage.

1610-1755: Numbers of settlers arrive in Alaska, diversifying the population, but the harsh winters keep populations low.

1755-1763: The Grand Derangement in Acadia results in many French there being transported to Alaska, solidifying the country's French roots.

1787-1804: Monarchist French attempt to flee to Alaska, but the territory has a different hero: Napoleon.

1804-1811: Nothing much.

1812: Napoleon's invasion of Russia brings Russian imperial interests into play in Alaska.

1812-1814: The Napoleonic wars rage on in Europe.

1814: Russia invades and conquers Alaska

1814-1828: Russian occupation

1828-Onwards: Who knows what the future will bring...

And now, without further ado

ANCHORAGE

Anchorage was originally occupied by the Ancients, who built a great system of canals  and ports.  Most archaeologists believe that the ancients lived between 50 BCE and 1070 CE, when they were wiped out by diseases introduced to North America by the Vikings.  Archaeologists believe that Ancients were at the center of a vast trans pacific trading network, hence the need for their port.  This is a sample of Ancient-dug canals.

In all probability, the first sight which settlers laid eyes on was this, the Phare du Nord, dated to approximately 100 CE.  The statue on the front of the lighthouse was added in the 950s CE.  It depicts Deg Holikachuk, the greatest merchant of the Ancient era, who ran goods from China or Japan to Anchorage for a transfer to the Maya of Central America, and vice versa.  From the lighthouse, the settlers built out their houses, and the core walls of Anchorage.  Each successive layer of wall indicates an area of farmland which was converted to city.  For the next 200 odd years, the lighthouse would serve as the seat of government for Anchorage.

The settlers soon set to work building a wall around their new settlement in a strange land.

And it wasn't long before their little settlement started growing...

Coming Up:

Major world events affect Anchorage...and the quality of these updates gets a lot better.

[Sky Guy 163]

Can't wait for more. I like the town! Keep up the good work!

[crazyarchitect 7]

Sounds like it has a good history, looks like it could be a good journal

[Ozzel9211 0]

Why there is mediteranean building in Alaska???

[Ozzel9211 0]

Sorry, double post

[jacqulina 162]

great start and intro my friend,love the town so far

[fabsies55 5]

nice little town and your city looks "square" but it looks good.

if you turn it into a city and put seawalls in i think it could look really good. and i like your lighthouse good job

[HADC10 1]

REPLIES

Sky Guy: Thanks.  We're about to see it grow.

Crazyarchitect: Don't worry, the history will get better.

Ozzel9211: The Cheechakos don't know what winter is yet.

Jacqulina: We'll see how long it stays a town when the Europeans taste fish.

Fabsies55: It is a little square, but people get looser out in the countryside.

UPDATE

The year is now 1828.  As a result of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Russian troops invaded and occupied Alaska.  They made Anchorage their capital and brought some changes to that town, but in this update, we'll focus on the villages of Spenard.

Here is an ancient temple in the heart of Spenard, a land of twisting canals, rampant crime lords, and a dearth of law and order. 

Here's the village of Spenard proper.  The tower is the home of Dmitri DuRoche, the crime lord in charge of the village, while the rest of the buildings belong to the various citizens, henchmen, and victims.

Away from the main town of Spenard is Gary's Bend, run by Crime Boss Gary Jones, an American immigrant.  He has almost feudal practices of working the city's labor in the farm fields.

Finally, we come to a village that's different than the other two.  When European slave traders were working along the coast of Africa, they created terrible situations.  Some African Muslims, not wanting to get caught up and enslaved, set sail out on the Atlantic, south, around Cape Horn, and up the Pacific until arriving in Alaska.  The set up their colony in Spenard.  Here are a couple pictures.

Coming up: History marches on, and we see more villages.

[KingTitan 6]

Great history friend. The fog pic with the castle type walls looks eeerie. You have some great details.

Not too fond of the water mod you are using...looks more like CLEAR. as you can see from the above pic... the shadows cast into the floor of the water. But nontheless. looks great....

Just change your water mod.

-KT

[jacqulina 162]

prob ot long lol,but its coming on very nicely and great sea walls

[HADC10 1]

REPLIES

Thanks for your responses.  Now, it's...

UPDATE TIME!

The year is still 1828, and Alaska is still under Russian rule.  In this update, we'll take a look at some more settlements, and ancient history.  Don't worry, we'll get back to Anchorage Proper in due time!

This area is known as Government Hill, based upon a translation of an ancient text, supposedly placing a capital here.  All that's ruined now, except for these monuments here.  These pillars were built at the end of the ancient docks.  The reasons remain unknown.

Here's Port Quebec, located on one of the ancient docks.  It's a small settlement, with aspirations of trade, but it lives in the shadow of it's neighbor to the southwest, Anchorage.

This is Colline de Gouvernment, a small farming village.

Now for a little history.  In 907 CE the Chinese Tang Dynasty collapsed, and China descended into violence.  Some of the upper echelons of the political and religious establishment fled northeast to Alaska, climbed up into the mountains and established a small enclave of their own. *

In 1644, a similar phenomenon occurred.  In that year, Manchurian invaders overthrew the Chinese Ming Dynasty.  The Ming elite fled the country, but, scorning the Japanese, they boldly went north, passing by Siberia in favor of the canals and seafood riches of Anchorage.  They founded a small village in the area now known as Fairview.

Thanks for reading today's updates.  We'll get back to Anchorage soon.

*Apologies for the grid

[Rictiovarus 1]

Looks nice, but for seawalls you need to terraform a bit more precisely to get them to connect properly. The rest looks very nice, especially the chinese village.

[fabsies55 5]

awesome update. i like your houses and that liek forest type thing.

your farms are alright too.

[roboo1 1]

I like your chinise village picture but ther is one bad thing about it: the grid! turn it off please( press G key)

[TimeMaster 4]

Wow, this looks really good! Keep going!