Foundation and growth
Originally, the Water Tribe existed as one nation, solely based in the North Pole. However, following civil unrest, a large group of warriors, waterbenders, and healers journeyed to the South Pole to engender a new tribe.
[10] The Southern Tribesmen eventually agreed to reaccept the Northern chief as their ruler, as long they were granted autonomy and their own government for internal affairs.
[3] Despite this political rapprochement, the enormous geographical distance between the two sects caused them to evolve differently. Even though their cultures were still similar, as they maintained common customs and celebrations until 50 AG, the people of the North and South developed completely differently in regard of society and politics. The Southern Water Tribe was far less hierarchical than the North, enjoying a high degree of gender equality. The Southern tribesmen eventually built a massive inland city as their political and cultural center and the tribe began to prosper, even though it never reached the size and importance of the North.
[10] During these years, a tradition of celebrating the
Glacier Spirits Festival began, during which the people would fast and meditate, and the tribal elders would commune with the spirits as they danced in the sky to create the southern lights; it ended on the day of the
winter solstice.
[13]
The Southern tribesmen also began to travel around the world. One group of Southern waterbenders discovered the
Foggy Swamp in the
Earth Kingdom thousands of years before the Hundred Year War. They decided to stay because of the abundant amounts of water there, engendering the
Foggy Swamp Tribe in the process. However, as the Foggy Swamp tribesmen maintained isolation, the people of the South Pole never learned of these events. By the beginning of the Great War, the Southern Water Tribe had grown into a strong nation, with its capital filled with hundreds and hundreds of capable waterbenders of both men and women.
[9][10]
Raids
Main article: Southern Water Tribe raids
The
Fire Nation's first
attack.
The Southern Tribe was almost destroyed following attacks from the Fire Nation, which started around forty years into the Hundred Year War. The
Fire Nation Navyemployed a great number of
firebenders and
cruisers in order to capture as many waterbenders from the Southern faction as they could. By doing so, the Fire Nation hoped to destroyed all resistance in the South. Despite being outnumbered, the Southern waterbenders and nonbending warriors were able to defend themselves against the raids through fierce resistance, boasting minor victories such as successfully trapping a Fire Nation ship which eventually developed into the
shipwreck. However, their determination was not enough and a systematic set of attacks eventually left
Hama as the only waterbender left, prior to her eventual surrender.
[9] Tribal unity declined following the capture and execution of all of waterbenders, and the central city divided into small conglomerations of tepees and igloos scattered throughout the South Pole.
[10]
A
Fire Nation cruiser was trapped by Southern
waterbenders during the
raids.
In 94 AG, the Southern Water Tribe was attacked by the
Southern Raiders, an elite Fire Nation naval force assigned to raid the South Pole when ordered. They were informed that one waterbender remained in the Southern Water Tribe, and subsequently assigned to eliminate her. Knowing that the remaining waterbender was her eight-year old daughter
Katara,
Kya gave her life by confessing to Captain
Yon Rha that she was in fact the last waterbender. Her death provided the Fire Nation with the impression that the Southern waterbending lineage had been completely eradicated, and left Katara as the sole survivor.
[14]
By 99
AG, the Southern Water Tribe's unity was broken, its people spread over a collection of small villages.
In the final years of the Hundred Year War, the Southern Water Tribe was in dire straits and was teetering on the brink of extinction. The land was spiritually unbalanced as well, as the
spirit portal it held had been closed up and frozen over.
[13]
The Tribe's remaining population was dwindling due to Fire Nation raids and was defenseless, as its warriors had left for the
Earth Kingdom to aid them against the Fire Nation. With the departure of the sole remaining waterbender, Katara, and warrior, Sokka, the tribe consisted mostly of elderly, middle-aged women, mothers and very young children.
[15] After the Siege of the North, a group of waterbenders and healers from the Northern Tribe were sent to the Southern Tribe to help rebuild their sister tribe.
[16]
From the WIKI. Seems that the South was almost completely done in by a fraction of the Fire Nation's forces.