Halandra

The Republic of Halandra
De Bondsrepubliek van Halandra

http:// http:// Great Seal of Halandra
Full version: click here
Official Languages	English, Zeelandse
Other Widely Spoken Languages	Mandarin, Japanese
Capital and largest city	Valerius, 17.8 million
Prime Minister	Yves Becker
Head of State	Martinus Kolijn
Area  - Total  - % water	10,898,290 km² 22.8% water
Population  - Total (2005)	288 million+
Establishment	17 July 1788
Government type	Bicameral-parliamentary
Nation type	Constitutional democracy
National animal	Zeeland White Crane
National flower	Halandrian Blue Lotus
National tree	Giant Redwood
GDP (2005)   - Total   - GDP/capita	F86,981,694,580,315 F29,485.32
Currency	1 Florin (F) = 100 Gulden
Time Zone  - in summer	GMT -0500 to GMT -0700 GMT -0400 to GMT -0600
International Abbreviations  - sport  - government	HRA HDA, HRA
Pronunciation (IPA)	/hæ:læn:dræ^/
Naval Craft Classification	RHS
National Anthem	De Stem van de Aard
Internet TLD	.co.hh
Calling Code	+9

The Federal Republic of Halandra or Halandra (Zeelandse: de Bondsrepubliek van Halandra, is a developed democratic country and a member-state of the Honor Guard. Halandra is known for its strong tradition of military and diplomatic neutrality, official policies of multilingualism, and high population density.

Halandra is comprised of a single major island divided into 10 prefectures, with the majority of the population residing on the densely-populated coastal plains of the western coast.

People and Culture

See Article: Culture of Halandra

Demographics

The current demographic makeup of Halandra is the result of three factors: the ethnic Halandrians, related to the Finno-Ugric peoples, immigrants from Northern Central Europe, and Asia, followed by a period of relatively low immigration. In recent years, there has been a concerted drive to attract skilled immigrants.

The majority of Halandrians are descended from Dutch, Anglo-Celtic and French settlers who arrived in several waves, beginning with the Dutch in the 1700s. Today, those of Dutch ancestry constitute the majority of the population and the cultural influence of this particular ethnic group is reflected in the sheer number of Dutch-derived surnames and place names scattered across Halandra.

Holidays and customs

The following is a list of the major statutory holidays in Halandra.

• 01 January - New Year's Day
• 17 July - National Day
• 01 May - Labour Day
• 21 August - Constitution Day
• 01 June - National Environment Day
• 25 December - Christmas Day
• 31 December - New Year's Eve

Suffrage

Universal suffrage (voting, drinking, smoking) is 18 years of age.

Religion

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides for 'the free exercise of religion and decrees a total seperation between affairs of government and religion.' (Article 2, paragraph 1), meaning that the government may not institutionalise or endorse religious belief and practise.

71.4% of Halandra's population define themselves as being of one religious belief or another, with the majority defining themselves as 'Christian.' The largest denominations in Halandra are the Anglican Church of Halandra and the Lutheran Church of Halandra. There are smaller numbers of Hindu, Buddhist, and Shinto practitioners.

Language

The official languages of Halandra are English and Zeelandse, a variant of Dutch, spoken by Dutch-Halandrians. All official publications are produced in these two languages though the national broadcaster only uses English.

Education

Pre-Primary

Age of students: 3-5 years
Pre-primary education is not mandatory but free within the public scheme and highly encouraged. Pre-primary education acclimates young students for social interaction in primary school, begins laying the foundations for multilingualism, and works to cultivate cognitive skills in preparation for the long academic career that lies ahead.

Primary education

Age of students: 5-13 years
Primary education focuses on the basics of fundamental mathematical skills, literacy in both of Halandra's national languages, national and world history, the sciences, and physical education. By the time a student graduates from primary education, he or she will be fully fluent and literate in both English and Halandesduits, understand basic principles of elementary physics and biology, and have an understanding of national and world histories and cultures.

Secondary education

Age of students: 13-18 years

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Secondary education is mandatory in Halandra for all children ages 13 through 18. The academic curriculum is known for its rigourousness but wide-ranging nature and numerous options of study.

Students in the public education system may choose from different disciplinary units: Arts and Humanities, Engineering, Health Sciences, Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences. Typically, students will choose a disciplinary unit by the start of their second year of education. This allows students to study subjects which engage their personal preferences while still preparing them to be productive members of society regardless of their field of study. All students are required to take the GME, the university entrance exam.

In spite of the difficulty of Halandra's educational curriculum, the graduation rate is 99%.

Post-secondary or tertiary education

Age of students: minimum 18 years
Halandra is home to twenty-seven institutions of higher learning, the most prestigious of which are the University of Valerius and Zeeland Staats-Universiteit systems. All universities in Halandra are accredited by the National Education Bureau to ensure high quality.

Universities in Halandra are completely free to high school graduates who fulfil entry requirements.

Sports

Major sport leagues in Halandra

• National League Football (football)
• The Federation Circuit (cricket)
• The Halandra Rugby Association (rugby)
• National Tae Kwon Do League (tae-kwon do)

Other Information

Individual sports that are popular in Halandra include Tae-Kwon Do, boxing, and shooting. Valerius Prefecture has one of the world's highest per capita numbers of martial arts schools and in a survey conducted in the Aeronafon City ward of Valerius, it was found that one in five hold a black-belt from an accredited school, earning Halandra's capital city the informal title of "most dangerous city to be a purse-snatcher."

Stereotypes of Halandrians

Though difficult to generalise, especially in a multicultural society, Halandra's society has led to beliefs among outsiders that Halandrians are meticulous conformists. In spite of this view of societal conservatism, Halandra has continued to be a global pioneer in social welfare, women's rights, gay rights, and social freedom.

Halandrians are loathe to accept the stereotype foisted upon them by the international community. Usually, Halandrians will attribute this image to the strong professional ethic that runs through Halandrian society. An attempt to counter this view and show the openness and fun-loving nature of Halandrians has been the "Go Halandra!" campaign that has aimed to increase international tourism.

Politics and government

House of Representatives

Halandra is divided into Representative Boroughs (voting districts), with one representative allocated for each. Elections are operated on the basis of single-member district plurality ("first past the post" or winner-take-all).

A representative serves a two year term of office, with no restriction upon the number of terms that one may serve. The minimum age to qualify as a candidate for a representativeship is 20 years of age and the candidate must hold Halandrian citizenship.

House of Councillors

Each prefecture may elect three councillors to serve in the House of Councillors (upper house) of Parliament. Councillors serve terms of 5 years, and may serve an unlimited number of terms.

Administrative Subdivisions

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Halandra is divided into 10 prefectures.

• Cape August
• Den Bosch
• Lake District, The
• Leeward
• Mistral
• North Highlands
• South Highlands
• Valerius
• Windward
• Zeeland

Major Cities

• Barlavento
• Cape August
• Den Bosch
• Mistral
• Sophia, Halandra
• Valerius

Justice and law

Halandra has an independent judicial branch, with the High Court as its highest judicial body. The high court consists of an eleven member board, appointed by the Prime Minister with the approval of the upper house of Parliament. High Court decisions are the only legal decisions that have a binding precidents in legal challenges.

The two lower tiers of courts are at the prefectural and ward (city) level, and these courts operate on a jury-based decision system for criminal offences.

Capital punishment is prohibited for all offences, though mild corporal punishment is now and has been common in prefectural legal systems, though this varies by location. The use of mild corporal punishment at the prefectual level was upheld by the High Court decision Yamamoto v. City of Aeronafon.

Economy

Halandra boasts a stable, diversified, and advanced market economy characterised by moderate degrees of growth in GDP. The economy is bouyed by moderate consumer spending and high rates household savings.

Economic diversity and business-friendly government policies have helped Halandra weather periods of global economic instability, with healthy agricultural and mining sectors underpinned by one of the most developed banking and international financial service industries on the planet.

In the mid 1960s, the government of Halandra undertook a comprehensive plan to shift the nation's economy from agriculture to heavy manufacturing and knowledge-based industries. This programme, known as Halandra 94, sought to modernise infrastructure, education, and create an economy that would raise the quality of life for all of Halandra's citizens to a level of parity with that of the world's richest countries. This policy proved highly effective.

Economic inequality is remarkably low, with the richest Halandrians earning only three times more than the average citizen.

Transportation

Roadways

Motorways

The National Motorway Act of 1951 put into motion the large-scale construction of multilane superhighways, but by the 1970s, an environmentalist backlash to the encroachment of motorways and accompanying suburban sprawl led to a decision by the federal government to supplement highways with rail and air transport. As a result, motorways are limited to point-to-point routes between major cities. Halandra's motorways are known for their extremely high speed limits.

Major Motorways

1. M1 Cape August to Barlavento.
2. M2 Valerius to Den Bosch. The most heavily trafficked motorway in Halandra.
3. M3 Barlavento to Den Bosch. The longest continuous motorway in Halandra, running the length of island. The M3 also includes the 6.1 km. Heerenveen Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Halandra.

Maritime

Aerial

There are major airports in each of the largest cities of Halandra, facilitating an extensive domestic airway network. Valerius Casalles International Airport is the major international point of entry for overseas flights and the hub for Halandra's airlines.

Rail

Passenger Rail

The train is the most popular means of travel in Halandra, with Halandra Rail's HSB bullet train serving as the main intercity service.

Freight Rail

Halandra has 10'250 km. of freight rail, linking all population and production centres.

Communications

Halandra has a highly developed communications network. There are many television viewing options and literally hundreds of FM and AM radio stations from which to choose. Halandrians enjoy one of the largest, most competitive and most advanced phone and internet infrastructures ever developed.

Telecommunications

100% of households in cities with over 25'000 inhabitants are wired for high-speed internet, and the city of Valerius has blanket wireless internet access that can be tapped into by any wireless device for free.

TelHalandra, IHC, and NCCHalandra are the largest telecommunications firms in Halandra, together making up 60% of market share. These numbers tend to fluctuate year by year with competition.

Major media outlets (TV, radio, print)

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Television

There are three national broadcasters.

• RTH is the state broadcaster, financed through license fees. RTH exercises a strict policy of impartiality as the state broadcaster. RTH1, RTH2, RTH3, and RTH24 provide general news and entertainment, educational programming and documentaries, regional programming, and 24 hour streaming news respectively.
• 5 Network is the biggest private network and biggest competitor to RTH, with regional affiliates in every prefecture. It is generally regarded as being left-leaning, though the Halandrian public generally regards it as a credible source of news and information.
• HBS (channel 6) is a general news and entertainment network with regional affiliates across the country, highly regarded for its television dramas. It is also famous for the Zeelandse-language news documentary programme Fokus.

Radio

Halandra's free-press policies guarantee the public the right to an open media establishment free from editorial regulation and limits on content. The radio airwaves are no exception. As a result, there are hundreds of radio stations across Halandra to cater to every musical, philosophical and lifestyle choice. Competition for listenership is fierce, and stations engage in occasionally outlandish tactics to gain ratings. In one famous incident, the morning show DJs for the Valerius-based station X100 broadcast the entire programme nude from a satellite truck at Centennial Park South and Kuriyama Road, the most heavily trafficked shopping and pedestrian street in Halandra.

The most popular news radio station is Radio One, operated by RTH.

Print media

Like the rest of the media establishment in Halandra, the print media landscape is varied and lively. The largest national paper is the Halandra Journal-Handelsblad, the oldest paper in the land. Widely considered to be the newspaper of record in Halandra, the J-H as it is widely known has newsrooms in every prefectural capital.

Other major broadsheets:

• Valerius Morning Post (English)
• The Times (English)
• De Wereld (Zeelandse)
• Mainichi (Japanese

Internet TLD/suffix

Halandra's internet suffix is .co.hl.

Military

The Armed Forces of Halandra (officially known as Die Halandra Landmacht) are comprised of the Navy (Marine), Air Force (Luchtmacht), Army (Leger), and the elite Army Special Operations Division (Speziale Verrichtingendienst).

• The army numbers approximately 350'000 active-duty personel and a further 120'000 young men and women fulfilling required reserve service.

• The navy consists of 43 frigates, 32 countermeasure vessels, seven submarines, 31 fast patrol boats, 11 auxilary vessels, 17 patrol aircraft, and 35 helicopters. The navy's major bases are Colijnsdorp, South Ainsley Bay,

• The air force consists of 17 strike fighters, 3 AWACS planes, and 3 reconnaisance aircraft.

History Overview

Halandra was sparsely populated by natives who referred to themselves as Harani, who resided on the island of Northern Terranova prior to European and Asian settlement, which began in earnest in the mid 18th century.

The Queensland settlement (later Valerius) was established on the banks of the River Coetzee on the north coast in 1751 whilst the Zeeland settlement was established by the Dutch on the south coast. In 1789, the Zeelandse and Anglo-Celtic settlements signed the Pact of Solidarity. Due to the nature of the alliances between royal families at the time, the hands of both the British and Dutch governments were tied and thus the united settlement was able to declare independence without bloodshed. After feuding between Unitarist and Federalist factions (which sometimes escalated into political violence), a federal Constitution was promulgated in 1795. It was with this constution that Zeeland was guaranteed sovereignty over internal affairs.

The Zeeland Famine of 1796-1797 posed a major setback, with the migration of tens of thousands from the Zeeland to English-speaking Halandra. Several thousand died of malnutrition and poverty during this period.

Foreign investment and immigration during the late 18th and 19th centuries aided the integration of Halandra into the world economy. Modern agricultural methods were introduced and Halandra's fortunes quickly rose.

A gold rush in the northeast of the country also increased the number of immigrants greatly.

Halandra enjoyed steady growth and rose to "first world" status by the 1900s, but with the global depression of the 1930s, the economy faltered and many slipped into poverty. Halandra remained neutral during World War II though an unofficial policy of funneling willing volunteers to Europe to engage in resistance activities has recently come to light.

The end of the War and the period of relative prosperity that followed helped Halandra rise out of its previous economic difficulties. A stable economic and political situation and rising incomes have marked Halandra's recent history.

Geography

Location, Frontiers and Area

Description.

Climate and Terrain

The Environment

Current Issues

The most contentious issue being debated is urban sprawl and land-use policies. Due to the ever-increasing population density and the pressure this is placing on urban infrastructures, developers and certain interest groups have been pressuring the government to relax land-use laws to allow urban expansion beyond the current boundaries. The idea of filling in parts of the expansive Bay of Terranova for has been raised, so that the greenbelt might be preserved, but this too has come under scrutiny and criticism. The red-green coalition led by PM Park has shown no signs of compromise on land-use and greenbelts, and it is generally believed that the previous policies of "upward-not-outward" growth will continue for the foreseeable future.

Public opinion polls generally side with the environmentalists when it comes to land-use and urban expansion. In a poll released by the independent Civic Policy Institute, 93% of those polled believed that preserving the greenbelt and Halandra's natural landscape was "a matter of ethical responsibility" and 92% of respondents said they supported "maintaining the current laws that restrict Halandra's urban sprawl"

Energy Policy

Halandra's energy policy revolves around the use of renewable sources of fuel and energy-generation such as wind, solar, natural gas, biomass, and the use of other organic and inorganic refuses.

The exhaust created in the burning of natural gas and refuse is captured and converted into solid matter, which is broken down into its base elements and used in the fabrication of other materials.

Energy by Source (percentage)

• 38% - Natural Gas
• 31% - Wind
• 28% - Solar
• 11% - Hydrogen fuel-cell.

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In a bid to completely eliminate dependence upon foreign energy sources, Halandra has been in the process of phasing out natural gas and constructing new wind farms, solar generator facilities, and hydrogen fuel cell plants. The project, known as Independent Halandra 2010. As the plan suggests, the plan involves phasing out both polluted and imported energy sources by 2010.

Automobiles

A part of Independence Halandra 2010 is the elimination of fossil fuel burning private automobiles. 80% of vehicles on Halandra's roads are already powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Commercial vehicle fleets such as delivery vans are 71% converted to non-fossil fuel energy sources.

Rail

All passenger and freight rail in Halandra is electrified and thus already produce zero emissions.

Trivia

• Halandrians drive on the left side of the road.
• There are more speakers of Zeelandse in the city of Sophia than in Zeeland, a special area in which Halandesduits is the only language of government and education.
• The average life expectancy of a Halandrian man is 78 years and 81 for women.

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