Azazia
 Flag | |
|---|---|
| Map of Azazia Click here for image | |
| Motto Excelsior | |
| Anthem God Save the King | |
| Capital | Imperium |
| Five Largest Urban Metropolises Breningrad - 56,398,222 | |
| Official Language(s) | English |
| Government Monarch Prime Minister |
Constitutional Monarchy King George I Marquess of Salisbury |
| Population | 4,625,920,000 |
| GDP Total Per Capita |
2005 (est. in USD) 278,114,936,320,000 USD 60,121 USD |
| CHDI (2006) | 0.952 (very high) (as part of the UK) |
| Currency | Oceania Pound (C£) (OCP) |
| Internet TLD | .az, .oc |
Azazia is the primary home country within the United Kingdom, and has at one point or another in history been the official name of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and the federation of the indigenous peoples, who still refer to the western regions of New Australia as Azazia, as well as the province of Azazia which occupies the western end of New Australia, bordering the provinces of Bennington and Artega. The home country includes the vast majority of the population of the UK, as well as anchors the UK economy and the capital of Imperium is located on the island province of New Britain at the eastern end of the home country.
Contents
History
Colonisation
Anecdotal and archaelogical evidence points to only a very recent settlement of the Azazian Archipelago by humankind, the earliest date of agreement by the vast majority of archaeologists fits roughly in the period between 300 and 400 AD by colonists from the Marquesas Islands. Polynesian colonisation of the archipelago would continue uninterrupted until 1572 when a Spanish Manila Galleon shipwrecked off the coast of the present-day province of Azazia, near the city of Caliz. The senior surviving officer, Miguel Azaz, claimed the heretofore undiscovered land for Spain and named it Terra Azazia in honour of himself.
A second Manila Galleon in 1586 discovered the settlement of Ciudad Azaz, south of Caliz, and brought word to Europe of a largely unsettled island. European colonisation continued through the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and eventually came to be dominated by Britain, which established the settlements of Georgetown, St. Brendans, and Portsmouth. By the turn of the 20th century, Britain dominated the eastern and northern islands while Russian explorers had made headway in the slightly colder, more mountainous and generally more inhospitable northwest. French, Spanish, Dutch, and German colonies struggled to prosper against each other in the western islands.
Independence, Consolidation, and Commonwealth
In 1912, as world tensions began to increase, the great powers of Europe agreed to grant independence to their colonies in order to settle territorial disputes. When World War I broke out, the nascent Commonwealth of Azazia remained neutral but with the onset of World War II the Japanese launched an invasion of the archipelago and granted independence to the indigenous peoples while establishing a brutal dictatorship over the European population. Japanese forces were finally removed by the surrender of Japan in 1945.
Throughout much of the 20th century, the Commonwealth turned inwards and faced violent uprisings that attempted to correct racial prejudices and intolerances, specifically against the perceived Communist Russian immigrants, although in truth most immigrants sought to escape Communism. Then, several years later the indigenous people revolted and finally Azazia came to describe not just the greater Commonwealth but a separate semi-autonomous region on New Australia.
A Cosmopolitan and International Future
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Commonwealth began to open itself to the outside world and Azazia found itself increasingly marginalised as the Azazians struggled to find economic prosperity on par with their Europeans. To this day, their legal equality belies the fact that much of the Azazian economy remains stagnant, heavily dependent on tourism and on the semi-convenient location of cities such as Etar and Caliz, which have become regional transportation and shipping hubs.
In 2006, the United Kingdom recognised the trivialisation of the Azazians and their state and named the newly created home country that encompassed all of the Home Islands Azazia, in honour of the previous native states that had existed and at one time dominated the archipelago.
Geography
Azazia consists of over a dozen major islands and hundreds of smaller ones, not all inhabited. The bulk of the southern, northern, and eastern islands are remnants of geological plateau that largely sank beneath the sea during the end of the last ice age. The islands in the west and northwest, which have the greatest number of mountains and the least amount of flat land, rose from orogenic processes during the collision of two small tectonic plates.
Linking all the islands together is the massive Azazian Sea, a comparatively shallow body of water that one encompassed the lower elevations of the aforementioned plain. Through the centre of the sea runs a deep channel, the valley of what had been at one point a massive river, this channel’s headland is the Brittany Strait and the mouth of the ancient river into the Pacific is the Hampton Strait, accordingly the largest and deepest entrance from the Pacific into the Azazian Sea.
Economy
With the bulk of the UK’s economy driven by capital and people living and/or working in Azazia, the UK economy is largely dependent on the Azazian economy. Throughout much of the mid-20th century the Azazian economy depended on heavy manufacturing in cities in the east such as Breningrad, Philadelphia, and Portsmouth. However, the increasing cost of labour and production costs relative to poorer and more underdeveloped nations led the manufacturing to slowly move at first west and then finally out of the archipelago all together.
In the early 21st century, though, the Azazian economy has made a significant rebound from the troubles of the late 80s and has reinvented itself as an economy built around services, information, knowledge, and creativity. The Azazian economy is a true post-industrial economy. In fact, much of the profits made by Azazia-based companies can be found as capital investment not just in Azazia, but increasingly in Novikov, which is becoming the new industrial heartland, a heartland financed by Azazian capital and built by Azazian innovation.
