Charlotte

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Charlotte

Motto Charlotte, the Gateway to Kingsland
Population	13,822,014
Area	10,942 km²
Population Density	1,263.2 people/km²
District(s)	Capitol Kingston Port Charlotte Addington
County	Charlotte
Province	Kingsland
Country	United Kingdom of Azazia
Post Town	Charlotte
Postal Code	CH, CHS, CHN, CHE, CHW
Parliament District	Capitol Kingston Port Charlotte Addington

The city of Charlotte is the largest city within the province of Kingsland and the eponymous home country of the United Kingdom; it does, however, lag far behind other UK cities for a high-rank as a large city as it boasts only a population of 13,822,014. The city is the financial capital of Kingsland and serves as an important centre of trade in central Irathria as it is the southern terminus of the Marlton-Charlotte Rail Line, the primary passenger and freight link between the continent’s northern coast and the vast southern sea.

History

Founded in 1792 by the Kingsland Company, the city was planned from the start as the capital of the new English colony and so settlers were forced to displace native inhabitants of the area, who had carved a civilisation amongst the fertile lands surrounding Port Charlotte Sound.

The native inhabitants had settled the region some twenty-thousand years prior and had accordingly established various tribes and clans that owned different territories. In those twenty-thousand years, however, they had failed to develop technologies sufficient to stop British colonization and as such the native towns and villages were either destroyed or eventually annexed by Charlotte as its borders (and population) grew.

Charlotte benefited from the penal system of Britain, as convicts in the 19th and early 20th century were forced into hard labour that was used by the colonial government to carve an infrastructure into a land that had been devoid of roads, rails, ports, and bridges. As royal governor in 1812, Henry Addington pushed for convict labour to be used across the colony and to construct the Marlton-Charlotte Rail Line, which linked the new city of Port Marlton in the north to the booming city of Charlotte in the south. It was also under Addington’s tenure that Charlotte lured wealthy investors to the territory and many were convinced to establish banks and other lending firms that would eventually lead to the heavy private development of Kingsland in the late 19th century.

Industralisation spurred development of suburbs and the growth of an industrial centre. Charlotte’s private companies invested in inter-region transport connections that have since led to the efficient, and profitable, mass-transit system currently in use.

In the 20th century, market pressures forced many of the heavy industries to relocate out of Charlotte in favour of high-tech and low-labour intensity factories that produced much more specialized equipment. The removal of former heavy pollutants has allowed Charlotte to once more look to a pristine future, and one that glimmers in the comparatively clean output of commerce. In the early 1980s a depression hit the nation and many banks closed their doors as well as native inhabitants revolting against a state that had long since forgotten them. Charlotte bore the brunt of these attacks as the capital of Kingsland.

The late 20th century, however, saw a rebirth of Charlotte as investment poured in especially from the United Kingdom and gave birth once more to the banking and financial sector that now defines Charlotte. The city has also reached the limits of its physical growth as it is now entirely surrounded by incorporated towns and communities.

Geography

Physical Geography

Charlotte rests upon the banks of the drowned Queen Charlotte River and as such owes much of its development as a port to the drowned river system. The numerous tributaries that once fed the Queen Charlotte River have found their valleys and drainage basins flooded and in so doing they have formed the complex series of bay and harbours that form the Port Charlotte sound.

The city occupies 10,942 km², although only 2,102 km² contribute to the city’s actual limits as the remainder contribute to the Greater Charlotte Metropolitan Area. It rests upon land to the southeast of the Charlotte Rift, which has developed only recently geologically speaking, but will in the upcoming millions of years eventually split the eastern peninsula from the western peninsula. Although the exact land division cannot be predicted, it would be likely that Charlotte would lay with the eastern peninsula while the remainder of Kingsland would rest upon the west.

These divergent landmasses mean, however, that Charlotte experiences numerous earthquakes, and while most are of low intensity there have been numerous quakes in the past that have devastated the city. It was not until the 20th century, however, that safety regulations for both buildings and earthquakes specified a mandatory tolerance for quakes upwards of 9.5 on the Richter scale.

Climate

The bridge between the eastern and western peninsulas of Irathria feature prominently in the continent’s meteorological patterns as the flat rolling landscape allows for a climatological interface between the colder moist air masses to the north and the warm moist air masses in the south. The trade winds push these air masses together over Kingsland, which results in a tempestuous climate, although one that is extremely moist.

Charlotte benefits more from the warm air mass to the south, its warm winds moving to the north before being stopped against the hills to the northwest of the city, ensuring a significant amount of orthographic precipitation that is the cause behind the city’s fertile agricultural soils.

Economy

Charlotte remains the financial and commercial capital of Kingsland, utilizing its position between the two continents and the unique position of being the closest large city to the northern coast, which is otherwise difficult to traverse owing to the mountains running in a southeast-northwest line.

The city still retains an industrial core that produces high-technology consumer and industrial goods, especially for use in the electronics and aeronautical industries. A shipbuilding industry also retains some importance for as the former colonial capital one of the city’s responsibilities was to provide ships to the Royal Navy for the defence of Kingsland.

Most important, however, is the banking and finance that Charlotte provides not only to Kingsland but to the rest of Irathria. The city’s banking industry is heavily connected to that of Philadelphia, itself the main banking and financial centre of the United Kingdom. As Kingsland seeks to continue the development of its large tracts of open land, it will likely do so by making use of Charlotte’s financial power.