Galdago
From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
Flag of Galdago | |
Motto: "Look like the flower, but be the serpent under it." | |
Map | |
Region | Aperin |
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Capital | Coronada |
Official Language(s) | Celdonian (Primary), Galdagan (Secondary) |
Leader | Prime Minister Lance Thibodeaux |
Population | 312,350,781 |
Currency | Thennat (ATN) |
Contents
Introduction
- Background
- The Commonwealth of Galdago is a federal socialist democracy located in the southwestern portion of the greater landmass of the Aperin continent. During its history, the Commonwealth has consisted as a number of different entities throughout that time, ranging from confederated nomadic and then agrarian tribes to a monarchy and finally a federal commonwealth. Galdago is a massive, socially progressive nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, intelligent population of over three hundred million enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level social equality free of the usual accompanying government corruption. It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of education, social equality, and defense. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Book Publishing. Crime—especially youth-related—is moderate. Galdago's national animal is the seraph serpent, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Aperin thennat.
- Little is known about the nomadic tribes and agrarian collectives of early Galdagan society. The first recorded monarchy came to power in AD 538 when Prince Alvnorson Mentusií del Dreszemier subjugated a number of the tribes within present-day southern Galdago and the southern coastlands below it under his empire. He began construction of roads to facilitate heavy internal trade and resource distribution and established the first solid sea-bound trade routes heavily utilized by the early Kluuvar Belki [Black Band] Republic, as well as generating trade links east of the present-day Bleumont Mountain Range.
- The throne was passed down through eight generations of the Dreszemier family until King Illiano Marquez del Dreszemier III began an expansionist drive northeastward in AD 742, attacking through the Bleumont Range. The ambush of the king’s army at Blood Gulch Pass, just south of Dreszemier Peak, saw the end of the reign of the Kluuvar Belki dynasty. The King and his son Prince Vasco Marquez del Dreszemier were slaughtered by the eastern Panoptican tribes, as well as two full regiments of soldiers. The remainder of the King’s forces fled back home in terror and the country devolved into in-fighting.
- Within two years, however, the old republic began reformation. The southern portion of the country was reconstituted under a new monarch, the then Baron Bartok Sevorin del Marconiux, while the northern territories were held together by Chancellor Velouri Barbos del Galdago. He employed his personal army as well as the remnants of the Kluuvar Belki’s legions to serve as constables throughout the region, and after assuring civil stability, began to normalize relations with the eastern territories Marquez III had set his eyes upon, as well as drawing up non-aggression and free trade agreements with the southern portion of the former Kluuvar Belki Republic. The new empire struggled to regain its footing, but within two generations, the empire of Galdago began to stabilize and form a lasting identity. It was at this point that systems of feudalism began to emerge which wouldn’t be significantly altered until the late 1600s.
- The last native ruling family to emerge over the Greater Galdagan Empire was the Marapozan bloodline. During the nineteenth century, the Maripozas bled the country dry of resources in their quest to extend Galdago's empire overseas in the face of the daunting challenge of the Empire Aperin to the northeast. Colonial efforts were initially met with stiff resistance from the Celdonian Empire, but eventually, the Galdagan armed forces managed to secure holdings in modern-day Hell Bovines. The colonial government quickly began exporting lumber to help ease the resources being expended to clear-cut Galdago’s northeastern tropical forests and began marketing the meat of the native sentient bovid species to the world as a form of beef delicacy.
- However, the Greater Galdagan Empire’s hold on its overseas colonies was to last only a few decades. As the Empire Aperin began its war of western aggression, the Maripozas knew that Galdago would soon fall under the eyes of the Aperins, and the colonial policing force was bit by bit withdrawn from Hell Bovines. When the invasion of the northern republic of Litorandia began, the Maripozas withdrew the largest portion of its police forces to hold off the impending assault against its northern borders. When war broke out with the Empire Aperin, the defeat of the Greater Galdagan Empire was sure to be swift and methodical. After four years, an ensuing stalemate occurred where the Empire Aperin could not pass through the eastern tropical rain forests in order to launch an effective flanking attack against fortified Galdagan lines on the country’s western coastlands, and a ceasefire agreement was drawn up in the Galdagan city of Paxton which ceded the northern portion of Galdago above the 23rd parallel to the Empire Aperin.
- By this time, the resource drain on the country had caused the lower classes to become so starved, and the ranks of the Galdagan armed forces so underpaid, that a revolt arose which would attempt to usher the Maripozas out of power in an event known as the Starving Revolution. The Maripozas withdrew much of the last remaining armed contingent from Hell Bovines to attempt to quell the civil unrest, but to no avail. It was at this point that the now well-organized Bovine Liberation Squad, under the leadership of Commandant Mooo Blackhooves, initiated the final push that broke the Galdagan’s frail grip on the country.
- In the mean time, an aristocratic family from Celdonia, the Crittendons, entered the country and gained the support of the Galdagan armed forces by helping to usher the Maripozas out of power with the use of their private army. The Crittendons would be the first—and last—foreign ruling family to ascend the Galdagan throne. The Crittendons brokered peace with the revolutionary forces in Hell Bovines and set to the task of rebuilding the country’s military might. They also negotiated an alliance with the empires of Guo Leng and Imperial Outside in order to find markets not cornered by the Coal Cartel for its southwestern coal deposits, as well as to gain insurance against the likes of the Empire Aperin and Celdonia in case of potential invasion.
- When the Great Aperin War of 1912 ensued, the Galdagan Empire had not regained sufficient strength to maintain a significant push on its battlefronts, and the country folded early in the fighting after several protracted campaigns. Its alliances with Guo Leng and Imperial Outside proved to be largely fruitless, and the country was saddled with almost irreparable war debts. Things were so bleak that the prospects of any other ruling family on a Galdagan throne could not be tolerated; knowing this, the Crittendons fled their throne without question, leaving the country to govern itself.
- Citizens began implementing an order of democratic self-rule that divided the country into seven regions and twenty-three state entities which would be responsible to a federal authority that had limited power. The seven regional authorities became responsible for rebuilding economic sectors in each of their zones, and a measure of confederated socialist and communist infrastructure arose from the ashes. These seven authorities eventually became the basis for the modern-day decentralized economic planning councils which chart the country’s progress. The mechanisms which arose from the collapse of the Galdagan monarchy have been noted for their resistance to change, and the country is administered in a fashion highly similar to the way it has been since the mid 1920s.
- The country was refederated under the name of the Commonwealth of Galdago in 1934. It experienced a period of largely isolationist policies from that time until 1972 when it once again reemerged onto the world stage by engaging in vastly increased relations with the larger Aperin community of nations. The country's armed forces were rebuilt to significant proportions, but the isolationist policies of yesteryear still permeate defense policy today as these assets are generally used as strategic defense. In 2002, the Commonwealth accomplished what was arguably the final casting off of its isolationist remnants by entering the International Fair Trade Agreement, and subsequently the Coalition of Anti-Capitalist Economies; it remains an active member nation of both international organizations to this day.
- The federal government consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, with the legislature being responsible for base economic policy and civil statutes, the executive managing foreign affairs and investment, and the judicial branch maintaining the balance of federalism and rule of law. Decentralized administration includes seven regional economic planning councils which oversee local economic planning and collectively decide joint national economic policies, as well as twenty-three state governments which administer local social and civil functions such as health care, housing, utilities, and civil authority.
Geography
Political Map | |
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- Location
- Aperin continent, located along the southwestern seaboard bordering the Nomadic League and Kerla, the Narangath Ocean to the west, and the Alçaerin Ocean to the south
- Geographic Coordinates
- 20 00 S, 35 00 W
- Area
- total: 1,037,300 sq km
- water: 12,500 sq km
- land: 1,024,800 sq km
- Land Boundaries
- total: 2,289km
- border countries: Nomadic League 633km, Kerla 1,224km, eastern borderlands 254km, southern borderlands 178km
- Coastline
- 2,656 km
- Maritime Claims
- continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
- exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
- territorial sea: 12 NM
- Climate
- predominantly temperate; tropical in far south; sub-tropical humid in center; temperate in north
- Terrain
- low hills rolling down to broad coastal plains west of the eastern Bluemont Mountain Range and tropical forests
- Elevation Extremes
- lowest point: Murphy’s Pointe –10m
- highest point: Dreszemier Peak 736m
- Natural Resources
- major deposits of natural gas and coal, varying minerals, most notably vast nickel deposits, several precious stones including large carbon and diamond deposits, and untapped timber
- Land Use
- arable land: 3.26%
- permanent crops: 0.09%
- other: 96.65%
- Irrigated Land
- 4,280 sq km
- Natural Hazards
- violent geothermal eruptions and tremors off the southwestern tip of the country; navigational hazard posed by coral reefs off the northwest coast
- Environmental Issues
- limited inroads being made into the sensitive upper Bleumont rainforests to facilitate mining of uranium
People
- Population
- 312,350,781
- Age Structure
- 0-14 years: 18.8% (male 29,562,322; female 29,159,625)
- 15-64 years: 67.4% (male 103,191,348; female 107,333,078)
- 65 years and over: 13.8% (male 18,481,662; female 24,622,746)
- Median Age
- total: 39.3 years
- male: 37.8 years
- female: 40.3 years
- Population Growth Rate
- 0.67%
- Birth Rate
- 13.71 births/1,000 population
- Death Rate
- 9.26 deaths/1,000 population
- Net Migration Rate
- 2.27 migrants/1,000 population
- Sex Ratio
- at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
- under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
- 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
- total population: 0.94 male(s)/female
- Infant Mortality Rate
- total: 11.81 deaths/1,000 live births
- female: 10.3 deaths/1,000 live births
- male: 13.14 deaths/1,000 live births
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- total population: 69.94 years
- male: 68.04 years
- female: 71.73 years
- Total Fertility Rate
- Text
- Nationality
- noun: Galdagan(s)
- adjective: Galdagan
- Ethnic Groups
- Galdagan 82.3%, Kerlan 8.2%, Nomadic Leaguer 5.8%, Other 3.7%
- Religions
- Roman Catholic 84%, Protestant 9%, Other 7%
- Languages
- Celdonian (official) 62%, Galdagan (official) 8%, bilingual (Celdonian and Galdagan) 30%
- Literacy
- definition: age 15 and over can read and write
- total population: 99.2%
- male: 99.2%
- female: 99.2%
Government
- Country Name
- conventional long form: The Commonwealth of Galdago
- conventional short form: Galdago
- former: The Greater Galdagan Empire
- Government Type
- federalist social commonwealth
- Capital
- Coronada
- Administrative Divisions
- 23 states and 1 federal city*; Alçaera, Astralis, Bailey, Beckmond, Bleumont, Caliverde, Cora, Comaira, Coronada*, Courton, Downing, Galjour, Goddard, Landerich, Litheia, Marcelanus, Montevera, Murphy Island, New Athens, Newhaven, Peleus, Segallion, Sheryland, Vespus
- Independence
- 29 July 1934 (from the Greater Galdgan Empire)
- National Holiday
- Commonwealth Day, 29 July (1934)
- Articles of Federation
- 27 September 1935, effective 4 April 1937
- Legal System
- Text
- Suffrage
- 18 years of age, universal
- Executive Branch
- Text
- Legislative Branch
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- Judicial Branch
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- Political Parties and Leaders
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- Flag Description
- white 23-rayed sun to the upper left over three white bands which cut the flag diagonally and converge in the lower left corner on an indigo background
Economy
- GDP
- Ŧ75,717 billion ATN
- GDP Real Growth Rate
- Text
- GDP Per Capita
- Ŧ21,916 ATN
- GDP Composition by Sector
- Text
- Investment (Gross fixed)
- 18.61% of GDP
- Population Below Poverty Line
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- Distribution of Family Income (Gini Index)
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- Inflation Rate
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- Labor Force
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- Labor Force by Occupation
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- Unemployment Rate
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- Budget
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- Industries
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- Industrial Production Growth Rate
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- Electricity Production
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- Electricity Production by Source
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- Electricity Consumption
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- Electricity Exports
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- Electricity Imports
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- Oil Production
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- Oil Consumption
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- Oil Exports
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- Oil Imports
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- Proved Oil Reserves
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- Natural Gas Production
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- Natural Gas Consumption
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- Natural Gas Exports
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- Natural Gas Imports
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- Proved Natural Gas Reserves
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- Agriculture Products
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- Exports
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- Export Commodities
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- Export Partners
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- Imports
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- Import Commodities
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- External Debt
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- Currency
- Aperin Thennat (ATN)
- Currency Code
- ATN
- Fiscal Year
- Calendar Year