Indian Islands
 Flag | |
|---|---|
| Map of the Indian Islands Click here for image | |
| Motto United in Blood to the Crown | |
| Anthem God Save the King | |
| Capital | Liberation |
| Three Largest Urban Metropolises Liberation | |
| Official Language(s) | English |
| Government Monarch Lord Lieutenant Prime Minister |
Constitutional Monarchy King George I Franklin Newson Reginald Townsend |
| Population | 392,000 |
| GDP Total Per Capita |
2005 (est. in USD) 30,294,152,000 USD 77,281 USD |
| CHDI (2006) | 0.952 (very high) (as part of the UK) |
| Currency | Oceania Pound (C£) (OCP) |
| Internet TLD | .az, .oc |
The home country of the Indian Islands is, in terms of geographical land area, population, and economic output, the smallest of the home countries in the United Kingdom. Prior to the islands’ inclusion as an integral part of the state, many politicians within the UK had though the territory, composed of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as too small and economically unproductive to warrant anything but the status of a crown colony. In 2005, however, this changed with their inclusion as a home country in the UK.
Contents
History
Prehistory to British Rule
Archaelogical evidence points to the existence of human inhabitation of the island chains possibly as far back as 30,000 to 60,000 years, with the indigenous populations of the northern Andaman Islands distinct from the Nicobarese Islanders. Throughout much of history the islands remained largely underdeveloped until the arrival of Britain in the late 18th century. Originally the British colonial experiment failed until a penal colony was established at Port Blair, and so British rule remained with only minor interruption in the Second World War until the mid 20th century.
Rise of Nicobar and Eustace Brown
In the early 1990s, Eustace F. Brown, a British immigrant and entrepreneur, founded the city of Liberation and brought sweeping changes to the Nicobar Islands. What had once been primitive and tribal became urbane and metropolitan as industrialization and the utilisation of offshore gas and oil fields brought capital and wealth into the tiny island chain. Brown’s commercial and political empire reached its zenith in the mid-90s when he seized the Parmis Archipelago after a Nicobarese naval vessel fired upon and sunk an Azazian freighter, to this day UK officials claim the act as willful aggression while supporters of Brown claim the act as a horrible accident and misunderstanding.
Azazian-Nicobarese War
Acting in concert with Beth Gellert, Azazian forces struck swiftly and landed troops upon the easternmost island in the Nicobar Islands chain. Beth Gellert forces invaded the Parmis Arcipelago and drove Brown’s Marines off the islands, the first ever defeat for Brown’s Marines. Meanwhile, in the Nicobar Islands, a detachment of Indian troops mutinied against its Western officers after a bloody battle that resulted in an Azazian victory. The mutiny effectively ended Nicobarese resistance on the island and the city of Brownabad came to fall into Azazian hands.
It was at this point when Azazia mobilized more troops, ships, and aircraft for an eventual invasion and capture of Liberation itself; it was not a plan, however, that would come to pass. Recognising the peril in which his new country now found itself, President Brown negotiated a treaty that ceded the five easternmost Nicobar Islands to Azazia while granting Azazia favourable terms to offshore oil and gas fields.
Decline of Nicobar and Eustace Brown
As the Azazian and Gelletian economies grew, the massive economic contractions faced by the newly founded Incorporated States of Andaman and Nicobar, or ISAN, came quickly. One of the first significant blows was the loss of the lucrative oil and gas revenue ceded to Azazia, Brownabad becoming a more important industrial centre than Liberation by 2000. Additionally, the islands’ advantageous location on trans-Indian Ocean shipping that allowed for numerous layovers and transit stops now found two other parties, parties far more willing to offer their facilities at a cheaper price.
Slowly, the local population began to become restless, and the government of Brown watched its hold become ever more shaky and Brown’s personal command of BrownCo ever more tenable. Finally, in 2003 the unrest became rioting and revolution, forcing Brown to flee into exile and allowing the United Kingdom to step in and begin administering the remainder of the islands that had been outside of its control. An agreement with Beth Gellert, a longtime ally of the UK since the Azazian-Nicobarese War, passed sovereignty of the northern Andaman Islands and the Parmis Archipelago to the UK in exchange for financial restitution.
Solidifying UK Control
Since 2003, the Indian Islands have continued to witness industrialization and economic growth, and while the population remains abnormally large and dense given the small land area, efforts at artificial island creation as well as floating, offshore communities have alleviated some of the overcrowding that threatens the continuing viability of the islands.
Of great importance to the islanders was the decision by Parliament to recognise the loyalty, growth, and cultural ties between the Home Islands and the Indian Islands through the passing of the Empire Act, which integrated the former Royal Crown Colony of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands into the United Kingdom as a full-fledged home country, giving the local population much greater political and economic representation in the UK.
Economy
Much of the economic activity on the islands focuses on light industrial production, although the manufacture of the islands’ signature automobiles, Nico Cars, remains a profitable and significant heavy industry. Many islanders also benefit from the large amount of domestic and intra-UK investment led by banks in Liberation and Brownabad. The economic output of the islands places them at a relatively high GDP per capita level, although the number belies the actual small size of the population.
In the city of Port Blair, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force provide significant economic activity, as the thousands of sailors and airpersons provide local merchants and retailers with significant income, a dependence in the city that has brought about concerns from Indian Islands officials concerned about the shifting of the Royal Navy’s Indian Ocean Fleet away from Port Blair and towards Avinapolis.
Culture
Owing to the dense population and the relative wealth of the islands, the inhabitants of the Indian Islands have in the past decade become accustomed to ostentatious displays of wealth such as large and inefficient automobiles and floating mansions and palaces. Most architecture, however, remains focused on the sky as the islands have all but run out of open space. The tallest building is the BrownCo Towers, which stretch some 700 meters into the sky. Until the 2003 flight of Brown, they had been the headquarters for his company, FBCo, since broken up and its remnants sold to private Indian Islands investors.
Artistically, the islands boast an amalgamation of native and tribal cultural features and Hindu and Muslim religions along with imported British and Oceanian features, resulting most prominently in a declining importance of religion among locals – although it should be noted that only Juristan features a larger percentage of its population who regularly attend church services and call themselves devout.
