Kingston (Oceania)

Kingston

Population	21,319,852
District(s)	Kingston Port Charleston Sutton Westington
County	Torvey
Province	Arista
Country	United Kingdom
Post Town	Kingston
Postal Code	KP, KR, KN
Parliament District	Kingston North Kingston Sutton Westington

Kingston is a city in the United Kingdom with historic and commercial significance. It is a leading port city with a vibrant tourism sector and is also of lingering importance to primary sector industries.

History

Colonial History

Archibald Torvey founded the port city of Kingston in 1855 upon the central southwestern coast of Arista where the River Torvey empties into the Pacific Ocean. At the time, heightened tensions between France and Great Britain prompted the British government to fund Torvey’s journey for his settlement would be located in the midst of French territory.

While the site of Kingston was inhabited by local indigenous Azazians, Torvey and his first 150 settlers quickly pushed them off the fertile soil and erected a wooden palisade to wall off their settlement from both Azazians and French raiders alike. By 1858 the city’s waterfront location and favourable soundings allowed the British Royal Navy to establish a station in Kingston, from which patrols would set sail to keep an eye on the French.

In 1905, a German cruiser trapped French merchantmen in the harbour of Caliz. Similar situations repeated themselves through 1912, even after the signing of the Treaty of Georgetown that had been intended to increase trade and cooperation. However, by January 1912, the British government, weary of sending continual reinforcements to their isolated colony as the German navy continued to grow in strength at home, negotiated the Treaty of Kingston that granted independence to a new Commonwealth of Azazia that consisted of the former European colonies.

Post-Independence History

With the need for monitoring the French removed, the new Commonwealth government transferred the patrol ships in Kingston to newer facilities such as in Regal and then shut down the naval base. With the closure of the base, private companies bought the rights and thus maintained the seafaring culture of the city. However, by World War II the favourable geography of the harbour brought the Japanese who captured the poorly defended Kingston and converted it into the main Japanese port with which Tokyo would re-supply its forces in Azazia.

By the end of the war, the city remained in Axis control and was accordingly surrendered on 15 August. Japanese forces surrendered to a joint American-Commonwealth force and thereby returned rule of Kingston back to Georgetown.

After the war, with the increase of shipping traffic and the need for more naval bases, engineers re-examined Kingston Harbour and found that with proper dredging the city could be made useful for larger freighters and warships. While not a particularly deep harbour, this allowed the city to remain critical for transport and shipping within the Pacific where larger vessels would not be as frequently required.

In 2006, the city of Kingston remains a vibrant port city, mainly functioning as a regional hub for the export of manufactured goods from the western and northwestern islands.

Economy

Kingston depends upon her port for economic viability. While information technology driven industries have begun to arise in Kingston, they remain of secondary importance to shipping and the manufacture of ships and, to a lesser extent, aircraft.

Of former importance to the city was the mining of natural resources in the mountains to the north of the city. AKR Mining, the largest natural resource exploitation company in the United Kingdom, has its headquarters and main offices in the city, AKR stands for Artega, Kingston, and Regal.

Tourism also plays a role in the modern economy of Kingston, as the scenic mountains just north and east of the city draw many visitors from across the United Kingdom. As the mountains were formed geologically recently by the subduction of the Pacific plate underneath Kingston, they remain relatively high for the archipelago.

Demographics

Owing to its founding as an English fortification, much of the city’s population was of British ancestry, in particular English and Scottish. However the geographic proximity of the city to the French-Oceanians Russian-Oceanians, and Spanish-Oceanians has made Kingston one of the United Kingdom’s most ethnically diverse cities in the 21st century. Many political analysts point to Kingston as a possible model for the broader inclusion of various ethnic groups into the United Kingdom especially in the wake of the integration of Novikov.