Navarre
The incorporated metropolis of Navarre is the extremely large and distinctive capital of The Freethinker Commonwealth, located in the northwest of the Freethinker Mainland. It is the extended home to over seven hundred million people spread out over an area the size of Midlonia, forming one of the greatest urbanised metropolitan areas on Earth. As with most capital territories, Navarre is the centre of the Commonwealth's political, commercial and cultural life, with most major federal government and national corporations being based within the confines of the metropolis. The city is best known for its impressive architecture and its considerable importance as an international trading centre and port.
Navarre is, unsurprisingly, also the largest of the six huge metropolices that form the heart of the Commonwealth. Known by the locals as the world's largest citystate (in geographic terms given much of the attached Outback, Navarre is in essence a self-sufficient economic and societal unit, a mould followed by the other major city groups of the Freethinker Mainland.
Contents
Basic Stats:
- Founded
- 1656
- Area
- 312,896 Square Miles (Including the Navarre Basin)
- Population
- 1,515,350,000 (2005)
- Population Density: 4842 people/sq mile.
- Leader
- Lord Mayor Gayle Bigsley (Lib Dems)
- Major Industries
- Fishing, Mining, Shipbuilding/Ship-maintenance, Arms manufacturing, Aerospace products, International commerce, International finance/banking, Chemical Engineering, Electronics, Tourism, Government services
Economy
- Fishing
- Mining
- Arms Manufacturing
- Shipbuilding
- Trade & International Finance
- Chemical Engineering
- Electronics
- Tourism
- Government services
Geography
Navarre is dominated by the Navarre Basin a huge, deepwater inland sea that forms the sheltered anchorage for the port itself, and the parrellel ranges of the Carassian and the Whitestone Mountains to the south and north of the city respectively. Various districts are located between the mountain foothills and the edge of the Basin, with other districts being located on the various 'levels' that rise up on the side of the mountain ranges. Various rivers run through the city, few follow even anything remotely resembling their original course, most having been channeled into the city's various canal and fresh water supply and reservoir systems.
The Rings of Navarre are the city's greatest engineering achievement, massive, levelled plains created from the mountains by building barriers made from the excavated tops harvested for building materials. These various levels run almost continuously across both mountain ranges, at 800 foot height intervals, along the northern and southern parts of the metropolis. This creates the levels themselves, which have created tens of thousands of square miles of space for expansion for the city and given Navarre its distinctive, 'inside-out wedding-cake' look.
Districts
Because of its great size, Navarre is actually made up of many smaller sized townships and districts which operate as distinct social-economic units within themselves, containing self-sufficient communities with regard to residential and commercial needs. This is an important fact to consider when a person wishes to understand how an urban conurbation the size of Navarre actually functions under the weight of such a significant population. There is not actually a City of Navarre in the traditional sense, with the name of the metropolis being derived in colonial times from the fortress town of Navarrok.
The largest and most notable Districts are;
Capital
Self-explanatory city name, though the dominance of government facilities and institutions is a fairly recent phenomena as residential and commercial zones are replaced by embassy grounds, parks, memorials and government offices. Located on the first level on the Southern shore of the Basin, between Navarrok, Commerce, Gothabia and also partially bordering Trenton and the Docklands. Most employment is in government vocations.
Commerce
Dardanion
Gothabia
The Docklands
Trenton
An industry-heavy district located on the first and second levels between Navarrok and The Docklands. Has suffered somewhat due to the general post-industrialisation of the Freethinker economy, but is still home to many large scale plant and civil engineering firms. New commercial and residential districts have breathed some new economic life into the region, witht he district authority relying on historical tourism and increasing qualitative heavy engineering trade with PMT partners for its continued economic prosperity.
More to Add
Infrastructure
An extraordinarily large urbanised area like Navarre requires a vast and well supported mass transportation network to function, let alone prosper. Because of the scale of the city most people tend to live and work within the same or neighbouring districts, and fairly uniquely because of the huge commuter strain placed upon by the city's billion plus inhabitants.
Airports
See Also: Airports of Navarre
Waterways and Canals
Road Networks
Rail
Health and Education
Landmarks and Tourist Attractions
Navarre, as with most cities of its nature and in particular with the inate Freethinker desire to impress can boast a staggering array of tourist attractions for pretty much any style of holiday, be it an extended party weekend, a historical tour, general sightseeing or merely as a basing for further travel within the Commonwealth.
See Also: Tourism in the Freethinker Commonwealth
