New Leicestershire
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 Map of New Leicestershire (in detail) | |||||
| Official Language | English | ||||
| Capital | Battersea | ||||
| Head of State | HM Elizabeth II | ||||
| Governor General | Eleanor Bursnell | ||||
| Prime Minister | Michael Smithers-Jones (Lib Dem) | ||||
| Population - Total (April 2007) |
45,000,000 | ||||
| Government Type | Constitutional monarchy with Parliamentary democracy | ||||
| Motto | Dieu et mon droit | ||||
| National Anthem | God Save The Queen | ||||
| Currency | NL Pound | ||||
New Leicestershire, officially The Dominion of New Leicestershire, is a country of northwest Europe/northeast North America, comprising the island of New Leicestershire and its outlying islets in the North Atlantic Ocean between Ireland and Newfoundland and south of Greenland. For cultural reasons, New Leicestershire is considered to be a part of Europe, not of North America, though geographically the island belongs to both continents. As of April 2007, it had a population of 45,000,000. Its capital and largest city is Battersea.
Due to its isolation in the North Atlantic, New Leicestershire went undiscovered by humans until the late 15th century. Some believe that the Vikings may have settled in New Leicestershire at some time, though there is little evidence of this and the claim is disputed by historians. Other speculative discoverers of the island would fall to other nationalities of Europe. The Irish Saint Brendan is noted among possible discoverers of New Leicestershire. Welsh folklore makes note of explorer and Prince Madoc who landed in New Leicestershire in 1170. No detail is given of his route or the lands that were attributed to his discovery. Then there is the Scottish who claim that the Earl of the Orkneys, Prince Henry Sinclair had discovered New Leicestershire in the late 1300s.
While there is some debate over where he landed, it is most widely believed that the Italian explorer John Cabot visited New Leicestershire in 1497. After Cabot, the first European visitors to New Leicestershire were Portuguese, Spanish, French and English migratory fishermen.
In 1503, when Sir James Morton formally claimed New Leicestershire as a colony of England, he found numerous English, French and Portuguese vessels in Camden Bay. However there was no permanent population and Morton was shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland during his return voyage, thereby postponing any plans of settlement. In 1505 Morton finally returned and established the first permanent settlement at Port Henry, near present-day Camden.
Today, New Leicestershire is a highly developed country, a centre of trade, manufacturing and the fishing industry. New Leicestershire's economy is traditionally largely resource-based, but has in recent decades become more diverse. Industries such as fishing, mining, forestry and agriculture remain very important, and have been joined by aircraft and automobile manufacturing, tourism, technology, film production, music and the financial service industries.
New Leicestershire is a member of the UN, NSUN, NATO, the British Commonwealth, EEA, and OECD.
Government
New Leicestershire is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Under the Royal Titles Act (1952), Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Leicestershire and is represented as head of state by the Governor-General, currently Eleanor Bursnell.
The New Leicestershire Parliament has only one chamber, the House of Commons, which usually seats 320 Members of Parliament. Parliamentary general elections are held every three years under a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional.
There is no written constitution: the Constitution Act 1976 is the principal formal statement of New Leicestershire's constitutional structure. The Governor-General has the power to appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers and to dissolve Parliament. The Governor-General also chairs the Executive Council, which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Executive Council are required to be Members of Parliament, and most are also in Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister, who is also, by convention, the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition.
New Leicestershire's judiciary consists of the High Court, which deals with serious criminal offences, civil and constitutional matters, Courts of Appeal, and subordinate courts. Matters may also be appealed to the Privy Council in London.
Economy
New Leicestershire has a highly developed western style economy which follows the Anglo-Saxon economic model and is closely linked with that of the rest of Europe and the wider world. Traditionally, New Leicestershire's economy has been dominated by heavy industry underpinned by the shipbuilding, fishing, whaling, coal mining and steel industries. Camden is the financial services centre of New Leicestershire and the fifth largest financial centre in Europe in terms of funds under management, behind London, Paris, Frankfurt and Zurich, with many large finance firms based there including the Royal Bank of New Leicestershire.
New Leicestershire's primary exports include aircraft, automobiles, fish, electronics and financial services. The UK, United States, Canada, The Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain constitute the country's major export markets.
Culture and Demographics
In the period from 1505 until the early 1700's settlement of New Leicestershire was primarily by colonists from England. Beginning around 1720, they began to be joined increasingly by settlers of Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent.
Settlement was greatly accelerated by the resettlement of Loyalists in New Leicestershire during the period following the end of the American revolutionary war. It was during this time that a sizeable African New Leicestershire community took root, populated by freed slaves and Loyalist blacks and their families, who had fought for the crown in exchange for land. This community later grew when the Royal Navy began intercepting slave ships destined for the United States, and deposited these free slaves on the shores of New Leicestershire.
Later, in the 1800s the Irish Famine and Scottish Highland Clearances resulted in large influxes of migrants with Celtic cultural roots, which helped to define the dominantly celtic character of the northeast of the island.
Though its culture remains essentially British, modern New Leicestershire is a mix of many cultures. The major population centres at Battersea and Camden are the most cosmopolitan, hosting large populations of South Asian, Caribbean and African descent.
New Leicestershire's culture has been influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between the two countries. American media and entertainment are popular in New Leicestershire; conversely, many New Leicestershiran cultural products and entertainers are successful in the US and worldwide.
The creation and preservation of distinctly New Leicestershiran culture are supported by government programs, laws and institutions such as the New Leicestershire Broadcasting Corporation (NLBC), the National Film Board of New Leicestershire (NFB), and the New Leicestershire Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (NLRTC).
Contact with NationStates
In 2006, a space-time portal inexplicably opened in the men's lavatory of the Prime Minister's Box at Lord's Cricket Ground, Battersea during a test match between New Leicestershire and India. After discussions with the military and the New Leicestershire Royal Academy of Science, the Government elected to establish further contact with the NationStates multiverse.
