Portland Region

Portland Regional Authority

The Workshop of the World
Map of Maanenland with Portland highlighted
Maanenland Region
Capital	Newport
Largest City	City of Newport
Governor	Lieutenant Commander Darren Palmer
Languages	Maanenic , Dutch,English,Russian,French
Population
- Population	56,551,672 (3rd)
- Density]]	unknown / km2
Became Part of the Grand Duchy
- Date	1982
Time	MCT
Elevation
- Highest Point	1154m (Dreton Crossing Post)
- Mean Elevation	80m
- Lowest Point	-152 m (Long Catesby)
Abbreviations
- RMM	POR
- Landranger	NWSTAT

The region of Portland was one of the New Maanenland provinces of the early 1980s. It gets it's name for being a national and international hub for ports and maritime activity.

History

The area today encompassing Portland was one of the last areas of colonisation by the early settlers and remained relativly undeveloped for hundereds of years due to the poor soils of the area and often harsh climate.

Civilisation began as series of thousands of small citystates surrounding the main population areas which were usually at one with at least one of their neighbours at any one time. By the time of unification in 1012AD the three main city states of Kenton , Scampton and Newport had divided the majority of the coast up between themselves , the south of the region was annexed by Lerenciester in 922.

Prior to unification into the United Kingdom there had been several talks of creating their own union state as they had common interests and history. The growing incursion of Northern Oakvale and Lerenciester as well as West Drentonshire into their territories encouraged this greater co-operation. When the union was formed it was not originally invisiged that the north-western states would join and as such in creating the new nation the north western states were given an unusual degree of autonomy.

Due to their small size and low economic position the states did not get involved in the civil war , however their pledged allegiance to the King put them as enemies of the southern states and as such were invaded and quickly over-run and annexed into the new Grand Duchy.

When the industrial revolution came to Maanenland at first it did not impact a great deal on the north western states despite bordering the centre of the revolution. Iron and steel and manufactured goods were imported out through the south at Middle Capeford which was still a part of Lerenciester. The invention of the automobile however changed all that. Being close to the economic lifeblood of the economy , the ports , the first major motor corporations started out in the city of Newport and transformed the city forever.

The next economic wave was the invention of the aeroplane , it made good economic sense to place this new industry near the machinery production capital of the nation and the industry soon exploded. These new industries spawned a whole generation of other manufacturing industries supplying them and the economy of the area exploded into one of the most productive areas of Maanenland, a positon that is held as strong as ever today despite mounting international competition. With this expansion required a massive increase in port capacity which were thrown up all along the coast.

In 1952 it was becoming increasingly clear that the tripartie states were merging in terms of populations and industries and as such the first gubernational union of modern Maanenland was formed whilst still retaining legal and national recognitation as independant provinces but under one Lieutenant Commander and provinical council.

In 1979 the next big change came when Royal Report of the Local Government Survey Commitee identified the Portland area as one the areas to be carved into a new region and as such the order was given for:

PORTLAND to Be Composed Of from hundereds of NORTHERN OAKVALESHIRE (WESTERN HUNDERED) , SCAMPTONSHIRE , CITY OF NEWPORT (COUNTY) , KENTON COUNTY , and LERENCIESTER (CAPEFORD HUNDERED and DENSLEY HUNDRERED )

Economy

Portland is a highly important manufacturing and engineering centre, employing millions of people in industry and contributing trillions of pounds to the national economy. Over a quarter of Maanenland's exports originate in the Portland region.

The ports of the region and their associated services are a major source of the regions economic success , the hyperdock complex at Middle Capeford is one the world's largest by capacity and is the nerve centre of Maanenland's export industrial capacity with exports from across the nation and region leaving by port.

Service sector dominance in the region is very low for such an industrial centre importing most of it's service sector involvement from Greater Stretford and Cliffton. Services surrounding the city of Newport , particularly maritime insurance , are beginning to expand however.

Due to poor soils and high pollution levels agriculture in Portland is tiny for a region of it's size and as such imports the vast majority of it's food supplies from the Eastern Plains, fishing in the dangerously busy and polluted sea lanes is not seen as a viable option and as such there is no mass fishing industry , most fish products being imported across the Ternpool Channell from Kingsborough.

Politics

Similiar to it's neighbour in the south , Portland is a Democratic Socialist Alliance stronghold especially with the workers of the monolithic manufacturing plants of the coast. The Liberal Democratic Party of Maanenland also enjoys a great deal of support because of the relativly anti-government liberal stance of the local population.

Geography

Portland sit's next on the coast of the Corsville penninsualar with it's borders being the steep hills of the Western Peak Districts. Strong maritime winds and harsh rainfall in winter followed by cool but very dry summers make the province a somewhat uncomfortable place to live compared to it's nature , desertifcation of the soils being a major problem.

Major Cities

• Newport
• Scampton
• Middle Capeford
• Kenton
• Camwestleigh
• Chessington