Belhavian Home Islands

The Belhavian Home Islands, also commonly referred to simply as Belhavia proper, are the archipelago of islands that form the core of Belhavia and its Empire. It runs from southwest to northeast diagonally, consisting, in that order, of Vestlinzel, King's Island (to Vestlinzel's southeast), the Salomon Islands (due south of Taveria), the main Belhavian island of Taveria and its close-set offshore islands, the Narrow Sea Islands (west off of Taveria near Estovnia), and Farfroyrnlender Island (just northeast of Taveria).

The Home Islands are part of the West Estovnia-East Tule tectonic plate, classified as part of the Lusankyan continent both geologically and in political geography.

Phrase coinage

The phrase itself was not coined until the late 18th century as a way for Belhavian officials to distinguish between Belhavia and the colonies.

In 1768, deputy Minister for Colonial Affairs Shmuel Itzchak wrote in a letter to Provisa that said:

...we must make an exception to imperial policy on the issue of fishing licensure between our colonial territories, such as the Ross islands or Vestlinzel and our core nation, say, the Home Isles...

This is the first recorded use of the phrase. By the 1790s, the term "Home Islands" became ubiquitous throughout the Imperial Court and His Majesty's government.

Political geography

The Home Islands are divided politically between "Belhavia proper" and "the Empire."

The nation proper is considered solely Taveria and its close-set offshore islands and islets. Vestlinzel, King's Island, the Salomon Islands, the Narrow Sea Islands, and Farfroyrnlender Island are considered "crown territories", a part of the broader Empire.

International disputes

The government of Estovnia has challenged the implication of the "Home Islands" as sovereign Belhavian territory in light of its claims on Farfroyrnlender Island, Vestlinzel, and the Narrow Sea Islands. Likewise, prior to 1995, the communist regime in Tule laid claim to Vestlinzel and King's Island as historical Tulese lands.

Both Estovnia and Tule (pre-1995) adopted the reasoning that "Home Islands" suggested ipso facto validity claims about these territories being intrinsically Belhavian, and refused to consider them apart of His Majesty's government declared political geography for official Belhavian internal territorial division.

After the 1995 détente between Tule and Belhavia and normalization of relations, Tule dropped its land claims against Belhavia.

Estovnian maps exclude its claimed islands from the designation of the "Belhavian Home Islands."

Popular culture

The phrase is used by the mass Belhavian public since the early 20th century. It is used mainly for historical references, such as the Great War and Cold War, as well as for domestic reference for metropolitan-colonial travel inside the Belhavian Empire.

Belhavian crown territories outside of the Home Islands often invoke the term when giving political, economic, or cultural grievances against Provisa, with local meaning subscribing the concentration of power, wealth, prestige, and opportunity inside Belhavia to the Home Islands and not (according to the locals) to the "outlying colonial possessions."