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United Republics of Zacapican Cepancayotl inic Tlacatlatocayome Zacapican
Flag State Emblem
Capital	Tequitinitlan
Largest city	Tecolotlan
Official languages	Nahuatl
Ethnic groups	79% Nahuas  ∟ 49% Central Nahuas  ∟ 16% Northern Nahuas  ∟ 9% Eastern Nahuas  ∟ 5% Western Nahuas 8% Selk'nam 5% Mapuche 4% Iakan 2% Guarani 2% Other Groups
Demonym(s)	Zacapine Zacapitec
Government	Parliamentary Federation
• Great Speaker Cihuahuetlatoani	Nochcalima
• Chief Secretary Cihuacoatl	Chicacua Xiomara
Legislature	Necentlatiloyan
• Upper house	Mixcalli
• Lower house	Tlalcalli
Formation
• Huehuetlatolli Period	4,400-1300 BCE
• Colli Period	1300-17 BCE
• First Intermediate Period	17 BCE-21 CE
• Tlanepantla Period	21-1634
• Second Intermediate Period	1634-1707
• Yancuiliztli Period	1707-1760
• Revolutionary War	1760-1777
• Current Constitution	1961
Area
• Total	1,845,600 km2 (712,600 sq mi)
Population
• 2021 estimate	76,558,935
• 2019 census	75,785,909
• Density	33.4/km2 (86.5/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	2019 estimate
• Total	$2.08 Trillion
• Per capita	$27,474
HDI (2019)	0.888 very high
Currency	Amatl
Driving side	right

Zacapican, formally the United Republics of Zacapican (Nahuatl: Cepancayotl inic Tlacatlatocayome Zacapican or CTZ), is a Federation of Peasant Republics located on the southern terminus of Oxidentale, bordering Kayahallpa and Yadokawona to the north, the Makrian ocean to the west, the Amictlan ocean to the south and the Ooreqapi ocean to the east. The Federation is comprised of 37 Tlayacatl state level sub-divisions, of which 31 are constituent Republics, 4 are autonomous Totecuacan metropolitan areas and a further 2 are Federal territories. Zacapine government on both the state and federal level takes the form of a hybrid Republican Tlatoanate, in which executive authority is divided between the elected assemblies of the people and a judicial caste of the Speaker or Tlatoani. At the national level, the Great Speaker serves as the head of state, with authority over the judicial system and a consultative role in approving legislature, while the Chief Secretary is the head of government and chief of the cabinet closely tied to the national parliamentary Necentlatiloyan assembly. While Zacapican is a majority Nahua nation, significant minority groups inhabit the mountainous interior of the country which are incorporated into Zacapican through the long standing tradition of minority suffrage as well as pervasive religious and civic nationalism.

Modern Zacapican is shaped by a fusion of its ancient indigeonous traditions of land use, law and governance and the momentous developments of its early modern history that saw a series of revolutionary upheavals and challenges to these old ways that led to conflict and eventually resolution and synethsis of old and new ideas. This was known as the Yancuiliztli period, the Age of Novelties of the 18th century, which saw a period of prolonged conflict between social classes in Zacapican as their roles and standing in society rapidly shifted, culminating in the Zacapine Revolution which was a protacted civil war ending in 1777 with the foundation of the CTZ to govern Zacapican. This revolutionary struggle saw an alliance between elements of the old nobility of the traditional Zacapine empire and the peasantry and commonfolk against the landowning merchant class whose rise to prominence defined and precipitated many of the social changes of the Yancuiliztli period. The aristocracy sought to defeat the upstart merchant elite which had displaced them as the leading caste of society, while the peasantry wished to redress the process of enclosure and privatization of the commons. As a result of the defeat of the merchant elite in this struggle, the aristocracy regained leadership of the country while the land was reorganized under the system of common ownership known as the Calpolli system. Over time, Zacapican under the CTZ developed a system of mass democracy in which the populace gave risen to control executive and legislative power across the country while the institutions of the Tlatoanate were reformed into a judicial organ.

The socioeconomic system of Zacapican is based on state ownership and usufruct rights laid out in the Calpolli system re-established by the revolution. Under this system, all land within the country belongs to the state, while the local ward or town entity manages its use and acts as a common holding entity for economic activities carried out by its residents. The same calpolli unit forms the basis of direct democratic rule at the local scale, as families of the calpolli hold formal dominion over the political and economic entity of the calpolli in common with the other families, granting them democratic power over all political and economic decisions made by the calpolli and its administrative staff. These calpolli workers and economic entities form the backbone of the economy, acting either as individual entities or doing buisness with one another as a group of several calpolli operating together. Although Zacapican operates under a regulated market system, key features of its calpolli-based economy such as democracy in the workplace and collective worker ownership of economic assets relate Zacapican closely to the socialist and syndicalist economies around the world. It is largely for this reason that Zacapican is traditionally aligned with many leftist regimes and with the Kiso pact.

The Zacapine economy centers around a developed secondary sector of processing, manufacturing and engineering as well as a significant primary sector represented by widespread agriculture and a limited extraction sector based on iron and coal production. The primary sector of the Zacapine economy is focused primarily on domestic markets for food, products such as biodiesel and sunflower oil, and the intensive demand for steel from the manufacturing sector. Zacapican is a world leader in nuclear technology, and exports ships, naval and military technology as well as a wide array of industrial machines across the world. Internationally, Zacapican maintaigns good relations with powerful nations of varying political leanings such as Pulau Keramat, Latium and North Ottonia while persuing a polcy of detente with its traditional adversary Sante Reze. While in the past Zacapine influence around the world has been relatively limited to regions of the Ooreqapi ocean as part of its competition for regional dominance with Sante Reze, modern times have seen the broadening of Zacapican's international horizons as the nation has become involved in conflicts and alliances across the world, illustrated by its involvement in the Enyaman Civil War and establishment of a military base within its Norumbian ally Wazheganon.

Etymology

The common name Zacapican is derived from the nahuatl zacapi, itself a truncated form of zacapiliztli meaning to harvest or collect grasses, maize or other crops, along with the suffix -can. Thus together Zacapican can be translated as "place where the grass is harvested", a term which may have been assigned to the area in which the ancient migratory nahuas settled as they are believed to have imported sedentary agriculture to the region. Historians believe this name was originally ascribed specifically to the Zacaco grassland region in which the nahuas originally settled, stretching across what is now central and eastern Zacapican, and was only later ascribed to the broader nahua empire which grew to dominate the southern cone of Oxidentale but was always based in the Zacaco plains. Cepancayotl inic Tlacatlatocayome Zacapican is the formal name of the current government and translates directly as "union for people's states of Zacapican", but can be more faithfully translated as the United Republics of Zacapican. The country was once known as Zacapitlatocayopan, roughly breaking down into "dominion of the zacapines", or more flexibly "Zacapine Empire", and was used to refer especially to the Zacapine government in the Tlanepantla Period known in historiography as the Middle Empire.

History

The land that is now known as Zacapican is one of the cradles of civilization, known to have played host to sendentary and organized human society for many thousands of years. Consequently, the documented and attested political and cultural history of Zacapican is long and complex. For ease of comprehension of this often dense subject matter, Zacapine historians divide the history of the country into ten historical periods, of which five account for classical Zacapican, three for medeival Zacapican, and two for the modern era. In broad terms, the classical era of Zacapine history follows the formation of a decentralized, stratified and deeply religious society that transforms over time into a centralized society with a far weaker caste stratification, and one in which the rising power of the ancient states subsumed the religious institutions of prior years. This process haved the way for the Zacapine middle ages, a period of unbroken political continuity under a powerful, unified and centralized Zacapine empire for more than fifteen centuries. The modern era in turn is considered by Zacapinists to be a time of relative turmoil, in which there is renewed struggle between centralization and decentralization exaserbated by the complicating factors of industrialization, the advent of the capitalist mode of production, and the increasingly multi-polar geopolitical situation.

Geography

Occupying the southern end of the continent of Oxidentale, Zacapican covers 1,845,600 square kilometers (712,600 square miles) across the Southern Cone, not including outlying island territories. Zacapican is the third largest nation in Oxidentale by land area, behind the Sante Reze and the Mutul, however geopolitically Zacapican is considered distinct from its mutually interconnected northern cousins and belongs to a seperate Southern Cone subcontinent within Oxidentale. The geography and climate of Zacapican is defined by two factors working in concert. First, the country is bisected from north to south by a range of mountains and hills known as the Greater Mixtepemec, the southern extension of the trans-Oxidentale mountain ranges found in Kayahallpa and as far north as the Mutul, and from the eastern spur of the Barrier Mountains which demarcate the northeastern border region. Second, the Makrian ocean to the west, Amictlan ocean to the south, and the Ooreqapi ocean to the east, all of which shape the climate and biosphere of Zacapican through their currents and weather patterns. The confluence of cold water currents and weather patterns from the south and west with the warm water currents from the north and east that combine in different areas according to the mountainous barriers results in an extremely diverse climate and biosphere. Zacapican is divided into five geographic regions, each with general geographic and climatic traits that differentiate it from the rest of Zacapican. However, even within regions extremes and variations of climate can be found.

Regions

Michcuitlapilco

Michcuitlapilco lit. "Land of the Fishtail") is the southeastern end of the country and the furthest south extreme of the continent. It can be subdivided into four subregions, Isthmus, Southern Peninsula, Northern Peninsula and Michtotoco. The Isthmus subregion is the most mountainous, having many peaks and foothills that make up the southernmost extension of the Mixtepemec range. The Southern Peninsula of Michcuitlapilco is on average the coldest place in Zacapican and one of the wettest with regularly high levels of percipitation across the subregion. The city of Mazapan, siting on the Aco cape in the Southern Peninsula, is the southernmost point on the Zacapine mainland and the southernmost city in the the world. The Northern Peninsula is larger, and has a more temperate climate warmed by the Rezese current from the north, and is relatively flat on its northern and southern halves with a region of low elevation highlands through the center of the peninsula. Together with the large island of Michtotoco (lit. "Land of Penguins") off its northerneastern tip, the Northern Peninsula holds the bulk of Michcuitlapilco's human population. Much of the region has an oceanic climate, varying from subpolar to marine coast.

Zacaco

The Zacaco (lit. "Land of Grass") is the large mostly flat expanse that occupies the northeast quadrant of Zacapican. It is largely surrounded by mountainous regions, with the spine of the Mixtepemec mountains marking its western border and the Barrier range marking its northern edge and the northern border of Zacapican. The Zacaco plain has only two small regions of flat borderlands, one to the northwest bordering the Xallipan desert and another to the southeast bordering a narrow coastal plain running along the east coast of Michcuitlapilco's Isthmus subregion. The region has two principal subregions, the eastern and western Zacaco, which are differentisated by their climate, history and economic makeup. Western Zacaco is a mixture of warm and hot summer subtypes of a humic continental climate, receiving less rainfall than the Zacaco due to the presence of the Barrier mountains to the north. It has historically been the political center of northern Zacapican, contrasted with the southern center in Michcuitlapilco, and today is the most densely populated, urbanized and developed area of Zacapican. Eastern Zacaco has been a more turbulent region historically, being the flat borderland between the main power centers of the subcontinent. It is also the agricultural heartland of Zacapican, benefitting from a humid subtropical climate and the abundant irrigation and fertile sediment provided by the flow of all ten of Zacapican's major rivers which originate in the Mixtepemec and flow eastward to drain into the sea via large deltas and fertile plains of the Eastern Zacaco.

Mixtepemec

The Mixtepemec (lit. "Land of Clouded Mountains") is the highly mountainous region of western Zacapican. Extensions of the mountain range are present in all five regions, however the tallest and densest concentration of peaks and highlands is located in the Mixtepemec region. Some of the Mixtepemec has such elevation that it sustains an ice cap climate or subartcic climate type, while most of the lower peaks and valleys experience a cold medditeranean influenced climate. These highlands are dotted with more habitable and fertile valleys where high altitude cities like Tzopilopan can be found. The extremely rugged terrain of the region has made the Mixtepemec difficult to access and develop throughout Zacapine history, turning the region into a backwater and the second least populated region behind Xallipan. Because of this, the Mixtepemec is home to many undisturbed natural environments and parks, as well as many ethnic enclaves that historically resisted assimilation into the dominant Nahua culture of Zacapican that dominates other regions.

Texomillipan

Texomillipan (lit. "Land of Blue Fields") so named for the abundant blue fescue grasses found in its hills and fields is the temperate region of northwestern Zacapican. The interior of Texomillipan forms the Four Hundred Valleys (Centzonatlahuic) subregion charachterized by badlands terrain stemming from impermeable but erodable clay rich soil and the low frequency, high intensity rainfall and river-flow patterns brought on by the effects of the Makrian currents and the Mixtepemec mountains. While unsuitable for agriculture, refurbishment of the badlands has been attemnpted in colonial regions by Nahua settlers through late antiquity and medieval times, creating patches of conifer and deciduous forests within the badlands and Mixtepemec foothills. Overall Texomillipan has a mediterranean climate with a dry summer and fall, and concentrated bursts of precipitation in the winter and spring. While agriculture is difficult in the terrain of the Four Hundred Valleys subregion, the western coast is the main food producing region of the west coast of Zacapican. The region's centers of industry and population are highly concentrated due to the difficulty of building in the interior and in the surrounding regions of Xallipan and Mixtepemec, resulting in some of the densest cities and urban zones in Zacapican.

Xallipan

Xallipan (lit. "Land of Sand") is the region encompassing the arid north of Zacapican, sitting in the rain shadow of the mountains of Kayahallpa, and is the least populated and least developed region of the country. It is subdivided into the Ixtlahuaca, Border, and the Foothills region. While it is sparsely populated, the region is relatively mineral rich and hosts important overland connections to Yadokawona, making it a strategically important border zone in the north. For this reason, it is sometimes called the Headland, controlling access to Texomillipan and the vital Zacaco region through gaps in the Mixtepemec and Barrier mountains. Ixtlahuaca is home to most of the populated areas and was a subregion of historical relevance as the part of Xallipan bordering the Zacaco, and benefits from proximity its fertile lands.

Climate

Zacapican is an entirely subtropical country, sitting well south of the Southern Tropic. It has an wide variety of climates varying from extremes of heat and cold, as well as humidity and aridity. The northeastern direction of polar winds hitting the Mixtepemec mountains generates the Zonda wind, creating seasonal dry windstorms to the east of the mountains, while depositing as much as 2000mm of preciptitation on the western side, contributing to the buildup of snow on the mountains. The Zacaco by contrast receives perciptitation primarily through summer storms traveling southwest from the Ooreqapi, depositing between 1000mm and 1500mm of precipitation on the plain itself, and similarly contributing to snow deposition on the Barrier mountains and the Mixtepemec. Conditions of thick fog often occur in many areas of the Michcuitlapilco peninsula due to the confluence of tropical and polar air over that region. Conversely, the regions of Xallipan and Texomillipan receive relatively little precipitation compared to the southwest and northeast. In the Texomillipan, precipitation occurs in short, intense bursts during the winter, different from spring and summer flooding which occurs due to snow melt increasing the flow of local rivers. The region has an otherwise dry mediterranean climate with fewer than 1000mm of rainfall. Xallipan is a true desert, a plateau sitting in the rain shadow of the Kayahallpan mountains, the Mixtepemec and the Barrier mountains, receiving fewer than 100mm of rainfall a year. The west coast of Zacapican, including the western portions of the Zacaco and Michcuitlapilco, are vulnerable to tropical cyclones which develop in the Ooreqapi and approach the landmass from the northeast, ocurring during the spring and summer between the months of October and March. Supercell thunderstorms that may produce a tornado can also form during these months, particularly on the Zacaco plain.

Biodiversity

The Michtototl, a penguin species unique to Zacapican and the namesake of Michtotoco island.

Due to the extreme variation in climates in Zacapican, the country is home to an equally diverse biosphere. Zacapican is a megadiverse country, having one of the highest measures of biodiversity in the world. Over 600 species of mammals, 551 species of reptiles and 490 species of amphibians are found in Zacapican, as well as hundreds of varities of flora and fungi, making up large portions of roughly 250,000 species documented in Zacapican. Zacapican is home to nearly 2000 distinct bird species, one of the largest concentrations of bird diversity in the world. Overall, the biosphere of Zacapican provides many varied ecosystem services benefiting the human populations across the five regions of the mainland. Bird species found in Zacapican include the iconic Mixtepemic vulture, Puna hawk, Wandering albatross, the Hoatzin and Ñandu of the western Zacaco, and the protected Michtototl. In addition to these iconic species, many species of finch, songbird and water bird are common across many regions of the country. Mammals such as the Southern river otter, Nutria and Vicuña in particular are well known in Zacapican, commonly appearing in children's media. Other mammal species, especially carnivorous Puma, Spectacled bear and the Maned wolf are engangered due to competition with humans and centuries of culling to reduce their numbers, and are now under conservation efforts.

Zacapine flora can vary significantly from region to region. Salt flats in Xallipan are home to salt grass, while other regions of the desert are home to Yareta, candleabra cactus, cardon cactus and herbs such as Thyme. A few tree species are able to survive in some areas of Xallipan, such as Cuauhxoxoctic tree and Zacapine mesquite. Further south and west, Zacaco grass and spear grass dominate the Zacaco plain. While the Zacaco did not originally have any native trees, humans imported local trees found in the Mixtepemec foothills such as the ubiquitous Araucaria tree used as an important source of wood. Ombu trees are also common, but lack true wood and have very soft trucks, making them useless for lumber and primarily used for decoration and shade in cities and country lanes. Extreme maritime diversity can also be found on the coasts of Zacapican and the surrounding oceans. In particular, the Matlayahualoyan fishery provides an extremely fertile environment in which many species of migratory fish and whales are found seasonaly to feed or to breed. This region is also responsible for the extremely large colonies fo sea birds in eastern Zacapican, specifically in Michcuitalpilco and Michtotco island, the lands closest to the fishery out to sea.

Biological diversity in Zacapican has been challenged by thousands of years of human habitation, expansive civilization and human exploitation of the environment for millenia. Particularly those species which are carnivorous or require large tracts of territory to survive are challenged by the expansion of human settlement in the Southern Cone, with only remote regions of the highlands and deserts escaping widespread human settlement and explotation. In some aspects, Zacapican has exceeded other nations with a history of sustainable exploitation of natural resources under the traditional Calpolli system. However, in other ways it lags in conservation, especially in regards to its fertile fishery, which has been subject to overfishing for many decades in a policy that has only recently been reversed. More than one hundred national parks and nature reserves are maintaigned by the Zacapine Secretariat of the Interior, while the health and diversity of Zacapine ecosystems is monitored by the non-governmental Southern Conservation League.

Government

Administrative Divisions

There are a total of 37 federal subjects that together make up Zacapican. These subdivisions are of the Tlayacatl tier, which is the intermediate division that serves as an administrative transitional unit between the federal government and the local level of government made up of Altepetl and Calpolli entities. Every Tlayacatl has a state Speaker whose seat of government is the Altepenayotl, or principla city, of the Tlayacatl, all of whom are considered to be of equal rank regardless of the size or political relevance of the subdivision. In addition, each Tlayacatl has its own unicameral legislature known as the Tlayacahuaque, while the attached executive's title and powers vary depending on the type of Tlayacatl. The vast majority of the Tlayacatls are the constituent Republic (Nahuatl: Tlacatlatocayotl) type of subdivision, being the type of division with the greatest amount of autonomy within the federal system, totalling 31 of the 37 federal subjects. Four further subjects are the Totecuacan type autonomous metropolian zone type of subdivision. These are Tequitinitlan, Tecolotlan, Tzopilopan and Tula, each exceeding four million citizens. The Totecuacan has only one altepetl government, that of the altepenayotl, along with the outlying altepemame, the outlying hamlets, towns and villages surrounding the city, and generally encompass the full region of the principal city's agglomeration. The only subjects not governed as a Totecuacan or a Tlacatlatocayotl are the outlying territories, which are remote island possesions removed from the mainland of Zacapican. They are generally small in both territory and population and have great economic dependency on the mainland, making them unsuitable for autonomous local government and as a result they have the lowest degree of autonomy of all federal subjects, having only a local Tlayacahuaque to oversee legal matters and the administration of the territory, while the associated executive position is often appointed directly by federal authorities.

File:FiveRegions.png Numbered Regions of Mainland Zacapican	1 - Michcuitlapilco 1. Tequitinitlan 2. Cuauhquemecan 3. Calimayan 4. Tecualoyan 5. Mazapan 6. Michtotoco 7. Hueyapan	2 - Zacaco 8. Tula 9. Teoxiuhtzinco 10. Xocotlan 11. Acayocan 12. Ayotzintlan 13. Acozpan 14. Camotlan 15. Tecalco 16. Ixachitlan 17. Coyoacan	3 - Mixtepemec 18. Tzopilopan 19. Mixtitlan 20. Ameyalco 21. Yahuapan 22. Celquenapan 23. Tlilatlan	4 - Texomillipan 24. Tecolotlan 25. Teopamitlan 26. Texohuauhtlan 27. Cihuatocateotlan 28. Cuicaco 29. Acapechtlan 30. Tlatlenamican
	5 - Xallipan 31. Mizan 32. Zanhuitzanco 33. Ixtlahuacan 34. Zozotimantepec 35. Nochmillican	Overseas Territories 36. Chilcaxitecan 37. Teotlatquico