Xallipan Republic

Xallipan Republic 𐐓𐑊𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐑊𐐰𐐻𐐬𐐿𐐰𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊 𐐟𐐰𐑊𐑊𐐨𐐹𐐰𐑌 Tlacatlatocayotl Xallipan
Flag
Motto: Garden of Stone and Sky
Anthem: Xallipan the Beautiful
Capital and	Tzopilopan
Recognised regional languages	Pame
Ethnic groups (2022)	Nahuas, Caxcan, Xiyui and Nyaxu
Demonym(s)	Xallan
Government	Constituent Republic
• Techiuhqui	Qonto Xiwa
Legislature	Xallipan Nenonotzaloyan
Constituent of Zacapican
Population
• 2022 census	3,969,381

The Xallipan Republic (Nahuatl: 𐐓𐑊𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐑊𐐰𐐻𐐬𐐿𐐰𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊 𐐟𐐰𐑊𐑊𐐨𐐹𐐰𐑌, Tlacatlatocayotl Xallipan) is the northernmost of the nine constituent republics of Zacapican, bordering Yadokawona to the north, southern Kayahallpa to the west, and the Zacapine constituent republics of Cuauhtlaco and Ayomazaco to the south. With a population of just under 4 million, it is the smallest constituent republic in terms of population. As in the larger constituent republics, Xallipan has a highly concentrated urban population. 43% of the entire population of Xallipan live in Tzopilopan, the Republic's capital city, and nearly two thirds of all Xallans live in the Tzopilopan and Cuauhuatzal metropolitan areas. As a result of this level of dense population in a relatively small area of the country, the vast majority of the Xallipan Republic is very sparsely populated. The average population density of the entire Republic is 14 persons per square kilometer, which drops to just 2 people per square kilometer across the vast majority of Xallipan once the urban Tzopilopan and Cuauhuatzal valleys are factored out. This is due in large part to the geography of Xallipan, which is dominated by the plateau of the same name at an average of 3000 meters of altitude and is for the most part arid and inhospitable to human settlement.

Mining, extraction and processing forms the basis of the Xallan economy. The region is especially rich in cupriferous ores which at times contain trace amounts of silver and gold. It was this gold which drew waves of immigration to rural parts of Xallipan in the 1920s. As gold is in fact relatively scarce in the region, most of the migrants either settled into copper mining towns or found work in the factories of the Tzopilopan area. Xallan industries are built upon the foundation of copper extraction. The arid countryside of the Xallipan plateau and the Xallan Mixtepemec is dotted with small copper mining railway towns supported by a small amount of local agricultural activity, llama and goat herding, and food imports from the rest of Zacapican. A network of narrow-gauge mountain railways connect these remote towns to the rail hub at Tzopilopan, where ores are processed, refined into metals, and turned into various components and parts in the valley factories. Many parts of the Xallipan Republic are well visited tourist destinations. While the Tzopilopan valley economically benefits the most from year-round tourism, there are also many old mining towns on the Xallipan plateau that have turned into resort towns as means to survive economically in the face of local mine closures. Northern Xallipan is known to have lithium in similar concentrations to Yadokawona across the border to the north. Lithium is a highly contentious topic in Xallipan, as it is a point of conflict between industrial calpolli in Tzopilopan and Cuauhuatzal who would benefit economically from a local supply of the precious element and the rural communities actually inhabiting the lithium rich highlands whose water supplies would be adversely affected by the brine mining techniques that would be used to extract the lithium.

Geography

The Xallipan Republic is geologically active and suffers from earthquakes which especially affect its western regions, such as the disasterous 1941 Cuauhuatzal earthquake. The geologically active nature of the Mixtepemec mountains is also responsible for the creation of large porphyry copper deposits as a result of volcanic processes, as well as many other ore-rich geological formations that occur in this remote region.