Maracao

Republic of Maracao República de Maração
Flag Coat of arms
Maracao within the Arucian.
Capital and largest city	Porto Leste
Official languages	Lusitan
Recognised national languages	Taino
Ethnic groups (2017)	45.6% Euclean 39.5% Mixed-race 9.8% Bahian 5.1% Other
Religion (2017)	79.2% Solarian Catholic 20.8% Other
Demonym(s)	Maracan
Government	Unitary parliamentary socialist republic (de jure) Dominant-party socialist republic (de facto)
• President	Adão Costa
• Prime Minister	Julio Fonseca
Legislature	Revolutionary Congress
Independence from Marirana
• Porto Leste Declaration	April 19, 1821
• Independence granted	November 22, 1884
• Mariranan occupation	May 17, 1930
• Glorious Revolution	February 26, 1933
• Constitution suspended	April 1, 2004
Population
• 2020 estimate	3,497,281
• 2017 census	3,386,077
GDP (PPP)	2017 estimate
• Total	$79.5 billion
• Per capita	$22,736
GDP (nominal)	2017 estimate
• Total	$54.8 billion
• Per capita	$15,671
Gini (2017)	14.9 low
HDI (2017)	0.641 medium
Currency	Maracan comor (MRC)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+718
Internet TLD	.mc

Maracao (/'mærækaʊ/; Lusitan pronunciation: [maɾa'sə̃ʊ]), officially the Republic of Maracao (Lusitan: República de Maração, Taino: Repablika te Marokey) is a sovereign state within the Arucian Straits that comprises the entirety of the island of the same time and several smaller islands in the Arucian Strait. It shares maritime borders with Eldmark, Imagua and the Assimas, Marirana and Vilcasuamanas and is geographically a part of Asteria Superior. With a population of 4,886,077 in the 2017 census, Maracao is the second-most populous island state in the Arucian, behind Sanslumiere. It has an area of X, making it also the second-largest island state in the Arucian by area.

The first recorded inhabitance in Maracao were the Nati peoples, a subgroup of the broader Taino peoples that inhabited the pre-colonial Arucian, around the 2nd century BC. Lusitan colonists from Florena arrived and colonised the island in the 16th century, establishing the modern-day capital, Porto Leste, in 1545. Maracao would be utilised for its profitable sugar industry and also for the export and import of slaves during the Asterian slave trade, where the native Nati peoples were treated extremely poorly by the Floren settlers. When slavery was widely abolished in 1740, the colony of Maracao suffered economically, but became popular with upper-class Florens as an Arucian retreat location. The island was forcefully annexed by Salvatore Renzi's dictatorship in Marirana, issuing the Porto Leste Declaration in 1821. Sixty years of oppressive Mariraran rule culminated in independence following its loss in the War of the Arucian in 1884, establishing the Empire of Maracao under Adelmar I. Years of squandering of wealth, decline in power, and oppression towards the lower-class populace preceded Maracao's entry into the Great War on the side of the Grand Alliance in 1926, with Marirana occupying the island fully by 1930, by which Adelmar had fled to Eldmark. A socialist revolution in 1933 ousted the Mariranan occupiers and established the modern Republic of Maracao, modelling itself off of Swetania. Democracy flourished initially but was continually undermined by corruption and scandal. In 1995, current president Adão Costa was sworn into office, and by 2000 many of the democratic institutions in the country were suspended, with the constitution itself being suspended in 2004.

Currently, Maracao rates extremely poorly in democratic indexes and is considered a military dictatorship by most, however its strategic location in the Arucian Strait often provides leverage for its continued relevance in global geopolitics. Maracao is a member of the Community of Nations and the Association for International Socialism, and is commonly subject to influence from nearby Chervolesia, whom it shares many agreements with.

Etymology

The Estmerish name Maracao, as well as its Lusitan name Maração and Taino name Marokey, are all believed to have descended from the Nati Taino language. It is a portmanteau of the words maro, meaning "without clouds" or "blank sky", and keya, meaning "big place" or "vast land". The island is believed to have developed its Taino name sometime in the 16th century, pre-dating Euclean discovery and subsequent colonisation, similar to that of the island of Imagua within Imagua and the Assimas. Its native-deriven etymology makes it among one of the few Asterian states to lack a Euclean etymology.

The name for the island is believed to have been first transcribed into Lusitan as Maração upon initial arrival in the 1550s, and stuck due to its simplicity to say in the Lusitan language. The first Estmerish transliterations as Maracao appeared in a transliterated atlas from 1563 attributed to Hinrick Richenbachs, who travelled much of the early Asterias for his mapping, published as Atlas Orbis Terrarum Nova inventa est. The transliteration is believed to have originated from Ashcombe as an incorrect transliteration of the letter ç in Lusitan to c in Estmerish.