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)	50.6% Euclean 44.3% Mixed-race 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
Area
• Total	40,140 km2 (15,500 sq mi)
Population
• 2020 estimate	3,497,281
• 2017 census	3,386,077
• Density	87.13/km2 (225.7/sq mi)
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 name and several smaller islands in the Arucian Strait, including the disputed Dunhelm Island. 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 was 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.

History

Pre-colonisation

Before the arrival of Euclean settlers, the island of Maracao was inhabited by the Nati people, a Arucian-wide people who inhabited modern-day Dunhelm Island, the island of Imagua and the Assimas Islands. The Nati were a rural populace who set up small villages around the coast of Maracao to suit their fishing-dominated, hunter-gatherer lifestyles. One of the largest pre-Euclean settlements on the island was centred about modern-day Cabo Gaspar, in the north of the island, but the settlement was destroyed shortly after Euclean arrival. The Nati population of Maracao was estimated to be around 75,000 before Eucleans arrived on the island.

A 19th century depiction of Tamaya.

Lusitan colonisation and rule

The island was charted and settled in 1545 by Lusitan explorer Tadeu do Rosario, who commanded his ship, A Sereia, to land near modern-day Alfeite. Rosario claimed the island for the Crown of Florena, initially naming it Ilha de Sereia after the ship that had sailed there. The city of Alfeite was the first established by the settlers sometime in 1546, with coastal settlements eventually engulfing the island by 1550 and Porto Leste quickly emerging as the primary settlement on the island due to its location near large sugar plantations.

Settlers and administrators on the island brutally repressed the native Nati peoples, evicting them from their homes and often razing or destroying their villages to make way for Euclean settlements. Farmland and crops were stolen from the natives and their traditions and history began to be forcefully erased by the Lusitans, who either attempted to assimilate them into Euclean society by taking their children and raising them as Lusitan, or by deporting them to other Lusitan colonies or by outright murdering them. Fabled chief Tamaya led a rebellion in 1583 against the Lusitan colonists, but it was suppressed and defeated by the Lusitan soldiers and settlers there, and greatly worsened the repression of the native peoples of the islands, who were now essentially being round up and exiled to the forested settlement of Garriapa, which functioned as an early internment camp for the natives. Conditions in the camps were awful and natives who were sent there regularly died of starvation, dehydration, infectious diseases introduced by Eucleans, or from being killed or beaten by guards.

As the slave trade expanded, native Nati peoples were removed from the camps and sent to work on the sugar and cotton plantations due to a lack of Lusitan presence in Bahia. Sugar and cotton exports back to Euclea made up the bulk of the Maracan economy throughout the 17th century, as the Asterias began to be filled by the Euclean powers. Maracao, specifically the city of Porto Leste, served as a significant trading hub and naval dockyard for Asterian subdivisions of the Lusitan Navy, and ships and fleets were regularly stored there to keep a significant colonial presence in the Arucian. Coupled with the exports of sugar and cotton, Lusitan settlers also began to export wood, specifically wood from the Manassan green tree, as it would come to be known in the 19th century. The wood's density and colour made it popular in Euclea, and was a sign of wealth and power, with many pieces of furniture made from Manassan green tree wood made for various monarchs of Euclea.