Pietersburg

Pietersburg
City
Nickname(s):  "Die eerste stad" Estmerish "The First City"
Country	Nuvania
Province	Kaap
District	Pietersburg
Municipality	Pietersburg
Established	July 5, 1542
Legislature	Greater Pietersburg Council
Government
• Mayor	Stefan Liebenberg (DAP)
Area
• Urban	1,087 km2 (420 sq mi)
• Metro	8,939 km2 (3,451 sq mi)
Population  (2019)
• Urban	5,052,879
• Metro	6,926,503
• Metro density	770/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Demonym	Pietersburger
Time zone	UTC -6
Website	www.pietersburgstad.nv

Pietersburg is a city located in the northwest of Nuvania at the foot of the Bay of Dolphins. It is the administrative capital of Nuvania as well as its financial, economic, and cultural centre. With a total population of 6.9 million inhabitants, it is also Nuvania's largest city, and one of the largest on the Arucian Sea. The Port of Pietersburg, located to the northwest of the city itself, is Nuvania's second largest port by total volume and by value of cargo, after the Port of Windstrand.

The region around Pietersburg has been inhabited since Neolithic times, with several archaeological sites producing artefacts that have been dated to around 16,500 years BP. Numerous cultures and tribes occupied the area before Lusitan explorer Luciano Mascarenhas first charted the peninsular to the west of the city and the Bay of Dolphins itself in 1531. The area was not properly explored by Eucleans until Hennish-Estmerish explorer Petrus Boerhaave arrived in 1542, and landed at what is now Boerhaavestrand in central Pietersburg. Here he founded the city of Pietersburg, naming it after his sponsor, Pieter van Meetkercke, with the first wave of immigrants landing in Pietersburg four years later in 1546.

Initially a small trading post, the city became the launching pad for the Hennish colonisation of Nuvania, with word reaching both sides of the partition, with waves of largely Amendist settlers arriving over successive periods. Although there were no official claims over the colony until 1673, it was considered to be a Hennish colony of sorts, as the colonists were largely Hennish speaking and pledged allegiance to the Sotirian Commonwealth. The colony was proclaimed officially on October 12, 1673, with Pietersburg the largest settlement and the administrative capital. It would remain as such throughout the remainder of the Commonwealth's control over the colony.

Under Estmerish rule, which began on July 20, 1720, the city became important politically as the administrative centre of the colony, but also important for trade and communications without the outside world, as the Estmerish quickly improved and expanded the port's facilities. By home rule in 1811, Pietersburg was among the largest and wealthiest cities in Estmere's colonial empire, and was considered significant in terms of industrial output and cash crop exports. It became an important naval facility, providing Estmere with significant influence over the western Arucian Sea.

This economic and military importance carried over into the independence era, with Pietersburg now the capital of an independent Free State. The industrial and economic development continued, and the city experienced a surge in growth until the Great Collapse in 1915. The city suffered from a stagnating economy following the Great War, although population growth did not reach pre-collapse levels until the 1950's. Pietersburg would lose the title of the largest port in Nuvania to Windstrand by the 1980's, but the city became one of two major manufacturing and logistical hubs. The 1980's also saw a boom in finances, which is responsible for the growth of the city's skyscrapers, a trend that accelerated until the Great Recession in 2005.

Today Pietersburg is a vibrant and dynamic city that boasts one of the highest living standards in Nuvania and in the wider Arucian region. It is also one of greenest in the country in terms of park lands, preserved wetlands, including the world's only urban national park, as well as environmentally friendly transport policies.