Windstrand

Windstrand
City
Clockwise from top: the skyline of Windstrand along The Strip, condominiums lining West Beach, the colonial Hennish architecture of the Oustad, Windstrand City Hall
Nickname:  "The Windy City"
Country	Nuvania
Province	Etten
District	Windstrand
Municipality	Windstrand
Established	August 5, 1547
Legislature	Windstrand City Council
Government
• Mayor	Yvette Ryder (DAP)
Population  (2020)
• Urban	3,120,282
• Metro	4,661,793
Demonym	Windstrander
Time zone	UTC -6
Website	www.wcc.nv

Windstrand is a city located on the northern coast of Nuvania, straddling the equator as well as Nuvania's northernmost point, Cape Kuypers. With a total population of 4.6 million, it is the second largest city in Nuvania, and the largest city in Etten province. The city is an important manufacturing and logistics centre, and is the location of Nuvania's largest and busiest port.

Founded on August 5, 1547, Windstrand was known as Port Veer throughout most of its early existence as a trading port as well as the jumping point for Hennish settlement by the First Hennish Republic, whose South Asterian Company (ZAK), established Windstrand as the settlement. Windstrand's growth and influence was tied both to the colonialism and conquest of the ZAK and to its connections with other Hennish colonies in the West Arucian Sea, and those of other Euclean states. Windstrand competed with Pietersburg for influence and prestige within the ZAK colonies, which were assumed by the Sotirian Commonwealth between 1642 and 1719. The city became wealthy with the conquests of both the Tairona and the Mwiska peoples, seeing massive trade in gold, silver, precious stones, and salt. Beginning in the early 18th century, Windstrand was also underpinned by an increase in trade in cash crops from farms grown in Etten province, of which it was the capital until the establishment of Ettensburg in 1712.

Windstrand's growth continued through the Grand Duchy of Flamia and into Estmerish rule, the latter seeing substantial population and economic growth as well as development, with a number of famous buildings built during Estmerish rule. The city played an important part in the War of the Arucian, the port hosting much of the Nuvanian fleet that helped secure victory, and became one of the most multicultural cities in Nuvania owing to its economic importance.

The city was renamed from Port Veer to Windstrand in 1898 and was at the forefront of Nuvania's industrialisation, hosting a large number of factories that grew until the Great Collapse. During the Volksfront era, a policy of the separation of ethnicities was used for Windstrand's urban planning, which then went on to be used around the country. This urban planning policy was one of the factors in the deadly Maitland riot in 1949, and subsequently saw the birth of a social and civil rights movement for Nuvania's minority communities in the 1950's. The city saw significant social upheaval in the 1960's with the May riots taking place in 1969 as well as other significant social protests. This lead to significant changes in how the city was managed, including the allocation of housing to various different ethnic groups. Windstrand became a model for other large cities in Nuvania, and the Windstrand model is often used as a template for both social housing and private developments.

Today, Windstrand remains one of the most liveable cities in Nuvania in terms of safety and quality of life, and prior to the Pico de Sangue eruption, was one of the country's most important tourist destinations. It also remains one of the most multicultural cities in Nuvania.

Etymology

Windstrad was named Port Veer after Fransz de Veer, the first appointed director of the South Asterian Company (ZAK) who helped to found the city and became its first administrator. It was originally to be named Heemskerck after the Stadtholder Cornelis van Heemskerck but this was rejected in favour of Port Veer by the inhabitants, or Veerspoort in Hennish. Windstrand appeared as Veerspoort in Hennish maps and documents, and from 1749 until 1898, as Port Veer. A proposal to rename the city Kuypersburg after the death of former Minister-General Adriaan Kuypers was rejected by the then town council and the inhabitants after a plebiscite on the issue.

The Windstrand name comes from the Estmerish and Hennish words "wind" and the Hennish strand for beach, noting that the city had continual sea breezes as well as trade winds blowing from the north and northeast. The proposal to rename the city had originally been mooted in 1879 but was deemed to be unimportant. The post-independence national government of Piet van Kyl thought of the prior name as being too reminiscent of the colonial period, and passed laws in Parliament to have the name changed as part of a wider program to rename cities and towns the government felt to have too much Estmerish influence. Thus in 1898, the city's name was officially changed to Windstrand. It would take a plebiscite held in December 1941 to affirm the city's name as Windstrand in the eyes of the general public.