Arkania

Province of Arkania
Flag of Arkania Flag
Motto: Di erd iz aundzer hopes aun khlumus (Yiddish) די ערד איז אונדזער האָפּעס און חלומות (Modern Hebrew) "The land is our hopes and dreams" (English)
Capital	Kiryat Gros
Largest	Netiyot
Official languages	Belhavian English Yiddish Modern Hebrew (all de facto)
Ethnic groups	Belhavian Jews 88.2% Rodar-Catholics 4.7% Rodarian Jews 3.1% Western Jews 2.4% Nijdelandish 0.9% Others (See list) 0.7%
Demonym(s)	Arkanian (official) Greenflaggers (informal)
Government
• Governor	Yitzchak Feinstein (Liberal Democrat)
• President of the Provincial Senate	Avi Bar-Tzvi (Conservative)
• Speaker of the Provincial Assembly	Norm Cole (Conservative)
Establishment
• Proclamation of Arkanian Territory into a crown province as part of the Empire	February 5th, 1856
Population
• 2015 estimate	990,433
• 2010 census	945,685

Arkania, known more formally as the Province of Arkania, is a province of Belhavia. It is an important farming belt and agricultural hub inside Belhavia proper and located geographically at the center of so-called "Middle Belhavia." Partly in reference to this, in general Belhavian culture and society, Arkania along with several other provinces is considered the epitome of "Middle Belhavia values" despite its light population density.

Geography

The geography of Arkania is mostly flat, consisting of farmland and deciduous forests in the north of the province, giving way in an ecotone zone to taiga forests and a mountainous region in the provincial south, part of the Avigdor Mountain Range.

Climate

Similarly, there is a north-south divide in the province's climate, with the north being more temperate and warmer with less-harsh winters and warmer and wetter summers while the south is more cold year-round, with drier and cooler summers.

Temperatures

Average temperature ranges
season	day-time temperature range		night-time temperature range
	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum
	°F	°F	°F	°F
summer	81 (north) 72 (south)	58 (north) 49 (south)	62 (north) 55 (south)	47 (north) 37 (south)
winter	51 (north) 42 (south)	19 (north) -1 (south)	40 (north) 34 (south)	-3 (north) -25 (south)

History

Main article: Middle_Belhavia § History

Demographics

Population

Arkania province has a current population of over 990,000 persons as of 2015. Its 2010 Census was around 945,000.

Ethnic breakdown

Like many parts of Middle Belhavia, it is overwhelmingly composed of Belhavian Jews, who constitute approximately 88% of the population. Ethnic Rodarians of Jewish or Catholic faith and culture make up the largest minority population in the province at 7.8%, and largely arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during the "turn of the century" immigration waves, followed by Western Jews at 2.4%, Nijdelandish at 0.9%, and the rest at less than 0.7%.

Language

There are no official languages of the province, but the languages of Belhavian English, Yiddish, and Modern Hebrew are largely spoken. Belhavian English is usually exclusively for government documents and in provincial governing institutions such as local courts and administrative offices.

Because of the sizable Rodarian minority, Rodarian is spoken in strongly Rodarian-heavy areas of the province, mainly as a second language. Nijdelandish used to be well-represented as a minority second-language, but by the 1980s most native-speakers among the first and second immigrant generations of Nijdelanders to Belhavia had died off or forgotten the language from disuse.

Religion

Judaism is the religious affiliation of a vast supermajority at 91%, followed by Romulan Catholicism at nearly 5%, with 4% filling out the remainder.

Urbanicity

The population density of Arkania is 52.9 people per square mile.

83.7% of the provincial population lives in an urban environment, whether in the main cities, their suburban towns, or more isolated small towns. Only 16.3% live "in the country" outside of any city or town.

Economy

Arkania Province Economic Sectors by Share of Exports and Sales

  Farming (33.1%)

  Other agricultural (20.9%)

  Agricultural by-products (15.1%)

  Mining (14.5%)

  Light industry (7.6%)

  Service industry (5.4%)

  Other (0.9%)

  Tourism (0.1%)

The economy of the province is one of a few areas of Belhavia that is still primarily primary economic sector-based, with agricultural and mining and natural resources extraction making up nearly 84% of the provincial economy.

Government & Politics

Main articles: Joe Manton, Yitzchak Feinstein, and Manton political progeny

The government of the crown province is made of an executive branch headed by a Provincial Governor, a legislative branch run by a bicameral provincial legislature, whose upper-house is the Arkanian Senate and the lower-house is the Arkanian Assembly, and a judiciary that is staffed by judges who are nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The Governor and all legislators are popularly-elected.

Transportation

Arkania is served by two interprovincial highways with one beltway, two spur routes, and three bypasses, with over a total of 874 miles (1,407 km) in all. The first section of the Interprovincial in the nation was opened just west of Netiyot on November 14th, 1952.

Despite its rural character, the major Belhavian private national light passenger and shipping company Cross-National Rail Company has a major rail-line into Arkania, going to and from the city of Netiyot.

Education

The main center of higher education in Arkania is Arkania Provincial University, located in Netiyot with several branches around the province, notably in Kiryat Gros.

Media

The province is served primarily by the Netiyot Herald and Kiryat Gros Independent Farmer-Ledger, though these two local papers pale in comparison to the subscription numbers for the national Belhavian daily Provisa Times. Satellite television has a decisive edge among households (79%) than cable television (20%) and network television (1%).