Bahia

Bahia, sometimes referred to as NATIVE NAME/S is a cultural and geographic region in northeastern Coius, normally geographically delineated as the area between the Fersi Desert and the Vehemens Ocean, but is more commonly defined along ethnoracial and cultural lines, given the differences between the peoples of Bahia and other subregions of Coius. It includes the countries of Habasha, Kaiye Tourie, Rwizikuru and Garambura.

Geographically, Bahia is highly diverse. In the west, landscapes are typically characterised by aridity and deserts, including the vast Fersi desert. However, the region is also host to vast green areas such as the Grand-Vert, Medhi Bahri and plains of Rwizikuru. It is also highly mountainous, notably in the Habashi highlands and Nyikaitsva Makomo EkuMabvazuva ranges of Rwizikuru. The longest river in the region is the NAME river, which stretches from Lake Banga in Kaiye Tourie all the way to Rwivikuru via Habasha and provides water to roughly XX% of the subcontinent's population. The tallest mountain is Mount NAME, in COUNTRY.

Bahia was one of the key centres of early human development, with some of the earliest human relics and archaeological findings have been located in Habasha, and was host to several important states during the antique period. There are records of regular trade between Bahia and Euclea dating to the Solarian period, though there is evidence that connections go back further than this as well. During the Classical era Bahia went through a period of growth, but it was not until the start of the second millennium BC that Bahian societies outside of Habasha began to form into entities more resembling of Euclean states, a process which is believed to have been aided by the spread of Irfan to western Bahia, with the missionaries bringing with them ideas of administration which were then adopted both by the newly converted and by tribes in order to resist the spread of the religion. The middle ages heralded the rise of several prosperous Bahian states, with the 1100s heralding the rise of the veRwizi Empire in Munzwa, modern-day Rwizikuru, and the Kingdom of Kambu in modern-day Kaiye Tourie. These empires grew rich off of the mineral wealth of the subcontinent, bringing an age of prosperity.

However, this wealth brought with it an era of luxury and eventual stagnation, allowing the Euclean states to surpass the Bahian states in military capacity. This resulted in Euclean nations demanding concessions for their trade, eventually coming to dominate the coastlines. Estmere and Gaullica began to seize land for trading ports and, with the need for manual labour to exploit their new territories in Asteria, tapped into the already existing Bahian slave trade and began purchasing slaves in larger quantities. As the trade of slaves was highly profitable, Bahian states became dependent on this and with the prohibition of slavery starting from the mid 18th century their economies collapsed. The Euclean states seized this opportunity to begin annexing land in order to take the valuable resources and, with the exception of Habasha, the region was completely annexed by the middle of the 19th century. The Euclean powers brought with them missionaries, attempting to spread Sotirianity and Euclean culture to their new dominions. While there were many native uprisings against Euclean control, these were primarily on local religious or ethnic lines and it was not until the 20th century that a semblance of common Bahian identity was formed. In 1902 the Conference for the Promotion of the Pan-Bahian Idea was held, which assembled many local intellectuals and leaders to form the first anti-colonial Pan-Bahian organisation, the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party. While this soon fractured the ideals of anti-colonialism had taken root and independence movements were founded, a process which accelerated and began violent with the return of Bahian soldiers from the Great War, many of whom had been exposed to radical ideologies while serving overseas. Through a combination of violent and pacifist activism, most nations in Bahia had gained independence by the 1960s.

In the modern era, Bahia is largely economically underdeveloped with the lowest median Human Development Index and GDP per capita of all continents and subcontinents in Kylaris. All of the Bahian nations are classified as developing countries, with poverty rates and rates of disease prevalence being high. It is also marked by authoritarianism and instability, with only two nations (Habasha and Garambura) qualified as properly democratic and several insurgencies lasting into the modern era. Despite this, economic growth has been more or less continuous in the last two decades and with this new wealth has come great steps in increasing the availability of drinking water and medical care across the subcontinent.

Etymology

The name "Bahia" comes from the name given to the region by Lusitan explorers and traders, "Bahía de los Negros", meaning "Bay of the Blacks" or "Coast of the Blacks", referring to the black skin of the inhabitants. This was widely adopted as simply "Bahia". Previously used names include the Solarian "Inauratia", meaning "Golden Land" due to the large quantities of gold which originated from Bahia.

There have been several efforts to change the name of the continent ever since the birth of Bahian national consciousness in the 20th century, as Bahia is heavily associated with the colonial period and in particular with the slave trade. Such efforts came to a peak in the 1960s when Bahian nations gained their sovereignty, mainly under the control of Pan-Bahianist governments. However, the idea was quickly stymied by the linguistic diversity of the subregion and inability of leaders to agree upon a new name which was acceptable to all parties. The issue is still brought up occasionally, especially by diasporic writers and post-colonial academics, however, in practical terms the project has been more or less abandoned.