Maracao
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Republic of Maracao República de Maração | |
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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 Maracao within the Arucian. | |
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| 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 |
| November 22, 1884 | |
• Mariranan occupation | May 17, 1930 |
| February 26, 1933 | |
| 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.
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.
Lusitan colonisation and rule (1545–1821)
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. Fruits such as mangoes and bananas were also introduced to Manacao around this time, and were a popular delicacy amongst the Lusitan elite, also often being exported back to Euclea.
Manacao suffered economically as the slave trade was abolished in the 1740s and 1750s, with the amount of exported material decreasing drastically as countries like Estmere and Gaullica began enforcing the ban on slavery and patrolling the Asterias for the activity. With liberalism now emerging in Euclea and the first concepts of the fundamental rights of man began to emerge, the Nati peoples began to be permitted to live and work in the same settlements as the Lusitan settlers, although massive prejudices existed between the two groups of people. Native districts in many of Maracao's largest cities formed of the natives looking to live and co-exist with their own, the largest of which, Distrito de Babau, being home to over 6,000 natives by the turn of the 19th century.
Maracao's population grew drastically and its economy rebounded due to many people seeking Arucian and Asterian refuge from the War of Asterian Secession, which involved the two primary empires in the Asterias, Estmere and Gaullica, and many of their most populous colonies. The independence of Halland, Eldmark, Marirana and Nuxica in the 18th century saw questions being asked of the continual presence of the Lusitan in Maracao, with some early groups forming that wanted Maracan independence, however these were continually suppressed by the colonial governors of Maracao. In 1817, colonial governor Estevão Mendez was assassinated by a Maracan republican, who was arrested and subsequently executed. However, Mendez's execution was a pivotal event in Lusitan ownership of the island, with a string of four governors between 1817 and 1821, Mariranan dictator Salvatore Renzi issued the Porto Leste Declaration in 1821. With the Mariranan fleet and army surrounding the small Lusitan forces on the island, Renzi announced the seizure of the island on April 19, bringing the island under direct Mariranan military rule, where it was renamed to Manassa.
Mariranan military rule (1821–1884)
Renzi's Marirana quickly began reforming the island from being a natural export haven to a prime military base for Marirana to project its influence around the Arucian. The cities of Digueifel and Covancas were founded in the 1820s and initially served as military outposts for the Mariranan forces, facing both north and south. Marirana's ambitious foreign policy at the time coupled with the intense changes to Mariraran society and the economy under Renzi's regime saw increased amounts of instability in Maracao, particularly among those who advocated for independence before Marirana and Renzi seized the island. Land, including that in Maracao, was taken from Mariraran oligarchs, causing some instability on the island as many employed on the plantations now lacked an employer and a source of income. Money was also being rapidly redistributed from social aspects of society and given to the military, with Renzi introducing a levée en masse policy that greatly increased militarisation on the island. As tensions flared and border conflicts became more common, Renzi sparked the Mariranan Revolutionary War, ultimately culminating in Mariranan defeat and Renzi fleeing the country.
Despite calls for independence, Maracao remained a possession of Marirana in the treaty that concluded the war. A series of ill-fated presidents ruled the country for around five years after the end of the Revolutionary War, with many failing to solve the mounting social and economic problems that Renzi's regime and the war had brought upon the country. Believing that a republican government was the source of these failures, Marirana invited Weranic duke Peter Ferdinand of Ludwigheim, crowned Pietro Ferdinando, to be the Grand Duke of Marirana. The coronation of the new Grand Duke set the precedent for monarchist rule in Maracao, with Pietro having treated Maracao comparatively liberally and good-willed compared to Renzi and the presidents before him. When Pietro died in 1841, his wife Caterina continued her husband's history of ruling the island, before being ousted by the military, led by Italo Agostino Saragat, declaring the Third Republic of Marirana. Free trade policies introduced by Saragat benefitted the island, although his authoritarian policies led to the suppression of many on the island, mainly independence activists.
With Saragat assassinated by his opposition in 1870, calls for Maracan independence became more widespread throughout the island than had been achieved before. With most of the island's inhabitants now openly rejecting Mariraran rule, the post-Saragat government of Marirana, under president Fortunato Pacifico, attempted to reign in the island by centralising it and ruling it as an integral part of Marirana. With most of Maracao now supporting the liberal opposition during the October Crisis, Pacifico's self-coup in 1880 effectively sealed a Maracan revolution at an opportune time. Three year's later, with Buscarello d'Ormea bringing Marirana into the War of the Arucian, severe armed resistance in Maracao began to emerge, often funded and armed by Estmere and Gaullica. Having removed the last of Mariranan resistance in early 1884, Maracan independence was legally recognised by the Treaty of Aquinas in 1884, with independence revolutionary Adelmar de Estremoz inheriting the position as Emperor.
Adelmar I's rule (1884–1930)
Adelmar I was crowned as Emperor of Maracao in Porto Leste in the December of 1884, marking the first independent island state in the Arucian strait. Adelmar married Ester, Duchess of Kvällholm, an Eldmarkian princess, in 1885. The two had their first child, Carina de Estremoz, in 1887. The childbirth was celebrated in Maracao as the birth of a new dynasty, however Adelmar was concerned with his successor, and wanted a son to secure his succession. In 1891, Adelmar and Ester had their second child, another daughter, Vanessa de Estremoz. With the birth of their second daughter, Adelmar became paranoid about his succession, and was convinced by a devout Catholic in his council that Ester was not seen as holy under the eyes of God. As such, Adelmar had Ester executed for treason in 1892, prompting widespread reaction throughout the Arucian, particularly in Eldmark. Eldmark and Maracao entered a period of extremely intense relations, with war seeming a likely possibility due to the militarisation of both states. However, nothing ever came of the period of tensions, and the two never declared war on each other.
Adelmar would remarry with middle-class Maracan woman Anna Valente in 1894, who immediately gave birth to two sons in 1896 and 1898. Adelmar attempted to broaden relations with the monarchies of Euclea in the early 1900s, particularly those of influential colonial states such as Werania, Gaullica and Estmere. Adelmar met with Estmerish king Charles II in 1906 in a state visit to Ashcombe. Having experienced the modernisation of Estmere's economy and industries, Adelmar returned to Maracao and attempted to implement similar policies throughout the 1910s. Discontent with the eradication of their work, the farmers and rural workers of Maracao protested in the 1916 Alfeite protests. Adelmar brutally suppressed these protests, ordering the army to open fire on the protestors in the city. With widespread condemnation from Euclea and the Asterias, Adelmar now found himself and Maracao diplomatically isolated in the Arucian. The major slump in exotic fruit and sugar exports due to the Great Collapse in 1913 also added to growing discontent within the population of Adelmar's rule. Tensions begin to rise with Marirana throughout the early 1920s as Ottaviano Castello began to threaten major conquest in the region. Due to this, Adelmar declared war on Marirana in 1926 in support of the Grand Alliance in the Asterias, and would order a landing campaign on the San Marcos peninsula in Marirana, hoping to capture Aquinas quickly as Marirana was distracted with the larger powers in the Asterias. This failed horribly and Adelmar was forced to flee to Halland in 1929, and would never return to the island, losing his title in 1932. Adelmar died in 1949.
Great War and occupation (1926–1933)
Maracao participated heavily in the Arucian front of the Great War, with its ships and personnel being involved in the fight against Marirana for almost the entirety of the conflict. When Adelmar ordered a declaration of war on Castello's Marirana in 1926, he also ordered a series of quick and unorganised naval landings on the San Marcos peninsula, where the capital Aquinas was, in an attempt to strike at Marirana's underbelly whilst they were busy fighting powers such as Eldmark and Nuxica in the west. Four landings were designated in the San Marcos peninsula, Sul, Norte, Chama and Cacao, and would attempt to surround forces in the peninsula, encircling them in the south before forcing their surrender and moving north with the Mariranan supplies. The plan failed miserably, and the Maracans were defeated with heavy losses at every landing except Sul, which managed to advance around 15 kilometres into the mainland before being defeated and turned back at the Battle of Lanuvio. With all Maracan forces regrouped on the island by February 1927, it is estimated that around 36,000 of the 110,000 who attempted the landings lost their lives.
As the Entente began to see major success in the Arucian, fear began to arise in Maracao of another occupation. With Chervolesia neutral, Halland fighting Gaullican forces in the north and Marirana hammering down on Eldmark and Nuxica in the south, much of the powers in Asteria Inferior were struggling to maintain their positions of power. Estmerish and Etrurian colonial outposts in Imagua and the Assimas provided little defense as the islands were swiftly occupied by Gaullica and its fleet. Following some small battles on the Maracan mainland as Mariranan forces landed at their old military base in Covancas in June 1930, the island of Maracao was occupied by Marirana.
The occupation once again saw Lusitan names renamed to Vespasian, and the island itself renamed to Manassa once again. Mariranan units used Maracao as another outpost, and units were regularly seen walking down streets in Porto Leste and many other large cities as martial law was declared on the island for ease of occupation. Maracan flags were torn down and burnt throughout the island as a symbolic act by the Mariranan occupational forces. The flag over the modern Revolutionary Congress Building was replaced with a Mariranan flag and played the anthem of the country every morning. By the end of 1931 the Mariranans had eliminated most explicit sense of national identity on the island. In January 1932, Nemtsovist revolutionary Renato Guimarães formed the Frente Revolucionária de Libertação (FRL; "Revolutionary Liberation Front"), which would form the first examples of organised, armed resistance against Mariranan occupational forces. By using knowledge of the island's terrain, night attacks and guerrilla tactics, the FRL saw many initial successes in attacking Mariranan forces on the island. As Entente influence waned in the Asterias, and as Gaullica was nearing surrender back in Euclea with the entry of Swetania into the war, Guimarães declared an open revolution against the Mariranan occupiers.
Revolution and republic (1933–)
With Guimarães and the Revolutionary Liberation Front now in open rebellion against Marirana, and with Halland and Nuxica pushing back on Castello's Marirana from the north, revolutionary influence in Maracao began to grow as the Front saw major victories against Marirana at the Battle of Garriapa and the Battle of Sanceriz, both of which saw heavy Mariranan losses. The two Mariranan battalions retreated to different locations on the island, the first to the initial landing bay in Covancas and the second further north to Cabo Gaspar. The battalion at Covancas were encircled and surrendered on November 18, whereas the resistance at Cabo Gaspar was a lot more organised and fierce, and were not defeated until January 7 the next year.
With Marirana completely evicted from Maracao, Guimarães declared the Republic of Maracao on January 9, 1934, and was sworn into office and its first president. Drafting and passing the Maracan constitution in 1935, Guimarães modelled early Maracao off of Asterian Chervolesia and Euclean Swetania, and his constitution was praised for its particular liberality towards the LGBT and women, with Maracao being a frontrunner in rights for both demographics. Guimarães sought about reforming Maracan society to be less militaristic and more socially liberal, taking the Swetanian Revolution as main inspiration. Despite this, Guimarães still did prioritise a well-run and modernised military for the sake of national defense. Owing to this new policy of armed neutrality, Guimarães refused to participate in the Solarian War when it began in 1942, with conflict raging just offshore in the Assimas Islands. This neutrality was preserved throughout the war, however Guimarães chose to stand down as president in 1944, and supported his friend and revolutionary participant Josué Couto, who was elected shortly after. Guimarães died in 1945. While Couto saw Maracan neutrality in the Solarian War as important, he was not opposed to exploiting it for the country's own gain. Couto ordered the seizure of Dunhelm Island from Imagua and the Assimas in 1945 whilst the conflict was still going on, and brought about plans to set up a military base there to expand socialist influence in the region. Named after his deceased friend and former president, Guimarães Base opened in 1946, and initially only stationed Maracan military assets, mainly small patrol boats and surface missiles. Imagua attempted to retake the island in 1947, but were repulsed by the Maracan forces and forced to retreat back to Imagua.
Couto oversaw the warming of relations with Swetania and Chervolesia, and brought Maracao into the Association of Emerging Socialist Economies in 1949, bringing Maracao closer to the socialist world. Couto died in 1957 and was replaced with Prime Minister Matheus Moreno, who was sworn in on October 15. Moreno would only last a year in office until he was replaced with Enéas Almeida, who held the position until 1973. Almeida was the architect of much of Maracao's anti-imperialist involvement in conjunction with the AESE, and his tenure saw funding go to socialist revolutionary groups in Bahia, Badawiya and Southeast Coius. Almeida introduced staunch anti-capitalist policies and amended the constitution in 1966 to give the President more power within the country, which is recognised by historians to have been the first step in the transition from democracy to strongman rule throughout the 20th century. Despite this, he is also credited with the modernisation of many of Maracao's job sectors, using AESE funding to create tertiary jobs separate from the rural agricultural work that had dominated the island for centuries. Agricultural output dropped as Maracao transitioned to a modern economy through Leonardo Alcantara, who served until 1986 and continued much of Almeida's modernisation policies, with Maracao becoming a tertiary-sector economy in the 1980s. Alcantara also negotiated Maracao's entry into the Association for International Socialism, and was a founding member along with Chervolesia, Swetania, Dezevau and the Wale. The last free elections were held in Maracao in 1986, when Alcantara left office, and elected Ademar Abril, who oversaw the recognition of the Nati language as a recognised national language on the island, and introduced increased rights for the natives in the legislature and constitutionally. Abril became the second president to die in office when he suffered a heart attack in 1995, and was replaced with his Prime Minister Adão Costa.
Costa would immediately seek to implement strongman rule as he secured the favour of the army in his rule and prohibited rival socialist parties from running in the 2000 election, the first incident of explicit electoral manipulation in the country's history. Costa was re-elected in 2000, by which his rule was classified as a military dictatorship by most political organisations. The 2000s mainly consisted of Costa solidifying his grip on power and expanding the military, greatly increasing military infrastructure around the island and introducing a military school policy, whereby students could leave school at age 15 to join a military academy instead of leaving at the usual age of 18. Costa drew widespread condemnation from most countries and even members of the AIS, with the Asterian Forum for Development and Cooperation particularly issuing condemnation to Costa for his threat to trade passing through the Arucian Strait. AFDC suspicions were proven right when Costa ordered the seizure of a Satucine cargo ship bound for Cuanstad for reportedly breaching Maracao's exclusive economic zone. After a month of negotiation and the internment of the crew, Costa released the ship in 2013. Since then, Maracao has not interrupted any cargo passing through the strait. In 2015, Maracao lifted trade restrictions and entered into more trade deals with non-socialist nations, which was coupled with a sharp increase in tourism to the country, which has benefitted the economy since.