Argwan Island

Kingdom of Argwan Island
Flag
Status	Self-governing dependency of the State of Gassasinia
Capital	Ramatia
Official languages	Gassasinian Aramaic Gassasinian Sign Language
Recognised Languages	English Gassasinian
Ethnic groups	54% Argwan Islanders 40% Gassasinian 2% Aziallian 2% Mehrani 1% Jewish 1% Other
Religion	Secular State 70.5% Christianity   17.5% Islam 11% Irreligious 1% Judaism
Demonym(s)	Argwani
Government	unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• King	Yousef II
• Prime Minister	Boutros Abdelmassih
Legislature	National Assembly
History
• First Settlement	10th Century BC
• Vassal of Gassasinian Kingdom	355
• Independence from Shadoveil	1949
Area
• Total	483 km2 (186 sq mi)
Population
• June 2020 census	88,103
• Density	182/km2 (471.4/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	~$7.75 billion
• Per capita	$88,102
Gini (2020)	26 low
HDI (2018)	0.949 very high
Currency	Gassasinian Dollars ($GSD) Argwani Dollar ($AWD)
Time zone	UTC-4 (Gassasinian Standard Time (GST)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+963
Internet TLD	.ar

Argwan Island is an island in the Marigic Gulf. Although not a sovereign nation, Argwan Island is considered a self-governing dependency of the State of Gassasinia, which is primarily reponsible for matters of defence and foreign relations.

Argwan Island was first settled in the 10th century BC by ancient Marigic traders originating from main-land Gassasinia. The island would continue to be closely interlinked with the mainland Marigic city states, where Christianity was eventually imported onto the island during the 3rd Century AD. Argwan Island became the personal domain of the Ghassanid king in 355, and would continue to remain mostly independent from Gassasinia's Islamic conquerors throughout the 6th Century through to the 15th Century.

During the 19th century, Argwan Island remained the de-jure personal domain of the Al-Maaloufites. However, in practise Argwan Island was a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. In 1841, Argwan Island became the first state of the divided Gassasinian territories to introduce universal male suffrage. In 1949, Argwan Island was incorporated into Gassasinia as a self-governing territory.

Name

The modern-day name for the Argwan Islands first appeared under ancient Mehravan rule, when the island was referred to as "Argwanistan". It is believed that the island's name "Argwan" is derived from the Aramaic name for the colour purple, "ܐܪܓܘܢܐ" (pronounced ʔarɡ(ə)wɑnɑ). In ancient times, Marigic city states were well known for their precious purple dyes, almost worth their weight in gold. Prior to the emergence of the island's modern name, it was often referred to by the name of it's largest settlement, the ancient Marigic trade city of Ramatia.