Arucian Sea
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| Arucian Sea | |
|---|---|
.jpeg) A view of the Arucian Sea from tbd beach in Sainte-Chloé. | |
| Location | Asteria Superior Asteria Inferior |
| Type | Marginal sea |
| Ocean/sea sources | Vehemens Ocean Lumine Ocean |
| Basin countries | List
|
| Managing agency | Arucian Cooperation Organization |
| Max. length | tbd |
| Max. width | tbd |
| Surface area | tbd |
| Average depth | tbd |
| Max. depth | tbd |
| Water volume | tbd |
| Islands | Golden Islands (Assimas Islands, Bonaventure, Carucere, Imagua, Sainte-Chloé, Sainte-Geneviève, Šventasis Kazimieras, Šventoji Kotryna, Vanö) Emerald Islands (Île d'Émeraude, Îles Émeraudes Satucines, Îles des Saints, San Nicomede) |
| Sections/sub-basins | West Arucian Sea East Arucian Sea |
| Settlements | |
The Arucian Sea (Gaullican: Mer arucienne; Luzelese: Mar aruciano; Vespasian: Mare aruciano; Ruttish: Aruku jūra; Blostlandic: Arukiska havet; Asteriaans: Arukiaanse zee; Soravian: Аруканське море) is a body of water, conventionally referred to as a single sea, which is composed of two marginal seas: the West Arucian Sea, a marginal sea of the Vehemens Ocean, and the East Arucian Sea, a marginal sea of the Lumine Ocean.
Located mostly between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer and entirely within the Eastern Hemisphere, the Arucian Sea separates Asteria Superior from Asteria Inferior. It has an area of [tbd] km2, representing X.X% of the global ocean surface; its greatest north-south length is [tbd] meters and its greatest east-west length is [tbd] meters. Its deepest point is [tbd location], located in the [tbd trough/trench] near [tbd country], but its average depth is [tbd] meters.
The Arucian Sea was important for trade in the pre-Assimian Asterias, connecting polities such as Cutinsua, Térachu, Mwiska, Tzapotla, Calkhun, and Itzel in an intercontinental trade network and enriching the peoples who acted as intermediaries, including the Marai, Nati, Mutu, and Karukera. It has retained its importance in commerce and transit in the centuries since the arrival of Eucleans in the Asterias, and is an important hub of economic activity, transit, and tourism.
The continental countries which border the Arucian Sea, in clockwise order, are Eldmark, Ardesia, Vinalia, Gapolania, Adamantina, Satucin, Aucuria, and Nuvania. Additionally, the island countries of Sainte-Chloé, Carucere, Imagua and the Assimas, Bonaventure, and Île d'Émeraude, as well as the Gaullican overseas territory of the Îles des Saints, are all located partially or totally within the Arucian.
Etymology
The etymology of the Arucian Sea's name is uncertain and heavily disputed, with no solid academic consensus in favor of any singular theory.
One theory proposes that the sea's name is derived from a Mutu word meaning "cassava root", rendered variously as aruák, aruwako, arowak, and arawak, which was sometimes used as a tribal name by the Mutu; according to this theory, early Euclean navigators in the sea encountered a Mutu tribe which referred to themselves by this name, mistakenly elised the word from aruwak into aruk, and subsequently applied their name to body of water upon which they lived. Critics of the theory, however, note that this word was commonly adopted by or applied to Mutu tribes which lived farther from the coast or on large islands, and thereby relied more on agriculture than on fishing for their survival, making it unlikely that Eucleans would name the ocean after such a tribe.
Another theory suggests that the name "Arucian" is derived from the name of the New Aurean Strait between Satucin and Ardesia, which separates Asteria Inferior from Asteria Superior and is typically held as the dividing line between the East Arucian and West Arucian. The New Aurean Strait is itself named for the Aurean Strait, which separates Euclea from Coius and is held to be the dividing point between the Solarian Sea and the Gulf of Assonaire. This theory proposes that "Arucian" emerged as a diminutive form (possibly the Vespasian -uccio, Ruttish -ukis, or Soravian -ushka, -uchka, or -ishka) of "Aurean", with Euclean sailors who had experience sailing through the Aurean Strait affectionately referring to the New Aurean Strait - and by extension the seas which the New Aurean connects - as the "little Aurean". If this hypothesis is true, the Arucian's name would be derived from the Solarian aurum, meaning "gold", itself ultimately from the Proto-Satrio-Euclean *h₂ews- ("dawn, east"). However, critics of this hypothesis note that there is little hard evidence to suggest that sailors referred to the New Aurean Strait as the "little Aurean", or that the name of the Aurean Strait was applied to the Arucian.
Some linguists have speculated that "Arucian" might be a mangled form of "Aucuria", with the consonant phonemes having been swapped by accident at some point. The etymology of Aucuria is itself disputed, with possible links to the Ruttish word aukuros ("altar"), the Runanca word awqa ("enemy"), and the Runanca word awkisuyu ("principality"). Critics of this proposal have argued that the word "Aucuria" was widely adopted too late (only becoming the official name for the then-Ruttish colony in 1561) for it to feasibly be the origin of the Arucian Sea's name, and some have suggested that it might in fact be "Aucuria" which is a mangled form of the word "Arucian", with little uncontested evidence existing in either direction around the potential link between the two words.
History
Pre-colonial period
[before the 1500s]
Colonial period
[1500s thru 1700s]
Evolution and modernization
[1800s onwards]