Aztaco Republic

Aztaco Republic 𐐓𐑊𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐑊𐐰𐐻𐐬𐐿𐐰𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊 𐐈𐑆𐐻𐐰𐐿𐐬 Tlacatlatocayotl Aztaco
Flag
Motto: Land of the Great Heron
Anthem: Red Sails
Capital and	Angatahuaca
Official languages	Nahuatl
Demonym(s)	Aztatec
Government	Constituent Republic
• Techiuhqui	Chiucnahuacatl Michiuhqui
Legislature	Aztaco Nenonotzaloyan
Constituent of Zacapican
Population
• 2022 census	19,182,109

The Aztaco Republic (Nahuatl: 𐐓𐑊𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐑊𐐰𐐻𐐬𐐿𐐰𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊 𐐈𐑆𐐻𐐰𐐿𐐬, Tlacatlatocayotl Aztaco) is one of the nine constituent republics of the United Zacapine Republics. It borders the Tlaximallico Republic to the west and the Anamictlan Republic to the south, with a maritime border with the island-bound Mixincayoco Republic across the straight of the same name. Aztaco the second largest of the Zacapine Republics by population at some 19 million residents, behind only the the Zacaco Republic and its 21 million inhabitants. The constituent Republic is home to the majority of the east coast population of Zacapican. It's capital is Angatahuaca, the largest city in Zacapican and one of the largest in the world. The Angatahuaca metropolitan area is home to roughly one in five of the Zacapine citizens and accounts for a third of the national GDP. The population of Aztaco is highly concentrated within this major urban zone, located on its southern coast, with only 3 million Aztatecs living anywhere outside it.

Aztaco consists of of a large peninsula dominating the east coast of Zacapican, with the bulk of the population living along the coastal plains and flatlands backed by the mountainous Aztaco interior. The Tenatepemec range bisects the peninsula along its central southwest-northeast axis, forming two distinct and divided lowland regions along the northern and southern coasts. Of these, the southern is larger with greater distance between the coast and the foothills of the central highlands. In the north, this ribbon of flat land amenable to human settlement and agriculture is narrow, with the foothills running right up to the shoreline in places. This has historically prevented the settlement of a large population in the north and contributes to the lack of any major urban centers on the northern coast of the peninsula along the calm and easily navigable Gulf of Xochicuahuico. Instead, the seagoing peoples of Aztaco settled in the south along the coastline of the rough and storm-plagued Amictlan Ocean, with the rich fisheries of the Matlayahualoyan directly offshore.

For the majority of the last millennium, the Aztaco Republic and Angatahuaca in particular was politically dominant over the rest of the country. Aztapamatlan, the polity which ruled the territory prior to the Zacapine Revolution, was in large part a hegemony of Angatahuaca, at the time confined to the island of Aztlan roughly one kilometer off the shores of the Aztaco mainland. The city had humble origins as a Purépecha trading colony in the year 744, growing through the subsequent decades and centuries into the dominant state of the peninsula and later the sole hegemonic power over the entire southern portion of Oxidentale and further beyond. The ports of Angatahuaca were the primary jumping-off point of the Aztapaman colonial missions to the continent of Malaio, and likewise became the main repository for the wealth of trade and tribute which was extracted from the east. In the 20th century, despite loosing its status as the capital in the Revolution, Angatahuaca remained the foremost urban center of Zacapican, experiencing a meteoric population boom in the era of migrations. Millions of people, from the hinterlands of Zacapican as well as from all six continents, came to Angatahuaca to start new lives in the "boomtown of the world". Many of those who came to Angatahuaca would eventually settled outside of it, in its environs and growing satellite cities, helping to further expand the Angatahuaca urban zone into what it is today.