Rwizikuru
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Kingdom of Rwizikuru weRwizi: Humambo hweRwizikuru | |
---|---|
Motto: Tichakunda matambudziko We shall overcome adversity | |
Anthem: Pasi pemureza wenyika yedu Under the flag of our land | |
Land controlled by Rwizikuru shown in dark green, land claimed but uncontrolled by Rwizikuru in light green | |
Capital | Guta raMambo |
Largest city | Port Fitzhubert |
Official languages | weRwizi |
Ethnic groups (2015) | veRwizi (95%) Others (5%) |
Religion | tbc |
Demonym(s) | Rwizikuran |
Government | Absolute monarchy |
• Mambo | Kupakwashe Ngonidzashe |
Independence | |
• From Estmere | 2 July, 1946 |
Area | |
• Total | 330,838 km2 (127,737 sq mi) |
Population | |
• 2011 census | 18,903,392 |
• Density | 72.2510473/km2 (187.1/sq mi) |
GDP (PPP) | estimate |
• Total | $49,545,790,432 |
• Per capita | $2,621 |
GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | $26,918,430,208 |
• Per capita | $1,424 |
Gini (2015) | 57.1 high |
HDI (2019) | 0.535 low |
Currency | Rwizikuran nhovodiki (ſ) (RZN) |
Date format | dd-mm-yyyy |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | TBD |
ISO 3166 code | RZK |
Internet TLD | .rz |
Rwizikuru is a country located in the Bahia subcontinent of the Coius continent, bordered by Nasana and (TBC). Its capital is Guta raMambo, although the largest city and main commercial centre of the country is in Port Fitzhubert.
Etymology
The name Rwizikuru derives from the weRwizi word for "great river," rwizi rukuru, which also lends its name to the Rwizikuru River. The name was first used to describe the country by Charles Fitzhubert in the 1890s, although it was transcribed as Riziland due to the difficulties of pronouncing the "rw" sound by Estmerish settlers to Rwizikuru.
However, the spelling of Rwizikuru that is more widely used today first gained popularity in 1927 by nationalist leaders Samhuri Ngonidzashe and Shungudzemwoyo Nhema when they created the Rwizikuran National Movement, choosing the "rw" spelling as it was how the river was named in the weRwizi language. Over the next few years, that spelling gained movement among those opposed to Estmerish rule over Rwizikuru, until by the 1940s, it was formally adopted by the first President of Rwizikuru, Samhuri Ngonidzashe, as opposed to the "colonial name."
History
Prehistory
Precolonial rule
Colonial rule
colonized by Estmere in the 1860s by Charles Fitzhubert, very little white settlement by Estmerish settlers as they're more interested in our resources as opposed to settlement. After the Great War, the Gaullican colony of Yekumavirira was handed over to Estmere, which was placed under the control of Rwizikuru as the district of Olongaland. In the 1940s, increasing tensions between the colonial authorities and the Rwizikuran National Movement escalated until war seemed inevitable.
(TBC)
Republic
On 2 July, 1946, Samhuri Ngonidzashe, leader of the Mubatanidzwa weRusununguko rweRwizikuru, was inaugurated as the first president of an independent Rwizikuru. During his first term, he began to institute policies to "create a consolidated nation-state." To this end, he began reducing the role of Estmerish in schools, and began policies to improve the infrastructure to connect the cities of Port Fitzhubert, Port Graham, and Saint-Germain (present-day Port Tsalar) by both road and by improving the telegraph and phone lines between those three cities.
These policies proved popular among the weRwizi, and in 1950, the electorate gave Samhuri and his party another term. However, the Wopoto people in Yekumavirira, led by Alai Abyodu Tsalar, started opposing Samhuri's policies, and established the Yekumavirira Liberation Movement to advocate for Yekumaviriran autonomy within Rwizikuru. In 1951, a compromise was achieved, where infant schools in Yekumavirira were allowed to teach in Gaullican and in the Wopoto language.
In 1954, as Samhuri Ngonidzashe reached his term limit under the Rwizikuran constitution, he appointed his son, Izibongo Ngonidzashe to be the MRR's presidential candidate, while still remaining leader of the MRR. Izibongo and the MRR won the election.
Under Izibongo's rule, he began to further centralize Rwizikuru, based on the principles of "one nation, one language, and one leader." Thus, the 1951 compromise was removed, and allowed refugees from neighboring Nasana to be given "vacant land" owned by Irfanic residents. This only served to embolden the Yekumavirira Liberation Movement, which caused Izibongo in 1956 to extend his term to five years, although keeping the two terms as set out in Rwizikuru's constitution. He also instituted policies to crack down on Irfanic practices, and deported prominent members of the Yekumavirira Liberation Movement, including its founder, Alai Abyodu Tsalar.
By 1959, the MRR won all of the seats in the state legislature, and Izibongo Ngonidzashe won 99.7% of the vote in an election judged to be not free. With many Irfanic people joining the Yekumavirira Liberation Movement, Izibongo Ngonidzashe responded in February 1960 by closing all but three mosques in the country: the three mosques that were allowed to stay open included two in Saint-Germain, and one in Port Fitzhubert.
This led to protests led by the Irfanic population in Saint-Germain, which culminated in the Rwizikuran Army firing shots into the crowd on 4 March, 1960, killing twenty-two people, and injuring sixty-three people in the Saint-Germain massacre. As a consequence of the massacre, the Yekumavirira Liberation Movement began to engage in an armed struggle against the Rwizikuran government, and over the next few years, they began to carve out a stronghold in rural Yekumavirira.
At the same time, he began to institute policies to reduce foreign investment, with Ngonidzashe saying in 1961 that "foreign 'aid' and investment is a tool for colonial powers to continue to extract our God-given wealth." Thus, he instituted strict rules on investment and aid, ostensibly to ensure that "any development truly benefits the people of Rwizikuru, and not the elites in Ashcombe." This led to many foreign businesses pulling out of the country.
Kingdom
...to be king. Engages in terrible idea in 66-67 to remove "bourgeois elites" from the country, fights Nasani-Rwizikuran War from 1968 to 1969, and then dies in 1979, succeeded by his son, Kupakwashe Ngonidzashe, who is far more willing to open up to international markets. in 2019, will be succeeded by Munashe Ngonidzashe so a new monarch can make a constitutional monarchy
Geography
main river, Rwizikuru River empties out at Port Fitzhubert
Economy
Rwizikuru's economy is heavily based off of the mining of coltan, and copper, which comprises 75% of Rwizikuru's exports, as well as timber, which makes up another 15% of Rwizikuru's exports. However, these three sectors combined employ less than 30% of Rwizikurans, with around 55% of Rwizikurans working in agriculture, with almost all of them being subsistence farmers.
However, there are substantial economic problems: corruption is rife, while embezzlement has meant that most of the nation's foreign aid does not reach the ordinary citizenry, but rather is squandered by government officials, including the royal family, which has led Rwizikuru to be called a kleptocracy. In addition, poverty is high, with 57.5% of the population living below the official poverty line of 23,750ſ, or $1.90 per day. In addition, the economy is dominated by Marathi merchants, with 65% of the nation's tax revenues being produced by Marathis, despite only making up around 1% of the total population.
Politics
Rwizikuru is a unitary absolute monarchy, according to the Rwizikuran Basic Law passed in 1964 to supersede the republican constitution of Rwizikuru, ruled by Mambo Kupakwashe Ngonidzashe since Izibongo Ngonidzashe's death on 21 September, 1979.
(TBC)
Legal system
According to the Rwizikuran Basic Law, Rwizikuru operates under the principles of common law as was introduced by Estmerish colonizers. However, since the institution of the Basic Law, which allows the reigning Mambo to interfere in the judiciary as he so pleases, such as altering sentences, the judiciary has lost its independence.
(TBC)
Administrative divisions
Rwizikuru is officially divided into thirteen matunhu (sing. dunhu), or districts, including Yekumavirira, where most of it has been under Nasani control since the Treaty of Catherby in 1969, with the remaining areas attached to Ndarira. The districts are run by a mukuru (chief), who is appointed by the reigning monarch and serves at His Majesty's pleasure. The newest district is Gutaguru, established in 1978.
Map | District | District seat | Population (2011) |
---|---|---|---|
Parunoguma | Port Fitzhubert | 5,719,374 | |
Chekumabvazuva | Chekumabvazuva | 3,609,687 | |
Dzakakwirira | Munzwa | 2,804,843 | |
Zvakawanda | Rutendo | 2,301,697 | |
Ndarira | Port Graham | 1,982,456 | |
Sangoguru kumaodzanyemba | Nhiriri | 1,025,967 | |
Hunidzakafa | Majabvi | 815,024 | |
Tsungirirai | Zambuko | 311,221 | |
Mumbengegwi | Tawedzegwa | 135,215 | |
Sangoguru kuchamhembe | Mutupo | 91,227 | |
Nyikaitsva | Rusere | 62,014 | |
Gutaguru | Guta raMambo | 44,667 | |
Yekumavirira | none | 0 |
Demographics
Ethnicity
As of the 2011 census, Rwizikuru has 18.9 million inhabitants living within its borders. The overwhelming majority of the population, at 95% of the population (17,958,222 people), are veRwizi. After the veRwizi, three percent of the population, or 567,102 are other ethnic groups from Bahia, mostly Wopoto people, followed by one percent of the population, or 189,034 people being Marathis with origins in Mathrabumi. Of the remaining 189,034 people, most of them are expatriates from countries such as Estmere, or Senria.
Religion
As of the 2011 census, around 98% of the population, or 18,525,324 people are Sotirians. The largest sects are the High Embrican Church, comprising around 64% of the total population, or 12,098,171 people, and the Catholics, which comprise roughly 30% of the total population, or 5,631,331 people.
The remainder of the Sotirian population, at around 795,822 people, or around four percent of the total population adhere to different sects, with the most prominent being the Free Bahian Church, as it is followed by the royal family.
The second largest religion after Sotirianity is Hyndism, practiced by around one percent of the population, or around 189,047 people, mostly by the Marathi people, but also by some converts to Hyndism. After Hyndism, the remainder of the population, or 189,021 people follow other religions, mostly traditional religions, or are irreligious.
However, syncretism is widespread, with anthropologists claiming that at least half of the total population practices some form of indigenous beliefs in addition to their adopted religion.
Languages
The sole official language is the weRwizi language (Mutauro weRwizi): initially a co-official language with Estmerish in the 1946 Constitution of Rwizikuru, over the next two decades, the status of Estmerish declined until with the institution of the monarchy in 1964, Estmerish was removed as an official language in the Rwizikuran Basic Law. To this day, government services are only regularly provided in weRwizi, though in recent decades, services directed at tourists are using Gaullican.
As of the 2011 census, 99% of the population "have some level of understanding" of the weRwizi language, with 97% of the population being "natively fluent" in weRwizi. 45% of the population have some level of understanding of the Estmerish language, although only fifteen percent are "natively fluent" in Estmerish.
Besides weRwizi and Estmerish, other major languages being spoken include the the Gaullican language, with 60% of people having some level of understanding, and 35% being natively fluent in it, and the Marathi language, with around a fifth of the total population having some level of understanding of Marathi, although only two percent are natively fluent in the language.
Largest cities
Largest cities or towns in Rwizikuru
2011 census | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Province | Pop. | Rank | Province | Pop. | ||||
Port Fitzhubert Chekumabvazuva |
1 | Port Fitzhubert | Manathea | 4,509,662 | 11 | Saint Geoffrey's | South Balisaland | 409,969 | Mangwende Port Graham |
2 | Chekumabvazuva | South Balisaland | 2,222,070 | 12 | Zambuko | Northern Territory | 375,805 | ||
3 | Mangwende | Manathea | 1,127,416 | 13 | Port Matongo | Manathea | 346,897 | ||
4 | Port Graham | Manathea | 1,148,935 | 14 | Chiyangwa | Manathea | 322,118 | ||
5 | Mohubedu | North Balisaland | 1,054,280 | 15 | Irembo | Randaland | 300,644 | ||
6 | Ichambu | Randaland | 894,729 | 16 | Tanaka | Manathea | 281,854 | ||
7 | Munzwa | Midlands | 613,301 | 17 | Motse | North Balisaland | 265,274 | ||
8 | Rutendo | Manathea | 593,838 | 18 | Maraire | Manathea | 250,537 | ||
9 | Crogan | Midlands | 493,191 | 19 | Shumba | Manathea | 237,351 | ||
10 | Vongai | Manathea | 450,966 | 20 | Rusere | Northern Territory | 225,483 |
As of the 2011 census, the largest metropolitan area of Rwizikuru is the Port Fitzhubert metropolitan area, with 5,353,606 people, or 28.3% of the nation's population, spread over the districts of Parunoguma and Chekumabvazuva. The next largest metropolitan area is the Port Graham metropolitan area, inhabited by 612,252 people, or 3.2% of the nation's population, in the district of Ndarira.
The total number of people living in urban areas in Rwizikuru is around 8,941,155 people, or 47.3% of the nation's population, with the remainder residing in urban areas.
(TBC)
Infrastructure
Transportation
Healthcare
Education
Education in Rwizikuru is structurally based off the education system in Estmere as it existed at independence. Education is compulsory for students ages 5 to 14, with children ages 5 to 8 attending zvikoro mucheche, and children ages 8 to 12 attending zvikoro chechidiki. At the age of 11, students take the eleven-plus exam, with the top 25% of students in academic ability going to zvikoro cheGirama, which provides education up to the age of 19, with fifth and sixth forms, while those who have passed go to zvikoro chepamusoro, which only offer first through fourth forms. Those that fail will have to repeat the year until they pass.
If one finishes sixth form, students have the option of studying at a polytechnic, or at the University of Rwizikuru. However, many Rwizikuran graduates study abroad, primarily in Mathribumi due to their low costs and higher quality than in Rwizikuru.
As of the 2011 census, the literacy rate of persons over the age of five is at 70.2%, making Rwizikuru a country with one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world, while functional illiteracy is believed to be substantially higher.
The most significant problem with education in Rwizikuru include corruption on both national and district levels hampering educational development, which has greatly affected the quality of both infrastructure, and of education in general.
Culture
Arts
Cuisine
Rwizikuran cuisine is greatly influenced by traditional veRwizi cuisine, by Estmerish cuisine, and by Marathi cuisine.
Among the traditional veRwizi foods consumed widely in Rwizikuru include sadza, yakagochwa mombe, and rice, while popular Estmerish foods consumed in Rwizikuru include oatmeal, mbatata dzakashambwa, and fish and chips. Finally, foods originating from the Marathi population in Rwizikuru that are widely consumed in the country include kadi, anarsa, and dahi.
Sports
Rwizikuru's most popular and de-facto national sport is gillidanda (weRwizi: gilidanda), with the national gillidanda team being the Rwizikuran Mhembwe. The main gillidanda league is the Rwizikuran Gilidanda League (GCR). Despite its popularity in Rwizikuru, it was banned from Rwizikuru from 1966 to 1982 when Marathis were expelled from the country in a bid to remove "bourgeois influence," with the sport itself being associated with Marathis.
The second most popular sport in Rwizikuru is football (weRwizi: nhabvu), with the national football team being called the MaVarvi, and with the main league being the Rwizikuru Nhabvu League (RWB). The third most popular sport in Rwizikuru include rugby league (kurwisabhora), with the primary league being the Kurwisabhora Bhodhi, and the national rugby league team being the Vatengesi.
Other popular sports in the country include horse racing, netball, and field hockey.
Media
Media in Rwizikuru has been tightly restricted since the passage of the Rwizikuran Basic Law in 1964. Only a single state-run newspaper, the Kwazisa (formerly the Port Fitzhubert Herald until 1950) has been allowed to publish in the country since 1966. As well, there is a single state-owned television and radio network, NMR (Nhepfenyuro mubatanidzwa yeRwizikuru), which began radio transmissions in 1948, and television broadcasts in 1981, with foreign signals being prohibited from being received.
There is little censorship or restrictions on the internet, primarily due to the fact that as of 2015, less than 15% of the population have access to the internet, while 35% have a television set, and 87% of households have at least one radio. This has led opponents of the government to operate with impunity online.
Holidays
Name | Shona name | Date |
---|---|---|
New Year's Day | Goredzva | 1 January |
Good Friday | Chishanu Chakanaka | variable |
Easter Saturday | Isita Mugovera | variable |
Easter Sunday | Isita Svondo | variable |
Easter Monday | Isita Muvhuro | variable |
Labour Day | Zuva Revashandi | 1 May |
Independence Day | Zuva Resununguko | 2 July |
Accession Day | Zuva Rekubvuma | 21 September |
Christmas Eve | Manheru reKisimusi | 24 December |
Christmas Day | Zuva reKisimusi | 25 December |
New Year's Eve | Egore Idzva | 31 December |