Argentans
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The Argentans are an ethnic group in southern Hemithea, Septentrion, concentrated in the eastern part of the Innominadan peninsula. The term Argentan is an exonym coined by Sylvan colonists; in their own language, and in Menghean, Argentans are known as the Chan people (ຊົນເຜົ່າ ຈັນ, sonpeoa Chan). Though Argentan remains the most widespread term for the group in Anglian, some activists advocate for the use of Chan as an alternative.
Until recently, the Argentans were a stateless people, their last independent kingdom having been annexed in 1671. After this annexation, they were split between northeastern Innominada and southwestern Menghe, with a small presence in southeastern Maverica. In response to the Innominadan Uprising, Menghean authorities allowed three provinces of the Republic of Innominada to secede as the new state of Argentstan, encompassing most of Innominada's Argentan-majority areas. There are still large Argentan populations in the People's Republic of Innominada, and in southwest Menghe, where most live in the Chan Semi-Autonomous Province.
Etymology
In their own language, the Argentan people refer to themselves as the Chan (ຈັນ), a term whose first recorded use dates to the 7th century CE. This term likely derives from an old word for sandalwood (ຈັນທນ໌), a prized material used in art, furniture, and incense and known to grow abundantly in the area where the Chan people lived.
The term Argentan was coined by Sylvan colonists in the 17th century. It is derived from the Río Argento, the name of the major river around which the Chan or Argentan people were concentrated. This river, in turn, was named by the Serenoran explorer Emmerico De Cesare while he was in service of the Sylvan crown, and means "silver river." Sylvan colonial administrators continued to use this term while ruling over Argentans in Innominada, and they brought it back to Casaterra, where other languages adopted it.
In general, Casaterran languages adopted the term Argentan as it was brought back by Sylvan contacts, while Hemithean languages continue to use Chan or some variant of it. Menghean records refer to these people using the Gomun character 儧 (찬 / chan), which originally used the derogatory "dog" radical 犭 in place of the "person" radical 亻. The use of "Chan" remains standard in Menghean today, for example in the name of the Argentan Semi-Autonomous Province (찬족 준자치도 / 儧族準自治道, Chanjok Jun-jachido). This division continues up to the present: Argentstan is the official Anglian name of the Chan/Argentan state formed in 2018, though it is known locally as ປະເທດຈັນ (Pathet Chan) and in Menghe as Changuk (儧國 / 찬국).