Maracao

Republic of Maracao República de Maração
Flag Coat of arms
Maracao within the Arucian.
Capital and largest city	Porto Leste
Official languages	Lusitan
Recognised national languages	Taino
Ethnic groups (2017)	50.6% Euclean 44.3% Mixed-race 5.1% Other
Religion (2017)	79.2% Solarian Catholic 20.8% Other
Demonym(s)	Maracan
Government	Unitary parliamentary socialist republic (de jure) Dominant-party socialist republic (de facto)
• President	Adão Costa
• Prime Minister	Julio Fonseca
Legislature	Revolutionary Congress
Independence from Marirana
• Porto Leste Declaration	April 19, 1821
• Independence granted	November 22, 1884
• Mariranan occupation	May 17, 1930
• Glorious Revolution	February 26, 1933
• Constitution suspended	April 1, 2004
Area
• Total	40,140 km2 (15,500 sq mi)
Population
• 2020 estimate	3,497,281
• 2017 census	3,386,077
• Density	87.13/km2 (225.7/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2017 estimate
• Total	$79.5 billion
• Per capita	$22,736
GDP (nominal)	2017 estimate
• Total	$54.8 billion
• Per capita	$15,671
Gini (2017)	14.9 low
HDI (2017)	0.641 medium
Currency	Maracan comor (MRC)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+718
Internet TLD	.mc

Maracao (/'mærækaʊ/; Lusitan pronunciation: [maɾa'sə̃ʊ]), officially the Republic of Maracao (Lusitan: República de Maração, Taino: Repablika te Marokey) is a sovereign state within the Arucian Straits that comprises the entirety of the island of the same name and several smaller islands in the Arucian Strait, including the disputed Dunhelm Island. It shares maritime borders with Eldmark, Imagua and the Assimas, Marirana and Vilcasuamanas and is geographically a part of Asteria Superior. With a population of 4,886,077 in the 2017 census, Maracao is the second-most populous island state in the Arucian, behind Sanslumiere. It has an area of X, making it also the second-largest island state in the Arucian by area.

The first recorded inhabitance in Maracao were the Nati peoples, a subgroup of the broader Taino peoples that inhabited the pre-colonial Arucian, around the 2nd century BC. Lusitan colonists from Florena arrived and colonised the island in the 16th century, establishing the modern-day capital, Porto Leste, in 1545. Maracao was utilised for its profitable sugar industry and also for the export and import of slaves during the Asterian slave trade, where the native Nati peoples were treated extremely poorly by the Floren settlers. When slavery was widely abolished in 1740, the colony of Maracao suffered economically, but became popular with upper-class Florens as an Arucian retreat location. The island was forcefully annexed by Salvatore Renzi's dictatorship in Marirana, issuing the Porto Leste Declaration in 1821. Sixty years of oppressive Mariraran rule culminated in independence following its loss in the War of the Arucian in 1884, establishing the Empire of Maracao under Adelmar I. Years of squandering of wealth, decline in power, and oppression towards the lower-class populace preceded Maracao's entry into the Great War on the side of the Grand Alliance in 1926, with Marirana occupying the island fully by 1930, by which Adelmar had fled to Eldmark. A socialist revolution in 1933 ousted the Mariranan occupiers and established the modern Republic of Maracao, modelling itself off of Swetania. Democracy flourished initially but was continually undermined by corruption and scandal. In 1995, current president Adão Costa was sworn into office, and by 2000 many of the democratic institutions in the country were suspended, with the constitution itself being suspended in 2004.

Currently, Maracao rates extremely poorly in democratic indexes and is considered a military dictatorship by most, however its strategic location in the Arucian Strait often provides leverage for its continued relevance in global geopolitics. Maracao is a member of the Community of Nations and the Association for International Socialism, and is commonly subject to influence from nearby Chervolesia, whom it shares many agreements with.

Etymology

The Estmerish name Maracao, as well as its Lusitan name Maração and Taino name Marokey, are all believed to have descended from the Nati Taino language. It is a portmanteau of the words maro, meaning "without clouds" or "blank sky", and keya, meaning "big place" or "vast land". The island is believed to have developed its Taino name sometime in the 16th century, pre-dating Euclean discovery and subsequent colonisation, similar to that of the island of Imagua within Imagua and the Assimas. Its native-deriven etymology makes it among one of the few Asterian states to lack a Euclean etymology.

The name for the island is believed to have been first transcribed into Lusitan as Maração upon initial arrival in the 1550s, and stuck due to its simplicity to say in the Lusitan language. The first Estmerish transliterations as Maracao appeared in a transliterated atlas from 1563 attributed to Hinrick Richenbachs, who travelled much of the early Asterias for his mapping, published as Atlas Orbis Terrarum Nova inventa est. The transliteration is believed to have originated from Ashcombe as an incorrect transliteration of the letter ç in Lusitan to c in Estmerish.

History

Pre-colonisation

Before the arrival of Euclean settlers, the island of Maracao was inhabited by the Nati people, a Arucian-wide people who inhabited modern-day Dunhelm Island, the island of Imagua and the Assimas Islands. The Nati were a rural populace who set up small villages around the coast of Maracao to suit their fishing-dominated, hunter-gatherer lifestyles. One of the largest pre-Euclean settlements on the island was centred about modern-day Cabo Gaspar, in the north of the island, but the settlement was destroyed shortly after Euclean arrival. The Nati population of Maracao was estimated to be around 75,000 before Eucleans arrived on the island.

A 19th century depiction of Tamaya.

Lusitan colonisation and rule (1545–1821)

The island was charted and settled in 1545 by Lusitan explorer Tadeu do Rosario, who commanded his ship, A Sereia, to land near modern-day Alfeite. Rosario claimed the island for the Crown of Florena, initially naming it Ilha de Sereia after the ship that had sailed there. The city of Alfeite was the first established by the settlers sometime in 1546, with coastal settlements eventually engulfing the island by 1550 and Porto Leste quickly emerging as the primary settlement on the island due to its location near large sugar plantations.

Settlers and administrators on the island brutally repressed the native Nati peoples, evicting them from their homes and often razing or destroying their villages to make way for Euclean settlements. Farmland and crops were stolen from the natives and their traditions and history began to be forcefully erased by the Lusitans, who either attempted to assimilate them into Euclean society by taking their children and raising them as Lusitan, or by deporting them to other Lusitan colonies or by outright murdering them. Fabled chief Tamaya led a rebellion in 1583 against the Lusitan colonists, but it was suppressed and defeated by the Lusitan soldiers and settlers there, and greatly worsened the repression of the native peoples of the islands, who were now essentially being round up and exiled to the forested settlement of Garriapa, which functioned as an early internment camp for the natives. Conditions in the camps were awful and natives who were sent there regularly died of starvation, dehydration, infectious diseases introduced by Eucleans, or from being killed or beaten by guards.

As the slave trade expanded, native Nati peoples were removed from the camps and sent to work on the sugar and cotton plantations due to a lack of Lusitan presence in Bahia. Sugar and cotton exports back to Euclea made up the bulk of the Maracan economy throughout the 17th century, as the Asterias began to be filled by the Euclean powers. Maracao, specifically the city of Porto Leste, served as a significant trading hub and naval dockyard for Asterian subdivisions of the Lusitan Navy, and ships and fleets were regularly stored there to keep a significant colonial presence in the Arucian.

Coupled with the exports of sugar and cotton, Lusitan settlers also began to export wood, specifically wood from the Manassan green tree, as it would come to be known in the 19th century. The wood's density and colour made it popular in Euclea, and was a sign of wealth and power, with many pieces of furniture made from Manassan green tree wood made for various monarchs of Euclea. Fruits such as mangoes and bananas were also introduced to Manacao around this time, and were a popular delicacy amongst the Lusitan elite, also often being exported back to Euclea.

Manacao suffered economically as the slave trade was abolished in the 1740s and 1750s, with the amount of exported material decreasing drastically as countries like Estmere and Gaullica began enforcing the ban on slavery and patrolling the Asterias for the activity. With liberalism now emerging in Euclea and the first concepts of the fundamental rights of man began to emerge, the Nati peoples began to be permitted to live and work in the same settlements as the Lusitan settlers, although massive prejudices existed between the two groups of people. Native districts in many of Maracao's largest cities formed of the natives looking to live and co-exist with their own, the largest of which, Distrito de Babau, being home to over 6,000 natives by the turn of the 19th century.

Maracao's population grew drastically and its economy rebounded due to many people seeking Arucian and Asterian refuge from the War of Asterian Secession, which involved the two primary empires in the Asterias, Estmere and Gaullica, and many of their most populous colonies. The independence of Halland, Eldmark, Marirana and Nuxica in the 18th century saw questions being asked of the continual presence of the Lusitan in Maracao, with some early groups forming that wanted Maracan independence, however these were continually suppressed by the colonial governors of Maracao. In 1817, colonial governor Estevão Mendez was assassinated by a Maracan republican, who was arrested and subsequently executed. However, Mendez's execution was a pivotal event in Lusitan ownership of the island, with a string of four governors between 1817 and 1821, Mariranan dictator Salvatore Renzi issued the Porto Leste Declaration in 1821. With the Mariranan fleet and army surrounding the small Lusitan forces on the island, Renzi announced the seizure of the island on April 19, bringing the island under direct Mariranan military rule, where it was renamed to Manassa.

Mariranan military rule (1821–1884)

Renzi's Marirana quickly began reforming the island from being a natural export haven to a prime military base for Marirana to project its influence around the Arucian. The cities of Digueifel and Covancas were founded in the 1820s and initially served as military outposts for the Mariranan forces, facing both north and south. Marirana's ambitious foreign policy at the time coupled with the intense changes to Mariraran society and the economy under Renzi's regime saw increased amounts of instability in Maracao, particularly among those who advocated for independence before Marirana and Renzi seized the island. Land, including that in Maracao, was taken from Mariraran oligarchs, causing some instability on the island as many employed on the plantations now lacked an employer and a source of income. Money was also being rapidly redistributed from social aspects of society and given to the military, with Renzi introducing a levée en masse policy that greatly increased militarisation on the island. As tensions flared and border conflicts became more common, Renzi sparked the Mariranan Revolutionary War, ultimately culminating in Mariranan defeat and Renzi fleeing the country.

Despite calls for independence, Maracao remained a possession of Marirana in the treaty that concluded the war. A series of ill-fated presidents ruled the country for around five years after the end of the Revolutionary War, with many failing to solve the mounting social and economic problems that Renzi's regime and the war had brought upon the country. Believing that a republican government was the source of these failures, Marirana invited Weranic duke Peter Ferdinand of Ludwigheim, crowned Pietro Ferdinando, to be the Grand Duke of Marirana. The coronation of the new Grand Duke set the precedent for monarchist rule in Maracao, with Pietro having treated Maracao comparatively liberally and good-willed compared to Renzi and the presidents before him. When Pietro died in 1841, his wife Caterina continued her husband's history of ruling the island, before being ousted by the military, led by Italo Agostino Saragat, declaring the Third Republic of Marirana. Free trade policies introduced by Saragat benefitted the island, although his authoritarian policies led to the suppression of many on the island, mainly independence activists.

With Saragat assassinated by his opposition in 1870, calls for Maracan independence became more widespread throughout the island than had been achieved before. With most of the island's inhabitants now openly rejecting Mariraran rule, the post-Saragat government of Marirana, under president Fortunato Pacifico, attempted to reign in the island by centralising it and ruling it as an integral part of Marirana. With most of Maracao now supporting the liberal opposition during the October Crisis, Pacifico's self-coup in 1880 effectively sealed a Maracan revolution at an opportune time. Three year's later, with Buscarello d'Ormea bringing Marirana into the War of the Arucian, severe armed resistance in Maracao began to emerge, often funded and armed by Estmere and Gaullica. Having removed the last of Mariranan resistance in early 1884, Maracan independence was legally recognised by the Treaty of Aquinas in 1884, with independence revolutionary Adelmar de Estremoz inheriting the position as Emperor.