Nouvelle-Rayenne
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New-Rayenne "Nouvelle-Rayenne" (Gaullican) | |
|---|---|
Capital City | |
| City of New Rayenne "Ville de Nouvelle-Rayenne" (Gaullican) | |
| Nickname(s): The City of Maples, La Cap | |
| Motto(s): Semper Leber (Solarian) "Forever Free" | |
| Country | Cassier |
| Province | Breloux |
| Region | National Captial Region |
| Established | 1826 |
| Incorporated | 1855 |
| Amalgamated | 1 January 2001 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Jean Rouchelle |
| • City Council | Council of New-Rayenne |
| Population (2016) | 651,006 |
| Website | www.nouvelle-rayenne.ca |
New-Rayenne (French: Nouvelle-Rayenne) is the capital city of Cassier. It stands at the confluence of the Saint Marcus and Bouhier Rivers, where the provinces of New Sylvagne, Monbec, and Breloux meet. The city borders Coque, Monbec, and the two form the core of the National Capital Region. As of 2016, New-Rayenne had a city population of 651,006 and a metropolitan population of 1,502,205 making it the sixth-largest city in Cassier.
Founded in 1826 as Parville, it was renamed to New-Rayenne the following year to serve as the national capital of Cassier, the city has evolved into the primary centre of Cassien politics and diplomacy. Its original boundaries have increased its land area significantly since its founding, with the metropolitan area covering land in each of the provinces surrounding it. The name Nouvelle-Rayenne was chosen in reference to the city of Rayenne in Gaullica.
New-Rayenne has one of the most educated populations in Cassier and is home to a number of post-secondary, research, and cultural institutions. This includes the National Arts Centre, the National Gallery, and numerous national museums. New-Rayenne has among the highest standards of living in the nation and the lowest rate of unemployment.
History
Local populations inhabited the area surrounding New-Rayenne for thousands of years before the first Euclean explorers arrived. Archeological findings have suggested that humans began to reside in the region shortly after the large ice sheets which covered most of Cassier during the most recent glacial period retreated. The discovery of large quantities of pottery, jewelery, and other goods suggests that New Rayenne was an important centre of trade and travel for indigenous peoples, likely due to its position at the confluence of two major rivers.
Gaullican explorer Nathan de Beaumont is widely regarded as one of the first Eucleans to travel so far up the Saint Marcus River, passed by the site of New Rayenne during his exhibition in 1603. Three years later, Alexandre Bouhier; a fur trader, described the area in detail and of his encounters with the local tribes. Recognizing the geographical and economic importance of the area for the fur trade, Bouhier and a small group of colonists established a fort in the area on 7 March, 1629, on the north side of the river. The area would remain largely unpopulated until Clovis Lavigne; an Amendist priest exiled from Gaullica, founded a Euclean settlement across from the present-day city of New-Rayenne in Coque. He, along with several other families and labourers, set out to create an Amendist agricultural community later named Lavigneville in his honour. Lavigne was a pioneer in the burgeoning timber trade by transporting lumber from the Touconoc Mountains and surrounding regions down the Saint Marcus river to the growing settlements of Sainte-Marie and Monbec. Lavigneville saw several major conflicts throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, such as the Fur Wars, Patriote Rebellion, and the Beaver Wars. The settlement of Parville was founded on the site of the modern city of New-Rayenne in 1826 by land speculators. These individuals were attracted to area as Cassien colonial authorities began to clear the rapids and shallows that prevented larger ships from traversing the Saint-Marcus River safely.
In 1827, the town was selected by Cassien Viceroy Govenor Henry Lafaille to be the site of a new capital for the Domain of Cassier, due to its central position between New Sylvagne, Upper Cassier, and Lower Cassier which were the most influencial provinces during that period. Further, the city's small size, it was thought, was also believed to make it less prone to rampaging politically motivated mobs, as had happened in the then-Cassien capital of Sainte Marie. Lafaille facilitated the purchase of the land that was to become the location for the colonial assembly and other government buildings, with construction beginning almost immediately after.
Upon the completion of the old colonial assembly building on New Year's Eve 1835, the Cassien government officially moved to New-Rayenne. The city's population steadily grew in the following decades due to its importance as a new political and economic hub. Throughout the 1850s, entrepreneurs began to build large sawmills, some of which became some of the largest in the world. Rail lines built in the 1850s improved the city's connection to the rest of Cassier and tied it with the developing transcontinental rail network via Coque and Vallee, Monbec in 1886. New government buildings were constructed between 1859 and 1866 using neo-baroque and renaissance revival styles, which was the largest Asterian construction project ever attempted at that point. The ambitious project meant that architects were not initially well prepared, and frequent delays meant that the new buildings would not be fully completed until 1876.
In 1885, New-Rayenne became the first city whose downtown street lights were powered entirely by electricity in Cassier. In 1889 the government developed and distributed Baux d'eau or "water leases" to local industrialists which gave them permission to generate electricity and operate hydroelectric generators using the Bouhier River. Public transportation began in 1870 with a horsecar system, which was then overtaken in the 1890s by an electric streetcar system that lasted until 1959.
New-Rayenne's appearance was vastly altered by the 1929 MacCearnaigh Plan, developed by Caldian architect-planner Niallghus MacCearnaigh. MacCearnaigh sought to design an urban plan for managing development in the capital region in order to make it more esthetically pleasing and more befitting a location of a modern political centre, particularly before the upcoming 1938 Summer Invictus Games. MacCearnaigh's plan was vast in scope and included the creation of a greenbelt, parkway, the presidential (formerly viceregal) street system, and the removal of substandard housing and industrial areas from the downtown, amongst others. In 1930 the National Capital Commission (Gaullican: Commission de la capitale nationale) was to facilitate the implementation of MacCearnaigh's plans between 1930 to 1938.
In the previous 50 years, other commissions, plans and projects have continued to be to implemented in order to improve the capital. From the 1960s until the 1980s, the national capital region experienced a building boom, which was followed by large growth in the high-tech industry during the 1990s and 2000s.