Zacapican

United Zacapine Republics Cepan Tlacatlatocayome Zacapiyotl 𐐝𐐯𐐹𐐰𐑌 𐐓𐑊𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐑊𐐰𐐻𐐬𐐿𐐰𐐷𐐬𐑋𐐯 𐐞𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐹𐐨𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊
Flag State Emblem
Capital	Quitzapatzaro
Largest city	Angatahuaca
Official languages	Nahuatl Purépecha
Ethnic groups	See Ethnicity
Demonym(s)	Zacapitec, Zacapine
Government	Federal semi-presidential republic
• Tepachoani	Zianya Xcaret
Legislature	Necentlatiloyan
Area
• Total	1,845,600 km2 (712,600 sq mi)
Population
• 2022 census	70,103,619
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$2.105 trillion
• Per capita	$30,031
HDI (2019)	0.888 very high
Currency	Amatl
Driving side	right

Zacapican, formally the United Zacapine Republics (Nahuatl: Cepan Tlacatlatocayome Zacapiyotl, 𐐝𐐯𐐹𐐰𐑌 𐐓𐑊𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐑊𐐰𐐻𐐬𐐿𐐰𐐷𐐬𐑋𐐯 𐐞𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐹𐐨𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊, CTZ), is is a country located in southern Oxidentale bordered to the north by Kayahallpa and Yadokawona, to the east by the Ooreqapi ocean, to the south by the Amictlan ocean, and to the west by the Makrian ocean. It is a federation of nine constituent republics and one federal district governing a population of 70 million inhabiting a territory of 1.8 million square kilometers across the southern reaches of the continent and several outlying islands and archipelagos. The largest city is Angatahuaca located in the Aztaco Republic while the national capital and third largest city is Quitzapatzaro located in the Autonomous Federal District. The Zacapine population is made of more than two dozen distinct native ethnicities and foreign nationalities, however the largest by far are the Nahuas followed by the Purépecha. Nahuatl is the lingua franca across all of the nations and tribes across the country while the predominant Nahua-Purépecha coalition forms the historical and cultural cement binding the disparate groups of Zacapian together.

The Zacapine economy is built on the mixed market Calpollist model, a system that has been categorized a hybrid of capitalism and communalism. Although it originated as an agrarian system, the modern Industrial Calpollism focuses predominantly on heavy industry and manufacturing and the development of an export-oriented economy based in the secondary sector. Zacapican is the third of the Oxidentale economic giants and takes up a large global share of many industries, chiefly shipbuilding, aviation and the machine industry. Significant iron, coal and copper resources in northern and central Zacapican have facilitated a strong steel and copper products industry which primarily supplies the many manufacturing centers across the country with their raw materials. A significant portion of the energy rescources and industrial materials consumed by the Zacapine economy are imported from its main trading partners in Malaio and the Ozeros nations, as well as the neighboring states of Oxidentale, while finished Zacapine exports have a more global reach. Zacapican possesses an advanced technology sector and is a world leader in aerospace and nuclear engineering.

History

{Aztapamatlan a medieval republic ruled by the two Cuauhtlatoani "Eagle Rulers" (Consuls), under the Cuauhtlatollo, the "Eagle Rule" or government by military elite.}

Zacapine Revolution

Main article: Zacapine Revolution

The Zacapine Revolution was a protracted and deeply consequential conflict waged in every region of the former Aztapamatlan, lasting nearly ten years and involving a multitude of beligerent factions. The ultimate result of the conflict was the overthrow of the Cuauhtlatollo and the broader empire of Aztapamatlan, having as a consequence the effective end of the hegemony of Nahuanized Purépecha lineages that had dominated the country for some seven or eight centuries without interuption. As the foundational conflict to the modern state of the United Zacapine Republics, the effects of the Zacapine Revolution are of major significance and can still be felt today.

Xolotecate era

The 24 year rule of Tepachoani Xolotecatl Acuixoc from the 1914 elections to his death in 1938, better known as the Xolotecate, was a transformational period in the history of Zacapican marked by rapid modernization, industrialization and unparalleled improvements in the general standard of living in Zacapican. The Xolotecate saw two of the three major waves of 20th century immigration to Zacapican which were primarily driven by the dictatorial policies of Xolotecatl Acuixoc, which bolstered the economy in the short term but carried the additional consequence for permanently altering the demographics of many regions of Zacapican with the introduction of large contingents of migrants into Zacapine cities. Although the political and civil rights of Zacapines had massively improved in a short period of time due to the Zacapine Revolution, the Xolotecatl had a cooling effect on the expression of political and especially economic rights. Xolotecatl proved to the most repressive Tepachoani in Zacapine history as a consequence of his aggresive industrialization campaign which antagonized the common people and the peasantry due to the enclosures of public land privatized and sold off to industrialists. Many of those affected by Xolotecatl's policies were the same sections of the peasantry which had only a few years prior taken up arms against the Cuauhtlatollo for very similar transgressions. The Xolotecatl would be remembered as a period of contrasts, seeing the boom of the great cities of Zacapican as they industrialized and drew in millions of migrants yet nearly simultaneously a dark period in the history of the Zacapine countryside marked by a spate of rebellions and brutal repressions.

The assassination of Xolotecatl Acuixoc on the 21st of May of 1938 brought about the immediate end of the Xolotecate, with the dictatorial regime of the Tepachoani office disintegrating in a matter of days to weeks following Xolotecalt's death due to his lieutenant's inability to fill the vacuum of power left in his wake. As a result, power reverted to the democratic institutions that had been established by the revolution and codified in the Zacapine constitution and which had existed in a subordinated state during the Xolotecate. Political factions formed around the existing interest groups, creating a new system of partisan electoral politics in the wake of Xolotecatl's effectively single-party rule. A further legacy of the Xolotecate would be the lasting effects of the fall of the dictatorship, which would temper Zacapine democracy with a wide array of restrictions, checks on power and contingencies against abuse of power. This would include the introduction of a single term limit for the Tepachoani and Huetetlacualtiani. The Xolotecate era economic policies and the subsequent post-Xolotecate redressment of grievances across the countryside laid the foundation for Industrial Calpollism and the modern Zacapine economic system which combines the principles of the Zacapine Revolution with the developmentalist model of the Xolotecate era policies.

Geography

Biodiversity

The Ahuatetz, a penguin species unique to southern Zacapican

The varied environments of the United Zacapine Republics house an abundance of life including many unique species found nowhere else. Zacapican is a megadiverse country with a large number and variation of distinct ecosystems and biomes ranging from sub-tropical forest, wetlands, temperate, dry and cold steppes, mountains, semi-arid and even polar climate regions. The eastern Ayomazaco and Xochicuahuico Republic boast a tremendous degree of diversity in fauna including the Capybara, Zacaco deer, Maned wolf and Ñandu. Central and western regions of the Cuauhtlaco and Zacaco Republic are home to the Spectacled bear, the Puma and the Guanaco while Xallipan Republic is known for its many species of scorpions and the Vicuña which often used as a mascot by Zacapine children's media. The Fishtail peninsula is better known for the species of the surrounding waters but is nevertheless recognized for such unique species as the Southern river otter and varied avian species such as the Aztlacapalltli woodpecker. The Zacaco Valley at the heart the Zacaco Republic is a flat grassland with little forest cover which is naturally sparse in native tree species. One of these few tree varieties native to the valley is the Ombu now common as an ornamental species across the United Republics in urban centers prized for its rapid growth and wide canopy providing ample shade. Norumbrian sycamore and a number of coniferous species have been introduced into the valley from other regions of Zacapican and from abroad in order to provide a local supply of wood, as the native Ombu has a soft, spongy trunk and does not produce true wood. The many mountain ranges, plateaus and hills found all across Zacapican are heavily forested by pines and other evergreens such as the native Araucaria tree with such regions as Tlaximallico becoming centers of logging to meet the economic need for good timber.

In addition to terrestrial life, Zacapican is known for its abundant maritime biology sustained by highly fertile polar waters. An abundance of plankton and krill in Zacapine waters and parts of the surrounding ocean sustains not only a tremendous number and variety of fish species, but also larger and iconic marine species including penguins, seals and whales. The Orca, a common sight on Zacapine shores, is particularly prevalent in local cultures and is regarded as a Zacapitec national symbol. The extremely rich marine ecosystem of Zacapican's waters has sustained an extensive fishing industry particularly within the world-renowned Zacapine Sea Fishery off the country's eastern shore. This fishery specifically has suffered from overfishing historically, but is considered to be in the process of recovering its normal fish stocks thanks to fishing restrictions put in place by the Zacapine government for the express purpose of regenerating the economically important Teeming Sea Fishery. Historically, many Zacapitec mariners undertook whaling as a means to exploit the abundance of Minke, Humpback, Sei and Cachalot whales. In response to the depletion of these species and the decline in economic demands for baleen and whale oil, whaling of any type has been strictly prohibited by federal law since 1910.

Government and Politics

Government

The United Zacapine Republics are a federation of democratic republics with a presidential central government in which the legislative and executive powers are divorced from one another. The constitution of the state lays out four levels of administration, these being the federal level across the whole of the union of republics, the constituent level of the individual republics, the municipal level of the altepetl and finally the individual calpolli ward within the municipal district. The upper three echelons of the state are required by the constitution to hold a republican, democratic tri-partite government consisting of a legislature, an executive administration and an independent judiciary. The governing system of the wards is not mandated by the constitution and varies across the union according to local principles and traditions of self-government in each region. Each level of the state is held under the authority of the entity it is a part of, such that the federal courts, legislature and executive are able to override those of the republics, which in turn may override the altepetl municipal entities within their borders. The only locality which diverges from this tiered system laid out in the constitution is the capital, which functions as a fusion of a municipal and constituent authority. The federal district of Quitzapatzaro functions primarily as a municipal level authority but is granted some privileges normally reserved for full fledged constituent republics, such as representation in the federal legislature, but does not hold the full suite of powers a normal republic would benefit from, such as the power to form a paramilitary republican guard or to independently manage economic planning. Instead, the federal district relies on the federal level authorities to manage its economic planning, security needs and other functions normally carried out by the constituent republican governments.

The Necentlatiloyan, the federal legislative body, is unicameral as are the republican and municipal legislatures. A representative or ixiptlatl is elected from within a electoral district within a republic, usually consisting of one large or a number of small municipalities, to serve a single five year term which once completed will bar that ixiplatl from running for the federal legislature in that or any other electoral district. It is common for lower government officials, members of lower legislatures or ambitious members of the public to view a potential term in the Necentlatiloyan as transitional move through which to gain more widespread political notoriety with which to secure a long term position in the federal or republican administration. Occasionally deputies fail to accomplish anything of note or tarnish their reputations while serving their single term at the national level, causing them to either retire from politics or return to lower echelons of political activity with less stringent term limitations. The legislature deliberates on the passage and content of bills, voting on legislation and holding a check on executive power by providing a vehicle for the impeachment and removal of the executive, although this requires a supermajority of the Necentlatiloyan.

The Tepachoani is the single federal executive of the United Republics, being elected through a nationwide vote using a first past the post system in which the candidate with a plurality of the vote wins the election. The term of office for the Tepachoani is two years. Unlike the Necentlatiloyan, there are no term limits of any kind imposed on the executive elections, allowing incumbents to be re-elected for an indeterminate number of consecutive or non-consecutive terms provided they are able to maintain a plurality come the day of the election. The Tepachoani appoints the members of the cabinet and the leaders of various federal agencies, only some of which must be approved by a special hearing of the Necentlatiloyan such as the secretaries of justice and of defense. The main power of the Tepachoani stems from their power over the Secretariats and their daily function, which encompasses the whole of the Zacapine state administration as it supersedes and encompasses the activities of the lower echelons of the state. The Tepachoani also holds veto power over bills which pass the lesgislature's voting process.

Politics

National and local politics in Zacapican are dominated by three major parties, the Tiachcaume ("Elder Brothers"), the Tlayacanques ("Progressors"), and the Macehualques ("Popular Ones"). The Tiachcaume and the Tlayacanques correspond to the conservative and progressive factions of the Xolotecate era Centiliztli party, the party encompassing all factions of the Zacapine Revolution which ruled the nation under a one party system until the death of Xolotecatl Acuixoc in 1938. These two parties splintered and formed competing groups after the fall of the Xolotecate, the Tiechcaume forming a Cozauist-conservative bloc with a base of support among the clergy and the rural population while the Tlayacanques formed a secular progressive party supported by the urban intelligentsia and a number of business and development interests that had emerged during the Xolotecate modernization and industrialization program. The Macehualques had no legacy in the Xolotecate or the defunct Centiliztli party, emerging spontaneously from unrest in the rapidly growing urban centers of the country which crystalized into a movement of the industrial workers. Macehualque politicians are often accused of demagoguery due to the overwhelming populist, anti-establishment and anti-elitist philosophy and rhetoric.

In the recent history of Zacapican, the the Xolotecate was followed by the Occanquizqui or bi-partite era of the Tiachcaume and Tlayacanques alone holding power from 1938 through 1949, the first major electoral victory of the Macehualques as their movement began to mature. This would usher in a period of tension in which the Tiachcaume and Tlayacanques began to collaborate against the powerful political threat of the Macehualques sweeping the national and state elections, a period known as the Excanquizqui or tri-partite era. In 1966, the tripartite era would come to an end with the defeat of a Tiachcaume-Tlayacanque coalition by the Macehualque party which for the first time secured a majority across the Necentlatiloyan and controlled the office of the Tepachoani. This electoral sweep would usher in a time known as the Macehualtlatollo, the Rule of the Masses, in which the Macehualques would maintaign uninterupted control of the executive and legislative branches, governing unopposed for 25 years. The defeat of the Macehualques in 1991 and the end of the Macehualtlatollo returned the political situation to a state resembling the Excanquizqui in which all three parties would freely compete against one another, a state of affairs preserved into the present day.

Due to the nature of the first past the post voting system using in the elections for Tepachoani, the broadly popular Macehualques almost always win a plurality and secure the seat of the Tepachoani. In the decades since the end of the Macehualtlatollo era, there have only been four non-Macehualque Tepachoanis for a total of eight years of any administration other than a Macehualque one. However, the more stringent parallel voting used to assign the seats of the Necentlatoloyan has frequently denied the Macehualques the ability to secure a majority themselves since the end of the Macehualtlatollo. In the case of a Macehualque Tepachoani, the Necentlatiloyan may either be controlled by a supporting coalition of the Macehualques and one other party which will collaborate with the Tepachoani to advance a legislative agenda agreed upon by both parties, or else an opposing coalition will form of the Tiachcaumes and Tlayacanques forming a united front to stall and restrict the Tepachoani and the Macahualques in the legislature as much as possible.

Foreign Relations

The foreign relations of the United Zacapine Republics are generally non-ideological, following a tradition of realpolitik rooted in realist and pragmatic principles. Zacapican instead pursues bilateral partnerships on the basis of economic, technological and academic cooperation that affords a mutual beneficence to both parties. As an independent great power, it is not aligned with the principal power bloc of Oxidentale consisting of the Rezese, Kayan and Mutulese powers, nor is it generally affiliated with the Latin sphere or the opposing Kiso sphere. Instead, Zacapican has resumed the policy of its predecessor states and pursued the development of an expansive cooperation pact of its own known as the Transoceanic Co-Prosperity Sphere (TOCPS) with the developing nations of southern Scipia and Malaio. Outside these immediate regions of interest, Zacapican maintaigns a partnership with Wazheganon and an interest in the Periclean basin, particularly eastern Belisaria.

Economy

Agriculture

Industrial cultivation of maize in eastern Zacaco

Maize and potato agriculture is the basis of Zacapine agriculture, with the country being internally divided between highland areas in the interior which depend on the potato as their staple and the coastal plains and foothills regions as well as the Zacaco Valley where extensive maize agriculture can be found. Crops found alongside these staples include beans, tomatoes, chilies, cassava and squash. All of these crops are indigenous to Oxidentale and were either domesticated in or introduced to Zacapican over the course of thousands of years of history and migration, and remain the principle staples of the Zacapine diet and the myriad local cuisines found across the country. Much of the agricultural activities aimed at food production are based on the system of the traditional communal farm, which over time evolved into ownership and labor model today known as Calpollism. Under this system, the land is held in common and usufruct rights are granted to members of the local community to cultivate sectors of this common land. This traditional calpulli is found primarily in the rural regions of the country, while the industrial Calpollist model is employed to modern mass agriculture in the country's more intensively cultivated arable land such as the central Zacaco Valley. In the most intensely cultivated lands these is high production of maize as well as sunflowers, soybeans, flax and sorghum which are used to produce edible oils and for the production of biofuels on an industrial scale. Livestock such as chickens, pigs, cattle and sheep are also raised in the hills of northern and central Zacapican using the industrially produced oilseed plants as well as available pasture for animal feed. A minor component of the agricultural sector is the production of wood and paper products through logging, which was originally based on the dense forests in the Xochicuahuico and Tlaximallico Republics but has since largely transitioned to tree plantations operated on land already cleared of natural woodlands. Intensive cultivation of monocultures of specially selected species, generally of coniferous tree varieties, allows these plantations to produce a large quantity of timber for wood and paper products in a short amount of time and is considered more sustainable as well as more economically sound than the continued harvesting of the now limited regions of natural old growth forests.

Fishing, which is considered a part of the agricultural sectors, is a major industry in Zacapican and contributes to nearly one third of all food production within the United Republics. Much of this fishing takes place in the Teeming Sea fishery off the eastern coast of the country, although Zacapine fishing vessels have ventured further and further afield across the Makrian and Ooreqapi oceans in response to declining fish stocks of the Teeming Sea and the corresponding government restrictions. Sardines and anchovies are fished, while shortfin squid and hake are approaching status as overfished. The Teeming Sea Saurel is overfished. Southern bluefin and Yellowfin tuna are highly sought after by those fishing vessels that venture into the open oceans beyond the coastal fisheries of Zacapican. The average Zacapine consumes around 25 kilograms of fish every year, making it one of the largest per capita consumers in the world. Increasingly, even the well-developed Zacapine fishing industry is not able to meet mounting demand and fish as well as other seafood such as crustaceans must be imported from other countries or fishing contracted out to foreign fishing firms. The fishing industry makes up three quarters of the economic contribution of the agricultural sector and is far more lucrative relative to the size of its labor force than the cultivation and tending activities taking place on the mainland.

Manufacturing

A blast furnace and steel production facility outside Angatahuaca, Aztaco Republic

Production of manufactured goods makes up the bulk of the Zacapine economy by GDP and percentage of the national workforce employed in these secondary sector. Development of industrial manufacturing in the United Republics began in the early 20th century with the expansion of steel production and subsequent diversification of machine producing factories and mechanical works through the 1910s and 1920s. The mainstay of the manufacturing sector remains the production of mechanical components, metal products and machines used in other industrial sectors and factories. Much of the industrial equipment used in Zacapican is itself manufactured in the United Republics, while such products are also widely exported to the industrial economies of the wider world. Simple assembly has for the most part been replaced across country by more complex manufacturing, particularly of engines, vehicles, aircraft and ships. In particular, Zacapican is one of the world leaders in the manufacturing of oceangoing vessels, which is done in large assembly facilities producing prefabricated sections to be transported to a building dock to be assembled into a completed ship. The United Republics produce container, bulk carrier, tanker and ro-ro ships for commercial use by domestic and foreign firms. Shipbuilding activities are widespread in the country's many major port cities and directly or indirectly employs two in every seven Zacapine citizens. State owned manufacturers are also involved in the production of warships for the Zacapine navy as well as international military clients. Besides the manufacture of components for the international market, often components for more complex vehicles and machines, many motor vehicles and aircraft are additionally manufactured in the United Republics. Auto industry factories are well established in the interior urban centers of the country since the mid 1950s, while the growth of aeronautics industry was initially spurred by the Zacapine space program and would only develop into a conventional Calpollist industrial sector in the late 1980s.

The Zacapine manufacturing sector is itself focused primarily on products intended for industry. With the exception of shipbuilding, finished vehicles, aircraft and other such completed products make up a small portion of the sector. Instead, most of the products produced in the United Republics are intermediate components or machinery to be exported and used by foreign industrial firms. Another large section of the manufacturing industries in Zacapican is metallurgical, producing the necessary steel and other metal alloys to be used in the manufacturing process, while specific strategic resources such as lithium, coltan and nickel are imported from other countries to facilitate industrial processes. A small but lucrative subsector of manufacturing in Zacapican is high tech manufacturing, in particular the Semiconductor industry consolidated under the Centlaxotlaltica corporation chip foundries. While the costs of entry into high tech manufacturing are too high for many industrial calpolli to be able to afford, the high profitability of the semiconductor and other high technology industries is expected to draw larger calpolli conglomerates into these sectors in the near future.

Energy

  Nuclear (81%)

  Hydroelectric (7%)

  Natural gas (5%)

  Wind (4%)

  Solar (3%)

  Other (0%)

Electric power generated in the United Republics is a valuable local export in southern Oxidentale, where it is sold across the northern border to Kayahallpa and in particular Yadokawona. Electricity generation in Zacapican is centralized under Cenikpitikayotl corporation, an anonymous limited company under majority ownership by the government of Zacapican. Cenikpitikayotl does not have a total monopoly in the energy sector in Zacapican but remains the largest energy corporation by far in part thanks to government subsidies for its operations. Electricty arrived in Zacapican relatively late, first appearing in the 1890s and still not reaching many rural regions of the mountainous interior until the mid 1930s. When it finally began to expand, the electrification of the country was accomplished thanks to coal and gas-fired power stations. Coal stations would fall in popularity as the coal supply was prioritized for industrial uses, while natural gas popularity would decline severely following the 1969 Angatahuaca Blackout and the global oil crisis of the early 1970s which drove electricity prices in Zacapican to astronomical levels. After these crises, companies like Cenikpitikayotl received major financial incentive to establish alternative power infrastructure for which nuclear was favored as a stable, year-round source of energy which could increase or reduce production based on market conditions rather than being reliant on environmental conditions like other renewables. The first nuclear reactor, the now famous Angatahuaca-Chapulco Power Station, began operation in 1981 and would soon be joined by dozens more supplying the enormous energy demands of the large coastal urban centers of the United Republics. Today, there are a total of 61 nuclear reactors in Zacapican. Hydroelectricity takes up the position of distant second in terms of power generation in Zacapican and is especially common in the north and interior regions where it is based on small hydroelectric dams in the high-altitude valleys which supply power to otherwise isolated regions that are too sparsely populated to justify an independent nuclear station and too geographically isolated by difficult terrain to rely entirely on grid connections from elsewhere which could be severed. The mountain dams themselves also serve to regulate the flow of seasonal snow melt and rainwater downstream and supply fresh water to the environs year-round.

Electricity from the grid is widely used to power transportation systems such as metros, trams and both passenger and freight trains which have undergone sweeping conversion from diesel to electric over efficiency concerns. Zacapican is an outlier of Oxidentale in that its motor vehicles, namely cars and trucks, continue to operate gasoline and diesel engines as opposed to the electric vehicles commonplace elsewhere on the continent. This is primarily due to the high cost of lithium which makes the powerful batteries of electric vehicles prohibitively expensive for the Zacapine market. Vehicle owners in Zacapican continue to show preference to gas and diesel-powered personal vehicles due to their low cost and longevity compared to expensive electric vehicles which often have a shorter shelf life. Because of this, the scheme of energy used for transport is a mixture of electric powered freight, passenger rail and urban public transportation, contrasted with urban and rural personal transportation which relies more on hydrocarbon fuels. Due in part to this latter demand, some domestic companies have emerged to supply biodiesel produced from sorghum, corn and miscellaneous plant matter produced by the agricultural sector. Biodiesel has in the past served as an attractive and domestically made alternative to foreign petroleum fuels, particularly when market disruptions cause international oil prices to fluctuate. The biofuels sector also serves to meet demand for heating, which has remained largely based on gas or gas-alternative biofuel rather than the more expensive electric heating alternative.

Transportation

National Route 30 traversing Amegatlan Seaport and the Amegatlan-Angatahuaca international airport

The transportation scheme found across the United Republics is heavily influenced by the Calpollist development model that has shaped the expansion of its urban and industrial centers. The main byproduct of the widely dispersed and sprawling urban centers created by the modern industrial Calpolli and the urban society organized around it has been the continued dominance of the automobile for both urban and rural transportation, while the role of metro, light rail and omnibus networks has emerged over the course of the 20th century in the ever-expanding urban zones. In general, the sustained outward expansion of the city based on new Calpolli being added to the periphery has fueled the expansion of roadways and auto transport, while the expansion of these networks into already built regions of the city presents greater problems. Therefore, it is in areas of the city which have already been built that mass transit schemes are relied upon to facilitate the movement of workers and other citizens around the city. In order to remain effective, these networks are connected to the newer regions of most cities as well but are most heavily relied upon in the city centers where traffic congestion is severe and the expansion of expressways or motorways is impractical. Overall, the road network across the United Republics has an extent of 377,195 km (234,378 mi) of which 216,822 km (134,726 mi) are paved. Roughly 7% of the total length of roadways in the country consists of multi lane expressways and major arteries for the automotive transportation system which plays a significant role to the overall transit system of the country. Both the roads and railways are nationalized in Zacapican. Most expressways operate on a system of tolls which help to finance their upkeep, while the railways permit the passage of trains owned by private companies on their rail network for a fee for the same purpose. In general, the state ownership model for these means of transportation is regarded as most efficient.

Ximahk bridge along the Tzopilopan-Quitzapatzaro railway

The most extensive network of railways and roadways are the coastal avenues which travel along the relatively flat and densely populated eastern and western coasts. Of the 21 national expressways in Zacapican, 15 are found in the north and west coast regions, with the remainder primarily traversing east to west to connect the two traveling through mountain routes over central and southern Zacapican and the rugged Fishtail peninsula. These expressways are the main means of regional and interregional passenger transportation. The railways are primarily used for freight purposes and serve as the main arteries of non-passenger industrial tranportation, with effectively all Zacapine goods traveling at some point in their production or distribution through the freight cars of the national rail corporation Tepozcoatl. Two high speed rail lines exist in Zacapican disconnected from one another, these being the east and west coast lines which interlink the major metropolitan centers on each coast and are able to remain financially viable due to the high traffic between these destinations. However, due to much lower density of demand in the interior as well as terrain making it difficult to lay rail for high-speed trains, high speed rail has not yet been able to establish itself between the coasts of the country in the interior regions which remain the domain of conventional passenger rail and the motorway system.

Sea links have historically been the lifeblood of the Zacapine state and its precursors, due to the difficulty of the interior which made overland travel generally unforgiving. In the modern day, both sea and air links are grouped in the same non-terrestrial transport category in the United Republics and remain in regular use for travel along the densely populated coasts and between these regions. Air travel in Zacapican is closely regulated by the government but is entirely controlled by private firms making up many dozens of national and regional airlines. There are nearly 1,400 airports in Zacapican and every city above 400,000 inhabitants have a dedicated and modern airport for its service, with domestic air travel making up another large category of passenger travel in Zacapican. However, the eight largest airports in the country corresponding to the five largest cities handle around 90% of all air traffic in the country. By comparison there are 79 seaports in Zacapican, 49 along the west coast and 30 along the eastern coast. Roll on-roll off cargo shipping is commonly used for short range maritime transportation of goods, while major ferry terminals exist in every port city in Zacapican to connect to other ports as well as many smaller terminals along the waterfronts of the same city. Smaller coastal cities and towns are connected by these same maritime passenger and freight transit connections to each other and the major hubs, and in some port cities a portion of commuting workers enter the city from nearby towns or outer wards of the city itself by way of ferry transport rather than rail or road transportation.

Communications

The majority of Zacapine telecommunication infrastructure is owned by the state corporation Cecnitlacayoh Nuhhuian Macho Huehcacaquiztli Atlepetequipanoliztli (CNMHA), a public utility corporation which enjoyed a total monopoly status between 1925 and 1961 when the sector was liberalized and deregulated to allow private competitors for the first time to establish their own telecoms and broadcasting networks. CNMHA in the modern day has retained its near total monopoly on communications infrastructure in the country, however, and operates using a business model of renting its established equipment out to private networks for a fee which covers the equipment maintenance costs. Zacapican has a state owned internet service provider, Nahuanet, which provides free internet access across the country and operates a subsidiary of CNMHA. While many private competitors also offer commercial internet services which are generally faster and of a higher quality, the Nahuanet internet service which is publicly available to all residents in the country is considered an indispensable public asset despite its annual losses subsidized by the state treasury. CNMHA telephone, telegraph, facsimile and television infrastructure services however are not free to use and the fees the corporation is able to charge to media networks and private companies to use its equipment enables it to generate revenue and effectively cover many of its own expenses without state subsidization while keeping the fees and costs down for the average citizen for basic services as the costs are absorbed by neither CNMHA nor the individual user but rather the private firms paying for the privilege of service on the public system. This model has remained in place for decades thanks in large part to the extensive network of public infrastructure owned by CNMHA the construction of which was paid for by the state, making it more affordable for most private firms to pay the fee to use this network rather than finance and establish their own parallel private networks for their own use. Nevertheless, limited broadcasting stations, especially for radio and television, have been established in large cities like Angatahuaca and Quitzapatzaro where the high density of customers can make the investment into private infrastructure financially sound in the long term.

Demographics

Zacapican is considered a medium to large nation relative to the world standard, playing host to a variety of unique ethnic groups and populations. There are 70,103,619 people living in Zacapican according to the 2022 census carried out by the Statistics and Data Collection Agency within the Secretariat of Internal Affairs. 63.6% of the recorded population, roughly 44,585,901 people, is between the ages of 15 and 64 while 24.2% (approximately 16,965,076 people) are under 14 while only 12.2% or 8,552,641 people were recorded as being over 64 years of age. In general, the population has a mostly balanced sex ration averaging 0.98 males to females across all ages, with a surplus of males under 15 at a ratio of 1.05 males to females in that cohort, compared to a ratio of 0.72 males to females 65 and over. The average life expectancy is 77.14 years at birth. Less than 30% of Zacapitecs identify as Nahua ethnically, while 88.9% speak Nahuatl as a first language compared to 97.9% of the population which are proficient in Nahuatl. 99.6% of those aged over 15 can read and write in at least one language. Over the past 40 years, Zacapican has maintained a relatively stable rate of population growth averaging at a 2.1% increase every 5 years. The nation experienced its most precipitous growth in the past hundred years between 1914 and 1947, a period of Zacapitec history marked by industrialization and urbanization, following which the growth rate stabilized towards its current norm.

Ethnicity and Language

Ethnic Composition of the United Zacapine Republics
Nahua			27.5%
Purépecha			9.9%
Otomi			6.1%
Zacateco			5.9%
Xi'oi			5.7%
Chaan			5.2%
Tzhuana			4.9%
Caxcan			4.8%
Iakan			4.6%
Cochimí			3.4%
Kayan			3.3%
Aymara			3.2%
Biele			3.1%
Ona			2.9%
Mapuche			2.4%
Guaycura			2.2%
Lushyods			2.1%
Onekawan			1.4%
Nuu Savi			1.1%
Other			0.3%
Values represent self-identification

The United Zacapine Republics is an ethnically diverse nation inhabited by more than two dozen recognized groups, seventeen of which exceed one million members. The ethnicities present in Zacapican can be divided into the categories of Huecachane or those who immigrated into the country within the last 200 years, and those who have inhabited the country for more than 200 years. The latter group can be further subdivided into Huitztecame or peoples originating in southern or central Zacapican, and the Mictecame or peoples originating in northern Zacapican, broader Oxidentale or Norumbia. The Mictecame cultures are the most prevalent in the recorded history and modern-day society of Zacapican, with such influential peoples as the historically significant Purépecha and the widespread and culturally dominant Nahuas being Mictecame of northern origins. Together, all Mictecame groups make up a simple majority of the Zacapine population, while the Huecachane narrowly surpass the Huitztecame in the modern day. However, no single ethnic group approaches a majority of the population, with the most numerous being the ethnic Nahuas making up slightly more than one quarter of the population.

Mictecame

The Nahua groups in Zacapican are not only the most numerous but also the most geographically widespread ethnic group across the country. The Proto-Nahua peoples originate in what is now the Xallipan Republic in northern Zacapican, migrating into the more hospitable central and southern territories some time in the 1st millennium BCE. Being a widely dispersed and numerous group the Nahuas are divided into many regional variations and subgroups which are grouped together into western Nahuas inhabiting coastal Cuauhtlaco and Zacaco Republic, central Nahuas inhabiting the Zacaco Valley and the Mixtepemec mountains, and eastern Nahuas primarily inhabiting Xochicuahuico, Aztaco and eastern Tlaximallico Republics. Nahuatl became the lingua franca of the entire region following the Nahua migration as nearly every tribe and kingdom across all of what is now Zacapican had some contact with the Nahua diaspora, making the Nahuatl tongue a convenient and nearly universal bridge language for commerce and diplomacy between any two groups.

Of the non-Nahua Mictecame, the Purépecha are the most notable and well documented historically. They originate in Norumbia in what is now Belfras where they were documented by the Kayamuca as a technologically advanced seafaring people. Very little remains of the Purépecha migration by sea in modern day Mutul or Kayahallpa as the only documented post migration Purépecha colonies can be found in western Zacapican and are first recorded in the late 1st millenium CE. The Purépecha remained a significant presence in the Zacapine west coast, establishing a number of sea-faring city states and even establishing outposts around the south and east of the Fishtail peninsula including the settlement of Angatahuaca. Other Mictecame originating in interior Oxidentale are the Zacatecatl, Otomi, the Xi'oi and Caxcan peoples, all of whom migrated southwards into the Zacapine region in the centuries between the Nahua and Purépecha migrations.

Huitztecame

The least numerous and most sporadically dispersed of the three categories of Zacapine ethnies are the Huitztecame. In the modern day, these groups are primarily found within ethnic enclave regions in the Mixtepemec mountains in the Ayomazaco, Xochicuahuico and Zacaco Republics, as well as the other isolated and rugged regions such as the interior of the Aztaco and Anamictlan peninsulas. The most accepted definition of a Huitztecatl tribe or ethnicities are those which were already inhabiting the region during the time of the Nahua migration, as many groups of the region can only be attested through archeological means and are only documented in contemporary history by the first recorded accounts in Classical script. Many of the ancient Huitztecame lacked any indigenous writing system, making their histories prior to the arrival of the Nahuas difficult to verify. The Cochimí as well as the smaller Guaycura originally inhabited the fertile Zacaco valley but were largely displaced by the Nahuas and other Mictecame tribes in ancient times and now inhabit the highlands of the eastern Zacaco Republic and western Xochicuahuico and Ayomazatl Republics in concentrated ethnic enclaves.

The Mapuche, who inhabit the Cuauhtlaco Republic, have achieved periods of independence from the dominant Zacapine polity miltiple times in history with the most recent being a short lived breakway state during the Zacapine Revolution. Significant numbers of the Mapuche people reside on the Kayahallpan side of the border, further exaserbating the general suspicion and hostility between the Zacapine government and the leaders of the Mapuche. Consequently, the Mapuche enclaves in Cuauhtlaco are among the most economically depressed regions in all of Zacapican and have become a hotbed of Mapuche seperatist sentiment which has contributed to further deterioration in the living conditions of Zacapine Mapuche. The opposite is true of the Ona and Iakan people, native to the southern Fishtail peninsula in what is now the Anamictlan Republic. These peoples of the far south have enjoyed preferential treatment by the Nahua-Purépecha Zacapine polity for most of modern and medieval history and have partially assimilated into the dominant cultural institutions of Zacapican.

Huecachane

The majority of the Huecachane migrated to Zacapican in the decades following the Zacapine Revolution, during the modernization and industrialization phase of the Xolotecate which rapidly raised the standard of living for many Zacapines and introduced many new industries to the country which demanded more laborers than could be made available from the native workforce. This was particularly pronounced during the decade of the 1910s as the steel industry boomed in Zacapican, prompting many steel producing companies to begin appealing for workers in foreign countries with full approval of Tepachoani Xolotecatl who would implement a citizenship path for those migrating to Zacapican to work. The earliest contingents of such migrant laborers were the Biele, a persecuted group originating in Drevstran which had already begun to flee the country into neighboring states in Belisaria. Due to the economic hardship experienced in the country and the ongoing Drevstranese Civil War other Drevstranese demographics, the Lushyods in particular, were drawn to the option of emigration to Zacapican by the same efforts of the Zacapine industries to draw on Biele migrants. The success of these early efforts to attract migrants triggered a ripple effect and popularized the growing United Zacapine Republics as a destination for those living in poor conditions and seeking a better life. This reputation alone proved a major factor in drawing other ethnicities including the Chaan, Ben Zaa and Nuu Savi originating in the Mutul or the Onekawans and Tzhuana originating in Malaio to relocate to the growing Zacapine industrial centers and establishing themselves in the growing immigrant enclaves being established in the major Zacapine cities such as Angatahuca and Quitzapatzaro. The Kayan and Aymara contingents of the Huecachane are the most recent major migration wave to come to Zacapican and the only major wave to arrive after the Xolotecate era, primarily coming to Zacapican in flight of the political instability and persecution experienced in Kayahallpa throughout the mid 20th century.

Most of the Huecachane have resided in Zacapican for at least two generations and have generally assimilated into Zacapine society and some aspects of the local cultures. The most prominent of these forms of assimilation is linguistic. Taken as a group, Huecachane have a higher rate of proficiency and greater literacy and fluency rates in Nahuatl than any other non-Nahua contingent be they Mictecame or Huitztecame. Moreover, the majority of every Huecachane ethnicities have seen declining rates of proficiency in their ancestral languages as the successive new generations more often speak Nahuatl as their first language than their own ethnic mother tongue. This effect is more pronounced with the earlier Huecachane immigrants such as the modern descendants of the Drevstranese and Mutulese immigrants whose families have now inhabited Zacapican for 100 years. The native cuisine and religion of Huecachane groups has proved far more resistant to assimilation than the language, as the latter becomes easily ingrained by the public school system in Zacapican which may teach a Mictecame or Huitztecame language in addition to the required Nahuatl, but rarely offer any lessons in Huecachane languages. Nahuatl proficiency is frequently reinforced in successive generations born in Zacapican who are educated in the Zacapine school system and whose proficiency is reinforced by a lifetime of participation in the Nahuatl speaking social institutions and business world.

Urbanization

Zacapican is an urbanized nation with roughly 43% of the nation's population living within the city limits of the country's twenty largest urban centers. However, it is not uniformly urbanized across all regions. Most Zacapitecs live on the plains of the Zacaco Valley and on the coastal regions of the eastern and western seaboards. The most populated regions relative to their land area are the Autonomous Federal District almost completley filled by the city of Quitzapatzaro and its suburbs, followed by the Zacaco Republic with its populated Zacaco valley, then the Aztaco peninsula with major coastal cities including Angatahuaca offsetting the sparsely populated mountainous interior of the peninsula. According to the 2019 census, 82% of the Zacapitec population live in urban zones, whether inside city limits or within urbanized satellite communities. Many of the cultures inhabiting the Zacapine territory have a historically urban culture, living and working in concentrated municipalities rather than dispersed across the countryside.