Ceryana
Ceryana Suryana 宣雅 | |
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 Flag
 Seal
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| Motto: "Dar Shanti'ayana" (Suryanese) "Abode of Peace and Progress" | |
| Location of Ceryana | |
| Capital and largest city | Noules |
| Official languages | English |
| Recognised national languages | Chinese, French, Suryanese |
| Ethnic groups 2023 census | 39.1% mixed ethnicity 17.9% Chinese (Han) 16.0% Suryan 7.2% British 7.0% Suryan 12.8% others |
| Religion 2023 census | 49.3% irreligion 21.0% Buddhism 15.2% Christianity 8.5% Islam 6.0% others |
| Demonym(s) | Ceryan |
| Government | Federal semi-presidential republic |
| Pierre Dewa | |
| Thomas Preece-Lee | |
| Eleanor Teixiera | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Senate | |
| Assembly | |
| Independence | |
| 1 September 1948 | |
| 3 March 1953 | |
• Incorporation of East Beira and Clermont-des-Indes from UK | 1 November 1954 |
• Incorporation of Haut-Tebain from France | 20 September 1966 |
| Area | |
• Total | 229,875 km2 (88,755 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 13.6% |
| Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 72,772,830 |
• 2018 census | 71,878,790 |
• Density | 366.41/km2 (949.0/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $4.52 trillion |
• Per capita | $62,154 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $4.38 trillion |
• Per capita | $60,120 |
| Gini (2019) | 35.8 medium |
| HDI (2019) |  0.904very high |
| Currency | Ceryan pound (£) (CYP) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (CST) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +87 |
| ISO 3166 code | CY |
| Internet TLD | .cy |
Ceryana (Suryanese: Suryana; Chinese: 宣雅) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation consists of six states and two federal territories. Noules is the capital of the federation, the largest city and the seat of the legislative and judicial branch of the federal government. Clermont-des-Indes is the seat of the executive branch of the federal government.
Ceryana has its origins in the Indayan Kingdom, which was the first state to unite the several Malayic fiefdoms in the region in 601 CE. The establishment of the Portuguese colony of Beira Leste in the mid-17th century marked the start of an era of European colonial competition. France annexed the Portuguese puppet state of the Kingdom of Ceriana in the mid-18th century, causing Portugal to transfer administration of its remaining territories to the United Kingdom. The War of 1778 resulted in France surrendering half of its colonial territory to the British. Colonial rule was met with fierce local resistance by the early 20th century, culminating in the then British colonies of Hertford, Indaya and Noules to jointly declare independence as the federation of Ceryana on 1 September 1948. The United Kingdom relinquished its last colonial claims on 1 November 1954, and France on 20 September 1966.
The country is governed under a unique semi-presidential system, which incorporates the main elements of the English Westminster system and the French premier-presidential system. The dual-track legal system is based on both English common law and French civil law. The head of state is the directly-elected President and the head of government is the Prime Minister. The complex history of the country, along with high rates of intermarriage and relatively open immigration policies, have made Ceryana a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, which continue to shape Ceryan identity and national policies. The four national languages are Chinese, English, French and Suryanese, although the sole official language of administration on the federal level is English. Ceryana is officially a secular state, with nearly 60% of the population subscribing to no religion.
The economy of Ceryana grew at an average of almost 12% every year for the first 30 years after independence, fuelled by its export-orientated manufacturing and shipping industries. Since being recognised as a developed country in the 1980s, the economy has shifted towards tertiary industries, with Noules becoming a global financial centre and Port Elliot a tech hub. It also ranks highly in quality of life, education, healthcare, safety, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
Etymology
The name Ceryana is derived from classical Suryanese Malay Suryanagara. The name Suryanagara itself is a composed of the classical Suryanese Malay words surya (suria in contemporary Suryanese), meaning the sun, and nagara (negara in contemporary Suryanese), which means kingdom. Both surya (सूर्य sū́rya; 'sun') and nagara (नगर nagara; 'city') are derived from Sanskrit, an important literary language in the old Buddhist kingdoms that were located throughout the land of today's Ceryana.
Portuguese merchants made contact with the Kingdom of Suryanagara in 1654, and referred to the country as Cerianagara in written correspondence. Following the collapse of the kingdom, the Portuguese established the puppet state of the Reino da Ceriana, the Kingdom of Ceriana. This name was anglicised to Ceryana.
The French translated the Portuguese name Ceriana to Ceraine, however Ceryana was adopted as the official French name of the country upon independence to avoid confusion with the now-incorporated French ex-colony with the same name. Hokkien traders in the 14th century originally referred to Suryanagara as 蘇掠 (Pinyin: sūlüè; Hokkien POJ: soo-lia̍h; Cantonese Yale: sou1 loek6). However, the name 宣雅 (Pinyin: xuānyǎ; Hokkien POJ: suan-ngá; Cantonese Yale: syun1 ngaa5) was adopted upon independence to better fit the Mandarin pronunciation, which was chosen to be the standard Chinese dialect.
History
Pre-unification
Prior to the 7th century CE, Proto Suryanese people began settling throughout Ceryana around the 4th century BCE. Proto Suryanese communities were isolationalist and dispersed, and were headed by hereditary chiefs, known by their titles Hang.
The first recognisable centralised power was established in the early-6th century CE by Hang Indai, the chief of a village known as Pangkor near modern Bukit Gajah. Pangkor villagers had mastered gold panning and rice farming, resulting in stockpile surpluses. Hang Indai traded this surplus with neighbouring villages, allowing him to expand his sphere of influence over their chiefs. Hang Indai also started trading with Indian merchants, who brought along with the Hinduism and Buddhism. Hang Indai eventually converted to Buddhism in the mid-6th century, with many of the chiefs under his influence following suit. With expanding influence and increased trade, Hang Indai engaged Buddhist monks to start writing laws, creating a recognisable governmental system.
His son, Hang Wangsa, inherited the chiefdom in 591 and began subjugating neighbouring chiefs by threat of force for trade deficits. Eventually, Hang Wangsa claimed sovereignty over those villages and established the Kingdom of Indaya in 601, named after his father. The establishment of the kingdom saw the title of the ruler change to Raja, with Indaya continuing to expand until the 13th century, often by diplomatic force, eventually incorporating the lands that make up most of today's Ceryana.
A crisis in the inheritance of the Indayan crown occurred in the mid-13th century, when Raja Mahameru died with no male issue. This eventuated in the War of the Indayan Princes between Putra Wikramawira (Raja Mahameru's eldest brother), Putra Sri Nila (Raja Mahameru's second patrilineal uncle) and Putra Sang Muda (Raja Mahameru's youngest brother), which eventuated in the fracturing of kingdom into three principalities at the end of the century - Indaya, Surya and Nalus. The severely weakened principalities largely collapsed 50 years later, with warlords and hereditary chiefs seizing control over local communities in what was known as the Period of Fiefs.
Unification
The collapse of the