Tulaktarvik
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Tulaktarvik | |
|---|---|
City | |
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| Motto(s): | |
| Country |  Surrow |
| County | Stoney County |
| Founded | 1824 |
| Incorporated | 1953 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Brett Simpson |
| Population (2021) | |
| • City | 30,129 |
| • Rank | 2nd in Surrow |
| • Urban | 30,129 |
| Time zone | UTC-4 (Surrowese Standard Time) |
| • Summer (DST) | not observed |
Tulaktarvik is the second-largest city in Surrow, and the capital of Stoney County. Located on Great Island, it is the northernmost city in the world with a population of over 30,000, with a population of 30,129 people as of the 2021 census.
Etymology
The name Tulaktarvik derives from the Itchalnu word Tulaktarvikujarak, or bare rock harbour, with Tulaktarvik itself meaning harbour in Itchalnu. This refers to the rocky terrain surrounding Stoney Harbour, with the absence of any trees, as is common on Great Island. Until 1954, Tulaktarvik was known in Rythenean as Stoney Harbour, named as such by explorer Valentine Brokhill in 1639.
In 1954, it was shortened to Tulaktarvik, both because of the palladium mine nearby using the name, and because Tulaktarvikujarak was deemed to be "too difficult" to pronounce in Rythenean. However, Tulaktarvikujarak is still used by the Itchalnu to refer to Tulaktarvik, especially in formal circumstances.
History
Pre-colonial history
The first humans to settle the area around present-day Tulaktarvik were the Pre-Armin culture around 2,000 years before present. While there are some archaeological evidence to suggest a Pre-Armin presence in the area, such as tools, there is little evidence that the Pre-Armin ever established a settlement in Tulaktarvik.
The first known evidence of human settlement around the area were from the Armin culture from around 75 to 100 CE, with evidence of several Armin settlements around Stoney Harbour that numbered around 200 people. These settlements lasted until the proto-Itchalnu conquered the area around 660 CE, with the proto-Itchalnu establishing settlements around the area.
The area would remain consistently settled by the Itchalnu until around 1500, with the population of the area numbering around 400 people when Itchalnu in the area fell prey to newly-introduced diseases from Auressia as a result of trade with the Chequan: this greatly reduced their numbers from around 400 to less than 20 by the end of the sixteenth century.
Colonial era
In 1616, Tyrnican explorer Laurens Wildner became the first Auressian to visit what would be known as Tulaktarvik. However, due to the treacherous waters between Great Island and Holcot Island, it would only be in 1639 that the second explorer to visit Tulaktarvik, Rythenean Valentine Brokhill would visit it.
The first Auressian fishing camp to set up in Tulaktarvik was in 1747, which would see limited catches of cod, although the fishermen noted that there was "great potential for whaling in Stoney Harbour." Due to the Eleven Years War, such a whaling station was only established in 1769, but the whaling station was abandoned after only one season due to a difficulty in bringing supplies from Holcot Island.
The next attempt at Auressian settlement was in 1824, when Edgar Niebur established a basic fishing stage. Edgar Niebur took his younger brother, Hans, and his wife, Sarah, the following year, and built a house near the fishing stage. This formed the basis of an outport, with the name of Stoney Harbour, and by 1841, the outport had a population of 7 people.
In 1858, Perendist missionaries established a mission school "for the benefit of the natives" living near to Stoney Harbour. While this led to some growth, Stoney Harbour was still small, with the 1861 census only recording 18 inhabitants, and was considered an "unimportant settlement" by the authorities in Northland County, who were based in Port Lochlan. By 1901, the population remained stagnant, only rising to 22 people.
During the early twentieth century, Stoney Harbour remained small, with a government official in 1924 noting that:
"Despite Stoney Harbour's location on what should be one of the great ports in the world, its Breuvician location, lack of vegetation, and consecutive months of darkness, mirrored by consecutive months of daylight, have precluded it from reaching what should be its true destiny. [...] Only a gold deposit can allow Stoney Harbour to reach its true potential.
On the eve of independence, Stoney Harbour was estimated to only have around 30 people.
Independence
In 1951, palladium was discovered by prospectors from General Armaments near Stoney Harbour. This led to the opening of the Tulaktarvik palladium mine in 1952, which in turn led to a massive influx of workers into Stoney Harbour. In 1953, Stoney Harbour was incorporated as a town, and by 1954, when Stoney Harbour was renamed to Tulaktarvik, it was estimated that the town's population rose to two thousand people, compared to 57 in the 1951 census.
The growth of population in Tulaktarvik led to it becoming the centre of Ted Fisher's Northern Integration Scheme, which sought to bring the Itchalnu into the "body politic" and to assert the authority of the central government over Great Island. Thus, in 1953, Tulaktarvik became the capital of the Central Improvement District as part of the Northern Integration Scheme.
The establishment of the mine and the relocation or establishment of government services led to a rise in Tulaktarvik's population, both because people wanted to be closer to government services, but also because the improvement district closed many "unsustainable settlements" in the Central Improvement District, forcing people to move to Tulaktarvik. Thus, by 1961, the population of Tulaktarvik was measured at 6,303 people, making it the third-largest city in Surrow, just behind Gateway and Holcot Inlet. By 1971, Tulaktarvik's population doubled again to 12,794 people, making it the second-largest city in Surrow after Holcot Inlet. By that point, the only other "sustainable settlement" in the Central Improvement District, besides Tulaktarvik itself, was Uangnaq, about 40 km to the northwest of Tulaktarvik.
In 1975, the Surrowese government promoted the Central Improvement District to full county status, with Tulaktarvik becoming the county seat of Stoney County. By 1981, the population of Tulaktarvik had risen to 17,273 people. During the 1980s, Tulaktarvik's growth began to slow, leading to the 1991 census registering 22,455 people in Tulaktarvik.
Modern era
- centre of Itchalnu revival
- mine still prosperous
- growth slows: 2001 population of 25,105 people, 2011 population at 28,504 people
Geography
Tulaktarvik is geographically situated at the southern edge of Stoney Harbour, and nestled against the Kakayit Mountains which run north-to-south across Great Island.
Tulaktarvik's geography is marked with little vegetation due to its position north of the tree line and due to extensive amounts of permafrost, with limited amounts of grass and lichen present in Tulaktarvik. The permafrost makes it very difficult to build and maintain infrastructure in Tulaktarvik, as construction can cause the permafrost to thaw and damage any structure built upon it, requiring buildings to use pilings to prevent the thawing of permafrost.
Due to Tulaktarvik's position above the Breuvician, it experiences the midnight sun during the summer from April to August, and polar night during the winter from October to February.
Climate
too fucking cold
Demographics
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As of the 2021 census, Tulaktarvik's population was at 30,129 people, making Tulaktarvik the second largest city in Surrow after the Surrowese capital, Holcot Inlet.
Racially, the largest group in Tulaktarvik are Auressian-Surrowese, with 22,276 people, or around 74% of the population. The next largest racial group are Native Surrowese, with 7,191 people or around 24% of the city's population, with estimates suggesting that 98% of all Native Surrowese in Tulaktarvik are Itchalnu, with the remaining 2% being Chequan. Finally, 662 people, or around 2% of the city's population belong to other racial groups, mostly immigrants from other countries.
Religiously, Tulaktarvik is mostly Perendist, with 24,877 people, or around 83% of the city's population, following a sect of Perendism. 5,022 people, or around 17% are irreligious, and 230 people, or just under 1% follow other religions.
Linguistically, 28,526 people, or around 95% of the city's population speak Rythenean as their first language, with 29,562 people, or around 98% of the city's population, being fluent to some degree in Rythenean. 1,063 people, or around 4% of the city's population, speak Itchalnu as a first language, with 22,571 people or around 75% of the city's population being fluent to some degree in Itchalnu. Only 41 people, or virtually zero percent of the city's population, speak Chequan as a first language, with 2,025 people, or around 7% of the city's population being fluent to some degree in Itchalnu. Foreign languages are spoken by 499 people, or around 2% of the city's population as their first language, with 9,104 people or around 30% of the population understanding at least one foreign language.
Economy
Tulaktarvik's economy is largely dependent on the General Armaments-owned palladium mine that supplies around 45% of the world's palladium, located X km east of the city. The mine not only attracts a substantial proportion of the workforce in Tulaktarvik, but it also has led to the development of much of the city's service industry to help serve the miners. This has made Tulaktarvik very vulnerable to the boom and bust cycle, as Tulaktarvik's future is greatly affected by the price of palladium, leading some Surrowese politicians to question the long-term viability of Tulaktarvik.
However, successive Surrowese governments have made some efforts to try and diversify Tulaktarvik's economy, with Ted Fisher's Northern Integration Scheme seeing some government offices serving Great Island move from Port Lochlan to Tulaktarvik, while many more were created to be set up in Tulaktarvik, leading to a high concentration of government jobs on Tulaktarvik only second to Holcot Inlet itself. In recent years, especially under Wyatt Martel's presidency, the Surrowese government has encouraged the development of tourism, with Tulaktarvik envisaged as being the centre of Breuvician tourism in Surrow. However, many of these initiatives have seen limited success in diversifying the economy away from the palladium mine.
Culture
centre of Itchalnu culture
Government
Tulaktarvik's municipal government is structured on a mayor-council system, with the Mayor of Tulaktarvik being elected directly by the citizens, alongside a representative to the six-member Tulaktarvik City Council. The current Mayor of Tulaktarvik is Brett Simpson, who was first elected in 2014, and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.
Tulaktarvik is the capital of Stoney County, the only county on Great Island. It is represented by thirteen of the fifteen members of the Stoney County Council, including the county commissioner, Jerry Shields.
On the national level, Tulaktarvik is represented by nine seats. Of these nine seats, there are seven MPs from the Alliance of Cooperativists and Trade Unionists, and two MPs from the United People's Party.
Infrastructure
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Education
Public primary and secondary education are provided by Stoney County, with the county government operating eight public schools: six primary schools and two secondary schools, which all follow the Surrowese curriculum. In addition to the eight public schools operated by the county government, there is one international school that follows the Albrennian curriculum.
Post-secondary education in Tulaktarvik is largely provided by Tulaktarvik Polytechnic, which as of 2021 only has an enrolment of 1,000 students. However, there is a small satellite campus of Surrow National University that provides classes in Breuvician science, with an enrolment of around 50 students.
Healthcare
As the largest city on Great Island, Tulaktarvik is home to Tulaktarvik General Hospital, which serves as the only full-fledged hospital on the island. For cases too complicated to be treated in Tulaktarvik, it will send patients to hospitals in Holcot Inlet.
Transportation
Due to the geography of Tulaktarvik, the year-round road network only connects Tulaktarvik to Uangnaq, with other communities on Great Island, such as Port Lochlan only being connected by a winter road, leading to a dependence on ferries to connect Tulaktarvik with other communities and outports during the summer months. However, Tulaktarvik has a substantial road network within the city limits, with the primary arterial roads being Ted Fisher Avenue and Laurens Wildner Street.
Public transportation in Tulaktarvik is provided by the Tulaktarvik Transit Authority (TTA), which provides bus service every 30 minutes from 6 am to 7 pm, and then once an hour from 7 pm until midnight every day except on Tribulation Day, when the TTA does not operate.
Tulaktarvik is home to the Tulaktarvik International Airport, which serves as the regional hub for flights within Great Island, and has flights to Albrennia.
Media
The only locally-produced newspaper in Tulaktarvik is the weekly broadsheet Tulaktarvik Times, published by Altman Media Group. However, residents of Tulaktarvik can receive the Altman-owned Daily Fisherman and the Arnarson Press-owned Holcot Inlet Herald.
There are five radio stations in Tulaktarvik. Altman Radio operates two radio stations in Tulaktarvik: SUNL-FM, a classic rock station, at 107.5 FM, and SURO-FM, a contemporary hits station, at 96.3 FM. Arnarson Press operates a single talk radio station, SUNN-AM at 650 AM. Finally, the Surrowese Broadcasting Corportation broadcsts SUSH-AM at 590 AM, with a repeater (SUSH-FM) at 90.2 FM.
The Surrowese Broadcasting Corporation operates Tulaktarvik's only television station, SUSH-TV.