Assimas Islands

Assimas Islands

Native name: Isole d'Assime (Vespasian) Asimeri (Western Imaguan Creole)
File:AssimasIsland.png The Assimas Islands, highlighted on a map of Imagua and the Assimas
Geography
Location	West Arucian Sea
Archipelago	Arucian Islands
Total islands	17
Major islands	3
Area	4,937.61 km2 (1,906.42 sq mi)
Highest elevation	1,467 m (4,813 ft)
Highest point	Mount Apita
Administration
Imagua and the Assimas
Largest settlement	San Pietro (pop. 191,096)
Demographics
Population	301,549 (2011)
Pop. density	61.1 /km2 (158.2 /sq mi)

The Assimas Islands (Vespasian: Isole d'Assime, Imaguan: Asima ubohu-nu, Western Imaguan Creole: Asimeri) are a chain of seventeen islands located in the West Arucian Sea and part of Imagua and the Assimas. The islands have an area of 4,937.61 square kilometres, comprising 28.6% of the nation's land area, and have a population of 301,549 as of the 2011 census, comprising 23.1% of the national population.

Situated west of the island of Imagua, north of the Sabanas, northeast of Sanslumière, southeast of the Eldmarkian island of Vanö, and southwest of Maracao, the Assimas Islands, like neighbouring Imagua have held a strategic position in the middle of the West Arucian Sea. This has led to it being inhabited for millennia, first by the indigenous peoples of the Arucian, and then from the sixteenth century, by Caldia, Geatland, Eldmark, and then Etruria.

After the Solarian War ended in 1946, the islands were transferred to the Estmerish colony of Imagua, which gained independence in 1948 from Estmere.

History

The Assimas Islands have been inhabited by indigenous peoples of the Asterias for millennia, and there has been documented evidence of these islands being used as a trading post by various indigenous peoples in the West Arucian Sea due to its geographic location. However, the evidence is unclear as to its original native name.

Following its discovery by Caldia, the islands were named after Assim Asteris, with the earliest settlement, in present-day San Pietro being established in 1534. However, unlike neighbouring Imagua, the Assimas never saw substantial settlement by the Caldians.

It was only after Blostland took the islands from Caldia in 1562 and established a colony did the Assimas begin to be intensively developed. Over the next few centuries, the islands largely remained as part of Blostland, even after the Blostlanders lost control of Imagua to Estmere in 1658, although some failed colonial settlements were made by other countries, such as TBD in 1623 and TBC in 1705. After Eldmark obtained their independence from Blostland, the Assimas would be part of Eldmark until 1813, when Eldmark sold the islands to the United Kingdom of Etruria.

Unlike Eldmark or Estmere, Etruria was focused on "Etrurianizing" the islands. To this end, the settlements were all renamed to Vespasian names, the Solarian Catholic Church became the dominant religion on the Assimas, and Vespasian became the sole official language of the islands. During the nineteenth century, as they attempted to implement local culture, industrialization took hold, just as it had in neighbouring Imagua. During the Greater Solarian Republic, the Assimas were renamed to Nuovo Aeolia to assert a greater connection to Etruria.

After the end of the Solarian War in 1946, these islands were annexed by Estmere, who attached it to the Republic of Imagua. In 1948, it became part of a sovereign Imagua and the Assimas.

Due to the dominance of the country by Estmerish speakers, many Assimans started agitating for increased autonomy or for independence from Imagua and the Assimas, with increasing resentment towards the Università di San Pietro, who was attracting a lot of Estmerish students as a result of it being the only university in the island nation. Thus, in the 1960s, under Prime Minister Efrem Lacovara, policies were made to give autonomy to the Assimas, and to establish a university in Cuanstad, in order to acquiesce to these demands. By the end of the 1960s, the sovereignty movement had died out.

However, with deindustrialization in the 1960s and 1970s, the Assimas Islands started to lose a lot of its population, as much of the jobs in the service sector were based on Imagua, especially in Cuanstad. Due to the increasing centralization of the economy on Cuanstad, this led to the decline of the Assimas, as while a handful of resorts did open, many jobs were lost due to the 1980s financial crisis, mostly in the industrial sector.

Since the 2000s, the economy on the Assimas Islands has started to rebound, as more resorts and some financial operations have started to open. However, 212,930 people, or 70.6% of the population live in the two largest metropolitan areas (San Pietro and Rutigliano), with only 6,031 people, or around 2% of the population living in rural areas.

Geography

A hiking trail on Mount Pioniere, 2015

The Assimas Islands comprises of three major islands, and fourteen islets.

The largest island, Avitabile Island (Vespasian: Isola Avitabile, Western Imaguan Creole: Mitener) is 2582.72 square kilometres in area, with its highest point being Mount Pioniere, at 940 metres above sea level. The second largest island, San Sigfrido Island (Vespasian: Isola di San Sigfrido, Western Imaguan Creole: Ineweyer) has an area of 1,967.62 square kilometres, with its highest point being the 921 metre high Mount Tramonto. Finally, the smallest island, Guardia Island (Vespasian: Isola della Guardia, Western Imaguan Creole: Onirer) has an area of 321.97 square kilometres, with the highest point being Mount Oniri, at only 626 metres above sea level.

Unlike Imagua, which still has active volcanoes, there are no active volcanoes on the Assimas Islands, with several dormant volcanoes, and one extinct volcano (Mount Oniri). This has meant that erosion has become the main geologic force on the islands, which have made the islands relatively flat compared to its eastern neighbour. The Assimas are separated by the Pilastri Straits from Imagua.

This, combined with colonial policies by Etruria have meant that these islands have experienced more deforestation, as the land was exploited for its agriculture. However, due to the flatter terrain, more of its land is arable, with 1,685.91 square kilometres, or about 18.1% of the Assimas being arable, compared to 8.1% on Imagua.

Climate

Climatically, the Assimas experiences a tropical monsoon climate, due to its location near the equator, with the yearly average highs being 32 °C (89.6 °F), and the yearly average lows being 20.5 °C (68.9 °F). The wet season is generally from May to October, while the dry season typically lasts from November to April, although the months of April and November receive more rain than any other month in the dry season.

The highest recorded temperature on the Assimas Islands was at 37.6 °C (99.7 °F), recorded in Venzon on 28 July, 1939, while the coldest recorded temperature recorded on the Assimas was at 8°C (46.4 °F) on the summit of Mount Pioniere on 19 February, 1911.

Administration

The entirety of the Assimas Islands is administered as Assimas County, which is an autonomous county due to the Assimas Autonomy Act of 1969. This means that the Assimas has powers over education, welfare, and social development, which is normally a power reserved for the national government in Cuanstad.

Before the annexation of the Assimas by Estmere in 1946, the islands were divided into... (TBC)