Charnea
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Second Empire of Charnea | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
Motto: One Dream, One Plan, One Charnea | |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Agnannet |
| Official languages | Tamashek |
| Recognised national languages | Zarma Gharbaic |
| Ethnic groups (2019) | |
| Demonym(s) | Charnean |
| Government | Unitary constitutional monarchy |
| Amina N'Okha | |
• Premier | Martuf ag Lamine |
| Usila Gad | |
| Legislature | Agraw Imgharan |
| Area | |
• Total | 2,621,088 km2 (1,012,008 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 41,023,983 |
• 2019 census | 40,165,572 |
| GDP (PPP) | estimate |
• Total | $540 billion |
• Per capita | $13,179.45 |
| Gini | 35.9 medium |
| HDI | 0.701 high |
| Currency | Charnean Dinar (CDR) |
| Date format | mm.dd.yyyy |
| Driving side | right |
Charnea (Tamashek: ⵞⴰⵔⵏⴻⴰ; Gharbaic: تشارنيا; Hebrew: טשאַרנעאַ), formally the Second Empire of Charnea, is a constitutional monarchy in Scipia bordered by the Messidor Union to the northwest, Alanahr to the northeast, Fahran and Kembesa to the east and M'biruna to the southeast. The Second Empire is a unitary state made up of eleven territories and encompasses numerous ethnic and religious groups, with Imuhagh, Zarma, and Gharbaic peoples making up the largest ethnic contingents. Among Charnea's diverse religious groups are White Pilgrims, Yen, Jews and Asalists which practice their traditions exclusively or in conjunction with the highly syncretic native Charnean faith Tamdda-ddin, a Kaharnic faith closely related to ancient Amazigh traditional religion. The government of the Second Empire, recently established in December of 2021, invokes many of the customs and traditions of the defunct Empire of Charnea while implemented a new style of constitutional government. In contrast to some contemporary monarchies of this type, Charnea eschews concepts of representative democracy in favor of meritocratic principles and the philosophy of Total Law under which the monarch serves as a hereditary executive subject to the law rather than a Sovereign with overriding authority over the courts. The national deliberative assembly, Agraw Imgharan, is a unicameral legislature whose members represent various organs of the civil service and the military as a means of formalizing the role of these institutions in the decision making process and control of the apparatus of state.
Modern day Charnea was once part of three great Scipian empires, the Yoruba-Hausa led Sunset Empire, the Zarma led Hsewa Empire as well as the Imuhagh led Empire of Charnea for which the country is named. Various Deshretic domains as well as the Tamashek speaking Amazigh confederations of the northern and western deserts have also existed within what is now Charnea, eventually being subsumed into the Empire of Charnea. At its peak between 1350 and the 1420s, the Empire of Charnea controlled a majority of the Scipian continent and was one of the largest contemporary military powers in the world. Throughout the early modern period, the empire's frontiers receded to what was considered its core territories, a region roughly equivalent to the modern day borders of the Second Empire. From 1906-1909, the empire underwent a period of escalating civil conflict known as the Charnean Revolutionary Period eventually leading up to the dissolution of the Charnean Empire in 1911. Many core states of the former empire established the Central Scipian Accord, which would later lead to the federation of the State of the Central Scipian Accord. The SCSA would expand its influence and reassert control over many lost territories of the old empire, carving up lands among notable clans and engaging in a system of patronage benefiting the well connected. This state in turn would break under the pressure of the Ninvite War in 1987, reforming as the Central Scipian Republic during the 1987-1990 ceasefire and prosecuting the remainder of the war. The CSR continued many aspects of the corrupt pay to play patronage system under a far more centralized state in which power was monopolized my a single clique of clan leaders and notable politicians as opposed to many local groups. Political instability stemming from corruption, mismanagement and constant reshuffling of state officials and leaders through the machinations and betrayals of national leadership led to the Great Charnean Crisis, the Hatherian Genocide and the subsequent military coup in 2013, followed by the breakup of the military government with the military rebellion of 2015 which effectively dismantled the Central Scipian Republic. Administration of the country was then left to the Transitional Government of the Obul and Ninva effectively controlled by local military officers turned warlords for six years from late 2015 until the foundation of the Second Empire on December 10th of 2021.
In the past century, Charnea has experienced three revolutions, four dictatorships, seventeen coup d'etat attempts both failed and successful, the ten year Ninvite War with neighboring Fahran, and the longest running civil conflict in the world. Many of its internal conflicts can be traced back to the dissolution of the Empire of Charnea and the aftermath of the ensuing events, particularly the unfulfilled promises of independence, self determination and autonomy which were made to many Charnea's myriad ethnic groups living under the often incompetent and heavy handed late Imperial rule. A degree of nostalgia for the relative stability of imperial rule has served as a driving force behind the movement to establish the Second Empire and renew the ideas of Charneanism. Another cause of political instability in the past has been the outbursts of periodic infighting between factions of the county's upper class over control of Charnea's valuable natural recourses, which include petroleum and precious metals like gold and platinum. Petroleum industries nationalized under the state owned COPEC extraction and processing company account for roughly 45% of the national GDP and 70% of government income and accounts for a large portion of Charnean wealth, although the national reliance on oil exports to sustain its economy has made it especially vulnerable to disruptive fluctuations in the price of oil on the international market. Despite these frequent disruptions and the occasional imposition of economic sanctions by foreign powers, the Charnean economy based largely on the processing and export of its natural wealth has become moderately prosperous. Charnea is a member of the Forum of Nations and party to the Four Rising Nations Summit.
Etymology
The first people to be called Charneans were the ancient Amazigh tribes of the eastern Ninva which were called the Charkesh or simply Cha by the Deshritic peoples of the Saawa Oasis. The Charkesh amazigh tribe are first referenced in inscriptions dating to 1,300 BCE and is no longer recorded after 700 BCE, however it is believed that the Charkesh people may have been one of the founding tribes of the large Amazigh confederation of Queen Kaharna and remained in the Ninva desert after the dissolution of this kingdom. Historically, the desert abode of the Charkesh and their Tamashek speaking descendants the Imuhagh tribes has termed Charna, later corruption to Charnea. This latter term in was associated with the Empire of Charnea, a conquering polity native to what was originally called the Charnean desert, now known as the central and eastern Ninva. Through the Empire of Charnea, the name would come to associated not only with the cradle of its desert-faring civilization but with most of the areas it conquered, particularly those it retained until its late dissolution and reorganization into the SCSA in the 20th century. The states of the SCSA and the CSR notably did not formally adopt the name of Charnea, in an effort to divorce themselves from the legacy of autocratic Imuhagh rule over the region. In contrast, the Second Empire has opted for the inverse of this approach, attempting to associate non-Amazigh groups with the idea of a Charnean identity.
History
Cradles of Civilization
In what is now modern day Charnea, two separate regions played host to early hubs of the agricultural revolution in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The end of the Stone Age in this region was characterized by changing climate resulting in a drier and hotter environment. This development had over the course of the last ten thousand years turned what had previously been forests and grasslands into the increasingly inhospitable arid climate of what would become the Ninva desert. The changing climate caused a multitude of human groups living in the area to relocate from central Scipia south towards the Obul river basin and east towards the Kira and Kahdan rivers. The migration clashed with the cultures already inhabiting the region, and from the upheaval came the introduction of agriculture and the first evidence of recognizable politically unified polities. In the east, the precursors of the modern day Deshritic people developed a significant presence beyond the Adjer mountains, beginning a rich cultural tradition. There is also significant evidence of major conflict and competition occurring between the Deshritic civilization primarily based in the Kahdan river basin, and several now extinct civilizations with cities located along the river Kira. The Obul basin paralleled the development of civilization found in east Scipia. Rival civilizations sprang up along the river banks, with the ancestors of the modern day Zarma forming kingdoms in the headwaters of the upper Obul region, while the ancestors of the Yoruba dominated the more fertile lower Obul banks. Areas further from the river, and within the swampy and inhospitable Obul delta were come to groups such as the ancient Hausa, Fula and Akan people. These groups remained primarily hunter gatherers for much of the Bronze Age, while groups such as the ancient Beri and most notably the Proto-Amazigh had a nomadic lifestyle and were early adopters of pastoralism. These people were among the first to domesticate the goat, and the first in the world to domesticate the dromedary camel.
Early Empires
During the middle to late Bronze Age, the Obulite civilizations were dominated by an ancient Yoruba polity which would become known as the Water Empire (Yoruba: ‘’Ijoba Omi’’). This appellation came through the state’s tight control over irrigation, which gave it unprecedented central control over the river valley societies which had become dependent on irrigated agriculture. Later historians would name this polity the Western State (Yoruba: ‘’Iwọoorun ijoba’’), commonly translated as the Sunset Empire. Records were kept in a were kept by the kings of cities, important merchants or other officials using a logographic writing system based on pictograms related to modern day Nchibiddi and Adinkra symbols. The advanced level of central control allowed agriculture along the Obul river to be expanded and optimized, increasing yields and leading to an expansion of population for the Obulite groups. A major surplus in food not only caused long term population growth but also contributed to the development of cultural and martial advances. The Sunset Empire controlled its territory through a hereditary warriorcaste who produced little and were maintained by the production of the farmers, serving to eliminate internal and external threats. Political stability, cultural production and social order were closely tied to the Sunset Empire’s sophisticated agricultural system drawing high crop yields from the Obul river banks. Consequently, when this system faced collapse due to environmental factors around the 10th century BCE, the Sunset Empire quickly and violently collapsed in an event also precipitated by rebellions of subject people and incursions from the outside possibly linked to the same climate based factors.
Although Yoruba polities would rebuild in their traditional homelands in the lower Obul, the Sunset Empire would not rise again and the Obulite civilization would remained disunited for thousands of years to come, primarily divided between Yoruba and Zarma hegemonies over the Obul river, while control of the Obul delta quickly lapsed back to native chiefdoms of the precursor Fula, Hausa and Akan peoples. The course of the civilizations in the eastern rivers followed a similar trajectory. There the ancient Deshritic civilization thriving along the Kahdan river and lower Kira competed fiercely with the Semitic upper Kira civilizations. These conflicts were facilitated by complex agricultural mechanisms sustained by regular and predictable flooding which made the Kira river one of the most fertile places in the world, allowing for a massive food surplus and the creation of a sophisticated apparatus of state complete with a military arm. The first recorded battle in the world with surviving accounts of tactics and the order of battle of the belligerents took place between dynasties of these competing civilizations in what is now the eastern Ninva. Those records and others like it were inscribed on clay tablets and reed paper using the Deshritic hieroglyphic writing system, later developed into the Azutite alphabet used by Deshrito-Amazighs inhabiting a series of oasis cities in what is now east Charnea and the Adjer mountains, including what is now the city of Azut. Early Semitic writing was inscribed in many variations of cuneiform mostly on clay or stone tablets. Both of these polities outlived the Sunset Empire of the far away Obul basin, but declined nevertheless over the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. The Deshritic civilization in particular is the longest continuous documented civilization in history, persisting two the modern day as an ethno-religious enclave inhabiting the Saawa oasis in eastern Charnea, while their ancient rivals diffused after the collapse of their polities, becoming the ancestors of modern say Semitic cultures such as the widespread Gharbaic peoples including modern day Fahranis, Anahris and Hatherians.
Tamazgha
Middle Ages
The Kankami
Kankami, from the Zarma word for “affliction”, was the contemporary term coined in the last days of the Hsewa Empire to describe the process of its sudden and violent collapse and subjugation. In the years since, the term has been widely accepted even by Tamashek language sources and its use broadened to refer to the period of time from the foundation of the Kel Kaharna to the death of Ihemod the Inheritor and the subsequent end of the Ihemodian Wars, or roughly the years between 1340 and 1410.
Pax Charnica
The period of relative stability and peace which followed the violence and savagery of the Kankami, known historiographically as the Pax Charnica, began after the death of the Charnean Empire’s founding conqueror Ihemod the Inheritor. In the apparent absence of a son or any nominated heir, the clans of the Kel Kaharna elected a new Amenukal to take Ihemod’s place and lead the Empire and take command of the armies. They elected Magdan ag Bukra, better known as Magdan the Marvelous. The new Amenukal had scarcely enough time to attend his coronation ceremony before a wave of revolts rocked the empire as subjugated peoples, until then cowed mostly by fear of Ihemod’s reprisals, rose up with the news of the tyrant’s death. Magdan recalled the armies from their campaigns to crush the rebellions with equal brutality to that which was shown under Ihemod’s command, demonstrating that opposition to the Charnean Empire would be no more tolerated than been previously. However, Magdan also distinguished himself from his predecessor by remaining largely in the capital Agnannet and the surrounding areas for many years, making no effort to renew the ongoing campaigns of conquest which he had inherited from Ihemod. Indeed, Amenukal Magdan not only made no effort to continue expansion, but indeed withdrew forces from some areas which he deemed not worth the effort to controlling. The remaining area of his dominions included a large area of the Ninva desert including the old heartland of Tamazgha around Ekelhoc, the Awakar, the Adjer mountains and Hatherian Ninva, as well as the length of the Obul river, a collection of regions largely congruent with the territory retained by modern day Charnea. The territorial integrity of the Charnean Empire after Magdan, including after the fall of the empire in the 20th century, is credited to the consolidation of Imperial resources into integrating and maintaining a hold over those areas that remained under imperial power in the mid and late 14th century.
Under Amenukal Magdan and the succeeding Meri dynasty of rulers, the system of government over the empire was wholly reformed. Once rebellion had been eradicated, Magdan implemented a system of minimum interference or “benevolent neglect” over conquered peoples, whose vassal states under the empire now found themselves given governmental leeway and cultural autonomy. From that point forward, the people of subject nations of the empire were only very mildly affected by the edicts of Agnannet, allowing many subject areas to stabilize and recover economically. This policy had the effect of greatly reducing unrest within the empire and allowing nations to remain subjugated under Agnannet without the constant presence of overwhelming military force. However, it also made it very difficult for the Charnean ruler to collect revenue or raise troops in large quantities from subject nations. Instead, Amenukal Magdan began to rely increasingly on the Ikelan, a caste created from the many war captives and slaves taken by Ihemod during his conquests and displacement campaigns. Captives were relocated all over the empire, so as to disconnect them from outside help from their kinsmen, and grouped together in linguistically diverse units so as to impede cooperation between them against their masters. Their isolation made it unnecessary to suppress them further. As a result, Ikelan were often not guarded or kept in chains, instead existing in a state of indentured servitude similar to serfdom.
Ikelan were settled in large numbers in regions of the upper Obul and parts of Azgwag and Achra, which had been depopulated by the Ihemodian war and were now being settled by the Imuhagh. The transition of the majority of the Imuhagh from a nomadic to settled lifestyle was accompanied by the settlement of the Ikelan alongside them, in estimated numbers ranging from hundreds of thousands of several million. Unable to communicate with one another in their own languages, the Ikelan widely adopted the masters’ language of Tamashek as a lingua franca within their communities. Over time, most Ikelan became partially assimilated into the Imuhagh culture, forming a mixed creole identity from their mixed Anahri, Zarma, Yoruba, Beri and Gharbaic roots referred to as the Ikelan ethnicity. In effect, the Imperial system of Charnea created two parallel societies. One was that of the autonomous subjects and the other was that of the captive Ikelan closely overseen by the Imuhagh martial class. In response to the dual nature of the new Charnea, Amenukal Magdan was the first to adopt the Zarma-derived title of ‘’Gaabikoyo’’, evoking the imagery of the Hsewa protectorate system. The function and restrictions of the Charnean throne in Agnannet would have different powers over the different peoples of the Empire, more clearly defined as the Amenukal of the Imuhagh and their Ikelan slaves and the Gaabikoyo of the subject nations all across Charnea. Magdan would be the first and one of the only rulers in Charnean history to bear the title Amenukal-Gaabikoyo, as the vast majority of his successors including the modern day Queen of Charnea formally bear the female equivalent, Tamenokalt-Gaabikoyo
Okha Dynasty
Modern Period
Transitional Decade
Great Charnean Crisis
Geography
Government
The Second Empire of Charnea is a constitutional monarchy, alternatively classified as a technocratic hereditary dictatorship, in which the monarch is not sovereign and is bound by legal restriction and protocol but is not checked by popular assemblies as in other constitutional monarchies. Instead, the legislature which counter-balances the executive power of the monarch is made up of civilian and military officials of the government, who are generally appointed to this Agraw Imgharan either by their immediate superiors or by the departments and government organs they represent. Charnea is categorized as a limited democracy, in which voting rights and representation at the level of the state are exclusively vested in members of the civil service and military forces i.e. officers of the government. The government structure of the Second Empire is distinct from both the military governments that ruled Charnea in recent years, and the nominally republican governments of the Central Scipian Republic and the State of the Central Scipian Accord. While it claims succesorship of the first Empire of Charnea, its system of monarchy departs significantly from the traditional absolute style of rule of the old Empire. Additionally, the modern interpretation of the Agraw Imgharan assembly, which is made up of internally selected which serve for limited terms, is almost entirely dissimilar to the assembly of the same name under the old Empire, in which representation was hereditary to be passed down to the head of each clan granted a place. Furthermore, the original Agraw Imgharan was a purely consultative assembly, whereas the modern assembly is a true deliberative assembly and holds legal authorities and powers. The political system of the Second Empire does not accept political plurality, and no political party of any sort is allowed to exist under the law.
The Okha Dynasty, the continuation of the late imperial royal house of the Empire of Charnea, holds the throne of the Second Empire with Tamenokalt-Gaabikoyo Amina N'Okha reigning as the first and current ruler under the new regime while her mother Tanermat Kana N'Okha serves as Queen Regent and formally exercises the monarch's powers in accordance with constitutional rule until the Queen's coming of age. Because of the structure of the Second Empire's government system, there is no clear divide between the executive pole of the state led by the monarchy and the legislative pole of the state which represents the general will of the civil service and military. The heads of Ministries and various departments and agencies of the Charnean state are subordinate to the monarch as the chief executive of Charnea, however these officials as well as the government organs they represent also control or have influence over parts of the Agraw Imgharan. Through this mechanism the monarch holds supreme authority as the political leader and definitive head of the administration, but is definitively part of the apparatus of state and subject to the same rules and restrictions as any other official, albeit with a greater array of powers and responsibilities.
State Ideology
The regime of the Second Empire is broadly based on the ideology of Charneanism, but is also affected by the philosophy of Total Law and the writings of Charnean military leader and political figure Martuf ag Lamine. The internal functions of the state and the structure of the political system of the Second Empire are primarily affected by the latter philosophies that seek to reduce the involvement of what are considered "human factors" in governance, such as corruption, nepotism and a reliance on personal charisma and connections to affect political actions, and instead implement a regime headed by an executive vested with enough authority to lead and to override the influence of notable politicians and well connected figures. This executive oversees - and is held in check by - a highly centralized, merit based bureaucracy which collectively administers all civil, military and in some cases religious affairs of the country. In practice, the application of this philosophy has led to an overall authoritarian style of government with deeply technocratic tendencies, in which a class of professionals and experts hold decision making positions while functionaries and administrators within the bureaucracy carry out the orders of this class of technocratic leaders. These technocratic tendencies are brought about not only by a belief that leadership by experts would result in better crafted government policies, but moreover by the conviction that such professionals will be less likely to hold connections to other political leaders and officers of the regime (i.e. forms of personal corruption such as nepotism will be impeded if high academic and professional barriers to entry are imposed over any given government office). The function of the monarch in this system is to uniformly enforce internal order among the governing class and guarantee compliance to the principles of the state. The internal ideology of the Second Empire is defined by the recent history of Charnea in its CSR and SCSA incarnations, and is particularly abhorrent towards cronyism, nepotism, and what is considered financial corruption (e.g. embezzlement and bribery) which was the norm in Charnean politics before the advent of the new regime.
The ideology which most governs the outward policy of the new Charnean state towards its citizens is that of Charneanism, a pan-Charnean imperial philosophy originally conceived as the first Empire of Charnea's answer to nationalism. The approach of the old Empire to nationalism ultimately failed as nationalistic tensions resulted in the disintegration of the imperial government, and as such the renewed form of the Charneanist ideology is significantly modified and often referred to as "Neo-Charneanism". Charneanism is alternatively described as anti-nationalist and pan-nationalist, as it outright rejects the ethnic nationalism of the ten distinct ethnic groups which make up the Charnean population, while aspousing a pan-Charnean idea of a unified Charnean identity through a sort of civic nationalism. Such a Charnean national identity would be founded on social cohesion, shared institutions of the centralized Charnean state and mixed social elements such as the universally spoken Tamashek language and other aspects of predominantly Imuhagh culture present to some degree across a majority of Charnean communities. The ideology generally opposes the distinction of defined national groups aligning with the ten recognizes ethnic cohorts present in Charnean demographics, and likewise opposes the development of distinct identities and associations along ethnic lines which could lead to the further fracturing of the Charnean people and disintegration of the country. Charneanism generally lays the blame over the country's ills and history of violence and instability on this disintegration, and singles out nationalist ideologies as the culprit responsible for this phenomenon. Neo-Charneanism specifically as the more modern strain not only rejects the nationalism of minority ethnicities in Charnea but also the nationalism of dominant groups like the Imuhagh and related Ikelan groups, which the ideology views as accelerating Charnean disintegration by espousing exclusionary views and seeking a Tamashek-speaking Imuhagh state separate from the other nations of Charnea. The ideology is not distinctly secular, as it opposes the involvement of religious leaders and institutions in functions of the state yet also affirms the role of religious identity, specifically Tamdda-ddin, as a unifying force in Charnean society across ethnic groups.
Administrative Divisions
| Name | Capital | Flag | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta ⴷⴻⵍⵜⴰ |
Koros ⴾⵧⵔⵧⵙ |
|
9,856,317 |
| Lower Obul / Obul Daw ⵧⴱⵓⵍ ⴷⴰⵡ |
Kasbeka ⴾⴰⵙⴱⴻⴾⴰ |
|
3,355,743 |
| Upper Obul / Obul Nig ⵧⴱⵓⵍ ⵏⵉⴳ |
Agnannet ⴰⴳⵏⴰⵏⵏⴻⵜ |
|
7,594,230 |
| Achra ⴰⵆⵔⴰ |
Zene ⵣⴻⵏⴻ |
|
4,254,789 |
| Azgwag ⴰⵣⴳⵡⴰⴳ |
Izudu ⵉⵣⵓⴷⵓ |
|
1,354,178 |
| Adjer ⴰⴵⴻⵕ |
Azut ⴰⵣⵓⵜ |
|
1,352,487 |
| Saadia ⵙⴰⴰⴷⵉⴰ |
Zarqa ⵣⴰⵔⵈⴰ |
|
985,647 |
| Hatheria ⵁⴰⵟⴻⵔⵢⴰ |
Hamath ⵁⴰⵎⴰⵟ |
|
1,458,965 |
| Saawa ⵙⴰⴰⵡⴰ |
Sah ⵙⴰⵃ |
.svg)
|
1,102,548 |
| Tenere Awakar ⵜⴻⵏⴻⵔⴻ ⴰⵡⴰⴾⴰⵔ |
Dnika ⴷⵏⵉⴾⴰ |
|
945,271 |
| Tenere Asawam ⵜⴻⵏⴻⵔⴻ ⴰⵙⴰⵡⴰⵎ |
Atram ⴰⵜⵔⴰⵎ |
|
750,397 |
Economy
The Charnean economy is one of the least developed on the Scipian continent, and the country is among the poorest in the world measured by national GDP per capita. The main contributing factor to this underdevelopment has been the frequent disruption of economic activities by war, civil conflict and government incompetence that has hampered efforts to develop a more complex and robust economy. This has left Charnea almost totally reliant on resource extraction for revenue and export, a state of affairs which the Second Empire government seeks to remedy by fostering new industries and establishing the requisite political stability needed for expansion of the economy through state driven development and private investments. While not a planned economy, the economic policy of the Second Empire reflects a doctrine of dirigisme especially in sectors which affect water resources. Within the uncertainty underpinning the Second Empire's promise to end instability and insecurity in Charnea, a degree of uncertainty also surrounds the regime's plans to rebuild and expand the Charnean economy and follow through on various development and investment schemes involving the fellow member states of the Four Rising Nations Summit and other foreign entities.
Petroleum and Mining
The extraction of mineral wealth is the cornerstone of the Charnean economy and has historically been the main vehicle for the development and modernization of the county's economy and infrastructure. Mining is today the largest sector of the economy, focusing on Charnea's abundant deposits of nickel, copper, tin, gold and iron. Deposits of rare minerals such as platinum and iridium are also found in Charnea. Some geological formations in remote areas of the Ninva have been found to contain the zinc bearing minerals Sphalerite and Franklinite, suggesting unexplored deposits of that mineral. Overall, it is speculated that a large portion of Charnea's total natural wealth remains undiscovered in remote regions of the desert. This remains true in referring to the nation's petroleum reserves. Charnea has one of the largest known reserves in the world, and much of the oil bearing regions remain unexplored. Petroleum extraction was previously the largest sector of the economy but failed to keep up expansion and exploitation, suffering from stagnation due to instability and seeing many foreign companies pull out of the Charnean oil fields due to issues of local violence and theft, as well as instability and corruption of the government. The nationalization of the petroleum industry in 2005 under COPEC further slowed the growth of the industry, as overall extraction and exports dropped. Despite the decrease of overall profits from oil as a result of nationalization, direct revenue to the government from oil increased dramatically as COPEC revenue far outstripped what the state was able to charge in taxes on private oil profits. COPEC has remained the cash cow of several successive Charnean regimes and is now in a state of expansion with access of new funds and investments through the Second Empire regime.
Agriculture
The Charnean agriculture sector is a relatively minor component of the overall economy, dwarfed by the mining and energy industries both in terms of raw contribution to national GDP as well as the proportion of Charneans employed in each sector of the economy. Most agriculture in Charnea caters to the domestic demand for food, and has historically been able to establish self sufficiency in food albeit with notable famines and periods of reliance on food imports in thge 1980s and 90s. Food self sufficiency, which waned in the early 2000s and 2010s, has been reestablished in recent years thanks to the focus on the food supply by the TGON and the Second Empire regime as food supply has largley caught up to population growth. Major crops include millet, wheat, beans, yuca, yams and maize. In some regions, cocoa is also cultivated. Sorghum is produced for animal feed and biofuels, certain species of Acacia produce gum arabic and Rubber trees are grown for their latex which is used to produce natural rubber. Rice, formerly the single most popular staple food in Charnea, has suffered a precipitous drop in cultivation and consumption thanks in large part to a campaign by the Second Empire regime to intentionally reduce and stamp out its usage through a series of tax schemes and import tariffs which artificially inflated the price to produce or purchase rice, while simultaneously subsidizing millet and wheat as alternatives. Rice was targeted specifically with these measures because of its high water usage and the elevated level of water waste in flood irrigation used in rice cultivation, which falls well beyond what the regime's new Ministry of Water considers acceptable levels. The NERA's more ambitious plans to bring about state mandated implementation of drip irrigation and far more stringent water controls for agriculture remains on hold due to the estimated costs of these projects.
Recycling
Charnea is well known for its recycling industry, which is locally referred to as the reclamation industry. This sector of the Charnean economy, widely practiced in southern regions of the country, is based on the importation of foreign industrial and consumer waste products typically by rail or by sea to be processed by comparatively cheap Charnean labor. Reclamation firms in Charnea draw their profits from selling salvaged materials back onto the market as cheaper alternatives to what are called first generation materials, such as plastic pellets made from recycled plastic waste as opposed to being produced directly from petroleum products. Ship breaking is also a hallmark activity of the Charnean reclamation industry, making the Charnean coast and particularly the port of Koros international hotspots for the disposal of commercial ships, where the vessels are cheaply demolished and taken apart for the purposes of extracting raw materials and metal scrap. Recycling and other forms of industrial treatment of imported waste products is a significant contributor to pollution and contamination of the environment with waste products, particularly in the southernmost regions of the country.
Culture
Cuisine
Reflecting the multicultural nature of the confederation, Charnean cuisine is a mixture of many different influences both internal and external. While in general many different local cuisines are found across Charnea, Tamashek cuisine is endemic to most regions of the confederation. Additionally, foreign influences primarily originating with other Amazigh peoples scuh as Aghmatia can be felt as well, having been introduced through the connecting trans-scipian trade routes which have historically served as the mediums of cultural exchange for central Scipia and Charnea. Taguella bread, an unleavened flatbread normally cooked over charcoal, is a ubiquitous staple food across most of Charnea, while Eba is more popular in the south as a local staple. Tajine, Couscous and Besṭila are examples of foreign Amazigh dishes introduced to Charnea through cultural exchange that have since become popular with many local peoples, while Jollof rice can be taken as an example of a popular dish having an origin within the local cultures of southern and central Charnea.
Many of the dishes common to differing regions of Charnea are highly specific to the local environment and agricultural or pastoral traditions, and are general the products of the most available sources of nutrition and the best fitted crops that can be cultivated in any particular region, such as goat and sheep products along with wheat flatbreads in the Ninva desert region contrasted with rice and cassava based foods in the far less arid southerly regions. The steady introduction of modern agricultural techniques and industrialized food production and especially the advent of refrigeration have resulted in a rising degree of homogeneity, as foods from one region of Charnea can much more easily be transported and consumed in other regions where the climate would never allow those products to be prepared locally, leading to a general spread in popular south Charnea rice dishes, although a few northern foods such as taguella and cink or liwa millet porridge still retain their wide reaching popularity as cultural staples.
Tea is highly popular across all differing Charnean cultures. Ashahi tea, green tea steeped with sugar and mint, is not only popular but culturally significant as the focal point of many social gatherings. Preparation is often semi-ritual and ceremonial in nature, being prepared for household guests as a key element of traditional Charnean hospitality, as well as part of daily social meetings within and without the family group. Generally, each person takin part will consume more than one (typically 2-4) glasses of tea in any particular occasion or tea ceremony. Ashahi tea is not limited to any particular activity, meal or time of day, and is generally consumed at all times of day, often multiple times a day, with food or on its own. The common variety of Ashahi tea consumed today is a type of gunpowder green tea introduced to Charnea in the 18th century, although the tradition of the tea ceremony is though to predate this introduction and may have originated with unknown varieties of tea that came into Charnea in medieval times, at some point prior to the 11th century.
Coffee, beer and other alcoholic beverages which are generally common across most of the world are comparatively far less popular in Charnea. In some instances, varieties of coffee which are typically imported are consumed in a similar manner to Ashahi tea especially in recent years, however the popularity of this practice is not wide reaching. Imported alcoholic beverages, such as Balche and Tequila introduced to Charnea through contact with the Mutul, have a niche market, with some contributions from locally produced distillations which generally consist of Moonshine. Other Mutulese imports such as chocolate have a similar middling level of popularity, and are mainly imbibed as part of White Path ritualistic consumption.
Clothing and Fashion
A wide variety of textile and clothing styles can be found in Charnea, having origins both in many diverse native cultures within the Confederation as well as foreign origins which may have been introduced through cross-cultural contact over ancient trade routes historically or be relatively recent additions to Charnean fashion brought about in the industrial age through modern means of international trade. Although common foreign styles, often those mass produced and in ubiquitous use globally, are indeed found all over Charnea, it is also common to find local styles being worn both in ceremonial capacities and in day to day life. The most iconic piece of native fashion is the tagelmust, a head wrap originating with the Tamashek people of the Ninva desert which is typically dyed with indigo but may also be dyed in other colors, especially as it has been introduced as a common piece of headwear outside of the nomadic cultures of northern Charnea. A tagelmust is specifically intended to be worn by men, as the Tamashek traditionally veil themselves at all times except in the presence of close friends or within a family. Women do not traditionally cover their faces except at specific times during ceremonies and events using the tusuwart, a woman's head covering. Men generally wear cloth pants known as akarbey while women will traditionally wear dresses as well as afer coverings. The Tamashek, as well as many other ethnic groups within Charnea, commonly wear various types of Djellaba robe or kaftan, such as the mbaub found in the south. Charneans who do not wear the tagelmust will sometimes use Kufi style hats instead. In Charnean culture, the tagelmust is considered a symbol of adulthood and wearing one for the first time marks a rite of passage into manhood. Many similar practices exist across Charnea, where traditional headgear and hats are intended to be worn only by adult men or women. Footwear may vary greatly depending on the climate, however leather sandals (iragazan) and shoes (ibuzagan) are relatively common and widespread across Charnea's arid regions.