Ostlaak
Province of Ostlaak
Ryk âb Ostlaak (Azmaran) | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Country |  Azmara |
| Established | 1855 |
| Capital and largest city | Kyningsmer |
| Fiefs | Five fiefs
|
| Government | |
| • President | Leif Karlssun (Ap) |
| • Parties | Ap-SfO |
| • Legislature | States of Ostlaak |
| • Seats in Folksmot | 17 |
| Population (1 December 2013) | |
| • Total | 1,128,381 |
| • Rank | 4th |
| Area code | 05 |
Ostlaak, officially the Province of Ostlaak (Azmaran: Ryk âb Ostlaak), sometimes Estmericised as Ostlake or Eastlake, is one of the eight provinces of the Commonwealth of Azmara. The westernmost of the country's provinces, the province borders the Borish yends of Maynes-Yord to the south and Burgh to the south-west, the Weranian state of Cislania to the north-west and the Azmaran provinces of Westmaark to the north-east and Groonbank to the south-east.
The province was created as the Viscounty of Ostlaak in 1432 as a split from the Western March under the authority of a cadet branch of the March's ruling House of Mideltuun. As the home region of Amendist reformer Herman Marckssun, the province would see significant religious strife during the 16th century and would become a centre of Westmarckian Amendism as a result of the 1554 Edict of Kyningsmer legalising the practice of Amendism within Groonbank-Westmaark. Despite this, the Azmaran Revolt of 1665 would be significantly less pronounced and more easily suppressed in the province as its rulers stayed loyal to the Rudolphine Protectors and would only be ceded to the Azmaran Confederation as a result of the Ten Years' War.
The Viscounty was briefly abolished and replaced with the departments of Kyningsmer and Wucing during the Weranian Revolution, yet would be restored under the Kingdom of the Azmarans in 1801. The 19th century would see significant industrialisation of the province as its mining towns would become significant in the production of steel, with the growing working class being a significant force in the Revolution of 1855. In the aftermath of this the Viscounty was abolished in favour of the modern-day Province as a constituent unit of the republican Commonwealth of Azmara.
Ostlaak has significantly more elevated terrain than the other provinces of Azmara, with the province containing the country's only point that exceeds 1000m above sea level in Woodensmont. Much of the population is concentrated in three key urban corridors, two of which surround the province's two cities of Kyningsmer and Wucing and the third of which runs along the Aawen river valley.