Chetwynd
Chetwynd | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
 Chetwynd (dark green) in Maltropia (light green) | |
| Capital | Argensborough |
| Area | |
| • Total | 117,230.47 km2 (45,262.94 sq mi) |
| Population (2018) | |
| • Total | 11,273,054 |
| • Density | 96.16/km2 (249.1/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Chetwynder |
Chetwynd is a principality in the Maltropian Islands. It is the thirteenth-most populous principality in the state, with 11,273,054 inhabitants as of 2018, and is the most populous in the Maltropian Islands. It is the ninth largest principality by area, at 117,230 square kilometres. The capital and largest city is Argensborough, also capital of the Maltropian Islands as a whole and seat of the Assembly of the Islands.
Clockwise from the southwest, it is bounded by Cinn Óir, Myre, Y and Soirláchan and by the Johan Sea to the southeast.
History
Railways were first introduced to Chetwynd in the 1840s, used to haul coal from nearby coalfields to steel mills and ports at Argensborough and Port Ela. The first passenger line opened in 1852, carrying workers to and from the yards on the quays. Argensborough steel mills began to employ the Bessemer process from 1861, allowing steel to be inexpensively mass-produced (the Bessemer process was used in mainland Maltropia from 1859). Chetwynd rapidly developed an extensive railway network, with lines running the length of the principality. Constructed under the purview of the princely government, half a dozen major railway lines were in operation and privately owned by 1870, connecting Chetwynd's cities to lines in Cinn Óir and Soirláchan. Two notable gaps existed: no direct line connected Argensborough to Port Ela, where freight had to be carried by boat across the Crobh Craosach, nor was there a route across or around Prince Fiach's Fjord to connect Argensborough and An Lóiste. The first fjord-spanning viaducts were erected in 1894, based on a railway bridge in Tyrmidra, and in 1896 viaducts were built over both the Crobh Craosach and Prince Fiach's Fjord.
