Imaguan Standard Time

Imaguan Standard Time (Vespasian: Ora solare imaguana, Western Imaguan Creole: Ti imakua) is the sole time zone of Imagua and the Assimas. It follows UTC+11 across the entire country, except for the Maracan-occupied Dunhelm Island, which uses UTC+12, despite Imagua officially recognizing its time zone as UTC+11.

History

Due to the fact that for most of Imagua's history, it had been divided between two colonial powers (with Estmere controlling the island of Imagua from 1658 to 1721, and again from 1771 onward, and Geatland, Eldmark, and Etruria controlling the Assimas Islands), combined with Imagua's geographic position on the border of UTC+11 and UTC+12, the islands were generally in two separate time zones, with the Assimas Islands following UTC+11, and Imagua following UTC+12.

After the end of the Solarian War and the incorporation of the Assimas into Imagua, Imagua initially operated under two separate time zones, with the Assimas Islands using UTC+11 (then known as Assiman Standard Time or Western Imaguan Time), while Imagua continued using UTC+12 (Imaguan Standard Time or Eastern Imaguan Time). However, with increasing connections between the two parts of the country, a need developed to unite the country with time zones.

Under Prime Minister Marguerite Ernman in 1953, she instituted a stopgap solution of having the Assimas Islands use UTC+12 as Assiman Summer Time from the first Sunday of April to the final Sunday of October (as a daylight saving measure), while ordering a study to be done on which time zone to adopt. The study was led by astronomers Duccio Armani and Robert Sears.

In 1956, Armani and Sears came back with the results, suggesting that Imagua and the Assimas adopt one time zone, as "the benefits of doing so would help improve connectivity between the two parts of the country, which would further unite the former Estmerish and Etrurian islands into one country." It presented three options:

• Adopt Western Imaguan Time (eleven hours ahead of Verlois)
• Adopt Eastern Imaguan Time (twelve hours ahead of Verlois)
• Adopt a compromise time zone (eleven-and-a-half hours ahead of Verlois)

However, following Ernman's defeat in 1956 by Martin Ellingham, Ellingham refused to implement the recommendations made by Armani and Sears, instead maintaining Ernman's stopgap solution. This remained the case until his defeat by Efrem Lacovara in 1960, when he pledged to implement the recommendations by Armani and Sears.

This was a subject of controversy, as most of Imagua's population lived in the Eastern Imaguan Time, and many sought to adopt it. However, Lacovara grew up using Western Imaguan Time, and also noted that as it was also used by eastern Eldmark, which at the time was Imagua's primary trading partner, it made more sense for Imagua to switch to Western Imaguan Time, as opposed to using either Eastern Imaguan Time, or using the compromise time zone suggested by Armani and Sears.

Thus, with the passage of the Time Zone Act of 1961, Imagua officially declared its time zone across the entire country to be "eleven hours ahead of Verlois," with both Imagua and the Assimas switching from UTC+12 to UTC+11 on 29 October, 1961. Since then, Imagua has never used daylight saving time.

Daylight saving time

Daylight saving time in Imagua and the Assimas has rarely been used, only being utilized on a nationwide basis during the Great War, when both the Estmerish colony of Imagua and the Etrurian Assimas Islands used UTC+12 and UTC+13 respectively year-round.

Daylight saving time was historically used for the Assimas Islands from 1953 to 1961, with the Assimas Island jumping from UTC+11 on the first Sunday of April to UTC+12, in an effort to unite the country during the summer months, before reverting on the last Sunday of October.