Zalsoker
Zalsoker
Zalšökér Zalshokyer/Zalivzokhov | |
|---|---|
      Top-down, left-to-right: | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Nickname: City of Sighs | |
| Country | Skarmia |
| Oblasc | Zalsoker-Gorda |
| Government | |
| • Body | City and Regional Council |
| • Mayor | Amalah Tahin |
| Elevation | 9 m (30 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 1,097,344 |
Zalsoker (/ˈzælsəˌkər/; Skarmic: Zalšökér, IPA: [sälˈʃœˌkɛɾ]; Beleroskovi: Zalshokyer, IPA: []), still known by some by its old name of Zalivzokhov, is the capital and largest city of Skarmia, lying at the mouth of the Zali river in the Zogfa Bay, with a population of approximately 1.1 million people. Zalivzokhov was founded by the Beleroskovi Empire, and served as the administrative capital of the Southwestern Krai throughout all of its existence, giving its name to an administrative region surrounding the city that became one of the four oblast-level subdivisions of the Skarmian Socialist Republic and, later, the independent Federation of Skarmia. Zalsoker occupies the majority of area comprising the Zalsoker-Gorda region, and sits in an area of low and level ground known as the Zali Plain.
Etymology
The name Zalsoker is largely consistent in both Beleroskovi and in Skarmic, with minor phonological differences making up the difference between both names. This name in turn is derived from the original Beleroskovi name for the city, that being Zalivzokhov, which originated as the term Zaliv Vzdokhov, meaning "bay of sighs". This is in reference to the Zalsoker sigh, a specific aeolian sound that occurs when the polar easterlies meet the rock formations of the Ichur Hills to the south. It is unclear whether Zaliv Vzdokhov is a calque from the Skarmic word Chánetzivösei or vice versa, though the latter term has fallen out of popular usage since the Red March of Peace and the Socialist period of Skarmian history. While the archaic name of Zalivzokhov is not used in an official capacity, certain segments of Beleroskovis still use it.
History
Founding
Limited archaeological evidence suggests that the area that now comprises Zalsoker had been a small farming settlement of the Old Skarmic peoples prior to modern-day Skarmia's inclusion into the Southwestern Krai. While the area is known to have had some satellite villages and towns, many of which remain nominally independent of the city government to this day. A small ruined hillfort near to the modern-day village of Starajasten may have been the Skarmic administrative capital of the region, owing to its safety within the somewhat sheltered Zogfa Bay. Limited trade up the Zali connected the region to the local Skarmic tribes.
In 1347, the region comprising modern-day Zalsoker came under the political influence (though not direct control) of the Beleroskovi Kingdom of [__].
