Georgeland
The United Islands of Georgeland | |
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 [[Flag of Georgeland|Flag of Georgeland]]
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Motto: 'Divisus mari - unitus corde' 'Divided by sea, united in spirit' | |
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Anthem: 'My Country' | |
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| Capital | Topstad |
| Largest city | Doubledance |
| Recognised national languages | English |
| Religion |
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| Demonym(s) |
Georgeland |
| Government | Federal parliamentary republic |
| Charlton Robards | |
| Tom Elderton | |
| Legislature | Parliament of Georgeland |
| Georgeland Senate | |
| Georgeland House of Commons | |
| Independence from the United Kingdom | |
• Self-government | 1 July 1891 |
• Republic | 1 July 1929 |
| Area | |
• Total | 673,968.15 km2 (260,220.56 sq mi) (40th) |
| Population | |
• 2023 estimate | 37,458,000 (39th) |
• 2022 census | 37,194,236 (39th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | $1.46 trillion (26th) |
• Per capita | $66,217 (17th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | $1.653 trillion (15th) |
• Per capita | $67,296 (10th) |
| Gini (2021) |
 .651low · 164th |
| HDI (2023) |
 0.943very high · 9th |
| Currency | Georgeland dollar (GDR) |
| Time zone |
UTC+5 to +6 (GSET GSWT) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +55 |
| ISO 3166 code | UI |
| Internet TLD | .ui |
The United Islands of Georgeland is a sovereign country comprising an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, including five large islands and multiple smaller islands. The Georgeland archipelago includes the largest island in the Indian Ocean, Mainland, and the islands consist of the most populated country, and second-largest by area, with no land borders. An ecologically diverse country, Georgeland has a high elevation and a rugged environment, with one of the lowest soil fertility rates in the world and a mountainous interior.
Georgeland is thought to have been inhabited, at least in some coastal regions, by an Austronesian people until around the 4th century CE. It had become uninhabited by the time of the archipelago's discovery by maritime explorers, with the earliest recorded charting by Ming Chinese vessels in the 15th century. After Dutch and English navigators charted the northern coast the islands became of strategic interest, and after an expedition by Spanish navigator Juan Delmago in 1760 successfully charted the Mainland coastline, the British colonised the islands in 1773 and named them for Delmago's employer, King George III. Sparsely-populated for much of its colonisation, a population boom began in the mid-19th century with the discovery of gold and more reliable shipping methods. In 1891 the islands were given self-government as part of the British Empire; the country became a republic in 1929 following a referendum, and in doing so became the first part of the British Empire to peacefully secede from British rule.
Georgeland is a federal parliamentary republic comprising six states, two self-administered territories, and several external possessions. Its population is highly urbanised, and the country has a high population density. Slightly below half of its roughly 37 million people reside on the island of Mainland. The country's capital city is Topstad, on the island of Capitalia. Other major cities include Doubledance (the country's largest), Santa Christina (the largest metropolitan area), Emilypolis, New Kikipolis, Sergiocitta, Lylecity, Romphumburg, Huzzah, Stratton, Zigit and Dannyburg. Georgeland is a highly multicultural country - while the majority of residents are of Anglo-European descent, there are significant minorities of South Asian, African and Arab people due to large-scale immigration in the 20th and 21st centuries. Georgeland's economy is based around maritime industries, mining, agriculture and manufacturing, with its largest trading partner being India. Georgeland has consistently ranked highly in quality of life, democratic freedoms and civil liberties.
Georgeland is a member of the United Nations, the G20, the World Economic Forum and the OECD. Until 2020, it was also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. A regional power, Georgeland has for most of its history been considered a neutral country, though recent years have seen increasing ties with the United States and United Kingdom.
Etymology
The first maps to give a name to the Georgeland islands were those by Dutch explorers. A map from a Dutch expedition included the northern coastlines of Bradmarch and Scoita, conjecturing them to be a single land mass, and labelled vastland, or vasteland, probably derived from the Dutch word for 'continent'. Following Delmago's expedition of 1767, the islands were named by the explorer as King George's Land for George III, who had financed his voyage. The name George's Land had become shortened in parlance to Georgeland as early as 1790. The first official map of the entire archipelago, dated from 1794, used the name George Land (George Land). By 1810, the single word had become standard.
Officially known as the United Islands of Georgeland, rarely some institutions use the name United Islands in the same way as the United States of America is often referred to as the United States. This usage is uncommon, however; the most notable user is the United Islands Defence Force. The United Islands name was adopted in 1929 in homage to both the United States and the United Kingdom.
History
Archaeological evidence demonstrates Georgeland was inhabited prior to British settlement. In the first decade after Europeans arrived, settlers and explorers found caves and burial sites, and later tools, weapons and evidence of agriculture. Almost all the areas thought to have been populated are coastal; every island except Delmago Island is believed to have been home to Georgeland's original indigenous people, collectively referred to as the Ogi (Original Georgeland Inhabitants). Ogi artefacts found later included shell jewelry and pottery fragments.
DNA evidence, conducted in the 1990s, showed that Ogi people shares a common lineage with other Austronesians, including the Merina of Madagascar, the Moken of Myanmar and Thailand, and Australian Aborigines. Anthropological research has shown Ogi were likely to have shared similar cultural practices with these groups, and a similar appearance. In 2015, evidence of trade was found at a site in northern Scoita, consisting of shards of pottery from southern India and Sri Lanka.
The eventual fate of the Ogi is uncertain. No artefacts have been found dating any later than the 4th century CE, and it is clear from all records that there were no surviving Ogi peoples when Europeans landed. Given Georgeland's rugged terrain, lack of arable land, and proneness to monsoons and other weather events, most researchers agree the most likely explanation is that the Ogi were unable to sustain themselves and died out. A study by Dean Francis Gables of the University of Topstad posited, in 1986, that the Ogi may have migrated and intermixed with other Austronesian peoples. Evidence has also been found of large-scale extinction events, including a tsunami that likely struck the eastern coastal areas around 10,000 years ago, which may have had an effect on Ogi population patterns.
Civilizations of the Indian Ocean region either were unaware of the islands or their extent until at least the 15th century. Ming Chinese explorers charted northern Bradmarch and Scoita at least as early as 1470, and at least the northern islands may have been known to Sangama explorers from southern India and Sri Lanka. One map compiled by a Portuguese cartographer around 1500 includes a "South Ceylon" but this was likely in error, as Georgeland was too far south to have been realistically reached by Portuguese vessels. During his circumnavigation of the globe, Englishman Sir Francis Drake, around April of 1580, failed to sight the islands, likely being too far north or due to poor weather.
The first European to verifiably chart the Georgeland islands was Dutchman Abel Tasman in 1642, who believed them to be part of the East Indies. Unable to secure a harbour, and seeing no obvious value in them, the islands were included on Dutch charts but little interest was shown in them until the following century. In 1758, Spaniard Juan Delmago approached King Ferdinand VI of Spain with a proposal to chart and claim the islands, which he nicknamed Las Fernando after the king, as a counter to growing British interests in the region. Ferdinand, however, died shortly afterwards. Delmago repeated the request to the new monarch, Charles III, who rebuffed him. After failing to elicit any support from Portugal's Joseph I, or Louis XIV of France, Delmago finally approached George III of Britain who agreed to finance an expedition. Delmago, aboard Santa Cristina, arrived at the islands on 16 October 1767. Delmago made landfall on what is now Delmago Island (originally called Caroline's Island) at Landing Point, and remained for three weeks building a base from which to explore on subsequent expeditions. Arriving in London in May 1768, Delmago planned a returning voyage, but died a month later.
British settlement of the islands began in 1773, with the initial intention of using them as a stopover between India and Australia. The hazardous journey made this impractical, but the islands remained strategically valuable as a naval base, and as a trading post with close access to the lucrative markets of India and South East Asia. The earliest permanent settlement was at modern-day Lylecity on the southern coast of the Bay of Lyle, which would become named for explorer Joseph Lyle, whose expeditions of 1774 and 1775 charted much of the archipelago. James Cook also conducted exploratory missions around the islands. Rugged, somewhat unforgiving, arid and difficult to reach, the Georgeland islands remained sparsely-populated until the early 1800s. With Australia much further to travel, and populated with British convicts, free settlers opted for Georgeland and by 1812 the colony was flourishing. As shipping, transportation and communications methods evolved, more settlers arrived; the discovery of gold in Scoita (1844) and Mainland (1850) brought waves of new settlers including those from China, India and Africa. As the colony grew it became more and more independent from Britain, with limited self-government granted in 1836 and autonomy in 1873.
In 1891 Georgeland was granted self-governing status by Queen Victoria, the second British overseas possession to become a self-governing part of the Empire (behind Canada). Sir Robert Pearce became the first prime minister and the Earl of Lucan the first Governor-General. The first national capital was established at Weston. Pearce's government established many of the country's national institutions including the Supreme Court, the Bank of Georgeland, and the Royal Georgeland Navy. In 1911 the capital moved to Topstad to reduce the dominance of Mainland on national policy. As part of the British Empire, Georgeland was a participant in World War I, with Georgeland troops seeing action in France and the Middle East. Participation in the war, particularly after the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, led to increased nationalistic sentiment, especially on behalf of the growing Irish immigrant population.
Following the war, Georgeland began to exert more influence in Imperial affairs and in 1926 was conferred Dominion Status at the Imperial Conference of that year. The growing nationalist sentiment led to a referendum in 1928 on the monarchy, which resulted in a narrow vote in favour of the country becoming a republic. Georgeland became a republic on 1 July 1929, now celebrated as Republic Day, with businessman and philanthropist Victor Martin elected as the country's first president that year. Until 2020, Georgeland remained an active member of the Commonwealth.
Badly hit by the Great Depression, Georgeland's economy was stagnant in the 1930s but recovered by World War II. Initially reluctant to fight due to the war's distance and a more independent foreign policy, the Georgeland government of wartime leader Fenton Thomas declared war on Germany and Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces in December 1941. Georgeland troops fought as part of the Allies in the Pacific and in North Africa, with the bulk of the war fought against Japan alongside the United States. Following the war's conclusion, Georgeland became a founding member of the United Nations and adopted a more internationalist foreign policy, strengthening ties with newly-independent nations in Asia, the Pacific and Africa.
A brief socialist administration from 1954-58 led by Nathan Keegan was the only brief interruption to a 22-year period of Conservative rule from after the war until the 1970s. This period was marked by strong economic growth but a resistance to growing social movements. In 1958 constitutional reforms included changing the presidency from an elected to an appointed office and the codifying of conventions such as government by cabinet. In 1970, a reformist government under Victor Howard was elected which modernised aspects of society and economy and marked the beginning of a long period of mostly left-wing rule, including decriminalisation of homosexuality, abolition of the death penalty, and establishment of national infrastructure. By 1988 Georgeland's economy had become one of the strongest in the region and the country had begun to be seen as a middle power. This period also saw greater immigration and the affirming of a national commitment to multiculturalism.
Georgeland's economic prosperity continued in the 1990s, coupled with further social reforms under the government of Charlton Robards, elected in 1995 at the age of 32, one of the youngest heads of government in the world. The Robards government standardised legal abortion and same-sex marriage, as well as repealing or relaxing laws regarding foreign businesses and investors. This period was also marked by political instability with the collapse of the Labour Party and repeated elections. In 1999 Susan O'Byrne was chosen by parliament as the country's first woman president. Later that year the country was drawn into the India-Pakistan conflict when Pakistani forces seized the overseas territory of Corbana close to Sri Lanka, and the island was a flashpoint for the conflict until resolved in 2001, with minimal loss of life but significant domestic and international political fallout. In 2000, the state of Mainland was divided into two, East and West Mainland, after decades of agitation by those on the island's east for self-government. Another round of constitutional reforms followed in the early 2000s which the elected presidency was restored and the parliamentary term shortened but with fixed election dates.
Zoe Parker was elected the country's first woman prime minister in 2005, followed in 2007 by the first elected conservative government since 1995 under Luke Macaulay. In 2008 Lois Daniels of the centrist third party Georgeland Alliance was elected president, signaling a move away from the traditional two-party structure of politics. In 2010, Lawrence Porter of the Liberal Democrats became the country's first black prime minister. The 2010s saw a realignment of politics and closer ties with the European Union and the United States, though the latter suffered with the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. With the Syrian Civil War, Georgeland became subject to a refugee crisis as thousands fleeing the Middle East sought asylum in Georgeland, to which successive governments proposed various solutions but which created challenges to the established political order.
In 2017, Robards was selected to become President of Georgeland under controversial circumstances which contributed to a new political dynamic as the Alliance under Tom Elderton was elected to government for the first time in 2019. In 2021 electoral reforms were passed instituting a system of proportional representation. Also in that year, following a consultative referendum, Georgeland withdrew from the Commonwealth. The effects of climate change became more evident in the archipelago with severe forest fires, flooding and monsoons affecting the islands in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
Geography
An archipelago in the Indian Ocean, Georgeland proper consists of a total of 37 islands, only nine of which are permanently inhabited. The entire archipelago is approximately 1500km from north to south and 1700 from east to west. The largest island, Mainland, is a horseshoe-shaped land mass approximately 600km long and 200km wide. The Bay of Lyle, a land mass of shallow water, forms the northern coastline of Mainland and contains Delmago Island and a number of smaller, barren islands. Mainland is a rugged, hilly island featuring two long mountain ranges curving along the centres of each half, the Caltrops and the Verranese Mountains, with a much larger, more forbidding range, the Barrett Mountains, dominating much of its north-west. The highest point in the archipelago, Mount Bathurst, sits in this region.
The other four main islands sit between 100 and 200km from Mainland. The largest, Scoita, is 135 miles from Mainland's north-west tip. At the centre of Scoita is Lough Neagh, named for the large lake in Northern Ireland, the largest lake in Georgeland and on which Emily's Island, and the city of Emilypolis, is built. Scoita is comparatively flat in comparison to others in the archipelago, consisting of arid plains and long, winding rivers. The third-largest island, Capitalia (also known as New Ireland) is 104 kilometers from Mainland's south-western tip, dominated by bisecting rivers, the Callender and the Pascoe. Capitalia also contains more lakes than other islands, including the second, third and fourth-largest Georgeland lakes, Lake Gollan, Lake Christian, and Lake Sharman. Long Island, at the country's south-east, is heavily forested and noted for particularly high elevations, with wide, deep cliffs surrounding much of it and dominated by the Airedale Mountains which run east-to-west through its centre. The smallest of the main five islands, Bradmarch, is similarly rugged and prone to strong winds, creating a much more barren environment than other islands.
The geographical centre of Georgeland is close to Delmago Island, lying at 16°09'13.9"S 84°19'38.3"E. The country's far north is largely subtropical, with hot, humid summers and mild winters. The remainder of the country, especially southern Mainland, Long Island and Capitalia, is more temperate. Georgeland has significant wind chill which can result in cooler temperatures despite its latitude, in combination with Indian ocean air currents. Those same currents also create particularly severe storms during wetter seasons, including monsoons which can be a hazard to both shipping and coastal areas.
Climate
Geology and oceanography
Biodiversity, flora and fauna
Government and politics
Georgeland is a parliamentary republic and a federation of states. Described as a "full democracy", Georgeland has maintained a stable, liberal democratic system since 1891 under its constitution, which is one of the oldest continuing constitutions in the world. The majority of Georgeland's governmental traditions and practices are derived from those of the United Kingdom, though some have evolved a unique character and local variation over time.
Since 1929, the President of Georgeland has been head of state, elected for a four year term by universal suffrage. The president has a mostly ceremonial role, though recent presidents have exerted indirect influence over government. Based on the Westminster System, Georgeland's bicameral parliament is the legislative branch of its government.
The Prime Minister of Georgeland is head of government, exercising power through the Cabinet. The Prime Minister and all members of their government are members of, and responsible to, the parliament; the 300-member House of Commons, or the 78-member Senate. Members of the House of Commons are elected by a d'Hondt count form of proportional representation, with most members one of five representing their large geographical district. Senators are elected by Single Transferable Vote and represent each state. The House of Commons is elected for a three-year term, normally on the first Friday in August of an election year. Senators serve a six-year term, beginning on 1 January.
A federation, Georgeland consists of six states and two territories. The states of Bradmarch, Capitalia, Long Island and Scoita consist of the islands of the same name, while the large island of Mainland is divided into East Mainland and West Mainland. The Federal District, containing the capital city of Topstad, is a self-governing territory under the nominal jurisdiction of the federal government, as is the small island of Delmago Island in the Bay of Lyle. Delmago Island was a state in its own right from 1958 until 2021, when it reverted to being a territory. Each state government operates its in a similar fashion to the federal government, with executive power held by a state Governor and exercised by an elected parliamentary government. Each state differs slightly in its governmental structure and constitution. State parliaments are unicameral, though all are now elected by a proportional electoral system.
Historically, Georgeland politics has been dominated by two parties, the right-of-centre Conservative Party and a left-of-centre party. Originally, this left-wing party was the Labour Party. The Labour Party collapsed in the early 2000s, and the left-of-centre position subsequently held by other groups including the Liberal Democrats and Vox. At the last election, held in August 2023, no party won more than 30% of the vote. The centrist Georgeland Reform Alliance, led by prime minister Tom Elderton, won a plurality of seats to form a minority government, while the leftist group Vox formed the Official Opposition.
The country's highest judicial authority is the Supreme Court of Georgeland, with a bench consisting of one Chief Justice and seven Associate Justices. Below the Supreme Court exists a national Court of Appeal and the various lower courts, including eight state and territory Supreme Courts.
States and territories
Foreign relations
Military
Georgeland's armed forces are the United Islands Defence Force (UIDF), comprising the Georgeland Army, United Islands Navy, (UIN) and United Islands Air Force (UIAF) As of 2023, there were a total of 97,753UIDF personnel, including 65,386 regulars and 32,367 reservists. The President of Georgeland is the nominal Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces; all military operations require the president's approval, though day-to-day operations and many combat deployments are delegated to the Minister for Defence and the General Defence Staff. The General Defence Staff comprises the most senior officers of each service as well as a Chief and Deputy Chief; these last two officers are the only ones to hold four-star military rank.
In the 2023-24 budget, Georgeland's defence expenditure was 1.8% of GDP; it has the 14th-highest military budget in the world.
Human rights
Economy
Trade and shipping
Science and technology
Agriculture and fisheries
Energy and mining
Manufacturing
Finance and banking
Demographics
Immigration and ethnicity
Language
Religion
Health
Education
Culture and society
Georgeland is a highly multicultural nation due to mass immigration. Historically dominated by an Anglo-Irish cultural blend, in recent decades influxes of migrants from East Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia have created a much less homogenous and more blended cultural mix. The similar but distinctive culture of Australia has also influenced that of Georgeland, and vice-versa; the countries share a language and many similar cultural traits, as well as significant differences.