Bajaría

  

Bajaría
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Bajaría (green) in the Kingdom of Sierra
Status	Established on March 6, 2021
Capital	Salsipuedes
Largest city	Tijuana
Official languages	Spanish
Demonym(s)	Bajaríano (a) (Spanish) Bajarian (English)
Sovereign state	Kingdom of Sierra
Government	Devolved parliamentary legislature within a Federal semi-parliamentary constitutional monachy
• Queen	Elizabeth II
• First Minister	Carmen Silva-Reyes
Legislature	Parliament of Bajaría
Autonomy within the Kingdom of Sierra
• 2021 status referendums	13 January 2021
• Organic Act of 2021	15 February 2021
• Country status	6 March 2021
Area
• Total	337,905 km2 (130,466 sq mi)
Population
• 2020 census	12,080,340
Currency	Sierran dollar ($) (KSD)
Time zone	UTC−8 (west) and –6 (east) (Pacific Standard Time/Central Standard Time (PST/CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC–7 (west) and –5 (east) (Pacific Daylight Time/Central Daylight Time (PDT/CDT))
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+52
ISO 3166 code	BJ
Internet TLD	bj.ks
Website www.bajaría.bj

Bajaría (formerly known as El Norte) is one of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of Sierra. Established on March 6, 2021, it is the most recently established country in the Kingdom and the first established after the original 1950 Charter. It comprises five states, which are based on the four historic territories which formed El Norte, a region consisting of former Mexican territory under Sierran sovereign control, including Pacífico Norte, Pacífico Sur, Mérida, and Cancún. South Sonora is the fifth state and was partitioned from Pacífico Norte. El Norte was long considered a candidate for country status. Following the results of the 2021 El Norte status referendums, Parliament passed the Organic Act of 2021, which declared Bajaría was a country in the Kingdom, and officially promulgated its existence on 6 March 2021, with a provisional transition government soon established thereafter.

All of Bajaría was historically a part of Mexico but were variously acquired by Sierra through conquest or unequal treaties. Due to the noncontiguous composition of the country, Bajaría is geographically divided between two regions: the western states (comprising Pacífico Norte and Pacífico Sur) and the eastern states (comprising Mérida and Cancún). The western states, forming the majority of the country border Federal Sierra and Brazoria to the north, and border Mexico to the east. The eastern states are exclaves on the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula, with the former on the northern part of the peninsula and the latter on the northeastern tip. Administratively, Bajaría will consist of five States of Bajaría which will have PSA status. Pacífico Norte partitioned the majority of its territory east of the Colorado River to allow the formation of the state of South Sonora, while the other three territories retained their geographic integrity as states.

The ascension of Bajaría as a country coincided with the provincehood of the Channel Islands in Federal Sierra and ascension of New Oneida and Sweetwater as areas of the Deseret, thereby enlarging incorporated territory in the Kingdom of Sierra (all other territories are officially unincorporated) and increasing official voting representation in the national Parliament. The 2021 federal election was the first national election Bajaría participated in which granted it seats and representation in Parliament.

The economy of Bajaría is relatively well-developed in North America, faring better than the majority of Latin America, and even being on par with highly developed Anglo-American countries. Major industries include agriculture, logistics, banking, telecommunications, defense, medical services, government services, petroleum, mining, and manufacturing.

As a Spanish-speaking nation, Bajaría closely shares strong cultural, linguistic, and historical ties with Latin America, especially Mexico. It is a member of Hispanidad and participates in a number of international organizations as a member which promotes such ties. It has a distinct national and cultural identity separate from Federal Sierra, although its society and politics are also deeply influenced by Federal Sierra. With much of the country being part of the Kingdom longer than it has with Mexico, Bajaría is home to a significant Anglophone community, as well as other non-Spanish-speaking groups, including Arabic and Chinese. While Bajaría has its own devolved government, institutions, and national sports team, it is an integral part of the Kingdom of Sierra and is fully represented in Parliament.

History

Pre-Columbian era

Precolumbian peoples in Bajaría reflected a diverse array of ethnic groups, languages, and cultures, which included Paleo-Indians and Mesoamericans. People first began inhabiting modern-day Bajaría approximately 11,000 years ago, emigrating southward. Two main groups settled in what is now the states of Pacífico Norte and Pacífico Sur: the Cochimí and the members of the Yuman language family, which included the Kiliwa, Paipai, Kumeyaay, Cocopa, and Quechan. In the present-day state of South Sonora, humans began inhabiting the region within the last 10,000 years, with the most well-known remains at the San Dieguito Complex in the El Pinacate Desert. The Clovis culture, Hohokam, and Mogollon culture were also present in the region. In present-day Cancún and Mérida, the predominant indigenous people who settled the region were the Maya peoples, whose territorial range encompassed much of modern-day Southern and Central Mexico, as well as the Yucatán Peninsula, and parts of Central America.

Spanish colonization

Spanish exploration and conquest of the Yucatán Peninsula during the 14th century resulted in the fall of the Maya states. As the Spanish advanced deeper into the North American mainland, the Spanish conquered the Aztec Empire, and established the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1521. At its greatest extent (excluding claimed but unoccupied areas), New Spain spanned from parts of central Superior to El Salvador, as well as parts of the present-day Andes and West Indies. The city of Mérida was established in 1542 by three conquistadores, including Francisco de Montejo, as well as his son and nephew.

Notions of a land known as California entered public discourse in Europe following the 1510 romance novel Las Sergas de Esplandián by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. Montalvo wrote about an island west of the Indies that was inhabited by Amazonian black women and was near a terrestrial paradise. The prospect of the fabled land motivated Spaniard conquistadors after Hernán Cortés's successful colonization of Mexico to search for the land.

Francisco de Ulloa was the first European explorer to demonstrate that the Baja California Peninsula was a peninsula, rather than an island. Ulloa was not the first European to reach the peninsula however. Fortún Ximénez was a Spanish sailor of Basque origin who captained one of the ships, the Concepción, sent by Hernán Cortés to search for the entry of "Strait of Anián" (the supposed entry for the Northwest Passage) and the Island of California. Ximénez mutinied and killed the captain, and redirected the ship to what is now present-day La Paz near the southern tip of the peninsula. Ximénez and his men were later killed amid clashes with the local natives.

18th-century drawing of Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó

Beginning in 1622, European mapmakers began showing California accurately as a peninsula attached to the North American continent rather than an island. The Spanish gave the name Las Californias to describe the peninsula and the lands to the north that would later become Federal Sierra.

As Spanish interest in Las Californias grew, European activity on the peninsula increased. The first mission, Misión San Bruno, was established in present-day Loreto by Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino and his men. The mission was quickly abandoned due to the hostile response of the natives. The first permanent mission was Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó, established by Jesuit priest Juan María de Salvatierra. The mission became the administrative capital of Las Californias and 17 other missions and visitas (sub-missions) were established throughout the lower two-thirds of the peninsula. Compared to the missions established further north in Alta California and the Mexican mainland, the remoteness and harsh conditions of the peninsula made logistical support for the Baja California missions difficult.

Geography

Geographically, Bajaría is located in the southern portion of North America. It is composed of three noncontiguous parts. The Western States constitute the bulk of the country's total area and consists of the Baja California peninsula and a large section of land in between mainland Sierra and Mexico, with its eastern border largely defined by the Sierra Madre Occidental. The Eastern States consist of two exclaves located on the Yucatán Peninsula, bordering only Mexico by land. The Eastern States are the only incorporated territories in the Kingdom of Sierra that are situated in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, representing the easternmost region in the Kingdom, excluding unincorporated territories.

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of Bajaría and Politics of Bajaría

Overview

Parliament Building of Bajaría

Bajaría is a country which is located in the Kingdom of Sierra. Constitutionally, the Kingdom of Sierra is an asymmetric federal union, with its parliament and government in Porciúncula. In the House of Commons, 42 of the 326 members of Parliament represent Bajarian constituencies. In the Senate, 15 of the 155 senators represent Bajarian states. The Ministry of Interior for Bajaría is the Kingdom-level office responsible for overseeing the internal affairs of Bajaría, whose minister sits in the Cabinet. The head of state of the Kingdom of Sierra is currently, Queen Elizabeth II.

Bajaría has limited self-government, as well as representation in Parliament. Most executive, legislative, and judicial functions of the country have been devolved to the Bajarian Government and Bajarian Parliament in Salsipuedes. The country controls most areas of domestic policy through its own elected national parliament, the Parliament of Bajaría. The parliament is a unicameral legislature which consists of 120 members, all of whom are elected directly by the Bajarian people. Members of the Bajarian Parliament select the First Minister of Bajaría, who serves as the head of government. The Government of Bajaría consists of the First Minister, the Cabinet, and their ministers, who determine the public policy, legislative agenda, and national budget of the country. The government possesses both executive and legislative authority, while judicial power rests in the Supreme Court of Bajaría and its inferior courts. All organs of Bajaría may give consent over devolved matters back to the government in Porciúncula if a Kingdom-wide approach or measure is deemed more appropriate for a given issue at hand. For instance, the Supreme Court of Bajaría has the discretion to bring national cases it has exclusive jurisdiction over to the Supreme Court of Sierra (if the latter did not already have such power to review such cases).

In the 2021 election, the Conservative and Unionist Party of Bajaría (PCU) won 62 of the 120 available seats. Carmen Silva-Reyes, the leader of the PCU, has been the first minister since June 1, 2021. The Progressive Democratic Party of Bajaría, the Democratic Party of Bajaría, and the Social Unionist Party of Bajaría also have representation in the Bajarian Parliament.

Bajaría is represented in the Sierran Parliament by 42 MPs elected from territory-based Bajarian constituencies and 15 senators elected from Bajarian state-wide constituencies. In the 2021 general election, the Progressive Democratic Party won a plurality of seats in the House of Commons with 17 seats, while the PCU won a plurality of seats in the Senate with 4 regular senators and 2 commissioned senators.

The Sierran Parliament retains a number of reserved powers that are specified in the Constitution of Sierra. Matters pertaining to foreign relations, defense, international trade, interprovincial commerce, monetary policy, and several other areas of law are the responsibility of the Sierran federal government. Bajaría may, however, send its own envoys to other countries or subnational entities to promote and foster Bajaría-specific business, commercial, and cultural interests. It has observer status in a number of intergovernmental organizations, including the Organization of Ibero-American States and the Caribbean Community.

Law

Bajaría is governed by three primary authorities of law: the Charter, the Constitution of Bajaría, and the Organic Act of 2021. The Constitution of Sierra has limited coverage and application in Bajaría, which the Government of Bajaría may choose to recognize or ignore except for sections of the Constitution which pertain to the powers and functions of Parliament, or areas held by the Supreme Court of Sierra to be fully incorporated across the Kingdom. The country has its own distinct legal system, which is a mix of Anglo-American common law and Spanish civil law. Excluding its own states, Bajaría is the only K.S. jurisdiction whose legal system operates primarily in Spanish.

Political divisions

Main article: States of Bajaría

Bajaría is a federal country which is divided into five states. Each state shares power and responsibilities with the national government, as enshrined by the Constitution of Bajaría and are represented in the Parliament of Bajaría. The Bajarian states are recognized as PSAs under federal law and are each represented in both houses of Parliament. Each state is further divided into municipalities, which are considered county-equivalents under Kingdom law. However, Bajarian municipalities share more commonalities with other Latin American municipalities than Sierran counties or municipalities in the Anglo-American sense. Depending on their size, municipalities exercise broader powers, akin to regional governments, and may encompass large sections of a state or be entirely confined to a single urban area such as a city. Each municipality elects a municipal president, as well as an ayuntamiento (municipal council). Large municipalities may designate a city to be its seat as a head city, similar to a county seat, and the rest of the municipality elects an auxiliary presidency and council. Such places are functionally similar to Sierran townships. Immediately below municipalities are boroughs, which serve as the third-level subdivisions of Bajaría.

States of Bajaría

Flag, name and postal abbreviation		Cities		Admission	Population	Total area		Land area		Water area		Number of MPs
		Capital	Largest			mi2	km2	mi2	km2	mi2	km2
Cancún	CN	City of Cancún		March 6, 2021	678,770	764	1,979	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	3
Mérida	ME	City of Mérida		March 6, 2021	763,422	435	1,127	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	3
Pacífico Norte	PN	Salsipuedes	Tijuana	March 6, 2021	3,332,455	27,590	71,458	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	14
Pacífico Sur	PS	La Paz		March 6, 2021	1,584,669	28,536	73,908	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	5
South Sonora	SS	Hermosillo		March 6, 2021	4,639,298	69,249	179,354	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	17

Economy

The economy of Bajaría was traditionally based on an agrarian-based economy. During the Mexican and early Sierran period, the region, then known as El Norte, remained a backwater area with minimal economic activity. Discriminatory practices and treatment of the region hindered Bajaría's development. Internal border checks and barriers were constructed between federal Sierra and El Norte, limiting travel and trade between the two regions. At the start of the 20th century, the economy slowly transitioned towards a more industrial economy. The relaxation of internal border controls brought an influx of English-speaking Sierrans into Bajaría brought much-needed investment to the neglected area. Mining became a profitable industry in South Sonora while Pacífico Norte developed a tourism-oriented economy. During the Great War, Bajaría became a manufacturing hub although its economic development was interrupted when the Landonist-aligned Mexican military invaded the region. Following the war, Bajaría became more highly integrated with the Sierran economy as the region benefited from national infrastructure and transportation projects. Since the 21st century, Bajaría has become a post-industrial economy whose service sector has come to account for the majority of the country's jobs.

In 2020, Bajaría's GDP was $755 billion, accounting for 11% of the total GDP for the Kingdom of Sierra. Bajaría's GDP per capita is among the highest in North America and in the world, at $62,492 in 2020. As of January 2022, the unemployment rate was 4.6%, above the overall average of the Kingdom of Sierra with 3.2%.

Tijuana and Hermosillo are the financial centers of the country, with many finance firms and banks located in either city's metropolitan areas, including the state-owned Banco del Norte. They are also home to numerous multinational companies including Latam Telecommunications, Petró Baja, and Grupo Chona.

See also

• Commission on Devolution in El Norte

Attribution notices

• This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Baja California, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

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  This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Cancún, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

  This page uses material from the Wikipedia page England, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

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  This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Sonora, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

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