Forum:Territory application/AR005 - Shekudō Izaki/赤道華邦 (Equatorial Izaland)
- Please fill in the information below to make a territory request.
 | Territory ID and proposed name |
|---|---|
| The Territory ID (from OpenGeofiction:Territories, e.g. AR123a) and proposed name of the country |
AR005 - Shekudō Izaki/赤道華邦 (Equatorial Izaland in Ingerish)
Reasons for this request
I am aware that I already own Izaland as a first territory and am coordinator for a second one, both (especially Plevia) still with vast areas to be filled in and detailed, but I would still like to apply for this small territory in order to try my hand at an equatorial area, credibly and truly blending a "Japanese" style with an indigenous one, both linguistically and anthropologically.
 | Physical geography |
|---|---|
| An overview of climate, topography and landscape of the country. It is advised to also create a sketch, you can add a link to this (hosted on imgur or similar) |
Shekudō Izaki covers about 35 thousand square kilometers, facing the Gulf of ??? to the north, and bordering Majesia to the west, and Castilea Archantea to the east.
Located a few degrees south of the equator, the climate is equatorial-tropical, with annual temperatures consistently around 28 to 32 degrees and high humidity levels.
According to the Köppen classification, the climate is Tropical rainforest climate (Af) in the coastal belt, up to about 100 km inland, where it changes to Tropical monsoon climate (Am).
The large extent of tropical forest certainly makes Shekudō Izaki the area with the greatest biodiversity in Izaland, and in recent years, attempts of preserving the environment has been reflected in some conservation projects, although years of resource exploitations, especially in the inner part, have left much environmental damage.
Overall, the country is relatively safe, making it an emerging destination for eco-tourism.
(The current layout of Teluktebu will be maintained, basically, with the addition of a few islands along the coast. )
 | Human geography |
|---|---|
| A brief description of the territory demographics, economic development, land occupation, infrastructure and mapping style |
Three-quarters of the area is covered by tropical forest, and most of the population lives along the coast.
Cities and population
Shekudō Izaki has a population of 1.8 million with a positive growth of 1,34% per year.
The capital is Ribochanja (里母長紗市), and it has about 620,000 inhabitants (1.3 million counting the metropolitan area). Ribochanja, which began as a port for sorting and shipping spices, cocoa, and coffee to the motherland, in recent years also bases its economy on finance and tourism.
The second city, Bandarsungai (𖬡𖬰ᐢ𖬣𖬰ᣗ𖬖𐐢ᐢ𖬭𖬰ᐟ𖭐市), with 182,000 inhabitants, is located near the border with Majesia, and its population is mostly Majesian-speaking and of Imani religions.
Infrastructure
The road infrastructure is arranged on an east-west axis along the coast, and there is a toll highway that stretches for about 150 km around the main urban area.
There are few roads and by now mostly abandoned railways penetrating inland, most built to reach the now terminated, or near to it mining deposits (gold and bauxite) during the 1960s.
The railway network consists of a metric-gauge partially electrified line with some doubled sections in the capital area and some branches in the northwest, and a line that stumbles along the Ladaki River for a few tens of kilometers to the east. The capital has a compact tramway network (abput 3 lines, plus a couple more in construction) that assists a suburban rail system.
The territory has two international airports, one near the capital, and one in the eastern part of the coast. Other small stopovers provide access to villages isolated from the road network. Ribochanja International Airport is connected daily with Saindzaul, and with 3 flights a week with Warohan.
 | History & culture |
|---|---|
| A brief description of the intended culture and language |
Historical background
Shekudō Izaki is an overseas collectivity of Izaland (華邦海外領土), what remains of a series of colonies and trading outposts owned between the 17th and 20th centuries.
Gradually coming under Izaland rule beginning in 1615, with the opening of the free port of Shinkō (新港), at the hands of the South Sea Trading Company (南陽貿易会社, Nannyān Mauyeku Kwisha), at that time the territory, called Teluktebu was inhabited by local Majesian-Central Archantan and other Maja peoples.
Future independence?
Recent decades have seen several attempts to separate from Izaland, including a tumultuous period of terrorist attacks in the 1990s. In 2018, a referendum for independence was held, but the population was divided between yes and no, leading, at least for now, to a stalemate.
Population ethnicities and language
In modern times the population is mostly (about 65%) indigenous, with 8% Majesian, 9% of Bai origin, 12% ethnic Izaki, and 6% other composition.
The official languages are Izaki, Majesian, and Teny ny olona (corresponding to Malagasy in the real world), in addition to the Bai language, Lutangese, and a number of local and pidgin idioms.
Most indigenous place names are rendered in Izaki using the Askaoza system. There is, however, also a version in byakuji (the characters of Bai), but because of the excessive forcing required to render long names in Teny ny olona language, as of 1993 non-Izaki place names are rendered in Askaoza.
Social structure
One of the main challenges for the territory is the social inequality and the distribution of wealth, which is more fragmented and contrasted with that of the motherland. People living under the poverty line are about 14% of the population.
 | Past mapping |
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| To support your request provide links to areas of OGF mapping which showcase your mapping skill. Mapping relevant to the requested theme & geography is especially useful | |
| The {{coord}} template can optionally be used to link to the OGF map - it results in a nice formatted link. Or you can paste in a URL. |
Main territory: Izaland
Collab territory (coordinator): Plevia
Some examples of work that may be useful for the purpose of evaluating this application.
| Username & date |
|---|---|
| Sign and date the application by typing four tildes like this: ~~~~ |
--Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 10:54, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
Discussion
 | Discussion |
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| Discussion for clarification & decision |
- Hi, can you expand a bit on how you intend to map this Equatorial extractive economy? Keen to see realism, inequality and a bit uneasy with the sketch map and statements such as "awareness of the importance of preserving the environment has been reflected in numerous conservation projects" and "safety of the country also makes it a renowned .. destination for eco-tourism". I think there would be both a real challenge and reward in getting this right, rather than another utopia. Thanks/wangi (talk) 00:45, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
Hi, sorry for my late reply, and thank you for the feedback.
Most of the mapping will be along the coast, and I plan to focus especially on the port infrastructure, which will be developed specifically to export the materials mined inland to the motherland.
Inland, there will be a number of mining sites with their respective worker villages. Land transportation will be limited to one or two single arterial roads, as well as river transportation along the Lodak River to the east.
Of course, as nice as it is, utopias do not exist, so I will try as much as possible to show on the map the effects of what has been and still is an economic exploitation of natural resources, if that is what you are referring to.
I am not sure if I have answered your question correctly, but if something is missing, let me know and I will try to add it!
--Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 15:04, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
- I'm uneasy with statements such as "awareness of the importance of preserving the environment has been reflected in numerous conservation projects", "safety of the country also makes it a renowned (but not cheap) destination for eco-tourism", "in recent years also bases its economy on finance and tourism", " a toll highway that stretches for about 300 km"... As you know, there's no shortage of countries in OGF with far too high GDP, too much developed infrastructure, ... These statements firmly start me thinking along those lines.
- Given the existing territories, I'd much prefer this one to be both a challenge with the geography and culture, but more importantly the inequality of an extractive economy. One where the mineral riches are not matched by well developed infrastructure. One where the mineral riches have been used to fund the development of the main Izaki economy.
- So: patchy/limited highways, limited and abandoned railways focussed on the mines, clear areas of priority to industry over environment.
- If that's where you want to take this application, can you update the sketch to reflect? /wangi (talk) 10:12, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
- Thank you for your further explanation of what you would like to see in this area. Even though this is a bit out of my mapping comfort zone, I am taking these requests as an opportunity to grow in my experience, so I will work on the points in the main sketch later today or tomorrow.
- Just one thought. Today, Japan (from which Izaland is inspired) has no colonies or former territories. Of course, we know that until WW2 Japan had extensive exploitation of resources in other countries in SE Asia, for example the phosphate mines in Nauru and other mineral extraction in Manchuria, but if those colonies/dependencies were to last until today, I wonder how infrastructural the development in the area would be (leaving aside environmental issues and eco-friendliness). Still, with a gap between mainland Japan and these colonies, I think there would be a fair amount of development. What do you think?
- Thank you --Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 00:45, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
Just thought of adding a few cents to this.
This proposal is a bit similar to Okinawa, which is part of Japan but subtropical and generally has a warmer climate than Japan proper. And also French Guiana, a tropical exclave of France. French Guiana's economy is reliant on fishing, gold mining and timber, and the Guiana Space Centre played a significant role in the local economy. From the proposal, this Izaki exclave also seems manufacturing and port are also significant contributors (replacing the space centre, of course).
I can imagine perhaps that most modern developments are concentrated along the coastal area, which explains the 300km coastal highway. I can imagine Izaland wanting to keep investing in this colony, so the urban centres would see substantial modern developments. In contrast, the interior would probably see fewer developments, and perhaps a significant extent of environmental destruction due to mining activities.
In Singapore, we have former quarries which are being reclaimed by nature. Certainly it's possible that after the shutdown of the colony's mines work began to restore nature, and hence promote some eco-tourism in the country. Okinawa, after all, is also reliant on tourism, so I can imagine this shift.
Overall, realistically I can see this colony's level of development to be similar to French Guiana. Replace the space port with sea port, plus perhaps adding an Izaki air base and military base and we got this colony. I can imagine however the colony could be in decline due to competition with Majesian and CCA ports, and the territory is rather inland, so it might not be very attractive for international shipping routes in the Asperic.
I hope these thoughts would help.--Zhenkang (talk) 07:29, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
Thank you, --Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 04:55, 2 March 2024 (UTC)