Sekowo

The Federated Cities of Pan-Sekowo is a nation located on the continent of Dovani. It is bordered by the Dual Monarchy of Hulstria & Gao-Soto to the north, the Free Republic of Lourenne to the South-West and unexplored territory around it's other borders. Sekowo today is a much different place than it was in the past.

Pre-Colonial Sekowo
Ancient Sekowo

Sekowo has been the cradle of some of Dovani's most original and advanced civilizations, but unfortunately much of the historical evidence about the period before 200 BCE has been lost. However, archaeologists have been able to determine that the first human settlers in this area were several groups of nomads calling themselves *Shineyalane'es or *Shinyalane'es that came from the east around the 2nd millennium BCE. Many of them settled down in the southern region around Carcosa, and were the ancestors of the Shinjalan people. The Shinjalans were the creators of a rich culture, one of the oldest and most original in Dovani. Information about these people start to abound around 200 BCE, when their civilization entered its Golden Age. They excelled in literature (where they produced Terra's oldest epic, The Katanid, and some of antiquity's finest works of poetry), philosophy (Platon and Tseynos are considered among Terra's most important and influential philosophers), historiography, architecture, natural science and many other fields of human knowledge. The Shinjalans seem to have been closely related to the Mayans living in nowaday's Lourenne, but unlike them they were less aggressive and expansionist. They were organised in republican city-states, the most notable being Carcosa, Kyme, and Akragonion, but which were eventually incorporated into the Tochi Empire. However, their language, Tsekwon or Classical Sekowan, has been adopted by the Tochi and spreaded around the entire Sekowan territory, later giving birth to Modern Sekowan, and currently being Sekowo's official language.

The North-West was inhabited by the seafaring Kazulians, who arrived in this region around the second half of the 1st millenium BCE from Kazulia. They raided and colonized wide areas of Dovani from the 8th to the 11th century CE, and created an aggresive warrior civilization, until the Sekowan Kazulians were conquered by the Tochi-Showa in the 12th century.

The Tochi-Showa, who inhabited the North-East of Sekowo, were a disciplined, religious, and pragmatic people, related to the Gao-Showa further in the North. Until around the 11th century CE, they were an unimportant group of tribes and city-states constantly at war with each other, but starting with this period, the previously unknown city of Terina became the center of a large empire, expanding over the entire Sekowan territory. This empire lasted only for about two centuries, and its authority was just nominal in some regions, but it helped spread the superior Shinjalan culture and the Tsekwon language across Sekowo and the surrounding regions. Thus the Sekowan culture when the first Artanian colonists arrived in 1728 was fairly unitary.

After the fall of the Tochi Empire in 1284, when Mikado Romutsu Ogusuto was dethroned by Empire of Gao-Soto, the territory of Sekowo was briefly under Gao-Soton rule. After a few decades the lands that were to become Sekowo have been divided into many small feudal kingdoms, the most important being Ronadum (with the capital at Pelias), Bissono (with the capital at Gelai) and Barfolar (with the capital at Leontinoi). The Shinjalan city-states managed to regain independece in the 16th century, but they were conquered by Artanian conquistadors in the 18th and 19th century. The Artanians also conquered the many kingdoms in the North, much easier than the Shinjalan city-states, since there was no single Shinjalan political center which once overthrown would hasten the end of collective resistance from the indigenous peoples. Instead, the conquistador forces needed to subdue the numerous independent Shinjalan polities almost one by one, many of which kept up a fierce resistance. In the end, the entire Sekowan territory was occupied by conquistadors.

The Colonial Period
The Artanians divided what is now Sekowo into 2 viceroyalties, Puerto Grande and Costa Nueva, later to be reorganized in the Captaincy General of Sekowo and Bissono (La Capitanía General de Sekowo y Bissono). Sekowo was the only Davostaña-speaking colony in Dovani, and it was very powerfully influenced by Davostaña culture.

The Artanians did not settle down in large number in Sekowo, instead they transformed it into large cotton and Sekowan-tobacco plantations owned by great land-owners of Criollo (Artanian) origin. And to work those plantations they used black slaves brought from Seleya and Northern Sekowan slaves, reputed for their physical resistance.

There have been numerous conflicts in this period between the land-owners and the representatives of the royal government, as well as many slave rebellions. One such conflict began in 2190, when the Criollo-based elite, led by Filliam H. Muffman, protested against several new taxes imposed on the colonists, the fact that they were not represented in the national Cortes Generales, and the recent attempt of the royal government to abolish slavery in all colonies.

The Independence and the Union
Founding of Sekowo

The protesters soon realized that the royal government was unwilling to respect their wishes when a large Artanian fleet carrying armed soldiers landed in Kroton. The colonists gathered in the city of Pelias and on February 1st, 2193 they declared Sekowo an independent and sovereign nation under the name of the Union of Sekowo. Because the Criollo colonists were very few, not more than a few tens of thousands, they were unable to form a large army by themselves, so they recruited Sekowan slaves, but refused to pay them any levies. The Sekowan army was therefore very weak, despite its considerable size, and lost several important battles, such as he battle of Katanus (2194). After several slave rebellions, the Criollos were forced to promise the emancipation of all slaves. The Sekowan army was reorganized and managed to win the decisive battle of Aragonion. The first President of the Union of Sekowo, Filliam H. Muffman of the Filliam H. Muffman Party, was elected in 2196. When the Cabinet Proposal of 2198 passed, the Liberal Conservative Party was greatly annoyed to be left out of the cabinet. Kyle Martin vowed to repay the snub. In 2200 there was a sudden spate of resignations. Rumors abounded that threats by the Liberal Conservative Party were behind the resignations.

The 23rd century was a very turbulent moment in Sekowan history, with many successful or atempted coups d'etat, political assassinations and civil wars. In 2249 Kafuristani troops landed on Sekowan soil wishing to invade the country, and on the 13th of January 2250 the Sekowan legislative unanimously declared war on the United Majatran Republic of Kafuristan. The war was short but very difficult, and the inferior Sekowan military used popular support to reject the invasion using guerilla tactics. The war, which was caused by the alleged presence of secret Kafuristani training bases in Sekowo, was very costly for both sides.

In 2402, Sekowo was brought under the control of Aretist parties, who renamed the country as the Aretic Archonate of Sekowo. Sekowo was than restructured as a feudal, agricultural nation subjugating the people, or Dema, under the rule of the bureaucratic caste, the Acolya, and the spiritual and political leaders of the state, the Avatara. Sekowo's western plains were converted into massive plantations harvesting Flavian, and the the state's investment in defense hardware led to the rise of a large industrial base in the south.

The Sekowo Civil War
Sekowo Civil War

When the Aretist movement first came to power in 2402, a massive cultural and economic change was initiated intended to bring the country under strong Aretist sway. The installation of the power system was not ideal and The Avatara became absolute rulers through manipulation of the monetary and military resources of the nation. During the transition from Solentia to Sekowo, the brightest and most ambitious Acolya were purged from the movement. The modern Acolya were mere servants and the Dema was insignificant.

The decade-long civil war which began in 2406 was one of the bloodiest and ideologically-charged in Terran history. The instability was not the fault of two competing sides, but many separate factions which came and went during this turbulent period. Some 1.4 million are thought to have died as a result of the chaos and carnage, and the infrastructure of the nation was greatly damaged.

Government and Politics
The Federated Cities of Pan-Sekowo is a Federal Presidential Republic, with the Archon being both the Head of Government and Head of State, voted on every three years.

The Sekowan legislature, the Apella, is a Unicameral Parliament comprised of 599 seats. Debate in the Apella has been known to, on rare occasions become violent, one such event incapacitating several representatives in 2439.

Geography & Climate
Sekowo is comprised mostly of three different geographic zones.

The Northern part of the country is comprised of high mountains, because of this the area has a temperate climate in the summer and cold and snowy winters. The middle of the country is comprised of small mountains and mostly hilly terrain. The climate in the area is a mixture of Temperate and Sub-tropic with Summer and Winter temperatures varying year by year, though in all it is a mild and comfortable climate. The Lower South-East of the country is comprised of the Western most part of the Great Dovani plains. The climate in the area tends to be very warm, with summer highs in the triple digits.

Administrative Divisions
The Federated Cities of Pan-Sekowo is comprised of five administrative divisions known as Exarchies.

Since Sekowo is a Federation, each Exarchy has some semblance of a state itself, with a democratically elected Executive and Legislature and the ability to decide on there own local issues, but overall it is a subsidiary geopolitical unit of the Sekowan Federation as a whole.

Colonies
Sekowo is also comprised of four colonial protectorates, Argos, Cho'kun, Midway and Tropica.

Each of these areas, along with Sekowo itself are all states in the Sekowan Federation with their own elected head of government, head of state and Legislature.

While all areas have their own regional local and municipal governments and local legislature, only Sekowo has voting representatives in the Apella, though each of the other four regions each have two non-voting representatives in the Apella.

Economy
Sekowo has a free market economy, as well as a very developed social protection system. After the economically counter-productive Aretist period, Sekowo has begun a very long and painful process of market liberalization and modernization quite successfully. Following its first decade of post-Aretist government, when the economic situation was disastrous, Sekowo has made an impressive recovery, building a modern and diversified economy. Now the country is classified as a middle-income country, with large possibilities of development.

The actions of the cabinets during the last two decades to implement a far-reaching program of macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform aimed at maintaining price-stability, creating conditions for sustained growth, and alleviating scarcity are seen as the cause of Sekowo's recent economic growth, as well as the rise of a new dynamic middle-class capable of economic expansion. Due to the feudalization of the economy during Aretism, urban life has been in a decline until recently, but the sustained effort of the Sekowan population has brought prosperity back to the cities.

The population in extreme poverty has decreased from 54.7% to 27.4% in the general population and from 74.1% to 36.9% in rural areas from 2460 to 2465, and the GDP annual average growth for the period of 2455–2462 was 7.1%. Sekowo currently has a free-trade agreement with Kazulia and Pontesi and is a founding member of the Dovani Common Market Area, though it trades extensively with other countries as well.

Demographics
With a population of 129 million (2470 census), Sekowo is the 4th most populous country in Dovani. Sekowan annual population growth has substantially decreased from 1.75% in 2455 to 0.30% in 2470. Life expectancy in 2474 was estimated to be at 73.5 years (70.6 male and 76.4 female).

Immigration
Sekowo is home to a large number of immigrants from surrounding countries, mostly from Lourenne (25%) and Hulstria & Gao-Soto (14%). Other significant communities of foreigners are those of Central and Southern Dovani, most notably from Talmoria and Deltaria Nova.

Ethnicity
Like most nations in Dovani, Sekowan ethnography is also characterized by being the melting pot of different peoples both autochthonous and immigrants. About 68% of the population is of Shinjalan (aboriginal) origin, 13% are Mestizos (mixed Native Dovani and Artanian), and 8% are Criollos. There are also large communities of inhabitants with Gao-Showa, Maya, Kazulian and Welsh ancestry, as well as over 10,000 people belonging to the Kli'kut ethnic group in Sekowo proper. Seleyan-Sekowans, formerly a significant minority (Basileus Umoja Bantu belonged to this community), are now concentrated in the rural areas in the South. Also many Criollos fled Sekowo to return to their native countries when Aretism came to power in 2402.

Language
Sekowo has a peculiar position regarding linguistic policy as the 2431 constitution recognizes a previously "dead" tongue, Tsekwon, as the nation's official language. Tsekwon has suffered a powerful revival since it became constitutionally recognized by the Aretic Archonate of Sekowo in 2420 and 2421, and currently it has an estimated 30 million native speakers (most younger than 16) and some 90 million secondary speakers.

Modern Sekowan or Sekwo, the direct descendant of Tsekwon, is the most widely spoken language (around 92% speak or understand it), and although it has no de iure legal status, it is very often used for official documents, and debates in the Apella are usually carried in this language.

Davostaña, the former official language of Sekowo, is now used mainly by the upper class and the Sekowan Criollos. Other very important languages are Gao-Showa, Welsh, French, Kazulianisk and Hulstrian. English is widely used in business, in the large cosmopolitan cities, and it also has an official status, alonside Tsekwon, Latin and Ancient Greek.