01-08-2019, 11:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-12-2022, 11:07 PM by Jarkko.
Edit Reason: Had to make a few corrections.
)
Africa
- Another area set aside as trust territory was the Sahara Desert, but this didn't go over as well with certain contributing countries. Algeria basically had to be forced to, but then they ended up merging with other countries that more willingly contributed and thus had to go along. As with Amazonia, there are no official languages, but it helps if you know Maghrebi Arabic. There are other languages spoken in the area as well, which are mostly Berber and Saharan languages. The seat of government is Tamanrasset (RL Algeria).
- The Maghreb Union was a union initially of Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, and Tunisia, and they later pacified radical Islamists in RL Libya with the help of Egypt, Hijaz, and Israel-Palestine and took on the northern part as theirs. The official national languages are Maghrebi Arabic and French, with English also being widely taught and each state having at least one state language as well - Moroccan Berber and Spanish in Maghrib (Morocco) Province, Hassaniya in (Western) Sahara Province, Taqbaylit and Tarifit in Jazaïr (Algeria) Province, East Zenati Berber languages in Tunisia, and Italian and Eastern Berber in Libya Province. While there are some residual human rights issues in the country, it is actually fairly respectable in this regard. Most of the population is Maliki Sunni Muslim, with pockets of Christians throughout the country and occasional pockets of Jews as well. The capital is Tunis, Tunisia Province.
- Egypt is another country that has come a long way from its pre-Robertian state. With a new constitution and an army and police force willing to uphold it, political, religious, and general daily freedoms have blossomed as Egypt adopts an East-meets-West sort of economy, with both Islamic principles of finance and Western methodologies compatible with it being used to drive the economy. It has ceded its southwestern desert portions to the Sahara Desert Trust Territory. Most of the population is either Muslim or Christian - In order, Hanafi Sunnis, Coptic Christians, Shafi'i Sunnis, Maliki Sunnis (most of the Malikis from RL Egypt ended up in the Sahara Desert TT), Jafari Shi'as, other Christians, and Jews make up 99.99% of the population. Historically persecuted groups such as Ahmadis, Baha'is, and atheists are still a very small minority. The capital is still Cairo, the official language is still Arabic (although two "official dialects" are recognised, Standard Egyptian and Saidi), and there is no state religion.
- Sudan split as well, and it got ugly in the processs. Most of the New UN backed Darfur's independence bid, but Sudan continued to send Janjaweed militias into the area... and got caught doing so, sparking the Third Sudanese Civil War, which had Darfur being backed by some pretty well-armed countries! Sudan was declared a "rogue nation" and attacked by a number of Western European and African nations, and after a two-month-long conflict, Sudan agreed to let Darfur go and give up certain militia leaders and politicians to be tried for crimes against humanity. While the capital is still Khartoum and the official language still Arabic, they no longer have Darfur or the Abyei Area.
- Darfur is basically the land taken up by RL Sudan that the Fur peoples live in. They are under a New UN protectoracy agreement to prevent roaming Janjaweed militias and other baggaras (nomadic ranchers) from attacking them. They are primarily Maliki Sunni Muslims; the official state languages are Arabic, Fur, Masalit, and Daju. The capital is Nyala.
- Nilotica is an attempt to bring the different Nilotic tribes under one banner for mutual benefit. Comprising northern RL Uganda, western and north-central RL Kenya, a slice of north-central RL Tanzania, and RL South Sudan, the capital is Kisumu (in Dholuo territory), and the official national language is English, with their two-tier language system recognising every Nilotic language as official in at least one state - the most numerous of these are Dholuo, Standard Dinka, Nuer, Maasai, and Kipsigis. Swahili is also state-official in the southern states, and the Moru-Madi language Lugbara is official in Lugbara State. It does have the unenviable task of dealing with interethnic tension between its thirty or so ethnolinguistic groups, but they get help from the likes of Uralica, who have helped them by keeping them accountable in making sure every ethnicity and sub-ethnicity has some kind of representation. There are also a number of Niger-Congo-speaking groups in the south, and these have the same rights and freedoms as any Nilote within the country. There is a push within those areas (primarily in Luoland State) for a curricular freedom clause.
- Ethiopia is actually smaller than RL, even though its capital is still Addis Ababa. It lost the Ogaden region to a resurgent Somalia and a couple of northern regions to Tigray and Afaria respectively. There is some tension between the majority Oromo and the previous-ruling Amhara, but this has been offset largely by the policy of making Standard Oromo co-official with Amharic. It does have claim to the north-central area of RL Kenya, though. Largely Ethiopian Orthodox, Ethiopia is officially secular, but is a CCC associate member.
- The Republic of Tigray is a state for - you guessed it - the Tigrayan and Tigré peoples. Although there are other minority groups within the nation, those two are the dominant groups, and their languages - Tigrinya and Tigré - are co-official, alongside Arabic and English. Religious freedom is limited to four groups: The Tigrayan Orthodox Church (Oriental Orthodox like Ethiopian; one of two successor churches of Eritrean Orthodoxy), Sunni Islam (most Tigrayan Muslims are either Shafi'i or Maliki), the Eritrean Catholic Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Their requirement for registration of other "perfectly legitimate" Christian groups has caused the CCC to deny them even associate membership. The RL areas correspond to Eritrea (minus Southern Red Sea) plus Tigray State in Ethiopia. The capital is Asmara.
- The Islamic Republic of Afaria is an ethnic nation-state for the Afar people, and took on a number of refugees from when the Somalis took over Djibouti wholesale. Aseb (RL Eritrea) is the capital and largest city, but there aren't many large cities in the country to begin with, with many smaller cities and large towns dotting the landscape. Pastoralism is widespread. Shafi'i Sunni Islam is the official state religion, with an official tolerance policy towards non Shafi'i Sunnis, Shi'as, Ibadhis, and Christians. Most of the non-Muslims in the country are Christians, and most of these are Afarian Orthodox.
- Somalia is in some turmoil at the moment, not so much because of Somaliland separatism but because of Salafist jihadis (al-Shabaab, actually) wanting to establish a hyper-conservative Islamist state. While the official languages are Standard Somali and Arabic, there are a few other minorities in the nation. It is almost 100% Islamic, with most of the population being Sunni Shafi'is. The capital is still Mogadishu, although there was at one point talk of moving the capital to Djibouti, which Somali groups took over during Dispersion.
- Suqutra, formerly part of Yemen, is geologically part of Africa although it has stronger cultural ties to the southern Arabian Peninsula. Refusing to join either Aden, or Sana'a, or even Somalia, it instead declared its independence during Dispersion and was defended against Somali Wahhabi invasion by Somali Shafi'is, Omanis, Afars, and Egyptians - all but the first still have formalised military treaties with Suqutra, and the Somalis have an agreement that if they defeat their in-country Wahhabis, they will join as well. It is one of the world's least-populated nations - with the European microstates, Lesser Antilles, and Pacific Island states merged into other nations now, only the Vatican City and Gibraltar have less population. The population is exclusively Muslim, with the population practicing a heavily Sufi-influenced Sunni Islam of the Shafi'i madhhab. They are a fairly tolerant bunch, though, with Christians allowed free practice, even though they don't make up even a percent of the population. The official languages are Arabic and Saqatri (a South Semitic language whose closest relatives are primarily spoken in Yemen, and is fairly close to Amharic). The capital is Hadibu.
- Chad only comprises its southern half relative to RL. French and Arabic are still the official national languages, and while they don't have a two-tier language policy due to the overwhelmingly large number of languages in the country, there is curricular freedom for each school or educational program to teach up to five other languages alongside the two, and to start with one's mother tongue (which is actually encouraged). Chadic, Western Sudanic, and non-Nilotic Central Sudanic are the primary linguistic groups within the country. While the Sara people are the ethnic majority, they speak a large number of different (but related) languages, the largest being Ngambay. N'Djamena is still the capital!
- Hausa Nation is an Islamic nation that banded together based on their main spoken language, Hausa, which is co-official with English and French. It officially takes up Maradi, Zinder, and the southern half of Tahoua (so all departments except Tchintabaraden) Region of Niger, and the Nigerian states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Bauchi, and Gombe. Most of Hausa Nation's population is Maliki Sunni Muslims, with a few pockets of Jafari Shi'as. There are also Christians in the area, but they are persecuted by certain more extreme groups within the nation - Boko Haram has resurfaced post-Dispersion, and they tend to be the worst of the lot. Although Kano is the largest city, Kaduna is the capital.
- The Kanuri Republic is a smaller nation based around the Kanuri people group, taking up the RL regions of Diffa (Niger), Far North (Cameroon), and Borno State (Nigeria). The official languages are English, French, and Kanuri, although there is curricular freedom to teach in the mother tongue up as far as eighth grade. The population is about 60% Muslim (mostly Maliki Sunni) and 40% Christian (primarily Catholic, Anglican, and Charismatic). The capital is Maiduguri.
- The Islamic State of Yobe was founded because the mostly Fulani population didn't want to join either Hausa Nation or the Kanuri Republic. English and Fulani (both in the Nigerian dialect) are the official languages, with full curricular freedom. The capital is Damaturu.
- Adamawa is more a band of numerous ethnicities grouping together for mutual protection and trade than a single ethnic or macro-ethnic nation state. They have banded together around common goals and linguae francae - English, French, and Adamawa Fulfulde are official with full curricular freedom on teaching in mother tongues) - while seeking to hold together the hundreds of small ethnic groups in the area. Officially secular, Christians are the majority, with Roman Catholicism and Charismatic Christianity being most prevalent and smaller populations of Reformed, Baptists, Anglicans, and Presbyterians existing; the Muslim minority is primarily Maliki. Most of RL Cameroon (minus Far North, South, and East) as well as the RL Nigerian states of Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Cross River, Nassarawa, Plateau, Kogi, and Abuja, make up the territory. The capital is Yaoundé.
- Igbolandia was ruled in the Robertian Era by a brash Greek Orthodox ruler named Autokrator, who had Greek as co-official alongside English and Igbo, with no representation for the other indigenous groups of the area. Greek has since been replaced by Ijaw, but the Igbo people are still the majority in the nation, with guaranteed curricular freedom in language teaching. What hasn't changed is that the country is rich in oil and almost 100% Christian; it is officially thus, and has applied for full CCC membership, but Uralica is very leery of them because of the prosperity gospel that is often preached there. There is a Maliki Sunni Muslim minority as well. The Christian population is largely Charismatic with minorities of Anglicans and Igbolandic Greek Orthodox. The country corresponds to the RL Nigerian states of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Imo, Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, and Akwa Ibom. The capital is Port Harcourt.
- Edo State wanted special rights for its ethnic group, since it is among the "middle power" groups of RL Nigeria and didn't want to give up that degree of sovereignty to join Adamawa or Yorubaland. The Edo language is co-official with English in the state, although there is also the curricular freedom clause in their constitution. A unicameral, secular republic, its capital is Benin City. The population's religious beliefs are Christianity and traditional African animism.
- Yorubaland is home to RL Nigeria's largest ethnic group, the Yoruba people, as well as a few minority groups, taking up the lion's share of the west of RL Nigeria (Niger, Kwara, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, and Lagos States). Although the largest city by far is Lagos (which is the largest metro area in Sub-Saharan Africa), the capital is Ogbomosho. The official languages are English and Yoruba, with the minority linguistic groups having curricular freedom to teach in their mother tongues up to the eighth grade. The population is primarily Christian, with Charismatics and Anglicans making up most of the population. There is a decent-sized Sunni Muslim minority, especially in the North, and they tend to be Malikis.
- Gurland occupies an area where primarily Gur languages and somewhat closely-related Savannas languages are spoken, by people of the Gur macroethnic group (very similar to Uralica in this regard). Gurland is a nation that has both a two-tier language policy and a curricular freedom clause, putting it in very select company - only Uralica, the Pula Empire, the Mande Republic, the Zambezi Republic, and the East African Union can also claim this, in fact. This is owing to the fact that there are numerous languages within the country with substantial populations of speakers. It takes up the northern parts of RL Benin, Togo, and Ghana, the northeastern corner of RL Côte d'Ivoire, the southern RL Malinese province of Sikasso, and all but the northernmost province of Burkina Faso. In terms of religion, it is one of the nations with the highest proportion of African animism - Vodun is officially state-recognised, although Christians (in the south of the country; mostly Catholics with some Anglicans, Baptists, and Charismatics) and Maliki Sunni Muslims (in the north) still both outnumber animists. The national official languages are French and English, with the provincial official languages being (depending on province) Dagbani, Mòoré, Gourmanché, Kabiyé, Baatonum, and Cebaara, Mamara, and Supyire Senoufo. Dozens of other languages are spoken within the country (not even all Gur!) and benefit from the curricular freedom as well as a government initiative to promote the smaller cultures (Culture gourlandaise du jour! is the program). Common ancestry binds most of the population, and even for those who don't have that ancestry, the culture is unmistakable. The capital is Ouagadougou. It is a unicameral presidential republic.
- The Akan Empire is another nation with an abundance of vernacular languages, but under one more numerous ethnicity, the Akan of southern RL Ghana and southeastern RL Côte D'Ivoire. English, French, and Akan (the standard based on the Asante dialect) are the official languages, with curricular freedom; there is discussion about adopting a two-tier language policy and giving larger languages official status at a state level, such as Anyin and Baoulé in the RL Ivorian section. A secular state, Christianity is the majority religion, with many Akanians (the national demonym rather than the ethnonym "Akans") being Anglican, Presbyterian, Catholic, or conservative Pentecostal. There are also many Maliki Muslims, especially in the west. The capital is actually Kumasi, although the largest cities are Accra and Abidjan. It is a constitutional monarchy, although the Emperor does have much more political power than a Western-style constitutional monarch would.
- Calvinia is a smaller country, comprising only the southern parts of Benin and Togo, but it is quite densely populated. It is the remnant of the once much larger Royal Republic of Displaced Calvinists, which was ruled by Sheldomar Bolak of the CCC. As the name might suggest, it is officially not only Christian, but Reformed Christian, with Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, Reformed Baptists, and other Calvinistic denominations being favoured in relations with other countries. (No wonder they have such a good relationship with Uralica! ) The two main denominations within Calvinia are the Calvinian Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Baptist Fellowship of Calvinia. Free practice of religion is respected to a degree, but Calvinia shares Uralica's disdain for prosperity gospel and for any sort of violent proselytising. Its official languages are French, Fon, and Ewe, although English is also taught in schools from a fairly young age because of its proximity to Yoruba and the Akan Empire, and curricular freedom exists up to the eighth grade. Its capital is Lomé.
- The Kru Republic is the homeland of the different Kru peoples, with the larger ones having their language official nationally and the smaller ones being official at the municipal district level, since there are no large states in the country. Some 29 languages are represented within the system, and of those, English, Liberian Creole, French, Bassa, Dida, Grebo, Klao, and Wè are nationally official. The population primarily professes Christianity although religious freedom is guaranteed, being more diverse in this regard than most West African countries because of its historical ties to the Old United States - Catholics, Anglicans, Charismatics, Presbyterians, Baptists, Pentecostals, and several others, including the only organised Evangelical Free Church in that part of Africa, all fit into that number. The capital is San Pedro.
- The Mande Republic is another state that is based around a macroethnic group, in the same manner as Uralica, Gurland, and the Kru Republic. But as it was beginning its existence, it ran into a problem - the Fulbe people's territory and theirs overlaps in spots. This high tension remains even though an uneasy truce is established between the two (and also Senegal), and by the terms of the truce, the old Gambian LGA of Kuntaur is governed by both countries. Along with Uralica, Gurland, and the Pula Empire, it is one of only four nations to have both a two-tier language policy and curricular freedom. The population is split between Maliki Sunni Muslims (the majority) and Christians who are primarily members of the Church of Mande, a Presbyterian-Baptist hybrid similar to Manzinism that has its origins in what was once northern Liberia. The Mandeans' control of RL territory extends to The Gambia (including co-control of Kuntaur), southeastern RL Senegal (not to be confused with the country in this timeline), three regions of Mali (Kayes, Koulikoro, and Ségou, plus Bamako city), eastern and southern Guinea, all but the northwest of Sierra Leone, northern Liberia, and northwestern Côte D'Ivoire. The official national languages are English, French, and Standard Manding (based on the Bambara and Jula languages, which are almost perfectly interchangeable - this is also largely mutually intelligible with Maninka and Mandinka). Official state languages and dialects include Mandinka, Maninka, Malinké, Mende, Susu (spoken in an exclave that includes Conakry), and Kpelle from amongst the Mande languages, as well as Atlantic-Congo language Kissi. All Mande languages are taught within the Mande Republic because of the curricular freedom. Bamako is the capital.
- The Pula Empire sought to restore the influence of the Pula/Fulbe people in East Africa, but it ran into three major snags - the Mande, the Wolof, and the Themne had no desire to get in on it. So what we have now is a multipartite state (especially should Pula decide to be the aggressor a second time at the expense of the Truce of Banjul!) interconnected by dually-owned corridors shared between the Pula and the Mande, and two countries populated by non-Fulbe speakers of Atlantic-Congo languages that want to keep to themselves. The Muslim majority, Maliki Sunni as is typical with sub-Saharan Africa, is more marked than in Mande, although there are some Christians and practitioners of traditional African beliefs. There is some syncretism with certain African beliefs amongst the Muslims here, although to regard any "lesser deities" is considered shirk. The land occupied is central and south-central Senegal, western Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau. They also wanted Western Senegal, and Kissi and Temne land, but the Mande refused to let the Kissi go (not that they wanted to go, either - they were ambivalent about it) and the Temne wanted their own independence. The result of this is that they are lacking in major cities! They also have the exclave of Dori, which is part of RL Burkina Faso and surrounded by the Mande Republic, Gurland, and Dogonia. French, Portuguese, and Pulaar are the official languages. English is also widely taught. It is an absolute monarchy as well, and human rights aren't exactly stellar. The national capital is Bissau, as much as they wanted it to be Dakar.
- Senegal is made up of the stubborn western states of Senegal that refused to cede their rights to the Pula Empire. The two main resistant ethnic groups, the Wolof and the Serer, banded together with a bunch of minor ethnicities to retain the west of Senegal north of Gambia. French, Wolof, and Serer are the official languages, with curricular freedom on what language to teach in up to the eighth grade. It is one of the most heavily Sufistic countries in the world, with the Mouridist branch of Sufism having its holy city in Touba, a Serer-majority city. In terms of madhhab, these and other Senegalese Muslims are completely Maliki according to the last census. There is a small Christian population as well. The RL land coverage is the regions of Dakar, Thiès, Kaolack, Diourbel, and Fatick, as well as the western parts of Saint-Louis and Louga Regions. They are very isolationist politically, and only contact other nations for trade purposes, although they have "an understanding" with Mande that if Pula attacks them again, Mande (and also Temneya) will come in, because of the terms of the Truce of Banjul. They are a parliamentary democracy. The capital is Dakar.
- Temneya comprises the Temne-majority portion of RL Sierra Leone, which takes up about a quarter of the country. Given that their presence separates the enclave of Conakry from the rest of Mande, you'd be surprised to know that that country has very friendly relations with Temneya, even so far as to have a military alliance with the same. They couldn't've picked better allies. The Temneites (mostly ethnic Temne with some Limba and Sherbro) fought tooth and nail to keep the Pula people out of their territory, and unlike Kuntaur, the Pula actually gave up on it, signing the Treaty of Bo to recognise their independence. But there is still deep mistrust between Themneya and Pula. A secular republic, most Temneites are still Maliki Sunni Muslim, with the number of Christians growing slightly and the number of practitioners of African indigenous animism seemingly shrinking. The official national languages are English, Temne, Standard Limba, and Sherbro. It is a secular republic with a unicameral government. The capital is Freetown.
- The Islamic Republic of Mauritania revoked its claims on much of its pre-Robertian territory, instead letting it fall to the Trust Territory of the Sahara Desert - this corresponding to the regions of Adrar, Tiris Zemmour, Tagant, and Oualata District of Hodh Ech Chargui. Mauritania takes a harder line against non-Muslims than most Malikis in this timeline; Islam is not only the official religion but the only accepted one, and only a small persecuted Christian church remains outside of Sunni Islam. Its more hyper-conservative stance makes it one of the least-visited countries on the planet by foreigners. French, Standard Arabic, and Hassaniya are official languages. A theocratic republic, it is actually the mullah council that has the final say on matters. The capital, as in RL, is Nouakchott.
- Dogonia comprises a single RL Malinese state, Mopti. French, Bozo (one of the few Mande languages spoken outside the Mande Republic these days), and Standard Dogon (based on Kan Dogon) are official, with curricular freedom to teach in any of the Dogon languages. While other Abrahamic religions are officially tolerated, the number of practitioners is miniscule and almost entirely non-denominational Christian. There is also a small population of animists, who tend to keep to themselves. Mopti, which has a number of expats and people from various other Mande and Fula ethnicities as well as the indigenous peoples, is the capital.
- Azawad's existence in and of itself is controversial. Formed from the Tamazight-majority regions of northern RL Mali and Niger (so Timbuktu, Kidal, Agadez, and the northern half of Tahoua) initially, but it wanted the southernmost parts of RL Algeria as well, and the New UN wouldn't let them have it, so they withdrew from the agency and began to attack both the Sahara Desert Territorial Government in Tamanrasset and the nations surrounding it, especially the fledgling Songhai Republic. It was the Maghirbis who led the charge in pacifying them, helped out somewhat by the Songhais, Hausas, and Mandes as well. The Mandes pushed for their absorption into the Trust Territory, and although this move was ultimately defeated, many of Azawad's southern neighbours do not recognise Azawad's sovereignty, leading the Azawadis to put most of their military on their southern border, but with that being said, they are also wary of jihadists from within the Sahara Desert, including within their own borders. The Tuareg ethnicity and the Tamasheq language are the two unifying factors for this country. The people are almost entirely Maliki Sunnis. Tamasheq and Arabic are the official languages. Its capital is Timbuktu.
- The Songhai Republic was carved out of southeastern Mali and southwestern Niger, both of which are Songhai-heavy areas. The regions of Gao, Ménaka, Dosso, and Tillabèri (plus the city of Niamey) make this country up. French and Songhai are the official languages, although a lot of people also speak a Fulfulde dialect, and English is also somewhat common. Most Songhais are Maliki Sunni Muslims, with the balance being primarily Roman Catholics. The capital is Niamey.
- Fangland comprises the South Region and Haut-Nyong département of the East Region of RL Cameroon, the northern half of RL Gabon, and RL Equatorial Guinea, which is inhabited primarily by the Fang. English, French, and Fang are official languages, with Spanish largely having been abandoned in the area during the Robertian Era. There are a few minority languages which benefit from a curricular freedom clause, which permits mother-tongue education straight through the secondary school system for minority languages. Post-Dispersion Fangland is one of the most prosperous and developed of the African nations, thanks to oil money and an approach to fiscal responsibility taken by popular President Omar Mba and his administration. Reading the constitution and seeing the practice of it, you would find little difference between Fangland and a Western nation. Of course, the culture is much different, being thoroughly Fang. About half of the population is strictly Christian, while another quarter practice syncretistic belief systems that incorporate elements of Christianity and traditional African beliefs. There is a drawback to the religious freedom laws here - the syncretistic Bwiti use the psychotropic drug Iboga in their rituals, but there is still skepticism about its effects on the cardiovascular system amongst doctors. Bwiti is a recognised religion in Gabon, so putting a kibosh on the potentially fatal drug use is impossible. The remaining quarter of the population either practices strictly traditional African beliefs, Islam (Maliki Sunni - around 8.5 percent of the population), or is irreligious. The capital is Libreville.
- Gabon is the reconstitution of the land of RL Gabon not claimed by the Fang, although they have generally friendly relations with their northern neighbour. They also have very similar cultures, right down to the proportions of religion (although there aren't as many Muslims in Gabon). Bwiti is at its highest numbers here. Gabon also has many more languages spoken within its borders, although French is the only official language nationally and many people have learned Fang as a second or other language. The capital is Port-Gentil.
- Lingalaland is the largest of the three independent nations that stemmed from the partitioning of the lands of the RL Congos, the other two being Luba Kingdom and Kongo. RL land correspondence is the northern half of the Republic of Congo (Plateaux, Cuvette, Cuvette-Ouest, Likouala, and Sangha Départements) and eight provinces of the RL DRC in the north and north-west (Mai-Ndombe, Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele, Nord-Ubangi, Mongala, Sud-Ubangi, Équateur, and Tshuapa). Much like Adamawa, Lingalaland is not based around any ethnicity or macroethnic group, but rather a number of ethnicities banding together for protection under certain commonalities - in their case, the use of the Lingala language as the language of wider communication. While by no means is Lingalaland the only nation in which the language is spoken, it is in this area that the language is said to have originated. Lingala and French are the official languages, and there is curricular freedom for the numerous other mother tongues - including Lingala's mother language Bangi - up to the eighth grade. 96% of the population professes Christianity of some sort, with many being Catholic, Church of Christ in Congo, or Charismatic; the Kimbanguist movement has its roots here as well. There are many syncretists in that number. The capital is Mbandaka.
- Ubangia consists of just about every part of the RL Central African Republic, although it lacks the prefectures of Bamingui-Bangoran and Vakaga, and has three out of four départements of the East Region of RL Cameroon. Possessing a two-tier language system, the official national languages are French and Sango, and at a prefectural level, such languages as Standard Gbaya, Standard Banda, Baka, Ngbaka Ma'bo, and Zande have official status. At one point, it was worried that certain tensions that manifested between Christians and Muslims in the country would resurface, but with the largely Muslim Sélékas and the the syncretist Christian Anti-Balakas having been pacified, that didn't surface. With the primarily Nilotic prefectures mentioned earlier (which had a Muslim majority) now being part of Chad and many Muslims having fled the area, the remaining Muslim population only accounts for about three percent of the population. That being said, the new constitution is meant to discourage sectarian violence. The main two political issues currently are minority language rights and a crackdown on the corruption that has defined the area. The capital is Bangui.
- East African Union is quite a large country, taking up almost all of RL Tanzania (the exception being Arusha Regions, which is majority Maasai and is part of Nilotica), south-central and eastern RL Kenya, southern RL Uganda, RL Rwanda and Burundi, most of northern RL Mozambique, and the eastern RL DRC. In other words, a two-tier language system and curricular freedom are necessities. The official national languages are English, French, and Swahili; state languages are quite diverse, including Kikuyu, Kamba, Meru, Gusii, Sukuma, Gogo, Haya, Buganda, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Hehe, Nyamwezi, Makonde, Makhuwa, Nande, Komo, and Portuguese. The Union is a secular, federal republic with unicameral representation. From a religious standpoint, Christians are technically the majority, but there are a lot of Muslims as well, especially closer to the coast. The Christians are quite diverse: you can find Anglicans, Lutherans, Moravians, Pentecostals, Baptists, Independent Charismatics, and even a few Reformed. The Muslims are generally either Shafi'i Sunnis (in fact, almost all of Africa's Shafi'i followers outside the Horn of Africa live in the EAU!) or non-denominational Muslims, with a few Sufis as well. The EAU also lays claim to the largest population of Ahmadis of any country in the world - even though not all Muslims recognise Ahmadiyya as within Islamic orthodoxy, the census counts them as Muslims. There is a small percentage of practicing African animists, mainly in the west of the country. The capital of this agglomeration is Nairobi, which has symbolic value as one of the most recognisable cities in Africa by those from outside. Large cities in the country also include Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Bukavu, Kigali, Bujumbura, Kampala, Nampula, and Mwanza. The territorial equivalence of RL countries is as follows:
- Tanzania: entire country except Arusha and Manyara Regions
- Kenya: Kisii, Migori, Kilisi, Mombasa, Kwale, Taita-Taveta, Kitui, Makueni, Machakos, Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo, Meru, Tharaka-Nithi, Embu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, and Muranga
- Rwanda and Burundi: entire country
- Uganda: Central and Western Regions, plus the southern half of Eastern Region minus Tororo District (so Buyende, Kaliro, Budaka, Mbale, Manafwa, Butaleja, Kibuku, Namutumba, Kamuli, Luuka, Jinja, Iganga, Busia, Namayingo, Bugiri, and Mayuge Districts)
- DR Congo: Maniema, North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Tshopo, and Tanganyika Provinces
- Mozambique: Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Zambezia Provinces
- Tanzania: entire country except Arusha and Manyara Regions
- Luba Kingdom is made entirely from provinces from the RL DR of Congo, unlike Lingalaland and Kongo which incorporate some provinces of the Republic of Congo (and in the case of the latter also Angola). The provinces are Kasaï, Kasaï-Oriental, Kasaï-Central, Lomami, Sankuru, and Haut-Lomami. The official languages are French, Tshiluba (Luba-Kasai), and Kiluba (Luba-Katanga), and the dominant ethnic group... I'll let you figure that one out (IT'S IN THE NAME! ) for now. For those minorities that do exist, there is curricular freedom to teach dominantly in the mother tongue until the eighth grade. Christianity and traditional African animism are the primary belief systems; amongst the Christians, there are primarily Catholics, Charismatics, and Reformed - they are a CCC member. Kimbanguism is considered heretical by both, but it exists in Luba as well. It is an constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, where the king has political power but it is somewhat limited (not like England, but not like, say, the Saudi Kingdom, either). The capital is Mbuji-Mayi.
- Kongo may be the smallest of the states made up of the former Congos, but it is also the most densely populated, containing the DRC's former capital, Kinshasa, and the Republic of Congo's two largest cities, Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire. It is made up of the DRC provinces of Kongo-Central, Kinshasa, Kwango, and Kwilu, the Republic's départements of Pointe-Noire, Kouilou (now anglicised as Kwilu), Niari, Lékoumou (Lekumu), Bouenza (Bwenza), Brazzaville, and Pool, and the Angolan provinces of Cabinda, Zaire, and Uíge (the latter now anglicised as Wiji). On paper, the country is 100% Christian, with almost 95% of those being Roman Catholic. There is a lot of syncretism with traditional African beliefs, though. The official languages are French, Kituba, and Kisikongo. A point of controversy is that Portuguese-teaching is nonexistent in the country, even though those speaking Portuguese largely had shifted to French by the time of Dispersion was over. Its capital is a newly-merged Brazzaville-Kinshasa, which in and of itself has a population of around fourteen million people!
- Mbundu takes up the core of RL Angola - Luanda, Cuanza Norte, Cuanza Sul, Malanje, Bié, Huambo, and Benguela. It is a unicameral, European-style republic with a president and a prime minister, the latter having most of the actual political clout. The official languages are Portuguese, the closely-related but distinct Kimbundu and Umbundu, and Ganguela. Roman Catholicism is the primary religion in the country, which according to last census was 100% Christian, but the nation is technically secular. There is a small percentage of syncretists. The capital is Luanda.
- Bembaland carried on the "officially Christian" tag that Zambia once had, but much to the surprise of the world (and the delight of fellow CCC members!) they have tried their very hardest to live up to that standard consistently; there is also religious freedom guaranteed - they practically carbon-copied Uralica's religious freedom clause. The overwhelming majority - less than half a percent claim otherwise - are indeed Christian, with the largest denomination being Reformed Baptist. The land comprises five of the ten RL Zambian provinces - Copperbelt, Central Zambia, North Zambia, Muchinga, and Luapula - although the land is divided up into around three dozen districts instead. English and Bemba are the official languages, but there is full curricular freedom; most minority Bembalander school kids grow up trilingual, speaking their ethnic language, English, and Bemba. While most of the largest cities are in the Copperbelt (Kitwe, Ndola, Chingola, Mufulira, Luanshya) the capital is actually Kabwe, the third-largest city.
- Chewa is mostly made up of RL Malawi, although Mangochi District is part of the small state of Yao, and Chewa also includes RL Southern Zambia and Tete Province (Mozambique). The majority of the population is Christian, and it is one of two countries in the world (the other being Scotland) where the largest denomination of any religious group is Presbyterian, with Reformed Baptist, Catholics, Anglicans, and other Protestant denominations also existing. It is one of the few nations where Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are not counted in the census as Christians. While officially Christian, it tolerates other religions, and the largest non-Christian minority is Sunni Islam, who mainly follow the Shafi'i madhhab (although only 2% of African Shafi'is outside of the Horn of Africa live in Chewa) with some esoteric elements of traditional African beliefs mixed in. As with RL Malawi, the official languages are English and Chichewa (although they have curricular freedom for minorities and even for the Portuguese language), and the capital is Lilongwe.
- Yao is a small republic that is majority-Islamic but technically secular; it only comprises Mangochi District of RL Malawi and Niassa State. It is officially bilingual - Yao and Portuguese - but English is widely taught as well. Since the Yao people are now the only ethnic group with any real foothold here (the Makhuwas having moved east and the Lomwes having moved south), curricular freedom is not particularly necessary. The Islam practiced by most Yaos is heavily syncretistic, and regarded by radicals as shirk. Those Yaos that practice "purer" Islam are Shafi'i Sunnis. There is a small (as in around 3% of the population) Christian population as well. Lichinga is its capital.
- Zambezi Republic is a federal unicameral republic with a presidential government; it is also officially Christian and a full CCC member; Lusaka is regarded as the birthplace of the Reformed Baptist movement that is now sweeping through southern Africa - indeed, Reformed Baptists are neck-and-neck with Charismatism and United Protestantism as the top denomination, and the denominational president of Reformed Baptist Fellowship of Southern Africa, Dr. Conrad Mbewe, is based there. It comprises the western four provinces of Zambia (Northwest Zambia, West Zambia, South Zambia, and Lusaka) plus any province of Angola not claimed by Mbundu or Kongo (Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Moxico, Cuando Cubango, Cunene, Huíla, and Namibe), Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces of the DR Congo, and Zambezi Region of Namibia. As a polyethnic nation along the same lines as Adamawa and the East African Union, curricular freedom is an absolute necessity, and exists all throughout grade school, on top of a two-tier language policy. The official national languages are English, French, and Portuguese, with official state languages including Lunda, Chokwe, Tonga, and Lenje, among others. Lusaka is its capital.
- Botswana is quite similar, but not exactly the same, as its RL counterpart, having annexed the Northwest State of a divided RL South Africa. English and Tswana are the official languages, and Christianity is the official religion, having been lead by the Christian President Jatutt during the early Robertian Era. As with much of RL Zambia, Reformed Baptists are a large presence, alongside Anglicans, Methodists, and United Congregationals. Religious freedom is guaranteed in the constitution, and although the number of the irreligious is lower than pre-Robertian times, still 10% of Batswana people are unaffiliated, although most of them claim to be spiritually open in some way. Curricular freedom is guaranteed constitutionally, which is good news for the Khoisan languages of the west! Many of them have language revitalisation projects in place. The capital is still Gaborone.
- Zimbabwe has also grown somewhat, taking over a decent-sized chunk of central Mozambique, which was often called "Greater Zimbabwe." Think RL Zimbabwe plus the RL Mozambican provinces of Manica and Sofala. Neither Robert Mugabe nor Morgan Tsvangirai survived the Robertian Era, giving Zimbabwe a chance for a fresh start with new politics, but many of the economic problems ended up returning, leading Zimbabwe to reach out for help in curtailing corruption and hyperinflation. Its capital is still Harare, and its official languages are English, Standard Shona, Northern Ndebele, Ndau, and Portuguese. It has curricular freedom as well, albeit only through eighth grade. Universities require one be fully fluent in at least one of the five official standards.
- Tsonga comprises southern RL Mozambique (Gaza, Inhambane, and Maputo, plus Maputo City) plus a couple of third-order districts of South Africa (Municipalities of Bushbruckridge, Ba-Phalaborwa, Greater Giyani, Collins Chabane, and Thulamela). English, Portuguese, and Tsonga are the official languages, although there are some Swazi and Venda speakers in the country as well. The capital is Maputo.
- South Africa, known as Transvaal during the Robertian Era, split up quite considerably during the Robertian Era. Aside from Botswana and Tsonga gaining land, many countries were formed or reformed with land from South Africa.
- Ngunia is a multi-ethnic nation centering around the most densely populated area of RL South Africa, comprising Gauteng, most of Limpopo (the exception being those districts which Tsonga took), and Nkangala District of Mpumalanga. As such it has a plurality of official languages - English, Afrikaans, Southern Ndebele, Sepedi (Northern Sotho), Venda, Zulu, and Tswana have official national status. About 85% of the population is Christian, 12% is irreligious, 2% is Muslim, and the remaining 1% comprises a whole host of different religions brought in by historical immigrants, such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Judaism. There is no one Christian denomination that has a "death grip" on the population, with the largest denomination, the Independent Charismatic Church, comprising just 15% of the population. There are many others - Anglicans, Presbyterians, Afrikaaner Reformed, Reformed Baptist, Fellowship Baptist, African initiated churches (most of which are syncretic, but the Manzinist Church is not, being closely tied to Reformed traditions), Roman Catholics, Ethiopian Orthodoxy... the list goes on for miles! The capital is Tshwane (Pretoria).
- KwaZulu is almost exactly coterminous with the pre-Robertian state of KwaZulu-Natal, having only added the Gert Sibande District from Mpumalanga. English and Zulu are the official languages, with curricular freedom to the eighth grade. Almost all AmaZulu are Christians per the latest census, with the African-initiated Manzinist Church being the dominant denomination - it incorporates elements of southern African culture into a basically Reformed framework. Some call them "African semi-Baptists" because they believe in immersion as the proper baptismal mode, but baptise infants and young children, and have a more hierarchical structure, more along the lines of Reformedism and Presbyterianism. It was founded in KwaZulu during the Robertian Era by Pastor Thulani Manzini, who wanted the cultural flavour of Africa, without compromising into syncretism, or without the self-aggrandisement of many leaders from these movements (Kimbangu for example). It is considered the South African successor state with the most political clout, and ranks second in trade in the southern African region behind the Afrikaaner Republic. It is quite prosperous, and the unicameral parliament (it is a constitutional monarchy) and King are working to find ways to make sure this prosperity benefits all AmaZulu. Its capital is Durban-eThekwini.
- Lesotho more than doubled in size, adding the Free State to its territory. While the capital is still Maseru, and the official languages still include English and Sesotho (Southern Sotho), it has added Afrikaans to the official languages, and its largest city is Bloemfontein-Mangaung, which also houses the Supreme Court. It is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliamentary democracy, with both the House of Representatives and the Senate being elected. Because of small pockets of Tswana, Xhosa, and Zulu speakers in the country, there is curricular freedom up to the eighth grade.
- eSwatini (Swaziland) didn't grow quite as much, only annexing the municipalities of Mpumalanga's Ehlanzeni District that Tsonga did not (Mbombela, Nkomazi, Thaba Chweu, and Umjindi). The official languages are still siSwati (Swazi) and English, and the capital is still Mbabane. Christianity is the primary religious group, accounting for six out of every seven Swazis; most of the remainder practice African animism, and syncretism is somewhat common, although has gotten less so with the spread of Manzinism from KwaZulu, which has led to the decline of traditionally dominant Anglicanism and Catholicism. Manzinism is not particularly liked by the King, though, since they are the most open in criticising the unfettered polygamy that has defined the royal lineage.
- The Xhosa Republic (the only country in the world with a click in its official name, although most people from outside the region pronounce the "Xh" as a "K" ) is basically the Eastern Cape State of RL South Africa. English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa are the official languages, and the few minority languages there are have curricular freedom to the 8th grade. The majority religion is Christianity, with Manzinism being the largest denomination, and large numbers of Anglicans as well. The capital is Bhisho.
- Afrikaner Republic is the only country in Africa where the majority language is Indo-European, with most people speaking Afrikaans. The language is co-official with English and Tswana, with curricular freedom up to the eighth grade for minority languages. The bulk of the population are the mixed-race "Coloureds," who have ancestry from indigenous African, Afrikaner, English, Indo-Aryan, and other European peoples, and this number is growing thanks to the racial policies of the country, which have seen a spike in interracial marriages and relationships over the last three years. Most of the Xhosas that lived in the east of the area moved to the Xhosa Republic, but some still remain - most of the Black Africans in the Afrikaner Republic are Tswana people or San people. It has the largest White population (both proportionally and in raw numbers) of any African country, counting the Arab North, and attempts at racial equality are codified into the constitution in what are called samenheid policies (named thus as an antonym to apartheid). Kaapstad (an officially-renamed Cape Town) is the capital
- Ngunia is a multi-ethnic nation centering around the most densely populated area of RL South Africa, comprising Gauteng, most of Limpopo (the exception being those districts which Tsonga took), and Nkangala District of Mpumalanga. As such it has a plurality of official languages - English, Afrikaans, Southern Ndebele, Sepedi (Northern Sotho), Venda, Zulu, and Tswana have official national status. About 85% of the population is Christian, 12% is irreligious, 2% is Muslim, and the remaining 1% comprises a whole host of different religions brought in by historical immigrants, such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Judaism. There is no one Christian denomination that has a "death grip" on the population, with the largest denomination, the Independent Charismatic Church, comprising just 15% of the population. There are many others - Anglicans, Presbyterians, Afrikaaner Reformed, Reformed Baptist, Fellowship Baptist, African initiated churches (most of which are syncretic, but the Manzinist Church is not, being closely tied to Reformed traditions), Roman Catholics, Ethiopian Orthodoxy... the list goes on for miles! The capital is Tshwane (Pretoria).
- Namibia is mostly the same as it was pre-Cataclysm, except it is missing part of the Caprivi Strip, which was annexed by the Zambezi Republic and has been a small source of tension. The capital is still Windhoek and the government is still semi-presidential, unicameral, and unitary, but one major change is that Oshiwambo and Nama have been added to English and Afrikaans as official languages. Most universities in the country require "one Germanic language and one African language" for admission into university. Lutherans outnumber all other religions put together, although there are also Charismatic, Reformed Baptist, Anglican, Catholic, Dutch Reformed, Manzinist, Methodist, and Latter-Day Saints in the number denoted as "Christians" in the census. Most of the balance of the population There are very small communities of Muslims and Jews, the former amongst the Nama people and the latter exclusively in Walvis Bay.
- Comoros took over Mayotte during Dispersion, but considering the major islands all have the same status and roughly the same demographic, the transition of power was surprisingly painless. The capital is still Moroni, the official languages still French, Arabic, and Comorian, and the majority religion still Sunni Islam (and most Comorians follow the Shafi'i madhhab).
- Réunion became independent; French is its official language, although Réunion Creole is more popular as a vernacular in day-to-day speech. It is an ethnic melting pot, with Europeans (primarily French), mainland Africans, Malagasy, Indo-Réunionese, and mixtures of any combination thereof, all living in the Island. Saint-Denis is its capital. 95% of the population is Roman Catholic, with the balance being various Muslims (Shafi'i or Maliki Sunnis, and Jafari Shi'as) and Hindus.
- With all the changes to Africa, it's a surprise that any nations line up perfectly with their RL counterparts at all! All of the strictly island nations save Comoros are status quo: the Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Cabo Verde. This is a stark contrast to continental nations, where not a single nation that exists in RL is exactly the same.
Spammers Beware! I will destroy you by the POWAH of the JARK SIDE! ALL SPAMMERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED ON SIGHT.
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(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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