Above: A map of the Republic of Azania-Lemuria with internal borders visible. Basic Information Country Name conventional long form Republic of Azania-Lemuria conventional short form Azania-Lemuria abbreviation RAL demonym Azano-Lemurian Capital City name Durban geographic co-ordinates 29°53′S 31°03′E time zone ALST (GMT+2) World Assembly status Member category Capitalist Paradise economy Powerhouse civil rights Excellent political freedoms Good Other Basic Information motto "Unity in Diversity" official language English drives on the Left National Symbols national animal Leopard national bird Peregrine Falcon national fish Zambezi Shark national flower Frangipani national tree Coral Tree coat of arms
Last edited by Azania-Lemuria on Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:24 pm, edited 16 times in total.
~Information Courtesy of the Azano-Lemurian Government
Azania-Lemuria contains some of the oldest archaeological sites in the world. Extensive fossil remains at the Sterkfontein, Kromdrai and Makapansgat caves in Cape province and in the Great Rift Valley suggest that various australopithecines existed in Azania-Lemuria from about three million years ago. These were succeeded by various species, including Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus and modern humans, Homo Sapiens.
The original human inhabitants of Azania-Lemuria were the Khoisan hunter-gatherers. By about the first century BCE, however, Bantu migrants from west-central Africa began displacing the Khoisan populations throughout most of Azania-Lemuria, leaving them confined to desert areas in Cape province, Namibia province, Botswana province and Angola province.
In the year 967 CE, a group of Indian settlers from the Punjab settled in what is today Madagascar province, and named their new kingdom "Lemuristan", or "land of the Lemurs". Their kingdom eventually became known as Lemuria, and grew eventually to encompass the entirety of Madagascar as well as, later on, the entirety of modern Lemuria.
In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to sail along the western coast of Azania-Lemura, and also the first to round the Cape of Good Hope, initially named the Cape of Storms. The King of Portugal, John II, renamed the cape the Cabo da Boa Esperança or Cape of Good Hope, as it led to the riches of India.
In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the Cape Sea Route, Jan van Riebeeck established a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become Cape Town, on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch transported slaves from Indonesia, Madagascar, and India as labour for the colonists in Cape Town. As they expanded east, the Dutch settlers met the south-westerly expanding Xhosa people in the region of the Fish River. A series of wars, called the Cape Frontier Wars, ensued, mainly caused by conflicting land and livestock interests.
At the onset of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, the British seized the Cape colony from the Dutch, fearing that Napoleon would capture the Netherlands and gain control of its colonies. The British expanded the colony further, as well as establishing other colonies in the area. Eventually these became Azania.
In 1856, the British colonial office decided that the Azanian colonies were more of a burden than a prize, and decided to grant the colonies independent. Queen Victoria petitioned Parliament to allow her to appoint her friend, the Duke of York, as king of the newly independent Azania. This petition was granted and Azania became a constitutional monarchy.
Throughout this time, in both Azania and Lemuria, local rulers had been co-opted into the new aristocracies of both states, and foreign aristocrats had also married into the new aristocracies. This is the reason why Azania-Lemuria has such an ethnically diverse aristocracy.
Towards the middle of the twentieth century, having both participated in both World Wars, Azania and Lemuria became respected great powers. Towards the end of the twentieth century, the royal families of both nations began inter-marrying, and by the year 2006, when the heirs apparent of both nations married each other, the two royal families became one. In 2008, the last King of Lemuria, Ajesh VII, abdicated. Due to a complex series of agreements, Ajesh VII's abdication made King Arthur II of Azania the monarch of both nations. With the two nations sharing a monarch, the Parliaments of both decided to begin the process of amalgamating the two nations. A constitution was drawn up, and on January 1, 2011, the United Kingdom of Azania-Lemuria was born. On January 13, 2011, Parliament passed the Constitutional Reform Act of 2011, which abolished the monarchy and made Azania-Lemuria a Republic.
Last edited by Azania-Lemuria on Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.
~Information Courtesy of the Azano-Lemurian Government