New Granada (Principia Moderni IV Map Game)

The Kingdom of New Granada (Portuguese: Reino da Nova Granada) is a northern Laurentian nation, bordered to the north by Aztlan, Burgundian Guyana to the east, Brésil to the southeast, and French Peru to the southwest.

The nation's history dates back to the pre-colonial period. Having only recently gained independence in 1823, New Granada is led by King Tomás I Braganza, who is also the pretender to the throne of Iberia, being the grandson of the last king deposed in the Bread Revolution.

Pre-Colonial Period
Caverna tribes (OTL Cueva tribe) to the northern region

Colonial Period
1521 -  João Balboa, sent by Portugal's King Manuel to explore the New World; arrives in OTL Panama

1523 - Portuguese claims to OTL Panama established

1526 - Nova Lusitânia chartered; Portuguese Crown Merchant Company established

1529 - Immaculata from the Papal States arrive in Balboa Rocha, the capital of the colony

1532 - Edital de cana de açúcar, or The Sugar Cane Act, offers plots of land for cultivation of the sugar cane

1549 - Church of São Pedro completed, establishing second chartered city (after Balboa Rocha)

1556 - Raised from Apostolic Prefecture to Diocese of São Pedro

1577 - 1000 Burgundian men attack Nova Lusitânia repelled by 9000 Portuguese troops

1581 - Influx of Sevillian Christians

Subsequent era of benign neglect and notable expansion

1651 - Alongside other New World colonies, placed under a Viceroy

1653 - Revolt of Aquiminzaque, Maipure-Muisca Confederation

1772 - Treaty of Cartagena

1790 - Placed under dominion of New Granada

RULERS

Manuel I - 1521-1567

Sancho - 1567 - 1587

Henry II - 1587 -

Panama Wars
First Panama War (1804)

Second Panama War (1816)

1821 - Appointment of Atílio Duarte de Alcantara as Governor of Gran Panama

Third Panama War (1823-1825); Treaty of Guadalajara ended Third Panama War in 1825

Teobaldo Candezón, the marshal

Independent Kingdom
1827 - Ratification of Constitution

1830 - First election

1832 - Second election

1837 - Third election

1842 - Fourth election

1844 - Fifth election

1849 - Sixth election

1850 - Seventh election

1852 - Death of Miguel I, ascension of Tomás

1855 - Eighth election/constitutional reform

1860 - Ninth election

1865 - Tenth election (victory for conservatives)

1870 - Eleventh election

1872 - Announcement of Belka and Burgundy to help build canal across the isthmus

Government
The Kingdom of New Granada is a constitutional monarchy, instituted by King Miguel and largely based upon his seminal Sentimentos do Homem no Novo Mundo, or Sentiments of Man in the New World. The King, as chief executive of New Granada, executes the laws passed by the Cortes Gerais, which possesses the legislative power of New Granada.

The elected leader of the Cortes is the Palestrante. According to the Constitution (1855 revision), elections are scheduled to be held every five years. Special elections may be called if the Palestrante is shown by a three-fifths vote to have violated the conditions of a working agreement between his party and independents backing the party, but such a threshold has yet to have been attained as of 1870.

Royal Family
The royal family in New Granada is the elder branch of the former Iberian House of Braganza. The first King of New Granada was Miguel, who was the eldest surviving son of the last king of Iberia. Miguel married ..., and had three children: Tomás (18xx-present), Ernestina (18xx-present), and Inacio (18xx-present).

King Miguel was a well-respected statesman, who began forging international relations with a number of Laurentian and European powers. Miguel was also notable as a philosophic thinker and had a prominent role in the drafting of the New Granadian constitution. During his reign, which lasted from 1823 to 1852, he played an oversized role in the development of the nation's political character as a liberal constitutional monarchy.

Tomás ascended to the throne of New Graada in 1852. He had grown up in the shadow of his father, and knew that he would have to work with successive governments to maintain his family's grip on power. To that end, Tomás proposed an amendment to the constitution moving from unpredictable elections (with a five-year maximum) to regularly scheduled five-yearly elections.

Politics
New Granadian politics has traditionally been contested between liberal and conservative factions. This fault-line traces its roots back to the origin of each groupings' wealth. For example, the liberals tend to have earned an income through factories and trade, whereas the conservatives are more likely to lead a plantation-based lifestyle.

Ideologically, the liberals have a preference for industrialization, and modernization. The conservatives prefer the agrarian economy. A moderate poll tax remains in place for New Granadian eligible voters to qualify as electors, but not all members of political movements are electors.

There are a large number of não inscrito citizens who do not belong exclusively within either major grouping. These não inscritos range from worker collectives that pool resources to cast votes to an extremely wealthy capitalist class. Therefore, the não inscritos category is largely divided into the direito (Right) and esquerdo (Left). There are a small number of não inscritos who refuse to sit with either of the four major groupings; this group is known as the political centro (Center).

The Cortes Gerais is New Granada's unicameral legislature. It is comprised of 120 delegates, based on both provincial representation and population.

There is a small bureaucracy that implements the laws passed by the Cortes Gerais. This bureaucracy responds dually to the King and to the Deputy Palestrantes who oversee Committees of Origin in the Cortes.

Provinces
There are 12 provinces in the Kingdom of New Granada. They range from ... Each province is entitled to five seats in the Cortes Gerais, with the additional 60 seats being divided proportionately based on population as of the most recent census.

Foreign Relations
In New Granada, foreign relations are determined on a national level in a bifurcated system wherein both the Cortes Gerais and the King can claim legitimacy over the area of policy. For example, the Constitution requires approval of a treaty by both the King and ratification by the Cortes Gerais. Therefore, it is not uncommon for the King and Palestrante (often through the Deputy Palestrante for Foreign Affairs) to enter separate negotiations with a foreign nation.

That being said, New Granada maintains strong diplomatic relations with a number of Laurentian, Arcadian, and European nations. New Granada borders four nations: Aztlan, Burgundian Guyana, Brésil, and French Peru; of these four, there are strong relations with two and mediocre relations with the other two.

Since the declaration of independence in 1823 (and in reality, prior to that), New Granada's relations with Aztlan and its predecessor in the Mehican Empire have been tense. There is a lingering fear of the state that lies to the north, especially when nationalist tensions flare in Aztlan. New Granada also has an on-and-off relationship with Peru and generally supports an independent Peru rather than the French-dominated Union of Laurentia.

As for Burgundian Guyana and Brésil, relations are strong. Brésil is largely credited as a close friend of the New Granadian nation, due to its outsized influence in securing victory during the Third Panama War. Similar sentiments are felt towards Great Britain, who stepped in to stop the Mehicans from regaining New Granada in the 1820s.

Burgundy and Belka are both in a protective relationship with New Granada, and both are viewed favorably. This is the result of the 1872 decision by King Tomás and Palestrante Eduardo Graça to contract with those nations to construct the Trans-Istmo Canal. For 20 years after the construction of the canal, 15% of all trade fees and transport taxes are scheduled to be sent to Burgundy and Belka, who will split the income.

Relations with the republic in Iberia have been traditionally strained, due to the ousting of the last king of Iberia in the late 1700s. King Miguel I Braganza was the youngest son and eventual heir to the Iberian throne, and current New Granadian King Tomás maintains the pretender claim to the Iberian throne.

Military
The New Granadian military is largely a defensive force that protects the nation's homeland. The military is divided into three branches: Army, Navy, and Gendarmerie.

Army
The Army is itself divided into four primary divisions: the Infrantry, the Cavalry, and the Artillery, and Support. Each division carries out the functions traditionally associated with its mission. Notably, the Support Division is oftentimes

Navy
The Navy of New Granada is a bioceanic force. However, the majority of the Navy is stationed along the Atlantic Ocean with a minority being located along the Pacific Coast.

Gendarmerie
The Gendarmerie is the national policing force of New Granda.

Economy
The economy of New Granada is heavily reliant upon the natural resources of the land. The nation has, however, recently entered into a relatively prosperous period since independence from first Iberia and then Mehico. This is due to the openness of foreign markets for exports, whereas under Iberia and later Mehico exports were greatly limited.

Industries that are among the most productive in New Granada are mining, agriculture and ranching, with some contributions by local merchants and artisans. From the late 1820s, Teobaldo Candezón - the nation's first Palestrante - introduced greater efforts at integrating the nations' internal trade. This was to counteract a historic division along regional lines. Candezón's goal was uma nação, um mercado, or "One Nation, One Market."

The wealth in New Granada is still heavily concentrated in the hands of white settlers rather than indigenous peoples or people of African descent. The demand for change of this system is relatively muted due to the lack of wholesale education among these groups, as well as...

"Socioeconomic changes proceeded slowly; the economic system functioned as a loosely related group of regional producers rather than as a national entity. Land and wealth were still the privileges of a minority. Forced labor continued in the mines, and various labor arrangements existed on the haciendas, such as sharecropping and low-wage labor. In each case, those owning the land benefited and those working the land remained impoverished.[3]"

Demographics

 * 1820 census - 2.2 million
 * 1870 census - 6.8 million

Art and Architecture
Traditional New Granadian architecture dates back to the Iberian settlers of the