Pamoja Kazini ("Together At Work") | |||||
| Capital | Mengo | ||||
| Largest city | Mengo | ||||
| Other cities | Nairobi, Hoima, Mangoche, Inhambane | ||||
| Language | Agikuyu, Gallan, Bugandan, Kalenjin, Maasai, Hadza, Khoisan, Sandawe, Shirazi | ||||
| Religion | Asaism, Waqism | ||||
| Ethnic Group | Agikuyu, Gallan, Bugandan, Kalenjin, Maasai, Hadza, Khoisan, Sandawe, Shirazi | ||||
| Demonym | Azanian | ||||
Azania is among the most highly developed countries in the world and a leader in technology, trade, global human rights, microchip production, medical sciences, aeronautics and aircraft manufacture.
The economic framework of the country is decentralized and self-managed in autonomous economic units; public services such as healthcare and education are collectively owned and a universal public health system paid largely from taxation, the entire population has equal access to health care services and one of the highest life expectancy rates globally.
Azania has among the highest standards of living globally and is considered the bastion of liberty for many, often found as a champion of human rights internationally. Consistently ranked as among the least corrupt states and the happiest, Azania has a remarkable standard of living and longevity. The country has largely avoided international conflict, being semi-isolationist, and avoiding touchy alliances, though remains a player on the international stage, particularly for human rights and fair trade. The nation has one of the highest literacy rates on the planet and among the top education institutions with an eleven year free, compulsory cycle of primary and secondary education.
Many important hominid fossils have been found in Azania, such as 6-million-year-old Pliocene hominid fossils. The genus Australopithecus ranged all over Libia 4 to 2 million years ago; and the oldest remains of the genus Homo are found near Lake Olduvai. Following the rise of Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago, humanity spread all over Eurasia, and later in Hesperia and beyond under the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens also overtook Libia and absorbed the older archaic species and subspecies of humanity. One of the oldest known ethnic groups still existing, the Hadza, appears to have originated in Azania, and their oral history recalls ancestors who were tall and were the first to use fire, medicine, and lived in caves, much like Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis who lived in the same region before them.
Azania can subsequently claim to be the oldest human inhabited nation and often garners the nickname Womb of the World or Mother of Nations.
Etymology[]
Speculations about the etymology of the name Azania are varied. The connection with the Persian word for 'black' is found early, while an equally revealing suggestion that the derivation was from the Arabic zengel, in turn derived from the Sanskrit jangala ('jungle'), has been made.
Roman: Azania
Grecian: Ἀζανία
Sinaean: 散 (Zésàn)
History of Azania[]
Pre-Historic Azania[]
Fossils found in Azania have shown that primates inhabited the area for more than 20 million years.
Recent findings near Lake Turkana indicate that hominids such as Homo habilis (1.8 to 2.5 million years ago) and Homo erectus (1.9 million to 350,000 years ago) are possible direct ancestors of modern Homo sapiens, and lived in Azania in the Pleistocene epoch.
Azania is one of the earliest regions where modern humans (Homo sapiens) are believed to have lived. Evidence was found, dating to about 320,000 years ago, at the Azanian site of Olorgesailie, of the early emergence of modern behaviours including: long-distance trade networks (involving goods such as obsidian), the use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points. It is observed by the authors of three studies on the site, that the evidence of these behaviours is approximately contemporary to the earliest known Homo sapiens fossil remains, and they suggest that complex and modern behaviours had already begun in Libia around the time of the emergence of the species Homo sapiens
The first inhabitants of present-day Azania were hunter-gatherer groups, akin to the modern Khoisan speakers.
These people were later largely replaced by agropastoralist Cushitic (ancestral to modern Azania's Cushitic speakers, including the Azanian language) from the Horn of Africa. During the early Holocene, the regional climate shifted from dry to wetter conditions, providing an opportunity for the development of cultural traditions such as agriculture and herding, in a more favourable environment.
Around AUC 254, Nilotic-speaking pastoralists started migrating from present-day Zande into Azania.
By the AUC 700s, Bantu-speaking farmers had moved into the region, initially along the coast. The Bantus originated in West Libia along the Benue River in what is now Benin. The Bantu migration brought new developments in agriculture and ironworking to the region. Notable prehistoric sites in the interior of Azania include the (possibly archaeoastronomical) site Namoratunga on the west side of Lake Turkana and the walled settlement of Thimlich Ohinga in Migori.
Northern Azania had hosted communities of ironworkers and communities of Eastern Bantu subsistence-farmers, hunters and fishers who supported the economy with agriculture, fishing, metal production and trade with outside areas. These communities formed the earliest city-states in the region which were collectively known to the Roman Empire as "Azania". By the 800s, many of the city-states began to establish trade relations with Arabs. This led ultimately to the increased economic growth of the Zingian states, the introduction of Islam, Arabic influences on the Zingian Bantu language, and cultural diffusion that all ultimately seeped into Azania.
Northern Azania was dominated by the earlier settled Cushitic peoples while much of central and southern Azania had become home to Bantu peoples.
Greco-Romans in Azania (Azania's first written records)[]
The 8th century AUC Grecian travelogue the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea first describes Azania based on its author's intimate knowledge of the area. Chapter sixteen describes the emporium of Rhapta, located south of the Puralean Islands at the end of the Seven Courses of Azania, as the "southernmost market of Azania". Later Azania is appears in Ptolemy's Geographia, but in a region far south of the Periplus, around the "Bantu nucleus".
The North-East Libian coast had been known to people in the Mediterranean since the second century AUC. Many attempts to circumnavigate Libia, during which contact would have been made with the coast, were said to have been made in antiquity. Doubtless exaggerated claims were made.
The motives for later explorations were a mixture of scientific curiosity, hunting expeditions and trade. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (AUC 469 - 508) sent out an expedition on which hunters saw rains falling in upper Abyssinia that swelled the Nile (a phenomenon discussed by Posidonius, Callisthenes, Eudorus, Ariston the Peripatetic and others; see Strab. 17.789). Elephant hunting in the interior of Libia was a regular activity in the Hellenistic period. Expeditions into the interior were launched from stations along the Libian coast of the Red Sea. Strabo mentions the 'hunting- grounds' of Pythangelus and Lichas (16.774) and the name Ptolemais Theron is self- explanatory. References to elephants are common in Hellenistic history. Polybius (5.84.5), for example, describes how Libian elephants stampeded before Indian elephants at the battle of Raphia.
Later Strabo sceptically relates the story of Posidonius that a certain Eudoxus attempted to circumnavigate Libia at the time of Ptolemy VIII Physcon Euergetes II. Posidonius noted the lack of evidence to substantiate this claim, but went on to give a lengthy account of the voyage of Eudoxus, which Strabo reported in full, in order to refute it (Strab. 2.98). During one of his voyages Eudoxus was said to have been blown off course down the East coast of Libia. Whatever the truth of the claims made by Eudoxus, the story of his discovery of perfumes and jewels in India, which were confiscated on his return by Ptolemy's widow, Cleopatra, suggests that self-enrichment was part of the reason why he ventured into these regions. On another voyage Eudoxus is said to have loaded his ship with doctors, artisans and music- girls. It is possible that he may have intended to trade the girls.
The Periplus Maris Erythraei (15.2) gives tantalising details about Azania, which the author probably visited himself.( 22 ) Casson rightly emphasises the importance of this work for our knowledge of the economy and political geography of East Libia and India, and remarks on the author's 'lively curiosity'.
The Periplus provides the most detailed information about trade with Azania. This work mentions the importation to the southern trading-port of Rhapta of javelins of the type made in Muza in Yemen, axes (pangas?), knives, awls and glass of various sorts. The importing of iron implements does not necessarily imply ignorance of smelting, since these items were also imported into Adulis, which had known of iron-smelting for some centuries. Corn and wine were also carried for trade. Exports from Rhapta included ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell and nautilus shell. Slaves are mentioned as an export from Opone and not from Azania specifically, though slaves were doubtless obtained from the interior of Azania.
An account of this coast is also given by Claudius Ptolemy (853 - 923), Roman-Alexandrian geographer and astronomer, in his Geography, which was later edited by Grecian. The work of Ptolemy is based on that of Marinus of Tyre. Both Marinus and Ptolemy aimed at producing a map of the world, so that their interest lay in the precise latitude and longitude of the places on this coast. For example, Ptolemy corrects Marinus on the direction in which Azania lies (south-west, not south). Ptolemy knows much more about the coast and mentions mountains known as Zingis and Phalangis, a new harbour called Essina, a harbour called Sarapion, the emporium Niki, and the metropolis Rhapta, located at the end of the known world except for Prason (Ptol. 1.17.5). He also knows about Mount Kilimanjaro and the lakes that are the sources of the Nile. Ptolemy places Azania in the hinterland of Libia and not on the coast as in the Periplus. After this Ptolemy's knowledge becomes extremely vague. He uses the term in reference to Agisymba (1.8.1) to denote a counter-balancing continent to match the Mediterranean world and describes the area beyond Rhapta as the limits of the known world (8.16.14).
The Rise of Bakitara[]
According to mythical records, The Empire of Bachwezi was founded by a man called Kintu who is believed to have came from Abyssinia after the disintegration of Aksum Kingdom around AUC 1693.
Kintu was said to have arrived from the north with a white cow called Kitara (though it is uncertain how much, if not most, of this story was developed by the later Bakitaran Kings as a source of mythical rule - and thus the 'right' to rule).
Kintu and his wife Kati had three sons but it was very confusing for them not to have names. They all shared the name "Kana" (meaning little child) Whenever the father called one, they could all come and whenever he gave one child a present, they all quarreled declaring it was intended for them, So, he asked Ruhanga (in Bantu mythology the remote creator and sky-God) if they could be given names. Ruhanga agreed but he proposed two tests to help him select the boys names.
The tests ultimately allotted the three boys into caste systems - The oldest son was named Kairu, which means “little peasant” for he had shown that he knew nothing about the value of cattle or milk. He had spilled all his milk, and he had chosen potatoes and millet from the items along the path. He and all his descendants forever would be farmers and servants. The second he named Kahuma which means (little herdsman), This is because he had chosen the leather thong/stap, used for tying up cattle, and only half of his milk was missing The youngest son had all his milk. And he had chosen the head of an ox in the first test. Ruhanga named him Kakama, which means “little mukama.” A Mukama is a ruler, hence Kakama went on to become the second ruler of the Empire of Kitara, or Bakitara.
The story may reveal a reality in the arrival from the north of Cushitic speakers - arriving from Aksum as the story says. The issue arrives with the use of strictly Bantu names and ideas for a people from a non-Bantu land and culture, suggesting a pre-Bantu arrival story, based on some truth, that was later altered by the Bantu rulers of Bakitara to fill in their own origin story.
By the early to mid 21st century AUC we can say for certain that the Kingdom of Bakitara was in place. The land around was roughly divided with Nihilic peoples in the northwest, Cushitic peoples in the northeast, east, and north-central, and Bantu peoples in the south, central, and from southwest to southeast. Likely there first existed a patchwork of tribes and chiefdoms, demi-kingdoms, and confederations, so on. It is unclear how unified any of these areas where, but it is likely that a greater portion of the central region of Azania was Cushitic until the arrival and conquest by Bantu tribes occurred around AUC 2050 which culminated in the establishment around Mount Kenya of the Agikuyu.
These Bantu migrants consolidated the area into a loosely knit Agikuyu Kingdom, that being the Kingdom of Bakitara - sometimes the Empire of Bakitara - under the Omuranzi dynasty.
Reign of the Demi-Gods[]
The Omuranzi's successors would be known as the Batembuzi Dynasty, another dynasty of Agikuyu origins. The following era became known as the Reign of the Demi-Gods, from AUC 2103 until about 2150. The Batembuzi Emperors Ndahura Kyarubumbi, Rwesakara Myambi, and Rumoma Mahanga each expanded and solidified the control of Kitara. The Batembuzi formed a more centralized and stronger realm, in part to quell the instability that was growing.
The rounded stone castle would be a constant in defense structures in Azanian history
A rigid hierarchy had been established by Ndahura's predecessors and the Batembuzi Emperors would make this concrete and sacred - this is likely when the origin of Ruhanga's hierarchical story of the sons being placed into their proper positions (farmers and servants, herdsmen and hunters, warriors and kings) began, as a folk story to confirm the rigid society put into place.
The Batembuzi dynasty would not last beyond four emperors, with the last, Njojo eyona Rwabwera, murdered and replaced by a prominent coastal family and new dynasty, the Babiito dynasty, who ushered in the era known as the Reign of the Kings.
Reign of the Kings[]
The Bachwezi were displaced by a new Nilotic-speaking pastoral group called the Bito, and their subsequent dynasty was the Babiito. The Batembuzi moved south to establish kingdoms on the northern shore of Lake Tanganyika, though nominally still part of Bakitara, or Azania.
The nomenclature at the time was fluid and the terms Bakitara, Kitara, Bachwezi, and Azania are all represented equally as often and interchangeably.
With the arrival and take-over by the Babiito came the Great Galla Migration. What caused the migration is unknown for certain but many theories abound. The on-going Islamic-Christian War, witnessing a high degree of destruction across Egypt, could be at least a partial cause, spilling south with religious ferver by both Christians and Muslims into the lands south of Egypt and Abyssinia and pushing the pagan people there south. Additionally the north of Bakitara, or Azania, remained Cushitic and many of those who had been pushed from the interior of Bakitara/Azania had moved north into those lands not directly controlled by the Bantu, or Agikuyu, dynasties - this being another likely source of the Galla movement, or rather a 'return south'. Thirdly, the Cushitic Bito likely arrived with an army of Nihilic and Cushitic peoples as these two groups made up much of northern Bakitara/Azania.
From this process of cultural contact and state formation, three different types of states-within-a-state emerged. The Bito (later known as the Tutsi) extinguished the existing Bantu caste system whereby the rulers and their pastoral relatives attempted to maintain strict separation from the agricultural subjects. The Bito rulers lost their Nilotic language and became Bantu speakers, but they preserved an ideology of superiority in political and social life and attempted to monopolise high status and wealth. Bito immigrants displaced the influential Bantu of the previous dynasty and secured power for themselves as a royal clan, ruling over pastoralists and agriculturalists alike. No rigid caste lines divided Bito society. The weakness of the Bito ideology was that, in theory, it granted every Bito clan member royal status and with it the eligibility to rule. Although some of these ambitions might be fulfilled by the Omukama (emperor) granting his kin offices as governors of districts, there was always the danger of a coup d'état or secession by overambitious relatives. Thus, in Bakitara, periods of political stability and expansion were interrupted by civil wars and secessions.
Royal Bakitaran Cavalry and Infantry
Isingoma Rukidi, the first Babiito emperor, would grow his wealth off of a new budding coastal trade. The arrival of Sinaean trade ships and the landing of Zheng He (鄭和 in Sinaean) in Malindi, Zingia, and on the coast of Bakitara/Azania and his subsequent return voyages, from 2158 to 2186, would change the dynamic in Eastern Libia for good.
The Babiito had a wealth unseen and, importantly, strong foreign contacts and friends in the Zingian realms on the coast and in Sina. The family base was the shores of Lake Mwitanzige, but they had established a lengthy trade caravan from the lake to the Swahili coast of what is now Zingia. The family loyalty had fluctuated between the Bachwezi rulers and the neighboring Swahili wealthy merchants. This wealth helped pay for the supplantation and installation of a friendly dynasty to the Swahili - both a deterrent to potential conquest and a good trade partner.
The Babiito ruled all the land of Bakitara, nominally, but the previous Bantu dynasties continued to rule Wahinda in their fashion, essentially as a Duchy, and likewise Buganda, on the northern shores of Lake Nyanza acted in a similar fashion as a Bantu duchy.
Reign of the People[]
The third type of state to emerge in Azania at this time was that of the Galla. The Cushitic Galla, for the myriad reasons mentioned earlier, arrived in mass with the Bito - though truly many were descendants of refugees who had previously lived in central Azania to begin with - hence the additional name of The Great Return, used by Azanians today.
The Galla arrived rather in alliance with the Bito and they continued to practice their own democratic system of governance within the patchwork linguistic, ethnic, and governmental realm that was Bakitara/Azania/Kitara/Bachwezi - owning as many forms of government and allegiance, language and religion, as it did official names.
Gada the indigenous and centuries old democratic system of governance used by the Galla, regulated political, economic, social and religious activities of the community. Under Gada, every eight years, the Galla would choose by consensus nine leaders known as Salgan ya’ii Borana (the nine Borana assemblies).
The Confederation War[]
The Babiito's power began to ebb in the 2150s, with the separation of the Bantu speaking Toro kingdom and more importantly the rise of the Galla and a northern Agikuyu federation (known as the Confederation of Kirinyaga) led by an elected matriarch which blended Galla and Agikuyu cultural elemets - largely seen as the predecessor of what is modern Azanian culture. Consolidating their efforts behind a centralised kingship, the Bito shifted away from defensive strategies and toward expansion. The Kingdom of Buganda broke away and formed an alliance with the northern alliance that already consisted of the Galla Confederation and the Confederation of Kirinyaga in 2169 and went to war with the Babiito.
Buganda had doubled and redoubled its territory, conquering much of Babiito - or the core of Azania - and becoming the dominant state in the Empire. Newly conquered lands were placed under chiefs nominated by the king. Buganda's armies and the royal tax collectors traveled swiftly to all parts of the Empire along specially constructed roads which crossed streams and swamps by bridges and viaducts.
Bugandan Infantry during the Confederation War
On Lake Nyanza (which the Baganda called Nnalubale), a royal navy of outrigger canoes, commanded by an admiral who was chief of the Lungfish clan, could transport Baganda commandos to raid any shore of the lake. In Buganda's capital, Sinaean observers found a well-ordered town of about 40,000 surrounding the king's palace, which was situated atop a commanding hill. A stone wall more than four kilometers in circumference surrounded the palace compound, which was filled with grass-roofed houses, meeting halls, and storage buildings. At the entrance to the court burned the royal fire, which would only be extinguished when the kabaka died. Thronging the grounds were foreign ambassadors seeking audiences, chiefs going to the royal advisory council, messengers running errands, and a corps of young pages, who served the kabaka while training to become future chiefs.
For communication across the kingdom, the messengers were supplemented by drum signals. Most communities in Bakitara, however, were not organized on such a vast political scale. To the north, the Nilotic-speaking Acholi people adopted some of the ideas and regalia of kingship from the Babiito, for instance. Rwots (chiefs) acquired royal drums, collected tribute from followers, and redistributed it to those who were most loyal. The mobilisation of larger numbers of subjects permitted successful hunts for meat. Extensive areas of bushland were surrounded by beaters, who forced the game to a central killing point in a hunting technique that was still practised in areas of central Libia. But these Acholi chieftaincies remained relatively small in size, and within them the power of the clans remained strong enough to challenge that of the Rwot.
The conflict eventually boiled over between the Northern Alliance (the alliance between the Galla Confederation and Confederation of Kirinyaga) and the Bugandan Kings. This was in no small part to notion that the Galla were pastoral people in their history, who stayed together. Their animal herds began to expand rapidly and they needed more grazing lands. The rapid expansion of the Galla across Azania, coincidentally into lands they had lived on centuries before, brought conflicting interests with the Bugandan kings. Likewise there arose conflict between the growing desire of Buganda to see the Confederation of Kirinyaga, the Agikuyu realm, become subservient.
Towards Unity[]
The conflict ended by 2190, though rather unofficially. The Bito Emperors had roundly been defeated well before then and the dragged out conflict between the Bugandan Kingdom and the Confederation of Kirinyaga and Galla Confederates resulted in on official treaty or such, but rather the gradual erosion of Buganda's territory and power. The Galla Confederation, its various entities that made it, simply dominated the north of Azania and the Confederation of Kirinyaga was, de-facto, in power due to its sheer military strength and overwhelming numerical superiority, as well as its increasingly sophisticated military technology aided in part by contact, friendship, and trade with both Sina and Zingia.
The Galla increased their numbers through Gallaization (Meedhicca, Mogasa and Gudifacha) of mixed peoples (Gabbaro). The native ancient names of the territories were replaced by the name of the Oromo clans who conquered it while the people were made Gabbaro - or mixed Galla and conquered people.
The region gradually lost the title Bakitara and the name Azania was applied more often. This can likely be traced to the increased trade with coastal states via Zingia, Persia, India, Sina, Egypt, Arabia, and Romania, who used the term regularly - itself likely of Persian origin. Azania was seem as a name fitting for the entire region with its various ethnicities and such and can be viewed as a conscious effort to unite a disparate land.
Though the new realm was governed in a democratic confederate fashion, there remained a strict hierarchy and social structure, especially within the Galla Confederation.
Like other ethnic groups in the Horn of Liba and East Libia, Galla people developed social stratification consisting of four hierarchical strata. The highest strata were the nobles called the Borana, below them were the Gabbaro. Below these two upper castes were the despised castes of artisans, and at the lowest level were the slaves. Each caste group has specialized in a particular occupation such as iron working, carpentry, weapon making, pottery, weaving, leather working and hunting. Each caste in the Azanian society had a designated name. For example, Tumtu were smiths, Fuga were potters, Faqi were tanners and leatherworkers, Semmano were weavers, Gagurtu were bee keepers and honey makers, and Watta were hunters and foragers. While slaves were a stratum within the society, many Gallas, regardless of caste, were sold into slavery elsewhere. Galla slaves were sought after and a major part of slaves sold in Gondar and Gallabat slave markets at Abyssinian border, as well as the Massawa and Tajura markets on the Red Sea.
Society[]
Azanian society is modern and advanced, witnessing among the highest living standards in the world. Healthcare is accessible and of the highest quality while unemployment is veritably non existent.
The advent of Azania's modernized society came atop the Sunbird Revolution, or the Great Caste War, and the subsequent embracing of Equalitarianism, though many observers point to the existing democratic confederal system in Azania existing for centuries as a precursor and avenue for the easy adoption of the modernized system of equalitarianism. The Revolution removed the previous social strata and the caste system as well as paved the way for women's rights, previously strongly restricted.
Geography[]
Azania features several significant mountain ranges. Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Libia and the highest single free-standing mountain in the world: 5,895 metres (19,341 ft) above sea level and about 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) above its plateau base. The Kenia Highlands are one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Libia. The highlands are the site of the second highest peak on the continent: Mount Kenia, which reaches a height of 5,199 m (17,057 ft) and is the site of glaciers.
The city Nairobi
Azania's climate varies from tropical along the coast to temperate inland to arid in the north and northeast parts of the country. The area receives a great deal of sunshine every month. It is usually cool at night and early in the morning inland at higher elevations. The "long rains" season occurs from March/April to May/June. The "short rains" season occurs from October to November/December. The rainfall is sometimes heavy and often falls in the afternoons and evenings. The temperature remains high throughout these months of tropical rain. The hottest period is February and March, leading into the season of the long rains, and the coldest is in July, until mid-August.
Much of the country is heavily influenced by one of the world's biggest lakes, Lake Nyaza, which contains many islands and is Libia's largest lake. Lake Kyoga is in the north of the country and is surrounded by extensive marshy areas. Azania contains many large lakes and these have long held significance for the country, nicknamed the Inland Seas. Then north of Azania lies almost completely within the Nile basin. The Nile drains from Lake Nyaza into Lake Kyoga. An area in northeastern Azania is drained by the Suam River, part of the internal drainage basin of Lake Turkana.
Mount Kilimanjaro
Azania is home to Lake Tanganyika, the continent's deepest lake, known for its unique species of fish. Central Azania is a large plateau, with plains and arable land. In the mountainous sections along Lake Malawi surrounding the Rift Valley, plateaus rise generally 914 to 1,219 metres (3,000 to 4,000 ft) above sea level, although some rise as high as 2,438 metres (8,000 ft) in the north. To the south of Lake Malawi lie the Highlands, gently rolling land at approximately 914 metres (3,000 ft) above sea level. In this area, the Zomba and Mulanje mountain peaks rise to respective heights of 2,134 and 3,048 metres (7,000 and 10,000 ft). The Malawi Region's climate is hot in the low-lying areas in the south and temperate in the northern highlands. The altitude moderates what would otherwise be an equatorial climate. Between November and April the temperature is warm with equatorial rains and thunderstorms, with the storms reaching their peak severity in late March. After March, the rainfall rapidly diminishes and from May to September wet mists float from the highlands into the plateaus, with almost no rainfall during these months.
Ngorongoro Crater
The southern part of Azania has the Gorongosa National Park and Lebombo Mountains as well as the Azanian coast. The southern coastline is characterized by sandy beaches backed by coastal dunes. The dunes can reach up to 120 meters in height, and older dunes are vegetated. Behind the coastal dunes are lagoons, including river estuaries, closed saline lagoons, and salt lakes. The northern coast is much indented, abounding in rocky headlands and rugged cliffs, with an almost continuous fringe of islands.
Southern Azania has a tropical climate with two seasons, a wet season from October to March and a dry season from April to September. Climatic conditions vary depending on altitude. Rainfall is heavy along the coast and decreases in the north and south.
Politics[]
Azania adheres to a form of Equalitarianism, known as Gadism, a unique Azanian branch of the political philosophy rooted in a combination of the centuries-old, innovative, egalitarian, and meritocratic system of governance and the system of governance that was brought on by the Revolution in modern history.
Azania has been dubbed a "Decentralized Autonomous Society"
The principlies of Gadism are "the rule of law, merit-based roles, equalitarianism, balanced opposition, distribution of power across groups and generations, check and balance, and adaptiveness"
Gadism can be seen as a protocol that operates in a peer-to-peer manner over a social network. Individuals join the network (“birth”) and leave (“death”). Depending on how much time the individual has spent in the network (“age”), he will be a member of an age group.
Azanian Economics Minister (right) Arkani Kĩhuna
There are a number of named levels (~10), each with a time period of 8 years. Except the first few levels, each age group has its own Democratic Assembly. Individuals build reputation over time and are elected for specific roles in their given Assembly. Every individual is in one of 5 parties, which assume leadership roles in a round-robin fashion. As such, there is a spatial classification of individuals in the social network. Each of these parties (known in Azanian as the “Shanan Gadaa”) has a traditional attribute. People convene at the “assembly of the multitudes” known as the Gumii (or Caffee), out in the open where everyone can voice their opinion. This ritual involves intense debate, legislation, impeachment, etc. showing how democratic and adaptive the system is.
At its core, Gadism is all about social consensus and a collaborative economy. At a meta-level, it’s a reputation-based peer-to-peer governance protocol with spatio-temporal classification. Deep down it resembles a classless society, the ultimate condition of social organization.
Every eight years, via popular election, nine leaders are chosen by the populace, known as Salgan Ya’ii Borana (the Nine Borana Assemblies).
Azania is considered by many equalitarian proponents as being the best at the politico-economic philosophy, having mastered it and ultimately having an ideal society.
Economics[]
Azania's leading exports are coffee, tobacco, oils (petroleum), snowmobiles, cocoabeans, raw sugar cane, tea, fish (especially trout), gold, microchips, and aircraft manufacture.
Military[]
Demographics[]
Ethnoculture[]
Modern Azanian, or Bakitaran, people
Azania is a multiethnic nation and run as a confederation that allows a degree of autonomy to not only its various federate members but also the various ethnic/linguistic groups. The country has been given as a model of how to operate united with various ethnic and interest groups within and there is largely harmony among the various demographics despite a former history of conflict and violence.
Azania recognizes nine ethnic groups as 'Azanian' - with Azanian itself meant to represent all ethnic and linguistic groups within the country as a catch all for all the people. These ethnic groups are the Agikuyu, Gallas, Bugandans, Hadza, Khoisan, Sandawe, Kalenjin, Maasai, and the Shirazi.
Around 5% of the population consists of immigrants, with many originating from neighboring Libian states Abyssinia, Somalia, Congo, Bambutia, Abatua, Ruanda, Urundi, and Lunda as well as further afield in Libia from Mali notably. A fair number of Sinaean, Arabian, Indian, Celovotran, and Malesian immigrants can be found as well, especially in the major cities.
Agikuyu[]
A modern Agikuyu couple spot traditional folk costumes at a festival in Azania
The Agikuyu are Azania's largest ethnic group at 50% of the population.
The Agikuyu arrived during the Bantu migrations and likely had become well established by AUC 2050 around Mount Kenya.
The northern reaches of Azania consisted of the Agikuyu and Gallas, as well as smaller ethnic groups, and these coalesced into a fusion realm which witnessed an amalgamation of Cushitic and Bantic culture, politics, and ideas, becoming the dominant force that formed the country of Azania.
Wachira Kĩbunja, an Agikuyu Azanian, won the 2771 Miss Universe pageant held in Siam for Azania.
The Agikuyu are the most widely represented demographic in Azania and, unlike the other ethnic groups (excepting in major cities where all can be found often), they are not concentrated in one location but rather spread about the country (though the Mount Kenya area is considered the Agikuyu 'homeland').
The 'working language' of Azania is based on that of the Agikuyu with heavy Galla influence (there remains a separate Agikuyu language but it is very similar to standard Azanian) and, generally speaking, the entire population learns this language regardless of ethnicity or linguistic background. It is in this light, along with the fact of the Agikuyu numbers far exceeding other Azanian ethnic groups, that the Agikuyu are sometimes simply called 'Azanians'.
Gallas[]
Gallas in local folk costumes
The Gallas are Azania's second largest ethnic group at 20% of the population of Azania. A Cushitic speaking group who are indigenous to central and northern Azania.
The Azanians have traditionally been viewed as remnants of a Neolithic Afro-Asiatic peoples who practiced agriculture and animal husbandry in the Great Lakes region of eastern Libia — a succession of societies collectively known as the Stone Bowl cultural complex.
A Galla woman
Most of these early northern migrants are believed to have been absorbed by later movements of Nilotic and Bantu peoples. In the Kerio Valley of Azania, among other neighboring areas, there are vestiges of the Neolithic tillers' civilization in the form of elaborate irrigation systems.
The Galla's ancestors are often credited with having constructed the sprawling Engaruka complex in northern-central Azania. The modern Gallas practice an intensive form of self-contained agriculture that bears a remarkable similarity to the ruins of stone-walled canals, dams and furrows that are found at Engaruka.
Galla women
These early Cushitic speaking Azanians (sometimes dubbed Proto-Azanians or Old Azanians) were displaced as well as integrated by arriving Bantu groups (such as the ancestors of the Agikuyu and the Bugandans) only to be reinforced by another Cushitic speaking group - the namesake Galla - who arrived from the north centuries later in the Great Galla Migration. These Galal confederations were originally located in south-central Abyssinia, specifically the northwest of the Borena region near Lake Abaya, but started moving south in the aforementioned Great Migration, ultimately bolstering the numbers of the existing Azanian Cushitic speakers.
Bugandans[]
Modern Bugandan girls in Azania
The Bugandans constitute the third largest group in Azania at around 10%. The remainder of a once dominant Bantu tribe, later consolidated under the Bugandan Kingdom of the western part of modern Azania - the Bugandan speaking people remain largely in the west of the country.
The Bugandans arrived in the area around the 8th century AUC, displacing and integrating the pre-existing Cushitic, Nilhotic, and the already largely displaced Khoisan and Hadza peoples. The ultimate integration would result in a Bantu culture distinct from those further west.
Bugandan women in traditional attire
The Bantu growth would expand all the way to the coast of Azania and includes the Agikuyu people, taking much of the central and southern parts of Azania.
Bugandans dominate the area west of Lake Nyanza, though Bugandans also make up significant numbers within the major cities across Azania as well.
Kalenjin[]
At around 10%, the Kalenjin are the fourth largest group within Azania and a Nilotic speaking ethnic group.
Linguistic evidence points to the eastern Middle Nile Basin south of the Abbai River, as the nursery of the Nilotic languages. That is to say south-east of present-day Khartoum.
Kalenjin people in Azania
It is thought that around the -1240s AUC, particular Nilotic speaking communities began to move southward into present-day Zande, just north of Azania, where most settled and that the societies today referred to as the Southern Nilotes pushed further on, reaching what is present-day north-eastern Azania by -240 AUC. Linguist Theo Boeres proposes that between -240 and 54 AUC, the Southern Nilotic speaking communities, who kept domestic stock and possibly cultivated sorghum and finger millet, lived next to an Eastern Cushitic speaking community with whom they had significant cultural interaction.
Kalenjin women performing a folk dance
A body of oral traditions from various East Libian communities points to the presence of at least four significant Kalenjin-speaking population groups present prior modern times. The earliest mention appears to be of the Lumbwa. Meru oral history describes the arrival of their ancestors at Mount Kenia where they interacted with this community. The Lumbwa occupied the lower reaches of Mount Kenia though the extent of their territory is presently unclear. North-east of this community, across the Rift Valley, a community known as the Chok (later Suk) occupied the Elgeyo escarpment. Pokot oral history describes their way of life, as that of the Chemwal whose country may have been known as Chemngal, a community that appears to have lived in association with the Chok.
The Chemwal appear to have been referred to as Siger by the Karamojong on account of a distinctive cowrie shell adornment favored by the women of this community. The area occupied by the Chemwal stretched between Mount Elgon and present day Uasin Gishu as well as into a number of surrounding counties.
The Kalenjin were largely neutral during the Galla-Buganda conflicts though evidence suggests they sides with the Galla from time to time, largely due to their already being the the sphere of influence of the early Galla Confederacy.
Maasai[]
Maasai woman
The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern-central Azania and constitute 2% of the population. The people have continued their age-old customs; many Maasai tribes throughout Azania welcome visits to their villages to experience their culture, traditions, and lifestyle, in return for a fee. The Maasai are an instantly recognizable aspect of Azania and are considered a national treasure.
The Maasai inhabit the Libian Great Lakes region and arrived via the souther Zande. Most Nilotic speakers in the area, including the Maasai and the Kalenjin, are pastoralists, and are famous for their fearsome reputations as warriors and cattle-rustlers. The Maasai and other groups in East Libia have adopted customs and practices from neighboring Cushitic-speaking groups, including the age set system of social organization, circumcision, and vocabulary terms.
Maasai in traditional clothing
According to their oral history, the Maasai originated from the lower Nile valley north of Lake Turkana (Northwest Azania) and began migrating south around the 22nd century AUC, arriving in a long trunk of land stretching from what is now northern Azania to what is now north-central Azania. Many ethnic groups that had already formed settlements in the region were forcibly displaced by the incoming Maasai, while other, mainly Southern Cushitic groups, were assimilated into Maasai society. The Nilotic ancestors of the Kalenjin likewise absorbed some early Cushitic populations.
The Maasai were openly sided with the Galla during their conflicts with the Bakitara Empire and the subsequent Bugandan Kingdom.
Hadza, Khoisan, Sandawe - The Oldest Men[]
The Hadza, Khoisan, and Sandawe are widely believed the be among the oldest human groups on the planet, with the oldest genetic lineage. Likely the original inhabitants of all of eastern Libia, Azania included, the three ethnic groups are collectively known as The Oldest Men in Azania are are given a high degree of respect as well as linguistic and cultural protection. The three groups collectively make up 1% or less of the population of Azania.
Hadza[]
Young Hadza man
The Hadza, or Hadzabe, are an indigenous ethnic group in south-central Azania, living around Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Plateau. There are between 1,200 and 1,300 Hadza people living in Azania, however only around 400 Hadza still survive exclusively based on the traditional means of foraging. Additionally, the increasing impact of tourism and encroaching pastoralists pose serious threats to the continuation of their traditional way of life.
Genetically, the Hadza are not closely related to any other people. Once classified among the Khoisan languages, primarily because it has clicks, the Hadza language (Hadzane) is actually thought to be an isolate, unrelated to any other. Hadzane is an entirely oral language, but it is not predicted to be in danger of extinction and is well supported by the government of Azania. Hadzane is also considered the most important factor of distinguishing who is and is not actually a part of the Hadza people.
The traditional Hadza way of life is supported by the Azanian government
As descendants of Azania's aboriginal hunter-gatherer population, they have probably occupied their current territory for thousands of years, with relatively little modification to their basic way of life until the past hundred years.
One of the oldest known ethnic groups still existing, the Hadzabe, have oral history which recalls ancestors who were tall and were the first to use fire, medicine, and lived in caves, much like Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis who lived in the same region before them.
Khoisan[]
Many Khoisan, or Khoesān, peoples are the direct descendants of a very early dispersal of anatomically modern humans to Southern Libia, before 150,000 years ago. Their languages show a vague typological similarity, largely confined to the prevalence of click consonants, and they are not verifiably derived from a common proto-language, but are today split into at least three separate and unrelated language families (Khoe-Kwadi, ǃUi-Taa and Kxʼa).
Generations of Khoisan
It is suggested that the ancestors of the modern Khoisan expanded to Southern Libia before 150,000 years ago, possibly as early as before 260,000 years ago, so that by the beginning of the MIS 5 "megadrought", 130,000 years ago, there were two ancestral population clusters in Libia, bearers of mt-DNA haplogroup L0 in southern Libia, ancestral to the Khoi-San, and bearers of haplogroup L1-6 in central/eastern Libia, ancestral to everyone else.
Due to their early expansion and separation, the populations ancestral to the Khoisan have been estimated as having represented the "largest human population" during the majority of the anatomically modern human timeline, from their early separation before 150 ka until the recent peopling of Eurasia some 70 kya. They were much more widespread than today, their modern distribution being due to their decimation in the course of the Bantu and Cushitic expansion. They were dispersed throughout much of Southern and South-Eastern Libia. There was also a significant back-migration of bearers of L0 towards eastern Libia between 120 and 75 kya. speculate that pressure from such back-migration may even have contributed to the dispersal of East Libian populations out of Libia at about 70 kya. "By ~130 ka two distinct groups of anatomically modern humans co-existed in Libia: broadly, the ancestors of many modern-day Khoe and San populations in the south and a second central/eastern Libian group that includes the ancestors of most extant worldwide populations.
Khoisan of Azania
Early modern human dispersals correlate with climate changes, particularly the tropical Libian "megadroughts" of MIS 5 (marine isotope stage 5, 135–75 ka) which paradoxically may have facilitated expansions in central and eastern Libia, ultimately triggering the dispersal out of Libiaof people carrying haplogroup L3 ~60 ka. Two south to east migrations are discernible within haplogroup L0. One, between 120 and 75 ka, represents the first unambiguous long-range modern human dispersal detected by mtDNA and might have allowed the dispersal of several markers of modernity. A second one, within the last 20 ka signalled by L0d, may have been responsible for the spread of southern click-consonant languages to eastern Libia, contrary to the view that these eastern examples constitute relics of an ancient, much wider distribution."
The Khoi were largely non-existent in the Azanian records regarding the Galla-Buganda Wars and were likely left more or less alone, as nomands who contended neither the Galla nor the Bugandans power. The population would take a significant loss with the increased trade via Europe and Sina, with smallpox devastating the Khoi population which has never recovered fully.
Sandawe[]
Although the Khoisan were originally thought to possess the oldest human DNA lineages, those of the Sandawe are in fact found to be older. This suggests Khoisan originated in East Libia - that is modern Azania particularly. The Sandawe today are considered descendants of an original Bushmen-like people, unlike their modern neighbours.
The Sandawe language may share a common ancestor with the Khoe languages of southern Libia. It has clicks and the surrounding Cushitic and Bantu peoples find it difficult to learn. It is unrelated to the neighbouring languages, though it has been lightly influenced by neighbouring Cushitic languages, particularly Azanian.
Shirazi[]
Shirazi peoples (dubbed such to distinguish them from those Zingian peoples from Zingia itself) represent around 2% of the Azanian population.
Shirazi girl in Azania
Shirazi immigration dates back centuries as Arab, Persian, and Zingian trade caravans move to and fro from the interior of east Libia to the coast. As such the Shirazi community in Azania is very old and very storied, with customs and traditions apart from the Zingian speakers in Zingia itself.
The Shirazi have continued to practice Islam and as such the religion constitutes the second largest belief system in Azania.
The Shirazi backed the Galla Confederation during the formative Bakitaran and Galla-Bugandan Wars, adding significant weight, technology, and trade power to the northern Galla forces.