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Alternative History
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in: Cygnia (Joan of What?), Joan of What?, Nations (Joan of What?)

Empire of Cygnia (Joan of What?)

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Empire of Cygnia
← Flag of the United Kingdom
 1793–1943 Flag of Cygnia →
Flag of Cygnia Royal coat of arms of Cygnia
Flag Coat of arms
Motto
Deus Meumque Jus (Latin)
God and My Right
Anthem
God Save the King
Cygnian Empire map
Maximum extent of Cygnia and her colonies, superimposed over modern international borders, 1941
Dark green: Federated States
Green: Dominions
Yellow: Indian Empire
Light green: Other colonies
Capital Perth (de facto until 1800)
Northam, TS
Languages English, Dutch
Government Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Monarch
 -  1792 – 1815 (first) George I
 -  1936 – 1943 (last) Edward II
Chancellor
 -  1792 – 1805 (first) Sir Frederick Northam
 -  1946 – 1948 (last) Ben Chifley
Legislature Imperial Congress
 -  Upper house House of Councillors
 -  Lower house House of Representatives
History
 -  Declaration of Independence 3 April 1784
 -  Constitution 3 April 1793
 -  Cygnian Revolution 8 May 1942 – 18 October 1943
Currency Cygnian Pound
Today part of Eureka Flag Cygnia

The Empire of Cygnia, commonly known at the time as Cygnia but today referred to using its full name or as the Empire to differentiate it from the modern United Cygnian States, was a sovereign state that occupied the Australian continent. The Empire was established by former King George III of the United Kingdom in 1792 following the federation of the Cygnian colonies nine years earlier. The new nation went on to create a colonial empire of its own — one of the largest in history — with possessions on four different continents.

The oldest of the Cygnian colonies, New Zealand, was founded by the Dutch as New Zeeland in 1614. The other five colonies were founded by the British after 1660. New Zeeland was acquired by Britain, along with several of the Netherlands' other colonial possessions, after the Anglo-Dutch War.

The colonies that formed the Empire federated in 1784 as the Kingdom of Cygnia, and Perth became the seat of King George III's government-in-exile after the French Revolution overthrew him and established the French First Republic. France fought Cygnia in the Cygnian War of Independence beginning in April 1784, but in 1792, the war ended with a Cygnian victory, and Cygnian independence was secured. On 5 May 1792, King George III was crowned King George I of Cygnia, establishing the Empire. A constitution was drafted and enacted one year after his coronation on 5 May 1793.

Following independence, Cygnia went through periods of prosperity and decline, and it continued to expand the empire it had inherited from the United Kingdom. One of the most notable periods of economic boom for Cygnia began in the early 1840s, when prospectors in multiple locations discovered gold, including at Halls Creek and Kalgoorlie, both of which became huge settlements. Immigration increased dramatically, and the population skyrocketed. In response, infrastructure was also expanded, and the Goldfields Irrigation Pipelines initiative was one of the biggest engineering projects of the mid-19th century. Industrialisation followed swiftly after, and Cygnia became a centre of technological progress.

Careful fiscal conservatism following the end of the Second World War by the newly elected Unionist government pushed Cygnia into another economic boom in the 1920s, and in 1924 the treasury saw a surplus for the first time in over forty years. This resulted in the chartering and establishment of new government-owned corporations such as Imperial Cygnian Airways and Cygnia Rail.

In 1936, Edward II became King. His disdain for constitutionally established democratic principles made him deeply unpopular, and after he accepted Fascist Britain's offer of the British throne and attempted to bring Cygnia into World War III as an ally of the Fascists, the Cygnian government refused to follow his orders. When Britain's ally, Japan, attacked many of Cygnia's overseas territories in 1941, threatening Cygnian dominance in the Pacific for the first time in 300 years, Cygnia rebelled against the monarchy, sparking the revolution that ultimately overthrew the monarchy. The Cygnian Provisional Government was established in the wake of the revolution, and after the end of the war, economic crisis and a wave of nationalism spreading through Cygnia's colonies drove the country to reconstitute itself as the United Cygnian States, with a new republican constitution promulgated in 1948 and enacted in 1949. This new constitution introduced stronger democratic systems, including the Senate to replace the House of Councillors. Over the course of the next few years, the Cygnian colonial empire disintegrated, culminating in the independence of India and Pakistan in 1950. On the other hand, some of these colonies elected to remain within the new Union, including Fiji, Papua, New Hebrides, New Guinea, New Caledonia and several other territories; most have since become States. Today, Cygnia is an equal member of the Commonwealth of Nations alongside many of its former colonial possessions, which are now independent republics.

Administrative divisions[]

Below is a list of all major administrative divisions of the Empire at its height in 1941.

Flag of Cygnia Cygnia (Joan of What?)
Government
(Labour IX)		Coat of arms of Cygnia
Leaders
States
Aotearoa • Auralia • Avon • Carolina • Darwin • East Georgia • Fiji • Gascoyne • Gibson • Kimberley • New Albion • New Caledonia • New Guinea • New Hebrides • New Zealand • Papua • Pilbara • Solomon Islands • Tasmania • Victoria • West Georgia
Territories
Christmas Island • Keeling Islands • Nauru • Norfolk Island • Swan
Miscellanea
Pages
V • T • E
Joan of What?
Timeline
15th century • 16th century • 17th century • 18th century • 19th century • 20th century (World War III • Cold War) • 21st century
Geopolitics
Nations • Alliances • United Nations • Wars
Culture and Sport
Olympics • Sports by nation (Cygnia)
Main Category • Proposals • Talk page • Templates
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