Onor e Justícia | |||||||
| Anthem | "Se Canta" | ||||||
| Capital | Bordel | ||||||
| Largest city | Bordel | ||||||
| Other cities | Barcelona, Tolosa, Marsela, Turin. Valencia | ||||||
| Religion | Reformed Church (Huguenot) | ||||||
| Demonym | Gathalan | ||||||
| Government | Mutualist federated semi-direct democracy | ||||||
| Legislature | • Upper house - Council of Cantons
• Lower house - National Democratic Council | ||||||
| Executive Council | |||||||
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) | ||||||
| Driving Side | right | ||||||
| Internet TLD | .aq | ||||||
| Organizations | International Mutualist Association (IMA)
United Nations (UN) | ||||||
Gathalania (Gathalan: Gatalonha), formally the Cantonal Confederation of Gathalania (Gathalan: Cantonau Confederacion de Gatalonha), is a country in Southwestern Europe with some pockets of territory in the Atlantic Ocean. The country's mainland is bordered to the south by the Mediterranean Sea; to the north by France; to the east by Italy and the northeast by Germany; to the southwest by Navarre and Galicia; and northwest by the Atlantic Ocean.
Gathalania has an area of 300,225 km2 and a population of 31,738,307. Gathalania's capital and largest city is Bordel (Bordèu in Gathalan); other major urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Tolosa, Saragossa, Palma, Marselha and Limotges.
Anatomically modern humans first arrived in the area of Gathalania around 42,000 years ago. Through the migration and settlement of people, various cultures developed in the region including Celt, Greek, Roman, Phoenician, and Carthaginian. The Romans had driven the Carthaginians out of the Iberian peninsula by 206 BC, settling the what is presently southern Gathalania. From the east what is modern eastern Gathalaniabecame a Roman province in 121 BC, following a victory of the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus over the Celtic Allobroges and the Arverni under King Bituitus, the region becoming Gallia Transalpina and often called Provincia Nostra. Gathalania remained under Roman rule until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth century, which ushered in Germanic tribal confederations from Central Europe. The Visigoths emerged as the dominant faction by the fifth century, with their kingdom spanning much Gathalania.
The Visigothic kingdom lost much of its territory (modern north and central Gathalania) to the Franks in the early 6th century, save the narrow coastal strip of Septimania. In the early eighth century, the remainder of the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate from the south, ushering in over 700 years of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula, representing what is modern southern Gathalania. The Frankish Empire would be divided up by the successors of Charlemagne, with Pepin II, grandson of Charlemagne, ruling Gathalania until 851 or 852 when he was overthrown by by Sans II. The Sancion Dynasty would rule an area that makes up most of modern Gathalania north of the Pyrenees, excluding Provence, for the next three hundred years before a lengthy union with Lorrain. The area that constitutes modern eastern Gathalania (Provence), as the Duchy of Provence, would flip between Gathalania, Lorrain, and the Holy Roman Empire for most of the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance. Southern Gathalania became the Kingdom of Aragon, originally a Carolingian feudal county around the city of Jaca, for a time under the control of the Kingdom of Gathalania proper before becoming de-facto and then de-jure independent under the Jimena Dynasty. Catalonia meanwhile lingered as a constant tug and pull between Aragon and Gathalania until, under Alfons I the Troubador (reigned 1164–1196), Catalonia was regarded as a legal entity for the first time as the Principality of Catalonia before formally being absorbed by Gathalania during the Crisis of the 14th century, with the end of the rule of House of Barcelona in 1410, with the following Iberian Wars ending in Gathalania dominance and conquest of Aragon its sub-realm Valencia. Gathalania engaged in a series of Crusader conquests around the eastern Mediterranean, establishing a broad naval empire that lasted into the late 14th century. The height of medieval Gathalania was the union of the Gathalania and Aragonese crowns, from 1312 to 1390.
Gathalania took part in the first stages of European exploration and global expansion, over the course of the late 15th century outposts were established in the Americas, Africa, India, and Asia, contact was established with Japan and China, and an alliance that has lasted to the modern day was established with Ethiopia.
During the Franco-Gathalan War (1628–1649), Catalonia revolted (1643–1650) against a large and burdensome presence of the royal army and the destruction of the countryside as a result of the battles between Gathalania and Navarre and Gathalania and Spain. Catalonia, in revolt, proclaimed itself a republic. The revolt spread rapidly across Gathalania and consumed the monarchy, establishing the Gathalania Republic and resulting in a separation of the Kingdom of Southern Gathalania (often called the Kingdom of Catalonia; ironically the starting point of republican aspirations), with Provence being taken by France (before later being lost to Italy) and a large chunk of Peitau, which Gathalania would never regain. During the War of the Camisards (1700–1716), Southern Gathalania, following Republican defeat with Spanish, French, and Italian aid, on 9 September 1714, imposed a unifying administration across Gathalania, enacting the Reunification Decrees which suppressed the young Republican Institutions and Rights as well as Protestantism, which was seen as a prominent cause of the anti-monarchy actions in the north. Throughout the 18th century, Gathalania experienced economic growth. The War of the Alps (1793-1795) ended in a re-annexation of Provence by Gathalania after defeating the Napoleonic Italian Empire, a direct result of the conflation caused by the Romance Revolution.
In the 19th century, Gathalania was severely affected by the Napoleonic Wars against Italy. The lingering resentment between the Catholic South and Huguenot North cooler significantly as nationalism and collective identity began to take hold. In the second third of the century, it experienced industrialisation. As wealth from the industrial expansion grew, it saw a cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers movements appeared. With the establishment of the Gathalan Republic (1799-1883), the monarchy found itself abolished as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, one of the few Sister Republics that lasted. After the Gathalan Revolution (1876-1883), the mutualist communal government came into being under the leadership of Francesc Pi e Margall. Gathalania found itself isolated during the early 20th century as it spread the doctrine of mutualism globally, at odds with liberal, monarchical, and communist governments. Avoiding the Great European War (1910-1916), Gathalania made its first broad move into international affairs during the following Russian Civil War, with open support for Makhnovia resulting in antagonism from the ultimately victorious Bolsheviks. The World War (1934-1946) opened with an invasion of Gathalania by Spain and placed Gathalania in an alliance with both the United Kingdom and Soviet Russia, paving the way for future international agreements. From the 1950s through to the 1970s Gathalania saw rapid economic growth while also fostering many anti-colonial mutualist movements in opposition to both colonialism, liberalism, and communist, injuring the goodwill established during the World War. The Western fears of communism would outweigh fears of mutualism however, giving way to continued openness with Gathalania.
Gathalania is a secular parliamentary federated democracy under a mutualist system with a six-person Executive Council acting as Head of State. It is a highly developed country and a high income country, with the world's eigth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the twelfth-largest by PPP. Gathalania is a member of the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the Eurozone, the Council of Europe (CoE), the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the International Mutualist Association (IMA), G20, and many other international organisations.
Etymology[]
History[]
Society[]
Geography[]
Politics[]
Economics[]
Military[]
Demographics[]
Education[]
Culture[]
Gathalan truffle hunter
Gathalan culture hails from centuries of conquests and migrations, intermingling to conclude in what is modern day Gathalania. A series of peoples have settled in and shaped Gathalan culture, including Celts, Vascones, Iberians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Franks, Moors, and recently migrants from abroad, especially North Africa.
The area of modern Gathalan is largely made of up what were the Roman provinces of Aquitania, Narbonensis, Alpes Cottiae, Alpes Maritimae, and the northeastern and eastern parts of Tarraconensis.
Fourteen Celtic tribes and over twenty Aquitanian (believed to be Vascones peoples) tribes occupied the area from the northern slopes of the Pyrenees in the south to the Liger river in the north. There were more than twenty tribes of Aquitani, but they were small and lacking in repute; the majority of the tribes lived along the ocean, while the others reached up into the interior and to the summits of the Cemmenus Mountains, as far as the Tectosages.
Most of the Atlantic coast of the Aquitani was sandy and thin-soiled; it grew millet, but was unproductive with respect to other products. Along this coast was also the gulf held by the Tarbelli; in their land, gold mines were abundant. Large quantities of gold could be mined with a minimum of refinement. The interior and mountainous country in this region had better soil. The Petrocorii and the Bituriges Cubi had fine ironworks; the Cadurci had linen factories; the Ruteni and the Gabales had silver mines.
According to Strabo, the Aquitani were a wealthy people. Luerius, the King of the Arverni and the father of Bituitus who warred against Maximus Aemilianus and Dometius, is said to have been so exceptionally rich and extravagant that he once rode on a carriage through a plain, scattering gold and silver coins here and there.
Provence folk costumes
The Romans called the tribal groups pagi. These were organized into larger super-tribal groups that the Romans called civitates. These administrative groupings were later taken over by the Romans in their system of local control.
South of the Pyrenees the area that is within modern Gathalania had been colonized along the Mediterranean coast by Phoenicians and Carthaginians as well as Greeks. The hinterland was occupied by the Iberian peoples in the east, Vascones in the north/northwest, and Celts/Celtiberians in the west. The Iberians were a pre-Indo-European cultural group that spoke the Iberian language from the 7th to the 1st century BC. It is generally believed the Iberians are possibly related to the Vascones and the Aquitani, constituting a three-part ethnic block of related peoples linguistically and culturally, though with variations between them.
In pre-Roman times, the area that is now called Catalonia in the north-east of Iberian Peninsula – like the rest of the Mediterranean side of the peninsula – was populated by the Iberians. The Iberians of this area – the Ilergetes, Indigetes and Lacetani (Cerretains) – also maintained relations with the peoples of the Mediterranean. Some urban agglomerations became relevant, including Ilerda (Lleida) inland, Hibera (perhaps Amposta or Tortosa) or Indika (Ullastret). Coastal trading colonies were established by the ancient Greeks, who settled around the Gulf of Roses, in Emporion (Empúries) and Roses in the 8th century BC. The Carthaginians briefly ruled the territory in the course of the Second Punic War and traded with the surrounding Iberian population.
Gathalan model Ruth Ligat during the International Day of Yoga, in Barcelona
After the Carthaginian defeat by the Roman Republic, the north-east of Iberia became the first to come under Roman rule and became part of Hispania, the westernmost part of the Roman Empire before becoming the province of Tarraconensis.
The Visigothic Kingdom would conquer nearly all of the area of modern Gathalania from the Romans by 500 CE, save for a small area in the northeast that became part of the Kingdom of the Burgundians. The Visigothic realm would fall apart, with the Franco-Visigothic Wars (492–508) seeing the loss of nearly all of the territory north of the Pyrenees. South of the mountains would succumb to Moorish conquest by 711 CE. The Gothic presence was amalgamated by Islamic Moorish south of the Pyrenees, while to the north that culture would be fused with the now dominant Frankish. These two conquests would essentially culminate in the final, to date, major ethno-cultural adjustment and update within the land that makes up modern Gathalania.
Modern Gathalans[]
Gathalan culture is internationally known for things such as Trobadors, both medieval and modern, as a nation of well known and popular folk musicians, with traditional-inspired folk music dominating in place of typical contemporary pop as can be found elsewhere (though Gathalania is not devoid of this music as well). Wine, particularly Red Bordel, White Bordel, Red Liborna, Grava, and Sautèrnas. Gathalans are known for their extreme love of the sport of rugby; where football is extrodinarily popular and the nation holds one World Cup title, it is rugby that takes the spot of most popular sport in Gathalania , with one World Cup title held. Gathalans are well known internationally for the food dishes ratatolha, alhòli, caçolet, Gathalan-cod (with raisins and pine nuts), caragols (snails), suiso (deep-fried, sugar-coated cylindrical pastry filled with crema catalana), and clafoutis.
Modern Gathalans
Gathalan culture is regarded as a 'fusion' or a 'crossroads' culture, a split between Mediterranean, Iberian, and Western European cultures. Most generally the Gathalans are grouped as 'Southwestern European' in culture, alongside the Spanish, Navarrese, and Portugalicians, and, though a significant genetic lineage in union with Western Europeans
Gathalan man in a pub in Bordel
(particularly France, Lorrain, and Southwest Germany) exists there is still a strong(er) genetic and cultural link with the Southwest.
Gathalans are described as more open, more soulful, and with an un-self-conscious devotion to tradition, more pleasurably frozen in time, compared to their neighbors to the north, while adhering to a slower pace of life in connection to their Mediterranean cousins. It is said that the English sense of humor is similar to Gathalan sense of humor; ironic, intelligent, and sort of eschatological. Gathalans prefer to be discreet and polite in public, where in the privacy of homes or when in a group of close friends tend to be more open. The Gathalan character is considered closer to the French by the Spanish and closer to the Spanish by the French. A Gathalan person is usually considered to be a hard worker, and an honest, fair, timely and respectful person, and expects the same from the people around him or her, as held in stereotype by their European neighbors. Gathalans are subsequently considered to be among the more trustworthy Europeans, by other Europeans, with a saying running, "as hard working as a German, but less stingy, as lazy as a Spaniard, but more orderly."
Southern Gathalan woman
Modern Gathalans have a, roughly, tripartite divide in the form of three major cultural areas. This is north of the Pyrenees, nicknamed Gathalania Gallia. This area is mostly protestant (Huguenot) though importantly this is by no means exclusive as there is a healthy and large Catholic population in the north as well. The generally cultural division isn't vast and most foreigners consider there to be a broad similarity in lifestyle and behavior, where cuisine tends to be the biggest difference (and religion) between the areas.
Alide Socasau, Gathalan singer
Gathalania Gallia's gastronomy or cuisine is considered as Mediterranean but has some specific features that separate it from the southern cuisine of Aquitania (or that of Aquitania Iberia) or Italian cuisine. Compared to other Mediterranean cuisines, one can note the using of basic elements and flavors, among them meat, fish and vegetables, moreover the frequent using of the olive oil; although also compound of elements from the Atlantic coast cuisine, with cheeses, pastes, creams, butters and more high calorie food.
South of the Pyrenees can be found the culture termed Gathalania Iberia. The area is defined as being Catholic (though by no means strictly so) and more closely aligned to the Mediterranean lifestyle.
Folk costume in Auvèrnhe, north-central Gathalania
Described as a subtle people, their character is summed up with a local term seny meaning "common sense" or a pragmatic attitude toward life. The masia or mas is a defining characteristic of the Catalan countryside and includes a large house, land, cattle, and an extended family, but this tradition is in decline as the nuclear family has largely replaced the extended family, as in the rest of western Europe.
To the east, essentially the Alpine area of Gathalania, is termed Gathalania Provincia and is made up of Provence, hence it is sometimes shorthand called Provence as a whole. Cuisine tends to be seafood focused with Bouillabaisse being a principal and well known example. Provence is considered the most 'luxurious' area of Gathalania and is one of the most common images conjured by foreigners when thinking of Gathalania, with jet-setters flocking here and an array of international festivals located in Provence. As such Provencals are considered arrogant and haughty by their fellow Gathalans, a stereotype that is arguably unjust.
Sports[]
Gathalan national football team crest
Gathalania has the unique position of having 'two major passions', with the sport of rugby nearly surpassing football in popularity.
The country has been a major center of Rugby league in Europe since the sport was introduced to the country in the 1930s. The region is also home to the rugby union teams AE Besièrs Erau, RC Narbona and US Arlequins Perpinhan.
The major football clubs Montpelhièr ESP, FC Barcelona, Girondins de Bordèu, and Olimpic de Marselha play in Liga 1 while additional high performance teams Valencia CF, Olimpic Lionés, and OGC Niça plays in this top league as well.
The men's national football team have won the FIFA World Cup twice and the European Championship twice as well.