Pacifica (Vegetarian World)

Republic of Pacifica

Official language	None at the federal level; English most widespread
Capital	Pacific Bay City
Largest Metros	Pacific Bay City Topanga Seattle Vancouver
Population	12,759,000
HDI	0.959
President	Saki Suzuki
Independence	From Great Britain - 1901 (dominion status declared), 1931 (complete independence)
Currency	Pacifica Dollar (PCD)
Our Timeline Equivalent	Alaska, Washington, Idaho, western Montana, Oregon, California (USA), and British Columbia (Canada)
Location

Pacifica, formally the Republic of Pacifica is a democratic nation.

Pacifica Capitol, Pacific Bay City

Geography

Pacifica is located on the Pacific seaboard of northern Pemhakamik. Pacifica's geography is perhaps the most diverse in the world, seeing as how it encompasses such a change in latitude. Deserts, forests, glaciers, tundra...flat valleys and the highest mountain (Denali) are all found in Pacifica. Generally, the deserts are in the low latitudes, and then the temperate rain forests hug the coastline while continental forests are found inland. North of Haida Island, glaciers start to form. Both rain forests and glaciers can be found in Tlingit Province. Going farther north, one reaches the tundra.

Along parts of the Pacifica coast are islands. They start with the Channel Islands and then no more islands are to be seen until the Quadra and Vancouver Islands, and as one travels north, numerous islands rise out of the sea, the largest of which is Wakashan Island. Large islands farther up the coast are Haida Island, the Tlingit Archipelago, the Ursa Major Archipelago, and the Aleutian Archipelago.

History

The area that is now Pacifica has been inhabited by a myriad of Aboriginal groups, including Innuit for thousands of years. Though only the most general of groupings (like "European), there were "Penutian", Salish(an), Wakashan, Athabascan, and other realms (like the Innuit), which still largely exist in the form of provinces and semi-autonomous areas. During the colonial period, it was visited by some Spanish explorers, but was not colonized. The British also explored the area, more often than not over land instead of by sea. It was generally left alone until 1860, when the Great Pemhakamik War began. Though the Confederate States were the original aggressor, Great Britain decided finally that it had to have not only more allies but more land in Pemhakamik, and the western seaboard was expecially tempting. When Britain claimed Pacifica, Mejico invaded but was defeated. The British got the permission from most Aboriginal leaders (many of whom were afraid to resist the world's largest empire) and established Pacifica as a colony with many provinces, which had more autonomy from the British government, as well as each other, than in New England. These provinces often (though definitely not always) correlated with major Aboriginal groupings. Within provinces, individual counties also excercised considerable power. Though everything seemed to be well on its way, many aboriginals saw it as a bad omen when the British bought the land of the Ramaytush and moved them south into Awaswas County to found Pacific Bay City. Though Pacifica Bay City is a federal district and not a county, the area south is still called Ramaytush County, and about one-third of the Ramaytush still live there (or have moved back) since then. Still, it must be noted that the British paid for land they took, and the British favored compact cities as opposed to sprawling ones. Rural areas are still largely Aboriginal to this day.

Demographics

Seattle, the third-largest city in Pacifica

Vegetarianism

Pacifica has the highest percentage of vegetarians in Pemhakamik. Vegetarianism is native to the region, and was not merely brought by later settlers. In fact, the Valley Miwok, Shonommey and Maidu Aboriginals (in the central California region), as well as some others, have long been almost completely vegetarian, even since before European contact. Vegetarianism is deeply rooted in Pacifican culture and music (The Beach Boys's Vega-Tables.)

91% Vegetarian

46% Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian

24% Vegan Vegetarian

20% Lacto Vegetarian

01% Ovo Vegetarian

09% Non-Vegetarian

Ethnic Groups

Though only 28% of Pacificans are Aboriginal (22% Pacifica Aboriginals), they make up the plurality in 86% of the nation, when looking at a map showing all the counties colored according to their majority/plurality race. This is because the Europeans, Orientals, Indians, and other relatively recent settlers are highly urbanized, and the Aboriginal majority areas tend to be very rural (though a good percentage of Aboriginals live in cities). Also notably, Pacifica has the largest number and highest percentage of Orientals of any Pemhakamik population.

47% European

28% Pemhakamik Aboriginal

22% Pacifican Aboriginal

03% Mejican Aboriginal

03% other Pemhakamik Aboriginal

14% Oriental

03% Indian

01% Pachan

04% mixed ancestry

03% others

Religions

Pacifica has the largest percentage of nonreligious people in Pemhakamik.

62% Nonreligious

41% atheist

21% agnostic

11% Cathar

09% Christian

05% Quaker

02% Catholic

02% other Christian

06% various Aboriginal beliefs

04% Buddhist

02% Hindu

02% Jain

02% Jewish

02% other

Languages

62% English

06% Aboriginal "Penutian" languages

05% Aboriginal Na-Dené languages*

05% Chinese languages

04% Aboriginal Salish languages

02% Aboriginal Wakashan languages

02% Japanese languages

02% Korean languages

02% Spanish

01% Aryan Indian languages

01% Dravidian Indian languages

01% Polynesian languages**

03% other Aboriginal languages

03% other Indo-European languages languages***

01% others

Note: Many people are bilingual or even trilingual. A secondary language class is mandatory to take from middle school through high school, and is encouraged in most universities as well.

*Na-Dené languages are split up into the major language groups of Athabaskan, Tlingit, and Eyak. Athabaskan speakers constitute the majority of Na-Dene speakers in Pacifica. **Polynesian languages (OTL Austronesian languages) include Malay, Tagalog, Hawaiian, etc. **Mainly Germanic (Netherlandish, Dutch, etc) and Romance (Italian, Catalan, French, etc).

Flag

The flag of Pacifica was first used just after the 1931 Statute of Westminster gave Pacifica its independence. The Union Flag makes up the canton. The green, gold, and blue wavy stripes stand for the mountains, desert, and (Pacific) ocean, respectively. The white stripes in-between the others do not officially represent anything, but some say that they represent the snow in places like mountaintops, Tlingit province glaciers, and the far north.