Well I'm back!! Sorry again for the long delay since my last post back in mid-September, work has kept my extremely busy. Anyway here's the next installment for
Hail, Britannia giving a bit of a glimpse of Africa, a part of the world that is often overlooked here.
I'm hoping that updates will be more frequent from this point on, hopefully once every 2-3 weeks. If anyone has any requests or contributions then please just drop me a PM about it
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the
Land of Good Hope:
----
The
United Kingdom of the Cape, commonly known as
Capeland, is a sovereign state located in Southern Africa, bordered to the north by the Brazilian Viceroyalty of Benguela, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe and the Republic of Mozambique, and to the south by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Capeland contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, with evidence suggesting that the region has been inhabited by modern humans for at least 170,000 years. At the time of European contact, the dominant ethnic group were Bantu-speaking peoples who had migrated from other parts of Africa about one thousand years before, with the two major historic groups being the Xhosa and Zulu peoples.
The first European colonies in the region were established in 1652 by the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope, now known as Cape Town. Britain later took over the Cape of Good Hope area in 1795, to prevent it from falling under the ontrol of the French First Republic. They returned the settlement to the Dutch Republic in 1803, before annexing the colony again in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. During the 19th century, many Dutch settlers departed from the Cape Colony and migrated to the future Griqualand, Natal, Free State, and Transvaal regions, with the Boers establishing the Transvaal Republic. The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior increased economic growth and immigration, intensifying British efforts to gain control over the indigenous peoples. The struggle to control these important economic resources was a factor in relations between Europeans, Boers and the indigenous population.
Gradually over the course of the 19th century, Britain came to dominate the states of Southern Africa by establishing protectorates over the Tswana, Sotho, Zulu and Swazi kingdoms as well as economically dominating the independent Transvaal Republic. The Boer War (1879-1881) saw the entirety of modern day Capeland, with the exception of Namibia, recognise the suzerainty of the British Empire in the region. Capeland was formed in 1910 as a non-integrated federal dominion of the United Kingdom under the name of the “Union of the Cape”, which merged the Cape, Natal, Griqualand and Free State colonies with the Transvaal Republic. The southern part of the former German colony of Namibia was annexed in 1923 after the First World War, and the territories that make up modern Botswana, Lesotho, Zululand, Laurentina and Swaziland were added gradually between the 1940s and 1960s. A constitutional referendum in 1960 resulted in the adoption of a new constitution, which came into force in 1961, severing the last legislative links with the British Imperial Parliament and replacing Queen Elizabeth II with her uncle King Johan II, who was married to a member of the Dutch royal family and had lived in Cape Town for thirty years.
The end of the
de facto racial segregation system in the Cape (known as “apartheid”), and the dismantling of the the Cape Qualified Franchise, which restricted voting rights to property owning males regardless of colour, was a gradual process that began with the 1961 constitution and ended with the adoption of the 1980 constitution, by which point all discriminatory laws had been repealed or abolished. Since the first universal election in 1984, all ethnic and linguistic groups have had political representation in the country's democracy.
In the 21st century Capeland boasts one of the largest and well developed economies in Africa, on par with parts of Europe, and with a population of just over 80 million it is also one of the most ethnically diverse. Capeland is also one of the most socially progressive countries in the world, being the first African nation to legalise same-sex marriage (2002). As one of the “Big 6” within the Commonwealth of Nations, Capeland is a significant player in global geopolitics and a prominent member of the Non-Aligned League.
The
2013 Capeland federal election was held on 6 June 2013 to elect, under proportional representation, the 674 members of the House of Assembly of the Cape. The incumbent centre-left
United National Congress government, in coalition with the centrist
New National Union, under Prime Minister Siphiwe Nyanda, narrowly lost their bid for a seventh consecutive term to the centrist/conservative
Democratic Liberal Alliance, under leader Annalie Gwabini, who formed a minority coalition with the
Inkatha Freedom Party, a broad-tent African traditionalist and regionalist party, and became the Cape's first female and mixed race Prime Minister. The loose alliance of centrist
Independent Democrats also gained seats at this election, as did several smaller parties such as the newly formed
Economic Freedom Fighters who gained 2 seats.
Key issues at this election were the ongoing corruption within government, including UNC officials spending government money on personal projects, cases of police brutality against protesters during the 2012 Capeland strike action and the attempts by the UNC to initiate land reform policies that would disproportionately affect white and coloured land owners. The latter policy caused the NNU to publicy disavow the possibility of entering another coalition with the UNC under Nyanda, seriously weakening both parties in the run up to the election, with the DLA running on a platform of clean government, reform of the labour laws and opposing any sort of land redistribution.
Annalie Gwabini is the 21st and current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the Cape, having led the Democratic Liberal Alliance to a victory in the 2013 federal election. Born in Cape Town to a Coloured father and a Zulu mother, Gwabini was raised in the closing years of the aprtheid system in the Cape. Educated at Valcour College of the University of New York City and Cape Town University, Gwabini briefly worked as a civil servant in the Western Cape provincial government before running for office in 1996. First elected to the Western Cape Legislative Assembly, Gwabini would be elected to Parliament at the 2002 federal election and was appointed to the Opposition front benches as the DLA's Finance Critic.
After the resignation of Christiaan Rensburg, Gwabini became the frontrunner to replace him as Leader of the DLA and she won the 2007 leadership election with 64% of the vote. A vocal critic of the government's financial and social policies, Gwabini would lead her party to victory at the 2013 federal election, becoming the first female prime minister and the first non-UNC prime minister since 1984.
King Willem VI Themba is the seventh and current monarch of the United Kingdom of the Cape, and the third to reside in the country after his grandfather Johan II and father Willem V. The first member of the Capeland Royal Family to have been born after his grandfather's accession to the throne in 1961, Willem VI Themba is the first coloured monarch in Capeland history, descended from the British and Dutch royal families through his father, whilst his mother was of mixed Boer, Xhosa and Zulu descent.
Married to Princess Atile of Swaziland, a half-sister of the current Swazi monarch, Willem VI Themba ascended to the throne in 1994 after the death of his father. He has four children with his wife, and has continued the tradition of choosing names from Capelands numerous linguistic groups. Although politically neutral, King Willem VI Themba is a very popular figure due to his anti-discrimination views and support for Capeland's multi-ethnic society.
Capelander is the term used to describe a citizen of the Cape regardless of race, language or origin. With nearly 50% of the population being of non-African origin, Capeland is one of the most diverse countries on the planet, with the largest population of Europeans, Coloured and Asian peoples on the continent, and is often referred to as the "Rainbow Nation". In terms of stereotypes, Capelanders are known internationally for their "melting pot" culture, a vibrant and colourful mix of native and European traditions, their open attitude to new ideas and experiences, and their acceptance of different cultures.
Capeland is a federal state consisting of
10 provinces and 5 autonomous regions located on the southern tip of the African continent. Of the 15 subdivisions, three have existed unchanged since the formation of the Union of the Cape in 1910; Natal, Griqualand and Free State whilst the other twelve were either added later or formed from the partition of Transvaal and Western Cape in 1990.
All 10 provinces function as sub-national parliamentary monarchies, recognising the Capeland monarch as their head of state. The 5 autonomous regions have significantly more leeway when it comes to adopting federal laws, such as tax laws, citizenship and the welfare system. Four of the regions are monarchies led by traditional African chiefs, whilst Griqualand is a presidential republic with a State President elected by the Griqualand Legislature.
Hail, Britannia
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