Very nice, is there a signficiant costa nortean diaspora in Australasia (i guess mostly for cheap labour)?
There is. There was only a small diaspora until the mid 1990s, when discrimination was significantly enough reduced to convince many Costa Norteans to move there. Now the diaspora grows by the day, although limits have been placed on emigration to prevent half the country leaving for better living conditions in Australasia.
Are there some indigenous insurgencies in the hinterland? Indigenous protests in the capital? How are the politics of the country, is it dominated by a creole elite, by the same parties that existed during the independance?
There are no real indigenous protests; the current system - "we'll leave you alone and you leave us alone" - works quite well. Those who want to migrate for better job prospects will do so; those who would rather maintain their traditional cultural practices will typically remain in the hinterland or smaller towns.
Politics is...
unique in Costa Norte. There are two organised political parties; the centre-right
Front for National Liberation and the left-wing
Democratic Republican Party. However, at present, 56% of the seats in the National Assembly are held by independents; many elected on the strength of support from their own communities, but also many who insist they alone have the solution to the country's problems. The current Prime Minister is
Noé Aak Kuuw Punchan, a centre-right independent, leading a government with the FLN and an eclectic mix of independents. The President is non-partisan and serves a primarily ceremonial role. The incumbent, author
Boori do Mar, is currently leading a push for increased literacy.
What are the religions in the country? IRL East timor is the most catholic country in the world (after of course vatican), and one of hte most religious country, in fact historically the church was the only vector of portuguese influence on the island, are Costa Nortean as catholic?
Just realised that this is not in the wikibox; apparently not all wikiboxes on Wikipedia have them!
The in-universe explanation is that statistics on such things are variable and difficult to gauge with high enough accuracy.
However, the rough religious break up is as follows:
59% Traditional indigenous faiths
32% Catholicism
8% Other Christian denominations
<1% Islam
<1% Other faiths; irreligion
Christianity is strongest in the coastal regions, where the influence of Crown and Church was strongest. However, much of the coastal population still hold to their traditional beliefs, and in much of the interior, Christianity is almost unknown.
Hope that helps!
What's Costa Norte like in terms of religions and education levels?
For religion, see above.
Education in Costa Norte is fairly poor by international standards. Almost every child is given a traditional education based on their particular ethnic group's traditions, however formal education in literacy and numeracy is generally restricted to towns and cities, and then only to primary school level. There are only ten high schools in the country, and one university.
The adult literacy rate is 40.6%, with a slightly higher proportion of females to males.
Going back to your kidulia infobox, are there any remnants of the portuguese colonisation on what are IRL the tiwi islands, or in any of the other failed colonies, like a few forts,a small creole speaking population or a catholic population?
No traces remain of the (very) brief attempt at Portuguese colonisation of the Tiwi Islands (whose inhabitants quickly repelled the Portuguese), or of São João, in the OTL Kimberley. However, Portuguese influences are strong in Aurukun, part of Costa Norte but on the other side of the peninsula to Porto-Novo. A settlement there initially failed but was reestablished 30 years after colonisation of Porto-Novo.
I just noticed on one of your first map that the western part of Papua was colonized by Portugal, could you expend a bit on it?
That's New Guinea. It was indeed colonised by Portugal. Expansion shall come soon.
(Unrelated, but how many people live in Baudinia? i think that's the only australian country you didn't give the population)
The population of Baudinia is only 63,800.
More coming on Baudinia soon!