Druaya

Druaya, officially the Commonwealth Republic of Druaya, is a country in North America. It is situated west of California; covering an area of 187146 km2, with a population of over 52 million within its 8 regions, which consist of 64 prefectures. Druaya is the third-most populous country in North America after Mexico, as well as the third-most populous member state of the Union of North American Nations. Its capital is Kyochu, and its largest city and financial center is San Fernando; the largest urban area is the San Fernando Bay Area.

Various Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Druaya for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century, Spanish expeditions explored the California coast, and as a result, the Druayan archipelago. The first European settlement in Druaya was established in 1638 at Pueblo de Los Leopardos in the modern-day prefecture of Plainecotiere, now known as Comienzo Point. Japanese expeditions, beginning in 1638, also began to explore the archipelago. They soon established the Japanese colony of Toriku under the Kingdom of Japan, settling near where San Fernando is based today at the town of Ribabey. The colony was renamed to Druaya Colony in 1707. Unlike other colonies in the Empire, Druaya was allowed self-government and settlement by those of European descent. Particularly, British and Spanish settlers began establishing settlements in the colony, giving it a distinct mix of Japanese and European customs and culture. The French-established city of Pacanne became the colony's capital in 1754 (renamed Kyochu in 1802), and Japanese control was loosened in the decades that followed. In 1832, the territory declared independence from the Kingdom of Japan, starting a seven year long process of negotiations with Japan. On 18 July 1839, the Treaty of Montemarciano was signed, releasing Druaya from Japanese control and granting Druaya full independence.

Druaya's early history of being a nation state was marked by several political and socioeconomic upheavals, primarily the San Fernando Revolution of 1847 and the June Revolt of 1848, which mandated the creation of a second constitution on 7 August 1848. After the second constitution, the country stabilised and began to industrialise, significantly growing its economy and bringing in an era of prosperity, primarily due to its location west of the Pacific coast of North America. It also began to establish formal relations with the United States in 1849, becoming a major American ally and trading partner. The Port of San Fernando soon became one of the West's primary ports for importing goods from East Asian countries like Korea, China, and Japan.

During the Jim Crow era in the United States, Druaya became a refuge for African-Americans who were affected by such laws, and as such, is home to one of the largest populations of Africans in the Western world by proportion to the wider population. It passed the Anti-Discrimination Act, barring discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity, in 1896. It was codified into the basic laws of Druaya by the third and current constitution in 1909, which also saw the country become a unitary, semi-presidential republic with 41 administrative prefectures, now 64 administrative prefectures. Amendments were established in the 1920s to establish equality between the sexes, the 1970s to establish the same for sexual identity, and the 2000s for gender identity.

The Commonwealth Republic of Druaya is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic. The head of state is known as the Premier, who shares executive powers with the head of government, otherwise known as the Chancellor. The Chancellor is elected via a vote by the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Druaya's legislature, the National Assembly. Typically, the Chancellor is the leader of the largest party in the governing coalition. The Chamber of Senators, the upper house, oversees the Chamber of Deputies, and answers to the Vice Chancellor, who himself answers to the Premier. The Vice Chancellor is elected in a similar process to the Chancellor.

Druaya is considered to be a great power with a strong economy; it has the second-largest economy in North America, the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the fourth-largest by PPP. It is a leader in several industries, including Information and communications technology, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, tourism, transportation, sustainable energy, and agriculture. As a highly developed country, which is the highest-ranked country on the Human Development Index, it offers a wide-reaching social security network and a universal health care system, extensive environmental protections, a tuition-free university education, and an expansive public transportation system. Druaya is a member of the United Nations, Union of North American Nations, NATO, PPTO, European Union, Commonwealth of Nations, the G7, the G20, the OECD, Asian Economic Union, and the Pacific Alliance. It has the ninth-greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Etymology
The earliest evidence of the name Druaya has Native American origins, likely coming from the Lemaremara word for green hills, Doru Kaya.

The name of Druaya in Japanese is written using the kanji 海境 and pronounced Kaikyō. The characters 海境 mean "ocean boundary", the source of the epithet "Where the Light Meets the Sea"., and a common translation for the name in other East Asian languages. In Mandarin Chinese, the country is called Haijing (or Hǎijìng), using the same characters as the Japanese interpretation, as does the Cantonese Hoiging (Hoígíng). In Korean, the name is interpreted as Haegyeong (해경), and in Vietnamese, Druaya is referred to as Hải Biên.

In most other languages, including European languages such as French, Spanish, and German, a direct transliteration of Druaya is used.

Indigenous population
The commonly-accepted date for the arrival of humans to Druaya is estimated to have been in 10,000 BCE, with artifacts near Edo having been dated to 9,660 BC. Additional evidence suggests that there was a second migration to Druaya in 7,500 BCE, particularly to the area around Nanho southward. The first migration likely came from California and the Pacific Northwest of the United States, while the second was likely Polynesian in origin.

Over time, three major tribes - the Lemaremara, Macano, and Yaluma - became the primary settlers of the country, which was referred to by all three as Macapuni, translating to "large island". The Lemaremara were primarily Native American in origin, and settled the northeast of the country, with their largest settlement being Como Yaja, about 22 kilometres southeast of Kahoku. Inhabiting the west coast were the Macano, a Polynesian tribe. Their largest settlement, Samaca, located near where Kyochu is located today, had over 67,000 in population at its first contact with Japanese settlers. In the southeast and central valleys, the Yaluma was the most developed of the three, with major agricultural settlements on the banks of the Sogenkawa and Akaikawa rivers, and were descended from both Native American and Polynesian migration, with more Polynesian ancestry along the southern coastline and eastern coastal plain.

At the time of contact, there were an estimated 560,000 Lemaremara, 798,000 Macano, and 455,000 Yaluma people living in Druaya. Additionally, there were many smaller tribes located in the country's two main mountain ranges, known as the Camana (mountain people), with a combined estimated population of 126,000 at time of contact.

Exploration and settlement
The first recorded incident of non-Native exploration of Druaya was in 1521, by Spain and the Kingdom of England, but no European settlements were established until 1543, when the Spanish established the town of Comienzo, 39 kilometres south of Kanfu in modern-day Saijin Prefecture. The Spanish soon abandoned the town, instead focusing their efforts on the colonisation of modern-day Latin America, particularly Mexico. The Comienzo settlement, however, laid the groundwork for future contact and settlement.

Accounts of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese sailors washing up on the northern shore had been recorded as far back as the year 600 CE, but had not been confirmed to be true until the Spanish settlement of Comienzo recorded "Oriental ships headed onto the Shoreline of the town of Comienzo, from the pounding Waves of the mighty Ocean" on January 5, 1544, recalling an incident where three Korean ships has washed onto shore due to a powerful storm. On October 7, 1577, two Japanese sailors, Kohiro Fukatsu and Kagerou Shigemura, along with 44 people aboard, landed the Yamashiro along the shores of Kahoku, founding the city, naming it for its northerly location and the river starting just east of the city. In 1578, Japanese merchant ships began to travel to the new settlement, establishing the bōeki kessai (trade settlement) of Kaikyō on August 4, claiming the entire island of Toboku (東木; "East tree") for the Empire of Japan.

Early colonisation
The Kaikyō colony was the first Japanese colony in the Americas, and would be the longest-lasting Japanese colony on the continent. Soon after, the Japanese claimed small coastal settlements in California (primarily near Monterey), naming the collective of colonies Tōhin (東浜; east shore). However, they were quickly abandoned, and as a result, Kaikyō became the primary Japanese colony in the Americas. The Japanese primarily focused on introducting Japanese culture and practices via adapting them to the pre-existing Native culture and practices as a sign of respect to Native populations as part of the Japanese idea of honour. In contract, most European settlers focused on "civilising" Native Americans and converting them to Christianity. This also extended into colonial politics, where Native populations and settlers would often meet to vote on decisions affecting the colony.

However, with colonisation, disease such as smallpox and measles were introduced to the islands, with over 43% of Natives dying as a result of the introduction of disease, and by 1703, smallpox had become endemic to Native populations in Druaya. Colonial government attemped to slow the spread of smallpox by multiple means, though each attempt failed. On January 7, 1943, both the Japanese and Druayan governments issued an apology for the introduction of disease during the colonial era, and soon began programs to restore Native land.

Major cities
Druaya is a highly urbanised country, with its largest cities (in terms of metropolitan area population in 2019) being San Fernando (5,544,204 inh.), Montemaricano (4,310,850), Navamorisca (3,956,296), Iramaia (3,345,343), Yeluma (4,000,713), Birmingham (3,339,295), Clermont (2,185,839), Bristol (1,961,521) and Kanfu (727,357). (Note: There are significant differences between the metropolitan population figures just cited and those in the following table, which indicates the population of the city limits). Rural flight was a perennial political issue throughout most of the 20th century.