Yeduan

Yeduan occupies Jarraban’s west and is the least populous province, with 156,215 inhabitants as of 2019. Its name derives from the Bayutan language and loosely translates to “chiefdom”. Two-thirds of the population live in the capital city of Perroa, with the remainder of the province sparsely populated.

Inhabited by the Austronesian-descended Bayutan since roughly 1000 AD, British settlement began with the annexation of land at Perroa and Cape Howe for penal colonies in 1824. Although they experienced fewer problems than those in Parrigo and Whartonia, the colonial government disbanded them in 1833, citing high operating costs. During the latter half of the 19th century, thriving whaling and timber industries developed throughout the Minerva Peninsula, making the province the nation’s second-richest following Whartonia. However, a series of strikes by workers during the 1890s undermined this productivity, causing both industries to collapse in the wake of the government’s refusal to increase wages. The timber industry was not revived until after World War II, whilst the whaling industry never recovered and largely ceased operations during the 1910s.

Yeduan’s landscape is undulating and characterised by a medley of forests, grasslands and freshwater lakes. Its climate is temperate with consistent year-round rainfall on the Minerva Peninsula, whilst the north is subtropical with drier summers and moderate temperatures. Interior regions such as the Poraya and the Halifax Plateau remain relatively dry. Logging and pulp milling has controversially driven strong economic growth since the 1970s, although regulations introduced in the late 1990s to combat what was seen as the destruction of the province’s natural beauty have curtailed this somewhat.