New Duveland

New Duveland is an Island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country comprises of 4 main islands with numerous smaller islands. New Duveland is situated within the Tasman Sea, some 450km away from Australia, but same islands, especially within Lapérouse are immediately south of New Caledonia. First settled by Melanesians and then lated Polynesians and Europeans it was one of the last major landmasses to be inhabited by Humans. New Duveland developed a distinctive biodiversity of animal and plant life; most notable are the large number of unique bird species. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions.

Melanesians settled New Duveland in 1400 BC and developed a distinctive culture, followed by Polynesians in 1450. The first non-Māori contact with New Zealand happened when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted the island in 1642 CE.

New Duvians enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the world in the 1950s, and continued see high standards well into the late 20th century. The majority of New Zealand's population is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Melanesians and Asians. English and French are the official languages, with English predominant. Much of New Zealand's culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. Early European art was dominated by landscapes and the portraits of Māori. A recent resurgence of Māori culture has seen their traditional arts of carving, weaving and tattooing become more mainstream. The country's culture has also been broadened by globalisation and increased immigration from the Pacific Islands and Asia.

New Duveland is organised into 6 provinces and 1 territory. Nationally, executive political power is exercised by the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. Queen Elizabeth II is the country's head of state and is represented by a Governor-General. New Duveland is a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Commonwealth of Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and the United Nations.

Early History
New Duveland was first settled by Melanesians coming in through New Caledonia into what is now Lapérouse at around 1400 BC, settling and spreading out to all of New Duveland’s main islands from the provinces of Norfolk (northern island) to Capricornia.

Polynesians arrived in ND from New Holland around 1450 CE, also spreading throughout the country, peacefully interacting with the already established and flourishing Melanesian population.

European Discovery
The Dutch Explorer Abel Tasman first discovered the islands in 1642, calling the islands New Duveland, after the northern area of Zeeland. The islands remained unexplored until Captain James Cook returned to the islands and mapped all of them after he had mapped New Zealand and New Holland. The North coast of Lapérouse was explored by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, where he then disappeared into the Lapérouse wilderness.

Settlement and Early History
Settlement was commenced in early 1832 along with NZ and NH. Even though New Holland was far more successful than New Duveland, the ND colony had a larger population, having a population of around 50,000 by the end of 1840 but was mostly poor farmers from Europe as the fertile land was ideal for farming conditions with most of the wealthier settlers moving to New Holland. This resulted in both colonies being economically locked to each other, with New Duveland supplying food for New Holland, while New Holland supplied technological and banking services. This is still evident today, with both nations being heavily economically locked to each other to this day. By the time New Holland was classified as a different colony from New South Wales in 1851, New Duveland, along with Lapérouse became independent as well. Lapérouse was claimed as a French colony along with New Caledonia. The Colony was organized into 5 provinces, each keeping order over the province and of their settlements.

Gold Rush
Gold was discovered over vast areas in the Mirani and Abel provinces, causing enormous growth in Plymouth, Seatown, Aurora (Then capital of Cooksland) and many other cities across New Duveland. Much of the profits where put into Plymouth, which then accelerated population growth across the region. Large-scale shanty housing were popping up across the gold fields, which lasted for 15 years, promoting large scale movements of people to the colony, mainly from the UK, Ireland, France and the U.S. This sparked a building-boom in many cities.

Lord Howe Federation
The Federation of Lord Howe aimed to restore a strong central government in the colony, This was achieved in 1897 when they signed the Treaty of Victoria (1897). The federation was short lived, only lasting until 1903 as the government was very unstable and could never come to any agreements.

Dominion of New Duveland
As the Lord Howe Federation split back into the original 3 colonies, all three become a Dominion under the British Commonwealth, resulting in the first Prime Minister of New Duveland being elected, Robert Stevens, in 1903. The capital was selected to be Auroa and a new territory was formed around the peninsular.

Dissolvent of Diemen
Due to the devastating earthquakes of 1904, the Diemen government was forced to ask for assistance from New Holland. During the Conference of Cambridge (1904), It was decided that the Colony would be absorbed into NH, angering the New Duvian Government, deciding to wade in but New Holland refuses.

First World War
New Duveland joined in the war in Europe. New Duveland joined Australian, New Holland and New Zealand army troops, forming the ANZNHNDACs and being sent to Gallipoli, the first major engagement in the war by New Duveland. Remaining troops were sent into Neu Westfalen, a German colony, which took place on the 2nd of June 1916. The goal was to take the island quickly with little causalities, but was met with great German resistance. There were over 8,000 New Duveland, 8,500 New Holland and 10,000 Neu Westfalen casualties reported. Along with this, and the landing at Gallipoli, national pride swept the nation. Neu Westfalen was given to Lord Howe as a mandate colony.

Post WWI
With great influence from New Holland, new Duveland had gained a Liberal approach to affairs and security. A large amount of Europeans fled war-torn Europe and settled in many of the large cities, especially Plymouth and Auroa. When the Great Depression hit New Duveland, the Government established many strategies to overcome the rising unemployed, creating the Tasman Freeway Network, connecting all the east coasts of Mirani, Abel and Cooksland with ferry services connecting the gaps between the islands as well as creating a vast train network for Plymouth, Auroa and Seatown.

Second World War
As the second world war fell upon Europe, New Duvian forces were send to Europe to support the British, along side the New Holland troops in Crete and in the Western Desert Campaign. After Japan entered the war, New Duvian troops were brought back to their home soil to help defend New Duveland from Japan’s increasing presence in the Pacific. As the Japanese forces entered Papua New Guinea, they then launched a successful invasion of New Duveland on the 15th of August 1942, occupying the entire country, presumably to have closer forces to attack and occupy Australia. Much of Plymouth, Seatown and Auroa was bombed, destroying much of the city centres. Less than a month later, the then invaded New Holland. The United States, along with New Zealand and Australia seny massive forces to help push Imperial Japan out of New Duveland and New Holland to a full success in just less than 3 months. Troops were sent to Neu Westfalen to secure order as the war ravaged around the neutral country.

Post WWII
After the war, New Duveland signed the ANDNZUS treaty and joined the United Nations in 1948. A great influx of European migrants fled to New Duveland from France, Germany, The United Kingdom and many other eastern European countries. During this time, many civil rights for native Maori and Melani were brought up, they were deemed to be New Duvian citizens and were put in the constitution that they were the first official citizens of New Duveland. And were given the right to vote shortly after. The economy also started to shift; many large mining companies were established, mining coal, gold and many other rocks. Making New Duveland one of the regional powers, just behind New Holland.

Lapérouse Act
The French Oversea territory of Lapérouse joined the rest of New Duveland, becoming the 6th province on the 2nd of November 1949. The new province provoked some issued, such as what would happen to the French speaking community and the identity of the Lapérousians. The New Duvian Government settled this by making French, along with English to become New Duveland’s second national language. French was to be taught in all public schools and all public signs to be in both English and French in all provinces.

Late 20th century
The economy of New Duveland continued to explode, starting a huge building-boom across the country. Many large banks, mining and other companies established their provincial HQs in their capital cities.

21st Century
Many natural disasters occurred in this time period, such as in 2003, a devastating earthquake hit Portland. It destroyed much of the cities infrastructure, homes and businesses. It has gone through a large reconstruction phase, in which, the city was built in a modern style. The New Duvian government is now trying to lower the urban population, and move more people into the countryside to increase agriculture production and also the densification of the biggest cities, centralizing the population growth in the city centres and surrounding areas.

Government
New Duveland is divided into 6 provinces and 1 territory, being a Federal Parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, sharing a Monarch with the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth Realms. Elizabeth II is the current Monarch. The Governor-General who is appointed with the Prime Minister’s advice represents the Queen. The Governor-General can review cases of injustice and make appointments of ministers, ambassadors and other key public officials, and in rare situations the Governor-General may use reserve powers (e.g. the power to dissolve Parliament if the country is in a state of emergency) The powers of the Queen and the Governor-General are limited by constitutional constraints and they cannot normally be exercised without the advice of Cabinet. The current prime minister of New Duveland is Steve Rodgers. Everyone is allegeable to vote, if they are registered and over the age of 18.

When citizen reach the age of 15, they are allegeable to legally work if they wish. At 16 citizens can go for their learner licence (Cars only), and also make their own decisions if they want to stay in or leave school early. At the age of 18, citizens can vote, and go for their "P" driving licence, and their Learner motorbike licence. At the age of 20, they can be allegeable for a aeroplane licence and also at the legal age of consuming alcohol. This is much later than Australia (18), and is mainly due to health issues, knowing that our brains do not fully develop until we reach 20-21 years of age.

International Relations
New Duveland has many excellent relations with many countries, particularly strong relations within the AIN. Currently, New Duveland has no hostile relations with any other countries. New Duveland has also several embassies all across the world, with the strongest relations being with New Holland.

New Duveland has signed many international treaties, such as: The Geneva Protocol, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and also the Alliance of Independent Nations as well as many more. New Duveland is a member of the United Nations, the Pacific Forum and several other international organisations. New Duveland has always had a huge opposition to nuclear power and was met with large public backlases when the nation proposed to construct a plant in Norfolk.

LGBT Rights
By 2011, New Duveland passed a law allowing all homosexual citizens to be allowed to get married, adopt and in doing so, became the first country in the Asia/Pacific region to do so, 2 years before New Zealand. Prior to the passage of this law, the government was in full support of passing the law and as was the rest of the country. The law passed in parliament with only 12.5% disagreeing to the law. Many celebrations occurred across the nation in all capital cities, with people lining up to get married hours after the law had passed.

Customary authority
New Duveland allows citizens from other AIN countries whom have good and excellent relations allegeable for a 2-3 month free visa respectably. Citizens of Neutral countries will receive a 2-4 week visa. Citizens from strained AIN nations relations will have to go through a small series of checkpoints to be able to get into Mirani. Rules are even tougher for AIN countries that have hostile relations with Mirani will not be able to enter the country unless they go through a long series of questions, this stops potential dangerous personal to get into the country. Citizens travelling domestically do not need a passport, only needing a small proof of identification. All citizens travelling abroad need passports to leave and enter the country, and in some circumstances, they might need another source of photographic identification, like a drivers licence.

Military
New Duveland has an active military enrolment of 50,000 troops who can be called up by the New Duvian Government. Many troops were sent to aid Australia and other nations against the war of terror in Afghanistan. To this date, no New Duvian soldiers have been killed in combat, but 72 have been injured and returned back for medical treatment. The remaining troops will be recalled by the end of 2013, ending New Duveland’s involvement in the war.

Provinces
New Duveland is divided into 6 provinces and 1 territory. The provinces each have their capitals.