Zamastan

Imperial Republic of Zamastan Zamah St'an
Flag of Zamastan Flag
Motto: Long Live the Republic
Anthem: Ode to the Mount
Capital	Tofino
Official languages	English, French, Spanish, Native Zamah St’an
Recognised national languages	English
Ethnic groups (2016)	43% Skithan-Zamastan 37% English-Zamastan 15% Black 5% Other
Demonym(s)	Zamastanian
Government	Democratic Republic
• President	Zacharias Castovia
Establishment
• Republic of Zamah St’an	1804
• Republic of Zamastan	1844
• Imperial Republic of Zamastan	1911
Area
• Total	359,499 km2 (138,803 sq mi)
Population
• 2016 estimate	102, 300,000
• 2014 census	99,843,038
• Density	277.72/km2 (719.3/sq mi)
HDI (2016)	0.91 very high
Currency	Zamastan ziapet (ZPT)
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+225
Internet TLD	.za

The Imperial Republic of Zamastan, simply called Zamastan, is a democratic republic in the International Democratic Union. Zamastan became an important player on the world stage in the 19th and 20th centuries, assisting Allied forces in the Second World War, standing as a capitalist state among a growing communist presence, and as the founding nation of the United Crown Alliance, which at its peak contained 63 nations across the world. The nation has at times also been a member of MUTO and the International Democratic Union before the foundation of the UCA. Events within that alliance caused the leadership of Zamastan to return to the IDU, along with the nations of Vulkaria, Novachronos, Gladysynthia, and Cadair. Zamastan has advanced rapidly in the fields of technology, while maintaining the steady economic gains of mining, logging, and fishing. Zamastan is known for its rich history, stunning natural beauty, and rich living tolerances.

Etymology

Zamastan is pronounced Zah-mah-Stan, and comes from the 16th century Skith words Zaihma St’an, meaning ‘land touching sky’ and ‘extensive shores’. The standard way to refer to a citizen of Zamastan is as a "Zamastanian."

History

Skith Discovery and Colonization

Percy Armillio discovers Zamah St'an

The islands that would come to be known as Zamastan was discovered in 1704 by Percy Armillio, a Skithan national and explorer who stumbled upon the land inadvertently during one of his expeditions on behalf of the Skithan Empire. The Empire was a major world power at the time and was in the process of expanding its imperialist ambitions to the New World where they had already established multiple colonies in the Pacific Ocean. When he came across the previously unknown landmass, Armillio's intended destination had been Doris, another island in the Pacific located south of Zamastan, which the Skithan had already begun colonizing some five years previously. Aboard his ship traveling with him were a crew of approximately 100 men brought along to assist Armillio upon landing in Doris as well as an additional hundred African slaves. The captive African men were sent over from the Skithan mainland with the intended task of performing slave labor to assist in the construction of the colony on Doris.

Slave Labor

Upon reaching this island and immediately realizing it was not his intended destination, Armillio became curious and ordered all crew to round up the captives and disembark the vessel with him as they set out on a brief exploration of the land. About fifty men accompanied Armillio as rudimentary maps were drawn up as accurately as possible while the other fifty held the slave laborers at gunpoint and ordered them to begin collecting any resources available. Cranberry and strawberry bushes, rocks embedded with iron and silver vessels, and wheat parses were just some of the commodities that were gathered and hauled back to the ship day after day after day. The Africans captives performing these tasks were sometimes not fed for weeks and when they were, extremely small portions were all the Skithan afforded them. They were given water on such a frequency so as to just barely keep them from becoming too dehydrated to perform the constant, back-breaking labor they were subjected to. Conditions were miserable and desperate; on occasion the slaves would be made to fight one another to the death by their captors with the winner receiving a minuscule amount of extra food or water. The Skithan found these "slave fights" entertaining and would make wagers among themselves as to who would win. Sometimes even the victor, after being coerced into killing one of his own with the promise of a slightly fuller stomach, would be denied his "prize" anyway and left to starve just the same.

King Almaraz II of Skith was thrilled to hear Percy Armillio's news of the newly discovered island upon his return to the Empire's mainland. Armillio had returned with significantly less slaves than he had departed with due to countless of them succumbing to either starvation, dehydration, exposure, or just simply being executed by the Skith men for any number of reasons. But what he did bring back was a ship full of valuable commodities gathered from the island, which he requested the King see for himself, going on to inform him that the place was almost completely uninhabited save for small clusters of primitive natives and abundant with a variety of resources that would prove quite profitable to the Empire. It was also said that the location of this new land would give them a larger and more strategic base of operations for their expanding sphere of influence in the Pacific and Western North America. It did not take long for King Almaraz II to begin planning the colonization of Armillio's discovery and within six years by 1710, he had set sail towards Zamastan once again with another, even larger crew this time around. Upon arriving once again, Percy Armillio and his men began searching the island systematically for the native peoples they had caught brief glimpses of on their previous voyage. Upon locating the unsuspecting indigenous tribes, the Skithan would feign friendliness at first, attempting to gain their trust with the intention of luring any additional natives who may have seen the invaders coming from the shore and retreated into the jungles out into the open. Once exposed, the plan was to take the entire population captive and put them to work alongside their long-suffering African laborers; this would exponentially increase the amount of resources that could be harvested and shipped back to Skith. As with the Africans, any of the native islanders who resisted or could not perform the endless labor to the satisfaction of the Skithan were shot without hesitation as were any with disabilities that prevented them from working, as they were seen to be of no usefulness.

Insurections

Throughout the rest of the century, the Skith Empire continued exploiting the indigenous peoples as well as Africans purchased in the slave market, using them at first to harvest the many natural resources the island offered and eventually to begin constructing towns and roads to connect these towns. The laborers themselves were not permitted to reside in the towns they had been forced to build; these were reserved for Skith men and their families as more and more sailed to Zamastan from Skith. King Almaraz II desired the colony to consist of his own countrymen; the plan was to use the natives and Africans to construct the infrastructure for the colony and subsequently to exterminate the entirety of them. This would hypothetically guarantee that the colony would consist solely of pure-blooded Skithan settlers, who were viewed as far superior to the "primitive" natives. Through the late 1700s numerous revolts were attempted by the slaves; the Africans and natives did not necessarily trust one another but realized their chances of freedom were far better if they were united in the effort.

Revolution of 1804 (Zamastan War of Independence)

On July 17th, 1802, an African slave named Tomias Hapson and a Skithan hand master named Avi Taures, who had developed friendships with the slaves he watched over, raided a munitions depot in the primary settlement of Tofino. After a battle that lasted for several hours, over 300 Skithan soldiers and settlers were killed, and the slave army took over the port. Tomias Hapson and Avi Taures recruited several thousand slaves, along with abolitionist white and native colonists, and began a purge in the city to kill all slave owners and Skithan military and colonial personnel. For nearly 11 months, the rebels went on a hunt for colonialists who remained loyal to the crown, and on October 2nd, 1803, a mob killed the mayor and his family while they attempted to reach a departing ship in the port of Maple Bay.

The next week as news reached Skith, King Almaraz had issued an order for Hapson and Taures to be executed by any capable man on the island and announced that a reward of over 50,000 shinnels would be given to anyone able to complete the task. He was well aware of the favorable treatment Taures had been giving to the slave laborers on the colony and had also heard rumors about the makeshift army he was assembling in preparation for a rebellion against the Skith crown. In response to this, the King decided to ship approximately 5,000 more Skithan Army soldiers to the colony with the sole mission of suppressing this rebellion should it come to fruition. At the same time, Tomias Hapson was continuing his campaign to rally up supporters for his cause as tension in Zamah St'an rose to a boiling point.

Capturing the Governor's Residence

On September 3rd, 1804, the Zamastan War of Independence officially marked its turning point with Hapson and a division of about 50 of his loyal soldiers (a diverse group consisting of native Zamah St'an and African slaves as well as national soldiers who shared Taures' ideals) initiating a surprise midnight attack on the Governor's Mansion in the capital of Tofino. Chico Pisano, who was appointed by King Almaraz as his replacement as Governor of the colony, had recently taken up residence there. Hapson and Taures's men, who had come to be known as the National Liberation Front, surrounded the building and strategically made their way towards Pisano's living quarters after breaking their way into the massive residence. Having been provided with substantial weaponry via the many Skithan soldiers who had defected to the NLF, Taures's group of guerilla fighters were surprisingly well-equipped for the operation and even more importantly, most had intense passion for their cause. Not only were the Skithan fighters motivated by the moral disagreements they had with the occupation of Zamastan, but also because it was widely known that soldiers for the Kingdom were not treated much differently than mere peasants back in their homeland. Once they had outlived their usefulness in times of war, they were given lowly jobs back in Skith and given little to no recognition or compensation for risking their lives in the name of their country. Many believed they would be better off assisting Hapson and Taures in their cause and earning the colony its independence, which in turn would create a place where they could create a more desirable society for themselves.

Hapson's decision to conduct the assault on the Governor's Mansion in the middle of the night paid off for the NLF, as they were met with relatively light resistance from Governor Pisano's bodyguards, all of whom were armed and told to be ready for war to break out but were not anticipating the first target to be Governor Pisano. Some were half-asleep as Hapson and his men made their way from hallway to hallway, room to room in search of Pisano; the guards were taken out with very light losses to Hapson's forces with one two of his men sustaining moderate but not life-threatening injuries. Once the NLF team reached Pisano's living quarters and broke the door down after hearing movement inside, they encountered an almost trembling Governor who had managed to arm himself after hearing the commotion throughout the residence. He froze for a moment as he eyed the dozen or so men who stood in his doorway, all with their weapons aimed squarely at him. He made a last-ditch effort to raise his weapon and fire but was gunned down and killed before he was able to fire a single round in their direction.

Skith Abandons the Colonies

Hapson and his men had completed their first major objective; removing the only Skith politician in power in Zamastan and giving their cause the momentum that it needed going forward. Three weeks later, the King of Skith ordered a halt on all shipments and settlement travel to and from the island colonies, and the Free State of Zamah St'an was established on October 28th, 1804 with Tomias Hapson as the de-facto President, Avi Taures as the Chief of Trade and Commerce, and an abolitionist named Henry Tiller as the General of Armed Forces.

Unification of the Colonies

Conquering Neighboring Provinces

Besides the massive construction projects of Tofino and the Maple Canal, Taures' tactics and ambitions also led the way for many brand-new projects. He ordered long stretches of weather-proof roads built, stretching in all directions from Tofino, the lakeside settlement of Emerald, and the southern stretching islands to the port of Point Tarin. This system of highways and bridges led to massive migrations of people to erect new metropolitan areas around Zamastan’s borders. Water canals, sewage systems, and aqueducts were established, bringing fresh water from lakes and mountains and into towns and cities.

Capture of Alanis

Then, military conquests and protective missions were carried out by Henry Tiller and Luis Percia, a man whom President Hapson had met during his rebellion. Percia was a shorter, but bulky man from the northern gulf city of White Rock. The military excursions went into the remaining settlements across the archipelago, such as Alanis in the east. In 1840, Alanis and the surrounding towns struck an agreement with Zamah St'an, joining the nation and stretching its borders to two shores, the Pacific on the West, South, and East.

In the northern island conglomeration, an area that the Skith Empire had steered away from colonizing due to dense forest and swamp-like biomes, fishing settlements were seldom crossed through and only settled by a few ten thousand families. For the extensive and prospective promise of trading and military posts, President Hapson ordered Tiller and Percia to annex the northern islands. By 1842, Zamah St'an had gained control of the whole archepeligo, with road systems leading extensively from the capital of Tofino, to the eastern coastal city of Providence, to the northernmost settlement of Tarial.

Tomias Hapson

Building of the Maple Canal

In 1804, Chief of Trade Taures authorized the building a canal and Augusto Yago Rivera, a Skith national who had overseen such projects in his homeland in the past, was set to take the lead on the ambitious endeavor. Prior to this time, any ships heading to Zamastan from across the Pacific had to navigate their way around the island to reach the main port cities, the most important of these being Arinals, one of the first towns built on the island as well as the colony's main economic hub. Arinals was located on the southern coast; this canal would allow trade vessels to sail straight through the island rather than traveling around it, and this would significantly save both resources and time. Thus, upon arriving in Zamastan, Augusto Yago Rivera was provided with hundreds of workers from the Chief of Trade and under his direction they began work on what would become known as the Maple Canal upon its completion in 1821.

Foreign Relations

With the newly completed Maple Canal providing easier access to the main port in Arinals, trading of Zamastan's goods and resources became an even more lucrative industry, boosting the already powerful Empire's global influence. With Zamastan itself becoming more and more populated with towns, roads, and other crucial infrastructure, King Almaraz II decided to send one of his most loyal men, Benito Franco, as Ambassador of the country. Franco was the son of a native Zamastan mother and a Skith father who happened to be of relation to Almaraz, having been conceived during the forced reproduction program instituted by the King years before. He had been born in the colony and had been loyal to Skith interests on the island for his entire life, thus earning the trust of respect of both the King and other top officials across the Pacific colonies. He was given the title of Ambassador in 1837 and the position placed the reestablishment of relationships with Zamastan, allowing for an economic boom in the young nation.

Assassination

On October 28th, 1844, President Hapson and members of his cabinet arrived by carriage at the capital house in Tofino. A crowd of onlookers surrounded the convoy as they pulled to the steps but were quickly pushed back to the sides by National Guardsmen. As Tomias Hapson stepped out of the carriage, he decided to stop and shake hands in the crowd to the right of the pathway. After about twenty seconds of greeting the masses, a man stepped forward and extended his hand to fire a pistol seven times into Hapson's chest and neck. As the president collapsed and guards and bystanders alike tackled the gunman, chaos ensued and the crowd began to run in a stampede. The president was rushed inside the capital house, where he was attended to by the house surgeon. However, the president had bled out on the short rush up the steps from the place he was shot and was pronounced dead at 1:29 PM. The assassin, a man named Reginald Isser had been crushed to death in the stampede, along with another 14 bystanders and a guardsman. Notes found in his rundown neighborhood home gave details into his motive. Isser had believed that the government of Zamah St'an was approaching that of a dictatorship, with Hapson taking control as a freed slave and staying in power for 40 years. In fact, Hapson's assassination happened to fall on the 40-year anniversary of the founding of Zamah St'an as a nation. In the wake of the killing, Avi Taures took the position of President. A month of national mourning was put into effect.

Constitution

Though the nation mourned for the death of their leader, the new and hastily created administration under President Taures decided to draft an official documented constitution to outline governing processes in order to avoid a totalitarian government. In 1845, almost one year after Taures took office, the official Constitution of Zamah St'an was published. Among other things, it highlighted basic rights given to citizens, the formation of government, the length between presidential elections (which would be held every two years), and the formation of law setting standards for the newly established Congress and Senate.

The first National elections were held on September 22nd, 1846 across Zamah St'an. Of the roughly 16 million citizens who voted across the country, more than 12 million chose for Avi Taures to reinstate a second term as president, and local governments were also established by the elections. An interesting event also took place: the referendum to simplify the nation's name from the traditional Zamah St'an to Zamastan. This moment was considered the beginning of democracy in the country.

The Era of Avi Taures

Rebuilding the Military

Throughout the rest of the 1840s and into the first half of the 1850s, President Avi Taures directed his focus on establishing both the military and the infrastructure of Zamastan. Money was needed for these endeavors, and that money began to flow in steadily as Taures negotiated trade deals with Pacific Ocean neighbors such as the United States of America and British and French colonies, who since the rebellion had been a vital ally and friend of Zamastan. The Americans agreed to a deal which would see them purchasing vast amounts of lumber and ore from their western neighbors each month; this arrangement alone provided Taures with enough funds to begin the construction of army barracks facilities and naval bases for the country's young armed forces. Taures also purchased an enormous number of rifles and other infantry equipment from the Canadian port of Vancouver.

Infrastructure projects

Taures also tasked the Ministry of State with the job of creating an elaborate network of railroads to link town across the country, which also aided the young nation's economy by making the shipment of goods and transportation in general an easier endeavor. By the 1860s, a completed railroad system connected the entire island together. Construction also began on many new towns during this decade; prior to this Zamastan was made up of a handful of major cities from which the rest of the country was relatively isolated. Roads were also starting to pop up across the island alongside the railroad network; this provided yet another effective form of transport.

Taures opened up an immense communications network with other nations, including the British Empire, the United States of America (which at the time was requesting support from any nation militarily and morally in the midst of a civil war, but the embassy opened previously in 1853), the Canadian Commonwealth (Embassy opened in 1871).

President Taures unveiled a wide array of industrial ambitions during the 1860s as well, with the country constructing hundreds of factories within the newly built cities as the nation's workforce more than doubled and the enormous amount of natural resources available were utilized to their full potential. Many citizens relocated to urban areas to find work in the factories; others found work in the booming ore industries. The average income among Zamastan citizens more than tripled during the 1860s and the national economy flourished; these advances allowed Taures to commit additional resources to the country's military as well; troop numbers increased, more modern equipment and firearms were acquired, and the construction of more combat-capable ships improved the capacity and effectiveness of the country's naval forces, which were regarded as the most important branch given the fact that the country was an island chain.

Death

In 1867, Avi Taures fell ill with a rare strain of influenza which all but incapacitated him. Upon the realization that he could no longer fully take care of his own basic needs, let alone govern a nation, Taures called for an immediate election in order to find his replacement. He himself nominated several candidates from his cabinet since the election was occuring on such short notice; William Castovia was his Minister of Defense and a trusted personal friend who had once been a member of the National Liberaton Front. Castovia had fought alonside Taures and Hapson during the War of Independence and loyally served as Minister of Defense since Taures became President. The other candidate chosen was Renald Porres, the Minister of the Interior and also a former NLF member. The two candidates toured the nation for several weeks campaigning before the national election was held in March of 1868. William Castovia won the office of President by a narrow margin in an extraordinarily close ballot; both men were extremely popular around the country due to their close association with Zamastan's beloved first leader.

William Castovia

Avi Taures lived long enough to personally swear William Castovia into office and give his full approval to his close friend and successor; he died a few weeks later at his home. One of William Castovia's first acts as the new President was to declare an official month-long nationwide period of mourning; Taures had been widely regarded by citizens and scholars alike as being the one of the prime reasons the country had gained its independence from the Skithan Empire in the first place due to his formation of the National Liberation Front and his determination in fighting the occupiers. The people of the country turned out in the thousands for Taures' public viewing in May 1868, as men and women alike could be seen openly weeping at the loss of their leader. Over the course of his 24-year reign, he won all 12 presidential elections that were held. As a historical figure, Taures was responsible for Zamastan's transformation from a nation newly freed from the grips of colonialism to a nation of considerable influence in the region with a respected and rapidly growing military and a burgeoning economy that showed enormous promise.

The Parabocan War

Bombardment of Kelowna - War Begins

In 1871, the Parabocan Federation, located to the south-east of Zamastan, unexpectedly declared war upon the nation, citing its intention to expand its territory and improve its economic power. President Manuelo Cardoza had recently negotiated a deal with Skith, whose empire had once dominated the eastern pacific region but was now a shadow of its former self due to a stagnant economy and burgeoning independence movements in its colonies, to purchase the small island of Quetana located to the southeast of Zamastan. Skith's economy in its homeland was on the verge of collapse and in an effort to prevent this, King Almaraz IV had decided to begin auctioning off the few remaining colonies in its possession. Paraboca purchased Quetana as well as the Pajaros Islands to the north of Zamastan and subsequently was able to establish naval and land bases for its armed forces in their new territories. This provided them substantial military presence in the region. President Cardoza had decided to stage an invasion of Zamastan, whose abundant natural resources and position as the largest island chain in the Pacific Ocean served as prime motivation for this decision. If Parabocan forces could capture the Zamastan mainland and take control of their resources, the nation's economy would become the most dominant in the region.

Parabocan Land Invasion

Thus, a fleet of Parabocan battleships were deployed to the east coast of Zamastan; when they approached the island, they began a massive and unexpected assault upon the naval base at Kelowna, home to a large number of newly constructed ships. The Parabocan fleet was able to destroy nearly 75% of the naval vessels docked at Kelowna before President Castovia was able to scramble ships from the next closest naval base, Aster, and begin to muster a counterassault. The Parabocan Navy was considerably more advanced than its younger counterpart, and the acquisition of the Pajaros Islands and Quetana allowed them to coordinate attacks from three sides at once. This proved to be too much for the Zamastan armed forces to handle, and by the end of the year Paraboca was landing boots on the ground on the eastern shores of the island and moving them inland.

American Intervention

Desperate for assistance to avoid being overrun by the invaders, which far outnumbered and outmatched his own military, President Castovia called on Zamastan ally United States of America to intervene on their behalf; to ensure this he promised the USA government an enormous reduction in the costs of the lumber and ore that the nation purchased from Zamastan each year as per their longstanding trade agreement. This essentially provided the enormous nation with free goods for the next several years and it would take a toll on the previously thriving Zamastan economy for years to come as well; however, President Castovia reasoned it was a worthwhile price to pay to ensure the freedom of his people and the survival of the Republic itself. America herself had only endured a civil war seven years prior, and was thus recovering. However, Ulysses S. Grant, the famed general and now-president abridged, accepting the proposition of free goods as an additional boost to the Reconstruction period in the American South.

In 1872, American troops landed on the north and east coasts of its neighbor, linking up with Zamastan forces in an effort to begin to drive out the invading Parabocans, who had charged eastwards and occupied roughly a third of the nation by that point as the Zamastan army desperately tried to push them back. America also quietly sent ships to the Parabocan-controlled Pajaros Islands as well as the island of Quetana in order to lay siege to the country's military installations in its new colonies. Parabocan attention was too focused on the situation on the Zamastan mainland and their resources spread too thin to devote the manpower needed to defend these locations, and soon the naval bases and army barracks in both regions were completely destroyed by Tosquitian forces. President Cardoza entered talks with Skith and attempted to persuade the crumbling empire to enter the war on the side of the Parabocans, but King Almaraz IV refused, claiming resources were too strained to commit the armed forces to the conflict taking place an ocean away from its location in western Europe. Cardoza was, however, able to squeeze promises of small shipments of munitions out of the country in support of the war.

The conflict was quickly racking up an enormous body count as Zamastan and American soldiers continued their relentless efforts to push Parabocan troops back to the eastern coast of the island. This was not an easy task, however, even with the combined efforts of the two countries. Parabocan President Cardoza was absolutely committed to seeing the invasion through no matter how many of his men fell to the enemy, and he persisted in sending reinforcements every several months in an effort to keep control of the portion of the Zamastan occupied by his troops.

Chanchajilla Joins the War

The nation of Chanchajilla, which shared a border with Paraboca in the west, entered the war in early 1873 out of fears that their country would be next to be the target of Parabocan expansionism. Several thousand troops stormed across the border in February of that year, placing Chanchajilla on the side of Zamastan and America. In March, President Castovia invited the leaders of the two nations to a conference in the capital city of Tofino. Chanchajillan Prime Minister Alonzo Ruiz and American President Ulysses Grant obliged and diplomatic talks were held over a period of four days, where the nations agreed to coordinate their efforts against the Parabocan forces. An official treaty was drafted which aligned the three nations as allies; a non-aggression pact was also signed.

Battle of Gavit Harbor

As news of the formal alliance found its way to Paraboca, President Cardoza again reached out to Skith in seek of support. With the economy having stabilized and begun to improve since their previous talks and the nation eager to gain a strong ally in the Pacific region it once dominated, King Almaraz IV finally agreed to enter the war on the side of Paraboca; he stayed true to his word and formally declared war on the three allied nations the next day while addressing the country's Parliament. Several thousand Skithan troops were deployed from the mainland and shipped across the Atlantic towards the combat zone, accompanied by multiple naval fleets which led the way. Skith's entrance into the conflict was a major event; it effectively balanced the scale as Paraboca was no longer fighting three nations on its own, stretching its resources to the breaking point.

Skithan ships began engaging American and Zamastanian ships near the Pajaros Islands and Quetana in an effort to recapture Paraboca's naval bases in the regions. Fierce and deadly exchanges between the two sides followed, with a total of 24 vessels between the two sides being destroyed in the span of a week in late 1873 as the American and Zamastan forces desperately held off the superior Skith navy.

In 1874, Rio Palitos entered the war on the side of Zamastan, The United States of America, and Chanchajilla. Its position just southeast of the Zamastan worried senior government officials, who were convinced that if Paraboca won the war it would most certainly seek to annex their country as well. Rio Palitos had been Zamastan;s oldest and most trusted ally since many of the country's citizens traveled to the Zamastan to fight the Skithan occupation decades earlier. Financial and material aid had been being sent to Zamastan monthly to support the war effort, but Rio Palitos had initially been hesitant to enter the conflict directly. They finally joined the side of their neighbor and their nation was formally added to the multi-nation alliance treaty that had been signed the previous year. With six nations now involved, most of the Eastern Pacific region was effectively an active warzone. Rio Palito's addition to the fray was a deciding factor in the allies preventing Paraboca from reclaiming its naval bases in Quetana and the Parajos Islands; in late 1874 the two regions were offically occupied by the allied forces.

Paraboca Surrenders

By mid 1875, Zamastan and its allies had pushed the Parabocans back to the western coastline where their invasion had begun. Skith reinforcements had arrived from Europe, but were not as effective as expected. A large majority of them were rerouted to the Parabocan homeland, where troops were just barely holding off Chanchajillan troops. With the Skith troops providing a much needed boost, the Chanchajillans were pushed back across the border and out of the country just as Skith and its allies were eliminating the last remaining soldiers in the west of Zamastan.

A peace treaty was sought by Parabocan President Manuelo Cardoza in 1876 as he was informed of an impending invasion by the four allied countries. Paraboca had been on the defensive for months after a fourth country joined the alliance against the nation, and Skith was pulling its forces out of the war as they began to realize it was becoming a futile effort. Peace was agreed upon by Puerto Colijito and its allies, with the strict condition that Paraboca no longer have dominion over Quetana and the Pajaros Islands, which they had previously purchased from Skith. Backed into a corner and with no leverage to make any demands of his own, Cardoza reluctantly signed the treaty in May 1876 and peace was restored to the Pacific Ocean. Quetana and the Pajaros Islands were temporarily put into the custody of the four victorious nations, who worked to install independent governments in both areas over the next few years. By 1878, both were officially recognized as independent nations.

Entrance to the 20th Century

Reconstruction

In 1880, President William Castovia won his sixth election as President, meaning he had served 12 years as the Head of State. The last 20 years of the 19th century was mostly deticated to reconstructing the nation after the disastrous war.

Election of 1906

Castovia was advancing in age during the first decade of the 1900s and realized his ability of effectively lead the nation was escaping him, largely due to a diagnosis of cancer in 1905 that was quickly ravaging his body and causing his health to decline. He set up the Republic's first fully democratic election to take place in early 1906. Candidates were able to run for office at will; this marks a sharp contrast to the nation's first election organized by Avi Taures where Taures hand-picked the two candidates from members of his own cabinet, though the citizens were still able to vote for the victor. For the 1906 race, several individuals entered the race, mostly ones who had served in some capacity in the federal government. Multiple Senators and Congressmen organized campaigns, as did other members of Castovia's administration. Seven men in total made a bid for the position of President and on election day in September 1906, over 2,000,000 Zamastan citizens made their way to their local polling station to cast their vote. Elias Blanco, a 42-year-old man who had served for 8 years in the nation's Congress and 5 years before that in the Senate, ultimately won the election by a slim margin and a few weeks later was officially sworn in as the fourth Zamastan President.

Blanco Initiative

Blanco understood the effects that the war with Paraboca had caused on the national economy, and the remedy of this situation was one of the key promises he made during his campaign. Upon invading and temporarily occupying nearly a third of the country just over a decade prior, Parabocan soldiers were given orders by their President to destroy any crops they came across; this resulted in many of Zamastan's wheat, soy, and corn crops being lost. As these three products formed the backbone of the national agricultural economy, trade began to suffer substantially. The occupying soldiers also ransacked dozens if not hundreds of factories that had been constructed just decades earlier by William Castovia. A large portion of people in the west of the country were made homeless and unemployed as a result of this. Parabocans had also destroyed residential farms and crops belonging to Zamastan civilians, often dousing the soil with volatile chemicals that rendered the soil infertile; this caused thousands of people to perish from starvation as they had neither the ability to grow their own food nor the money or resources to buy it.

In 1908 Blanco established a large, well-funded welfare initiative within the Ministry of the Interior whose primary function was the allocation of both a basic income for those suffering from poverty in the west as well as the distribution of enough food to sustain them. Blanco thought this project to be of high importance; utilizing government resources to ease the harships of the citizens affected by the war would both increase the people's confidence in their government and allow them to adequately provide for their basic needs. In addition to this, Blanco held an emergency meeting of the national Congress to discuss the allocation of funds to be used to initiate the process of rebuilding the hundreds of industrial factories destroyed during the war. The proposal was approved by a wide majority in the Congress and the rebuilding of factories commenced a month after. This project almost immediately reduced unemployment in the western provinces with the creation of thousands of jobs in the form of construction workers, contractors, electricians, and other workers which were needed in the rebuilding efforts. These programs initiated by Blanco came to be known as the "Blanco Initiative".

By 1913, nearly 80% of all factories destroyed during the war with Paraboca had been rebuilt and the national economy was showing signs of improvement. By 1916, unemployment rates in western Zamastan had returned to pre-war levels, with the rebuilding effort having created both construction jobs and, once the factories had been successfully reconstructed, thousands of job opportunities working in these factories became available as well. Though nearly 15,000 people in the west of the country had perished as a result of malnutrition and starvation, the quality of life in this region was steadily returning to its typical level. President Blanco, having seen the enormous success of the welfare initiative he had approved for those affected by the war, met with Congress once again to discuss employing a welfare program that would offer assistance to Zamastanians across the entire country. By this time, there was sufficient room in the national budget to begin this program, and in 1917 the program was formally introduced after being approved by Congress members. A basic income was provided by the state to both individuals having a difficult time securing employment as well as to those who for physical or mental reasons could not work. A monthly quota of both cash assistance as well as free food, clothing, and housing was provided for the less fortunate in Zamastan. A devastating earthquake struck the capital of Tofino in early 1919, and over 50,000 people were killed. A massive reconstruction campaign was launched and despite the disaster, the program initiated thousands of new jobs and added an increase to the nation's economy.

Age of Flight

By 1920, airplanes had seen their first use in military roles; namely during World War I. Zamastan was officially neutral during the European conflict, but having seen the usefulness and popularity of aircraft in the war, President Blanco officially created a third division of the country's armed forces: the Zamastan Air Force. In 1921, he tasked his Minister of Defense (who was head of both the Ministry of Defense as well as the Ministry of War at this time) to begin work on a joint project between the two government departments. Blanco ordered the production of a combat-ready aircraft and set 1925 as the deadline for the completion of the project. He realized that the dynamics of war were changing across the entire globe, and wanted to be able to ensure that the Republic of Zamastan would not fall years behind the other countries of the world in the sophistication of its military. A national air force would allow the nation to keep pace with its neighbors in the region, a matter of great importance because of the ever-present possibility of war breaking out suddenly as it did when the Parabocans attacked Zamastan suddenly and without provocation. The very first combat-capable aircraft produced by Zamastan was unveiled in 1923, two years ahead of schedule, and was christened the Z-33 Milano. After personally observing test flights and the plane's combat capabilities, Blanco ordered his Minister of Defense/Minister of War to go ahead with the production of 500 of the new aircraft immediately.

Roaring Twenties

The roaring 20's were a period of economic boom for Zamastan. The new wealth captured by the masses was portrayed in evidence by the newly imported Ford Model-T's roaming the furbished streets of Tofino, with gas lanterns lighting the smoothly paved asphalt roads. The progression of the 20th century was hitting Zamastan rapidly, and similarly to the United States, wealthy businessmen began to take control of the open markets and monopolize on virtually any stock. Frank Rabernath, a man with exceptional wealth from his Irish-immigrant father, made a massive enterprize out of the oil feilds in Eastern Pahl, accumulating a wealth of nearly $80 Billion adjusted for inflation. By 1927, Rabernath Industries became the second largest oil company in the world after John D. Rockefeller's company in America.

Great Depression

While the progress of the world economy resonated for the majority of the 1920's, the Stock Market Crash of October 1st, 1929, immediatly demolished the possibility of a easy, quick rebound. As the United States and most of the world suffered drastic drops of economic prowess and the destruction of established banks and currencies, Zamastan only followed suit. Unemployment climbed from 2% to nearly half. Teenagers and young adults were often only able to find jobs in the military or private establishments, and the Ziapet dollar itself fell from being worth $1.32 to $0.31. Rabernath's massive wealth also fell apart, and in a state of depression, he killed his wife, four kids, and five maids before taking his own life. The Rabernath Murders shocked the nation and the world, and ultimetly led to greater breaking up of corporations that heavily monopolized. In 1936, President Blanco tried to set in initiations for the Zamastan Government to follow newly elected U.S. President Roosevelt's example of government funded projects to propel the nation out of depression, but failed to rally to his cause effectively such as his Blanco Initiative in 1908. Though Elias Blanco had always been a leader of the people, but his failiure to pull Zamastan out of the Great Depression ultimeltly lost him his 18th election to a man named Tyler Kordia, who became the fifth President of Zamastan.