Lematre
Lematre 勒马特 (Lè mǎ tè) | |
|---|---|
 A farm in rural Lematre | |
| Establishment (as Lematre Territory) | 1863 |
| Accession to Laeral | 1928 |
| Named for | G.E. Lematre, Laeralian statesman |
| Capital | Apremont |
| Demonym(s) | Lematriens |
| Government | |
• Governor | Christian Neveu LPP |
| Legislature | Lematre Assembly |
| Postal | LM |
Lematre is a Laeralian province located in the Xianhai Peninsula region of Laeral, bordering Bethune to the north, Brissac and Libertas Omnium Maximus to the south, and the Albarine Sea to the east, with a small coastline on the Xianhai Gulf to the northwest. It is among Laeral's least populous provinces and the third-smallest by area. It is divided into Apremont township in the west and Simandres township in the east.
History[edit | edit source]
Lematre fell under the dominion of the Hoon kingdom, a precolonial state centered in modern-day Bethune from the 14th to 18th centuries. Archeological and historical records indicate that Lematre was home to a thriving pottery industry, with Lematre-fired porcelain having been found as far as modern Haesan. After the collapse of the Hoon kingdom, by the 1850s, settlers from Bethune province migrated southwards into what was at the time an uncontrolled borderland between Laeral and Libertas Omnium Maximus. The new territory was named Lematre, in honor of G.E. Lematre, nationalist leader during the Laeralian War of Independence. Following the War of the Seven Provinces from 1875 to 1877, the province's territory fell under Maximusian control. To this day, small English-speaking ethnic Valanhandian communities survive in the province.
During the period of Maximusian rule, Lematre saw intense violence against Minjian people at the hands of the Chevaliers of the Veil terror group. The site of the Sainte-Colombe race massacre in 1890, when the town's Minjian quarter was set ablaze by an Arrivée mob, today holds the National Museum of Social Tolerance, a private institution dedicated to promoting social harmony.
In 1927, following the Laeralian victory in the Brissac War, Lematre became a territory of Laeral and was incorporated as a province the following year. Lematre remained largely underdeveloped with an agrarian economy throughout the early and mid-20th century. A wartime industry boom during the Great War brought greater economic prosperity to the province. In particular, Bessenay Air Force Base in Simandres township became the country's largest air force installation, basing bombers for raids over Haesan and Slokais Islands and fighter craft to interdict Pact air raids directed at Laeral. The base remains operational to the present day.
Typhoon Yasmina in 2012 struck Lematre and caused severe damage to the province's Albarine Coast, killing over 120 and causing millions of marks in damage.
Politics and Government[edit | edit source]
During the 1970s, Lematre politics was broadly supportive of the peninsular autonomy movement due to grievances over the slow pace of development compared to continental Laeral and the allocation of oil revenues from the province's oil fields. Like its neighbors in the Xianhai Peninsula, Lematre is traditionally a conservative stronghold. Its politics today are dominated by the Laeralian People's Party.
Economy[edit | edit source]
Eastern Lematre contains portions of the Brissac oil field which has been exploited since the 1930s. Following President Jacques Carlier's National Resources Compact in 1978, which allocated a greater portion of mineral and petroleum revenues to the states, the provincial government enacted the Lematre Resources Dividend, which provides an education or homeownership savings account to all Lematre children and teenagers. This model has subsequently been replicated in other provinces, and has proven effective at reducing poverty rates.
Agriculture, particularly wheat and citrus, is the province's largest industry by employment.