Victoria: Difference between revisions

| official_name      = Estado de Victoria

| motto              = Novus ordo mundi

'''Victoria''', officially the '''State of Victoria''' ({{lang-cd|Estado de Victoria}}), is a state located on the north-central coast of the Cartadania. With 10.2 million residents across a total area of about {{convert|170565|km2|sqmi}}, Victoria is the eleventh most populous and eighth-most extensive state in Cartadania. The state capital is the city of [[Salezara]] in central Victoria, while [[Ciudura]] is the most populous city in the state, located along the northeastern coast. The [[Ciudura metropolitan area|Ciudura metro area]] is the most populous urban region in the state, with 4.1 million residents spread amongst three counties.

Victoria is the only state in Cartadania's history that has merged with another. In 1881, Victoria merged with then-Sonora and Vittoria, forming the identically named regions within the state. The history of the merger can be seen in the unusual nature of the county borders between the original Venetian counties and those of the Sonora and Vittoria regions in that the counties of Victoria are irregular in their borders while the counties of Sonora and many in Vittoria have relatively flat edges and squared-off shapes. Symbolically, the state has remained relatively unchanged over the 342 years it has existed.

Victoria remained a relatively undeveloped state for much of the first republic up until the [[Ano Roxo]]. This event, which would be the most gruesome on domestic soil in Cartadania's recorded history, caused a dramatic shift in the state's growth models. Nonetheless, the development of other cities was continuously minor and the state's interior remained untouched.

Victoria's entry into the second republic was a turning point in the state's history politically more intense than even that of the Ano Roxo. Victoria had long been a conservative state, a characteristic that it held alone amongst the Luson states. With the incorporation of Ciudara and Salezara, the state began to shift more from an agrarian society to an industrial and suburban one. The 19th-century was marked by a population boom that saw Victoria's population increase from just over half a million to over 3 million in less than a century. Arlington, the original capital of Victoria, saw its population cross 400,000 at the end of the 1880s and was the state's largest city until the [[Second Great War]].

The state officially ratified Cartadania's second constitution on 9 July 1711. For much of the time after, it focused on urbanization in and around central coastal Columbia County and Toledoba. It focused heavily on the economies of these regions and the residents of the areas generated some very creative methods to improve them. In 1881, Victoria absorbed the former states of Sonora and Vittoria. Failure to maintain a functional economy left these two states with a tough decision–dig themselves out of the hole or merge with another state willing to accept the financial burden. Alexandria and Santiago both denied requests for annexation, citing too large an economic "pit", while Victoria conditionally accepted the request under the requirement that both states needed to come to an agreement on how to end their economic downturn. Following the models of Victoria and Verona, Sonora and Vittoria were able to pull themselves out of poverty but still opted to merge with Victoria, forming the identically named regions within the state. The history of the merger can be seen in the unusual nature of the county borders between the original Venetian counties and those of the Sonora and Vittoria regions in that the counties of Victoria are naturally irregular in their borders while the counties of Sonora and many in Vittoria have relatively flat edges and squared-off shapes. To date, it is the only state merger to occur in Cartadania's history.

Today, with a census population of 10.2 million residents, Victoria is the eleventh-most populated state in Cartadania. It has the third-fastest growth rate in the country, after [[Milan]] and [[Trentino]]. The population of Victoria has boomed in recent years with the state being the recipient of the largest number of out-of-state movers in the country as of 2020. The state's growth has been widespread, as cities throughout the state have continued to see population growth.

There are about 3,000 different types of wildflowers in Victoria. This is the fourth-most diverse state in the union, behind Milan, Verona, and Viterna. In Victoria, wild populations of coconut palms extend up the state's coastline. Many of the smallest coral islands in the Venetian islands are known to have abundant coconut palms sprouting from coconuts deposited by ocean currents. The state also has large populations of homonymously named {{wp|Canary Island date palm|Victorian palm}}, although these are a date variety and do not produce coconuts.

Victoria is divided into three superregions–the Sonora valley, Victoria proper, and the Vittoria territory. These are further divided into Desert, Pantanal, and Lower Savanna for the Sonora Valley, Upper Victoria and Lower Victoria in Victoria proper, and Oceanside, Ranges, and Upper Savanna for the Vittoria territory.