Monsilva

Monsilvan Republic 山林國 / 山林共和國 (Monsilvan) Shānlínguó / Shānlín Gònghéguó (Pinyin)
Flag Emblem
Motto: 我們從革命而不是衝突中學習 "We learn from revolution, not conflict"
Anthem: 山川河流 Shānchuān Héliú "Mountains and Rivers"
Capital	Amking
Largest city	Luhai
Official languages	Standard Monsilvan
Other languages	Luhainese Monsilvan Sign Language
Ethnic groups (2018)	90% Monsilvan 6% Fujikunian 4% Others
Religion (2018)	58.6% No religion 35.1% Monsilvan Folk 6.3% Others
Demonym(s)	Monsilvan
Government	Federal parliamentary republic
• President	Chiu Zan
• Prime Minister	Xu Yan
Legislature	Federal Parliament
• Upper house	First Chamber (Senate)
• Lower house	Second Chamber
Formation
• Unification of the Monsilvan Kingdoms	c. January 1501
• Kingdom of Great Shan	c. March 1633
• Treaty of Luhai	26 August 1830
• Autumn Revolution	10 October 1923
• Treaty of Amking	25 December 1978
Population
• October 2022 estimate	71,012,345
• 2018 census	70,802,600
GDP (nominal)	2022 estimate
• Total	₵3.145 trillion
• Per capita	₵44,289
Gini (2018)	30.3 medium
HDI (2019)	0.851 very high
Currency	Monsilvan Yupian 玉片 (M¥ or 玉) (MSY)
Time zone	MST
Date format	YYYY-MM-DD
Driving side	right
Calling code	+405
Internet TLD	.ms

Monsilva, officially the Monsilvan Republic, is a country in Ostlandet, with the Kivu Ocean to the east and Fujikuni and Akvarelusus to the north and Zloveshchiy to the south. The territory of Monsilva is split up into 8 states. The nation consists of mountain ranges dominating the western side of the country, whereas plains and coastal areas dominate the east, where its highly urbanised population is concentrated. The capital, Amking, forms along the southern half of the Monsilvan coast. Other major cities include Luhai, Maojie, Wodai, and Menchi. With around 71 million inhabitants, Monsilva is one of the more populated countries in Terraconserva.

The lands of Monsilva have been settled for at least 20,000 years. Ancestors of Monsilvan ethnic peoples settled there around 6,000 years ago. In the 16th century, the multiple kingdoms with similar ethnic backgrounds decided to unite together into the first Monsilvan kingdom. The kingdom was formally declared in the 16th century as the Kingdom of Great Shan, and became a well-known name among merchants and traders from many nations for Monsilva's many spice and plant-based exports. In the 1820s, the Kingdom of Great Shan was overthrown in a civil war and the first Kingdom of Monsilva was declared in its place. The kingdom however, suffered from much corruption and although it was a constitutional monarchy, it did not have any democratic system in place until 1912. In October of 1923, a revolution took place by the Communist Party of Monsilva due to consistent tensions between communists and the right-wing government. The revolution was successful and established the People's Nation of Monsilva. The regime of Monsilva from this point until 1978, when it was dissolved after a brutal civil war, is known as one of, if not the most, bloody period of Monsilvan history, with over 1.5 million people killed directly or indirectly by the regime.

During the period from 1978 to present, Monsilva underwent many changes politically, economically and culturally. Monsilva experienced what is locally known as the "Monsilvan Miracle". This 'miracle' included; the democratic development of Monsilva from a dictatorial regime into a parliamentary democracy; almost quadrupling its economy and lowering wealth inequality by 500%; and unbanning foreign television, radio, art and literature. Since 1978, Monsilva has been known as the Monsilvan Republic and has developed its foreign relations and opened its borders to tourists from across Ostlandet and Terraconserva.

The Monsilvan Republic is not a member of any international organisations due to strict government policy, although recently the government has admitted it wishes to open Monsilva up to applications to join organisations such as the Ostlandet Union or the Terraconserva Economic Union. Monsilva has no negative relations with any country and prefers to take a neutral stance on international politics. However Monsilva does have a military and has been known to clearly show preferences in international relations, such as its northern neighbor Fujikuni.

Etymology

Before the 1830 Treaty of Luhai, Monsilva was not in common use and was not the official name of the nation. Instead was referred to as the Kingdom of Great Shan. The name 'Shan' comes from the Monsilvan shān meaning 'mountain'. The first pictograms of the Shān character appeared as a crown, and this was represented with the added 'Great' to refer to the importance of the monarchy.

After the first Monsilvan Civil War that ended in 1830, the Kingdom of Great Shan became the Kingdom of Monsilva. The name Monsilva is the anglisization of the Monsilvan name for the nation, 山林國 (Shānlínguó), where 山 (Shān) means mountain; 林 (lín) means forest; and 國 (guó) means country. So the literal translation would be 'Mountain Forest Country'. However, when presenting the name of Monsilva to foreign merchants and diplomats from nations which spoke languages that were far to different to Monsilvan, officials of the Monsilvan government at the time tried to give them a name for the nation in a language which they believed the foreign visitors spoke. Unfortunately, due to Monsilva's closed off state for the last 300+ years, the officials gave the name 'Mons Silva' which is Latin for Mountain Forest. The name spread among visitors who came to Monsilva and over time, although the government eventually realised how dated their information was, the name stuck.

The name Monsilva has been used to refer to the nation and its people since 1830, even throughout several international wars, a revolution, a dictatorial regime and a second civil war.