Zalivnia country page

Zalivnia (Livnian: Заливничка / Zalivnička ), officialy known as the Republic of Zalivnia (Livnian: Република Заливничка / Republika Zalivnička), is a sovereign country in the central part of Uletha. It is located in the geographical region known as Egalia. It is bordered by UL108c to the west, UL108g to the north, Litvania to the east, and has a shoreline on the Egalian Lake to the south. Through the Egalian Lake, Zalivnia shares a maritime border with Drabantia to the southeast, and UL15h to the south and southwest. Zalivnia occupies a total of 26,111.64 square kilometers. It is home to about 3.7 million people. Zalivnia is also part of the Egalian Union, being a founding member if it since 1982.

Etymology
The name, Заливничка / Zalivnička is directly derived from the longest and most important river in the country - the Livna. Za- is a common prefix for geographical features in the Livnian language, meaning 'following something', or sometimes 'behind something'. In this case, it could mean: 'Behind the Livna' or 'Following the Livna'. The suffix -čka is also common in the Livnian language, and could be interpreted as an adjective suffix for ownership, or type. To make it easier for foreigners to pronounce it, Заливничка has been Ingerified into Zalivnia.

The name for the river Livna / Ливна has unknown origins, on the other hand. Many suggest it is derived from a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, called casting. In Livnian, casting is translated to Ливењe / Livenje. However, the area was not known for mining when it was named, so this opinion is probably false. However, the word Ливење / Livenje could derive from the word Лити / Liti, which means pouring or flow, describing the flow of a river.

History
Later

Geography
Zalivnia is located at the crossroads between West and East Uletha, in the region known as Egalia. Most of the country is within the Egalian Basin. Zalivnia occupies a total of 26,111.64 square kilometers, making it the second smallest nation in the region, bigger only than Litvania. It has a total border lenght of XX km. Zalivnia's shores are entirelly on the Egalian Lake, with the total lenght of the shoreline estimated at xx kilometers. Zalivnia also includes the island of Zatižica to the southwest.

The country is equally divided between mountainous, hilly and flat. Much of the northern frontiers are consisted of the Zlatigora and Micheny Mountains, covered in dense boreal forests. The east is dominated by the Lanevian Mountains. The southwest hosts the Devojačka Gora or Devojačka Mountain, which are often characterized as hills rather than mountains. The highest peak is XX with a height of 1xxx meters located on the Zlatigora Mountain.

The rest of the country is relativelly hilly, with the biggest plain being the Skroj Plain in the southeast, between the cities of Ulinje and Skroj. It is the most fertile plain in the country, and it is used almost exclusivelly for agricultural purposes. Agriculture can also be found in other prominent plains throughout the country. The biggest ones include the hilly Krivaja Plain in the west, Livna Plain in the central parts, Livna - Tisnica Plain in the far north, the Lorava - Litra - Šumava (often called Žitna Dolina) in the east and the Ragutina - Markovac Plain in the north. Besides being agricultural hubs for the country, they host most of the population as well.

Environment
Zalivnia is the nation with the highest forest cover in Egalia so far with over 45% of the land covered in forests. It has 2 national parks, with another one opening up quite soon. The current national parks are Zlatigora and Devojačka Gora. It has a total of XXX protected areas in Zalivnia, encompasing about XX% of the total land. Much of the forests are located in the north, east and southwest. These are home to many different species of plants like the dredge, birch, poplar, fir and pine. Animals like deers, wolves, foxes and bears are common in Zalivnia. The rare albino chipmunks are mostly found in the further north, and during the cold season the North Ulethan Tiger can be seen wandering in the northernmost regions of Zalivnia. The Egalian Lake is rich with different fish species, mostly pike, catfish, hake and salmon. Probably the most notable one is the Egalian taimen, only found in the Egalian region.



Archeologists found many fossils throughout Zalivnia, proving that ancient dinosaurs and mamooths roamed through the lands of Zalivnia, as well as prehistoric humans with their traces left in various caves like the XX in east Zalivnia. About 170 different localizations have been found in Zalivnia, mostly coming from the Neolithic era around 5500 BC.

Hydrology
Zalivnia has a well-shaped and developed hydrological system found in every corner of the country. A total of 988 rivers can be found in Zalivnia, the most notable one being the Livna, the backbone of the nation traversing through the middle of the country north to south, 'cutting' the country in half. It's one of the longest rivers in Egalia, with a lenght of 505 kilometers (of which 280km is in Zalivnia). Other major rivers include Krivaja (being also the longest river flowing entirelly through Zalivnia), Skroj, Ragutina, Šumava, Litra and Lorava.

Zalivnia has by far more natural lakes than artifical ones, and besides the Egalian Lake, the only bigger lake in Zalivnia is Roguško Lake in the far north. Other significant natural lakes include Crno jezero (Black Lake), Vunac, Kopačin and the 5 ponds of Skroj. The largest artificial lake is the Lake Katovnica. The Egalian Lake is a vital connection to the rest of the region, as well as the rest of the world (through the Ina River). Zalivnia is home to one of the shallowest lake straits in the world. The Zatižica Strait is just 15m deep at the shallowest spot. The strait however is a major passageway for water transportation, as all cargo from ports east of it (Kolin, Odrava, Nikolovac, Varvent, Skroj, Ćiśka) has to go through the strait.

There are many wetlands as well, including the majestic Čarnograd wetland, a gem of Zalivnia, which is also a protected area. Other wetlands include the Kopačin, Vunac and the Krvopija wetlands around the Livna estuary.

Demographics
A total of 3,782,018 people call Zalivnia home as of the 2017 census. The total population has been increasing in a constant range since the 50s, with the growth rate alone slowing down each year. As far as calculations can tell, it is expected that Zalivnia would experience population decline in 2030. The population density of Zalivnia is currently 141.7 inhabitants per square kilometer, ranking it as the third most dense in the Egalian Union (lower than Beldonia and Podolia), and is regarded as a country with a medium-sized density in Uletha. Historically, Zalivnia has been under the constancy of a positive birth rate, which is 1.7 as of 2017, as well as a negative migration index. It wasn't until the year 2000 when the index was positive for the first time. About 35,000 people immigrate into Zalivnia, while 25,000 emigrate from Zalivnia each year. The average life expectancy at birth is considered to be 82.2 years. This number has been increased to a really high level for the world standards, mostly due to the ban of cigarettes for all people below the age of 20 and above the age of 40, high standards of living, very good healthcare, as well as a result of a high environmental quality index.

Religion & Ethnicity
The majority of the population considers it's primary religion to be Ekelan Christic, mostly due to the historical presence of the religion in northwestern Egalia. Although religion plays a high role in the Zalivnian culture, Atheism (Contricity) is rapidly growing between the population. In 1987, a total of 1% of the population lacked belief in religion. In 1997, the number rose to 3%, and in 2007 about 7% of the population was already atheist. Today, Atheism is practiced by 21.7% of the population, and is expected to overthrow the Ekelan Christicy in 2025 or 2030.

Of the total population, the biggest ethnic group are the Livnians, encompassing about 75% (or 3/4 of the population), totaling to 2.7 million people. The remaining 1 million are mostly composed of the Lanevians as the largest minority represented by 500,000 people, followed by Litvanians, Drabantians, Mallyorans, Tlochs, and other ethnic groups. Likewise, the distribution of people by ethnicity can be applied to the nationalities as well. The only exception are the Lanevians, with no independent state which call this people group home, most of them pick the Zalivnian or Litvanian nationality as their own. The largest people group not from Uletha are the Ardencians, mostly composed of Zalivnians who migrated there during the 20th century, and decided to migrate back to Zalivnia.

Language
The national language of Zalivnia is Livnian, part of the Syrillangan/Slevic language group, in the sub-branch of Central Egalian Slevic/Syrillangan group, closely related to the Mallyoran and Beldonian languages, as well as to some regions of Podolia. Unlike other Egalian nations, the official script is in Cyrillic, however Latin is also widely used.

Administrative divisions
Zalivnia is a unitary state, and is composed of 5 different levels of subdivisions. They are provinces (provincije), regions (regioni), municipalities (opštine), cities (gradovi) and city municipalities (gradske opštine).
 * Province - They are the largest type of subdivisions in Zalivnia, and exist due to historical reasons and do not have powers of their own, as they include 2 or more regions from a similar historical region. There are 8 provinces in Zalivnia.
 * Region - Regions form the higher level units of local self-government, each including a group of 2 or more municipalities. There are a total of 19 regions in Zalivnia. They are named after geographical features (most often after important rivers), and some after the cities within the region.
 * Municipality - A municipality is the lower level unit of local self-governance. They often include 1 town as the municipal center, and a number of villages and hamlets. There are also municipalities which include more than one town, and there are 3 such municipalities (Zaoštrine, Savanovo and Aleksandrovo). There are a total of 97 municipalities in Zalivnia.
 * City - A city is the lower level unit of local sevl-governance, along with municipalities. The difference is that cities are former municipalities, which over time grew a reputation of importance for Zalivnia, whether is it by size or other factors. There are 5 such subdivisions (Ulinje, Markovac, Skroj, Čarnograd and Borčane), and they currently include the 5 largest cities in Zalivnia.
 * City district - They are the lowest type of subdivisions, and they exist only within cities.

Largest cities
There are a total of 9 cities in Zalivnia, each of them with a population greater than 50,000. There are also another 38 towns with population ranging between 15,000 to 50,000. Out of the 9 cities, 4 have a population above 100,000, and 1 of them has more than a million people, which is Ulinje, the capital city. About 58% (?) of the population lives in the top 10 biggest cities (almost 2/3 of the population). Every third person is a resident of Ulinje, and about 40% of the population lives in or near the Ulinje Metropolitan Area.