Kewinta

The flag of Kewinta

The map of Kewinta

**Kewinta**, officially the **Confederation of Kewinta** (*Atxinti: Nu'ekitunkwaska Kewintantxa*) is a state located on the continent of the same name.

## History

### Prehistory

It is not fully understood currently how Kewinta was originally populated. The oldest signs of human habitation on the continent date back to about 19000 years ago and are found in the North. For long, it was commonly accepted that the first Kewintans cam from the North by sailing from island to island. Indeed, signs of human presence dating to about 22000 years ago were found in the North-Eastern archipelago, indicating that humans were spreading southwards in the islands around the time when Kewinta was populated.

However, recent discoveries have disputed this claim. Indeed, the discovery of 18000 years old human remains and tools in the South, older than any remains found in the central areas of the continent and of a different material culture, has put in question the Northern hypothesis. The current widely accepted hypothesis is that, around the same time as the arrival of early Kewintans from the North, a culture of antarctic seal and whale hunters, landed on the east coast by paddling along the border of the sea ice.

This early group has been called the Inkalanu'e culture (Atxinti word meaning "ancestor people") and have been suggested as the original speakers of Proto-Wapiku'uli, from which all languages of the Wapiku'uli language family, which includes Atxinti, are descended. Indeed, several pieces of evidence point to this conclusion. Firstly, this language family known to have spread from the South, as evidenced by the Southern Wapiku'uli languages being more archaic and containing less loan words than their northern counterparts, while neighbouring languages in southern Kewinta often contain many loan words from Wapiku'uli languages. Secondly, Southern Wapiku'uli peoples are genetically distinct from the rest of the natives of Kewinta, showing a lack of common ancestry (It should be noted that although they share some common ancestry with the Southern Wapiku'uli, Northern and Central Wapiku'uli peoples are more closely related to their neighbours, showing a large degree of intermixing and cultural assimilation).

Agriculture was developed independently in Northern Kewinta around 4000 to 3000 years ago. Most crops cultivated by native Kewintans were domesticated then. The most notable examples are the Ape'a, a root vegetable, as well as many varieties of beans.

### Copper Age

Copper tools dating back to at least 2500 years ago have been found in Northern Kewinta.

Around 2000 years ago, the Kulunian civilization discovered Kewinta and established trade relations with the indigenous population. As there is close to no genetic similarities between the Kulunians and modern day Kewintans, it is most probable that Kulunian colonisation was limited to the establishment of trade outposts, without great numbers of settlers.

## Demographics

### Languages

The ethnic diversity of Kewinta is reflected in its great linguistic diversity. The most widely spoken language is Atxinti; this is both due to the demographic prominence of the Atxinti people, as well as their political domination over the continent. Atxinti is the official language, used in administration and education beyond primary level. Despite this, local languages are widely predominant in areas not inhabited by ethnic Atxintis. Atxinti is widely used as a lingua franca for communication between peoples with many unrelated languages.