Yhdistyneet suuret järvet

**Yhdistyneet suuret järvet** (Engl.  *United Great Lakes*, lyh. *UGL*) on Pohjois-Amerikassa sijaitseva liittovaltio, joka koostuu viidestä osavaltiosta ja yhdestä liittovaltion hallinnollisesta pääkaupunkialueesta. Nämä viisi osavaltiota ja yksi pääkaupunkivyöhyke sijaitsevat Pohjois-Amerikan Itä- ja Keskiosissa, maailman suurimman sulan makean veden keskittymän, Suurten järvien ympärillä. Siellä vallitsee lauhkea ilmasto, ja maan kasvillisuus on etelässä lähinnä lehtimetsää ja pohjoisessa. Maan pinta-alasta yli 27% on makeaa vettä. Maan väkiluku on yli 29 miljoonaa, mikä tekee Yhdystyneistä suurista järvistä maailman 46. suurimman maan väkiluvun mukaan. Maan pääkaupunki on Detroit, mutta maan suurin kaupunki on Toronto. Muita suuria kaupunkeja ovat Milwaukee, Sudbury, Kingston ja Thunder Bay.

Suuret järvet olivat osana Ranskaa ja Ison-Britanniaa siirtomaavaltojen aikana. Ranska miehitti ensimmäisenä Suuret järvet eurooppalaisena maana. Ranska kuitenkin hävisi suuressa siirtomaasodassa ja menetti Suuret järvet Isolle-Britannialle, joka hallitsi Suuria järviä kauan. Euroopan kolonialismi kaatui Pohjois-Amerikassa 1800-luvulla, jolloin monet siirtomaat itsenäistyivät emämaistaan. Näihin kuuluivat myös Suurten järvien alasiirtomaat: Michigan, Newberry, Wisconsin, Toronto, Hurona ja Superior. Kyseiset alasiirtomaat julistivat itsenäisiksi vuonna 1869. Kuitenkin 28. marraskuuta 1883 Suurten järvien siirtomaat päättivät yhdistyä yhdeksi liittovaltioksi taloudellisista riippuvaisista syistä. Yhdistyneet suuret järvet ottivat paljon vaikutteita naapureistaan Yhdysvalloista ja Monteregisistä.

2000-luvun alussa Suurten järvien talous on noussut nopeasti, ja maan bruttokansantuote on 15. suurin. Yhdistyneet suuret järvet on kehittynyt maa, jolla on erittäin korkea elintaso sekä osaava ja tuottava yhteiskunta. Maa ylläpitää sosiaaliturvajärjestelmää, yleisen terveydenhuollon järjestelmää, ympäristönsuojelujärjestelmää ja ilmaista yliopistokoulutusta.

Yhdistyneet suuret järvet kuuluu yhdistyneet kansakuntiin, Pohjois-Atlantin liittoon (NATO) ja Pohjois-Amerikan vapaakauppasopimukseen. Maa kuuluu myös Kolmi federaaliseen liittoon, johon kuuluvat Guyana ja Monteregis. Yhdistyneet suuret järvet kuuluu myös Virallisten valtioiden kansainyhteisöön.

## Etymologia

Nimitys *Great Lakes* on käännös ranskalaisen tutkimusmatkailijan, Jacques Cartierin antama. Se tulee siis ranskankielisestä nimestä suurille järville, *Grand Lacs:*sta.

Seitsenvuotisen sodan jälkeen Ranska menetti suuret järvet Isolle-Britannialle. Iso-Britannian hallitsijat päättivät pitää ranskankielisen nimen, mutta käänsivät sen englanniksi. Nimi jäi alueelle kauaksi aikaa. Suurten järvien siirtomaita alettiin kutsua *Suurten järvien siirtomaiksi*.

## Historia

### Esihistoria

Viimmeisen jääkauden loputtua, useat kansat (nyk. Amerikan intiaanit) vaelsivat nykyisen Beringinsalmen päälllä olevan Beringin maakannaksen kautta Amerikan mantereelle.

Näistä kansoista Irokeesit, Siouxit, Huronit ja Odawat vaelsivat suurten järvien maille. Nämä kansat kuitenkin melkein hävisivät kolonialismin myötä: useat kuolivat eurooppalaisten tuomiin sairauksiin ja osa menetti henkensä suurissa intiaanisodissa.

### Kolonialismi

The first European country who claimed Great Lakes was France, which hold Great Lakes for a hundred years. France called this American colony as New France. After Battle of the Thousand Islands France lost some of it's colonies to Great Britain.

Great Lakes became part of Great Britain. Great Britain named these colonies around the Great Lakes as *British Great Lakes*. These five sub-colonies were called Wisconsin, Michigan, Newberry, Toronto and Superior. They lasted for a hundred years.

### Nationalism rises

In the beginning of 1860, nationalism raised in North American colonies. In 1867 former French colonies started to declare independence. This nationalistic wave also arrived in British colonies and in 1869, first Great Lakes colony, Wisconsin, declared it's independence.

Another Great Lakes colonies followed Wisconsin and in 1870 all of them were declared independence. Newberry joined to Michigan as Upper Michigan, Toronto split up into Hurona and Toronto. The Great Britain didn't recognize them until in 1876.

### Federated states

After these former colonies gained independence, they started to realize that their economies are not stable enough to survive in the world. Protests and chaos started to spread in the former colonies. People even concidered to join United Kingdom again, until in the beginning of 1880, new idea of one united country of Great Lakes spread all over those former colonies.Unification between former Great Lakes colonies started to come alive. This idea was inspired from another federations in North America, from United States of America and from just united Monteregis.

In 28th November 1883, former colonies signed a treaty of Unification in Detroit. All Great Lakes colonies joined as a one federated country. Former colonies chose Detroit as the capital, because it was biggest city in Great Lakes at the time. Just couple days after, leaders found the Constitution of Great lakes. United Great Lakes was born.

### World War I and World War II

The United Great Lakes remained neutral during the World War I. Still about 200 volunteer soldiers from Great Lakes joined with British troops to help Central Powers. 174 soldiers came back and they were rewarded with Bravery Prizes. United Great Lakes took a part of the Paris Peace Conference and joined to the League of Nations and stayed in it until it dissolved.

Once the World War II started, United Great Lakes remained neutral along with it's North American neighbors. In March 1941 started supplying material to the Allies with United States. After the attack of Pearl Harbor in United States, United States joined the World War II. Once again more than 500 volunteer soldiers wanted to help US troops, so they joined US Army and went to help the Allies. 382 surviving soldiers were also rewarded with Bravery Prizes and even on this day, volunteer soldiers who took part of World Wars are really respected.

## Geography

United Great Lakes are located in Midwestern North America, in the Great Lakes Basin. It's 36th largest country in the world and it has 5th largest surface area of water in the world. The country's total area is 798,114 square kilometers (308,153 sq mi), of which 217,033 km2 (83,796 sq mi) is land and 581,081 km2 (22,4356 sq mi) is water.

United Great Lakes lies between latitudes 50° and 40° N, and longitudes 92° and 75° W. The distance from the southernmost—Camden—to the northernmost point in the country—Smoothrock—is 1,050 kilometers (652 mi). Highest point of United Great Lakes is Mount Arvon, located in Upper Michigan with elevation of 603 meters (1,979 ft). The mountain is part of the Huron Mountains.

As the name of the country says, Untied Great Lakes is the home of Great Lakes, the largest series of interconnected freshwater lakes. Largest lake of the lakes is Lake Superior, the second largest lake of the world. Lakes make up 27% of the surface of United Great Lakes.

### Biodiversity

According to the WWF, the territory of United Great Lakes can be subdivided into three ecoregions: the Midwestern Canadian Shield and Western Great Lakes taiga,  Eastern Great Lakes mixed forests, and Southern Great Lakes broadleaf forests. Taiga covers the northern regions and inlands of United Great Lakes. Broadleaf and mixed forests covers the southern regions of the country. Spruces, pines and birches are common trees that you can find in taiga, oaks and maples in broadleaf and mixed forests.

### Climate

United Great Lakes has a hot summer humid continental climate and it's caused the Lakes. In inner-Michigan and inner-Wisconsin there are a warm summer continental climate. United Great Lakes belongs to temperate zone, so the country has all seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. During winter, temperatures falls at -5°C and in summer, it rises at 23°C. The climate is suitable for cereal farming are the best in the southernmost regions.

## Politics

United Great Lakes is politically active country and it especially has a lot of relations with European countries. Head of the State is President and the country is ruled by the Congress. The Head of Congress is Chairman. United Great Lakes belongs to Commonwealth of Official Nations which is a economical and military union. United Great Lakes has private military and economical alliance with Federal Republic of Guyana and Buena Vista called Triple Federal Alliance.

### Congress

The Congress of United Great Lakes has divided to Senate and to House of Representatives. The 101-member Senate exercises supreme legislative authority. It may alter the constitution and ordinary laws, dismiss the cabinet, and override presidential vetoes. Its acts are not subject to judicial review; the constitutionality of new laws is assessed by the 349-member House of Representatives. The Head of Congress is Chairman. The current Chairman of United Great Lakes is Lenny Harris.

People chooses 17 senators to the Senate in from every state. This also happens with House of Representatives, where every state chooses 58 representatives.

### President

According to the Constitution, the President of United Great Lakes is the head of state. Direct, one- or two-stage elections are used to elect the president for a term of six years and for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The current president is Ryan Scott; he took office on 7. April 2012.

### Foreign relations

President of United Great Lakes leads the foreign policy in cooperation with the government. The country has not really took a part of any wars, but during State union of Great Lakes, Great Lakers supported Ontarians to join the country.

United Great Lakes is part of United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement. United Great Lakes belongs toMG9 *(Mapperdonian Group of Nine)* whichis an economical organization between nine nations. The country belongs to Commonwealth of Official Nations, which is an economic, military and trade union between official nations. United Great Lakes has signed six trading agreements with six nations; Cheenarn, Vasemman, Pylion, Polminsk, Guyana and Sicsajon.

United Great Lakes belongs to Triple Federal Alliance, which is is an alliance between three states; **United Great Lakes**, Federal Republic of Guyana and Monteregis. United Great Lakes and Monteregis both have close ties with each other. They both share nearly same history and they've been close countries from the beginning.

### Osavaltio

Yhdistyneet suuret järvet on jaettu viiteen osavaltioon ja yhteen pääkaupunkivyöhykkeeseen. Osavaltiot perustuvat alasiirtomaiden alueisiin Iso-Britannian aikana.

Michigan
(Michigan)
Wisconsin
Toronto
Hurona
Superior
Detroit
 Grand Rapids
Toronto
Milwaukee
Thunder Bay
Sudbury

## Economy

United Great Lakes has significant mineral (gold, nickel, aluminum, steel) and freshwater resources. The agricultural sector are politically sensitive to rural residents. The Detroit and Toronto metropolitan areas generates around a third of GDP. The unemployment rate was 8.4% in 2015, having risen from 7.9% in 2014.

### Transport

The main international passenger gateway is Detroit Metropolitan Airport with about 58 million passengers in 2016. Toronto Pearson International Airport is the second largest, about 54 million passengers in 2016. The Detroit Airport-based Lakes Air and American Regional Airlines sell air services both domestically and internationally. Detroit has good routes to Europe and Asia.

Despite low population density, the Government spends annually around 670 million GLDs in maintaining 28,495 kilometres of railway tracks. Rail transport is handled by state owned GR (Great Rails) Group. GR Group helps to maintain subway systems in Detroit and Toronto.

### Energy

Industry and construction consumed 43% of total consumption. Great Lakes' hydrocarbon resources is limited to only wood. About 30–40% of the electricity is produced by hydropower and about 15–25% is produced wind power. There are eight nuclear power plants in the country and in twenty years country has shut down two power plants. Nuclear reactors producing 35% of the country's energy.

### Science and technology

United Great Lakes spends approximately 12.3 billion Great Lake Dollars on domestic research and development. As of 2016, the country has produced three Nobel laureates in physics and medicine. United Great Lakes is a home to the Space Programs of Commonwealth of Official Nations and they have one finished Space Center in Wisconsin. United Great Lakes along with Commonwealth of Official Nations are building first satellites and establish a habitable satellite on Low Earth orbit.

## Demographics

The population of United Great Lakes is currently 29,235,370. The largest cities are Toronto, Detroit and Milwaukee. Most of the Great Lakers live in Southern states (Wisconsin, Michigan and Toronto). As of 2014, there were 2,353,102 people with a foreign background living in United Great Lakes (8,1% of the population), most of whom are from United States, Monteregis, Canada and the United Kingdom.

### Languages

The official language of United Great Lakes is English. 99,2% of the population uses English as mother tongue. French is the second most spoken language in the country and 0,2% of the population uses French as mother tongue. The French language is a recongized regional language in the state of Hurona. Other large minority languages are Spanish and Chinese.

### Religions

United Great Lakes is religion-free country. The largest religion in United Great Lakes is Christianity with supporters of 63.2%. 80% of Christians are Lutherans and 20% are Catholic who mostly live in the state of Hurona. United Great Lakes has one of the largest atheism minority in North America by percent of the population. 31.0% of the population is non-religious. 2.1% of the population are Jewish and 0.9% are Muslims.

### Education

Apart from another North American countries, the education system of the Great Lakes is different and more European. The education is operated by state governments, but they don't differ much. The children start their *Basic Education* when they are seven years old. Basic Education takes nine years and it consists of Elementary School and Upper School. Basic education is compulsory to everyone, but after it ends, you can go to your secondary school or start working, which is not common.

Children start their first part of the Basic education, Elementary school, which takes five years to complete. During that time, children learn basic things about life and society. After they complete the Elementary school, they will exalted automatically to the upper school. Upper school is more freely and students can choose different courses that they like. At the last grade of the upper school, students will make their *School Diploma* and graduate from basic education.

Usually when students graduate and continue studying in the secondary school, they choose *Secondary upper school* or *Vocational school*. In secondary upper school, students write their *Matriculation Examination,* which is "ticket to University". In vocational school, studies are centralized to one vocation. You can also write matriculation examination in vocational school.

After the secondary schools, students can apply for Universities or Secondary vocational schools, which are at the top of the education. Every state in United Great Lakes has at least one university and usually one or two secondary vocational schools.

## Culture

### Music

United Great Lakes have had many genres of music in it's history, depended on it's popularity. Blues was really popular in the 1930s, especially in Detroit and Detroit had many popular blues artists living there. From the 1930s popular music genres have changed from blues and jazz to pop and hiphop. Capital city Detroit hosts Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and the hip-hop Summer Jamz festival.

Modern Great Lakes popular music includes a number of prominent pop stars, rock bands, hip hop performers, dance music acts, etc. United Great Lakes has participated in Mappervision Song Contest eleven times and won 8th edition, when 40-years old woman singer Sia sang her song "Alive" to her victory. The 9th edition took place in Joe Louis Arena, Detroit.

### Media

Great Lakes press has been rated one of the freest in the world. Today, there are around 700 newspapers, 11 digital radio channels and five nationwide and 16 national public service radio channels. The major broadcaster in the United Great Lakes *Broadcasting Corporation of Great Lakes* (BCGL). Another popular broadcaster is *Fox Broadcasting Company* which is broadcasted all around the North America.

Each year, around 67,000 book titles are published and 34 million records are sold. United Great Lakes currently has two major "national" newspapers: *Great Lakes Times* and *The Globe Today*. *Le Journal* is a popular newspaper for French speaking minority. Worldwide, Great Lakes, along with other Nordics and Japanese, spend the most time reading newspapers.

### Sports

Various sporting events are popular in the United Great Lakes. The most popular sports in terms of spectators is ice hockey, American football and football (soccer). There are two National Hockey League teams in United Great lakes; Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. United Great Lakes national ice hockey team or Seals in IIHF World Ranking has ranked as third. The team has won many times Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and United Great Lakes have hosted five times. United Great Lakes has actively took part of Mapperdonian Olympic Games.

National football team of United Great Lakes has taken part of MIFF cups and the football team belongs to North and South American Confederation. In the Qualification Rounds for MIFF World Cup 2017, United Great Lakes won bidding process and the country will host the World Cup 2017.

in Formula Mappers Season 2 the United Great Lakes host the Great Lakers Grand Prix that planned on the Final Race February 26 2017.