Jalotte

**Jalotte** (Jahorian: *Jahore*) is an island territory and overseas region of Marone. It is located in the Sea of Podros, sharing maritime borders with Papagusca and the archipelago of the Podros. The region has a population of 416,180 residents.

Like the other overseas regions, Jalotte holds official status as both a region and department of Marone, and is an integral part of the Maronan Republic. The region was formed in 1956, following the decolonization of Marone which led to some colonies becoming overseas regions. Jalotte had previously been incorporated as an island of the Podros, but residents of Jalotte voted to remain within Marone in the 1954 Maronan status referendums, and the other islands of the Podros voted for independence.

## History

### Early history and Jahore Sultanate

*See also: History of Podros.*

The island of Jalotte is believed to have been first settled between 800–1000 AD, with the arrival of sailors from Southeast Helonesia. Southeast Helonesian sailors had previously settled on nearby Papagusca in the centuries prior, and began development in Jalotte in a similar manner to development in Papagusca, with the cultivation of crops which originated in Southeast Helonesia.

Beginning in the 15th century, East Tarficans arrived in Jalotte and the other Podrosian islands as slave traders, establishing trading posts on the island and bringing with them a number of Tarfican slaves meant to be sold to Helonesia. By the following century, Barbians had arrived on the island as well, and forged alliances with the slave traders while forming several royal clans throughout the Podrosian islands. Following their arrival, the majority of Jalotte's population was peacefully converted to Eurean Islam, and the Jahore Sultanate was later established in 1534 by the Favorook clan. Eureans arrived on Jalotte for the first time in the 16th century, following the arrival of Escarian explorers in 1598; however, their arrival was peaceful, forming trading relations with the Favorook clan, before departing without any attempt at colonization.

The Jahore Sultanate entered a period of instability in the 19th century, following the premature death of its sultan Haitham el-Bahri in 1824, at the age of 23. Following his death, his son Bahri el-Haitham took the throne as sultan, at the age of three. In the year following his ascension, the island was conquered by the Falouan Sultanate, followed by Mijoro II of the Kingdom of Fulo on Papagusca in 1827, by the Majuan Sultanate in 1833, and finally again by Mijoro II in 1839.

### Maronan colonization

With the constant threat of invasion by the more powerful Podrosian Sultanate or Kingdom of Papagusca, Mjoro II sought an alliance with Marone to protect his territories and sovereignty. Following the completion of negotiations between Mjoro II and the Maronan government, the Kingdom of Fulo sold the island of Jalotte to Marone in 1847, after which it became a Maronan possession administered as Maronan Jalotte. Immediately after the transaction, slavery was outlawed on the island in line with Maronan law, and indentured servants from East Tarfica were brought to the island to work. In the aftermath of the abolition of slavery, many slaveowners and other elites left the island, although the newly freed slaves were left with largely no choice other than to work on newly formed Maronan sugar and coffee plantations, sometimes under harsher conditions than they experienced as slaves.

The first years of Maronan colonization were difficult. With most of its former elite class having left shortly after the abolition of slavery, the island was underpopulated and subject to frequent wars and conflicts between clans vying over land and local authority. In an effort to stabilize the island, the Maronan government began offering economic incentives for former slaveowners to return to the island in 1856, followed by promising land to wealthy families of the Podrosian Sultanate in exchange for them to set up trading posts on the island. These efforts to repopulate the island were successful, but crop production began to quickly stagnate, and coffee bean cultivation was ended entirely by 1874.

Following the Munbach Conference of 1885, where representatives of several Eurean nations met to discuss the state of Tarfican imperialism, Marone took control over the entirety of the Podrosian islands, and administered the colony as Maronan Jalotte and Dependencies. In 1894, a smallpox outbreak spread throughout Jalotte, which killed 23% of the population. In its aftermath, the Maronan government once again began a repopulation effort, inviting workers from Papagusca and East Tarfica to the island to work. By 1902, the island had stopped its sugar production, but began investing in various other crops, such as vanilla and fragrant plants.

### Modern history

Jalotte received its official status as both an overseas region and department of Marone in 1956, following the 1954 status referendums. Residents of Jalotte voted for further integration with Marone, with 63.2% of voters in favor and 34.5% opposed. With this result, Jalotte was the only island of the Podrosian islands to vote for further integration with Marone, with the remaining islands receiving independence as Podros. The vote had stronger implications for Jalotte than it did for any other territory voting for further integration with Marone, as Jalotte had previously used an Islamic legal code, which had to be entirely replaced by Maronan civil code.

In the aftermath of its integration into Marone, Jalotte has continued to suffer from significant instability. Numerous studies have determined Jalotte to be both the most economically unstable region of Marone, and the most underdeveloped. It also experiences significant issues with illegal immigration from Podros. By 2015, it was estimated that as much as 30% of its population was composed of illegal immigrants escaping political instability and economic issues in Podros. The issue of Podrosian sovereignty over Jalotte is also often raised; since 1956, Podros has claimed the island of Jalotte as Podrosian territory, which has led to fraught relations between Marone and Podros, and hostilities on Jalotte between native Jahores and Podrosians.

## Demographics

The Maronan census does not ask demographic questions, apart from place of birth. Following the 2018 Maronan census, 46.7% of residents were born in Jalotte, 3.2% of residents were born in metropolitan Marone, 4.2% were born elsewhere in overseas Marone (primarily Tahare), 0.7% were born abroad with Maronan citizenship at birth, and 45.2% were immigrants. Jalotte has the highest percentage of foreign-born residents of all the regions of Marone, and the lowest percentage of residents born in its region of all of overseas Marone. It is estimated that up to 30% of the population had immigrated to Jalotte illegally. The overwhelming majority of its foreign-born population were born in Podros.

Jalotte is believed to be the most economically disadvantaged region of Marone. As of a 2017 study, approximately 85% of the population live below the national poverty line, 27% of residents reside in corrugated sheet metal shacks, 14% of residents have no running water, and 37% of adult residents are unemployed, the most of any region of Marone for each statistic. When looking specifically at immigrant groups, 95% of the population live below the poverty line.

### Metropolitan areas

There is one metropolitan area (Maronan: *métropoles*) located in Jalotte: Farahanhumei, which includes eight communes and has 304,020 residents, making up nearly three-quarters of the population of Jalotte.

### Ethnic groups

Jalotte is considered to be a Podrosian island, and the majority of its residents are Podrosians. The Podrosians are a diverse group of people whose ethnic origins include primarily East Tarfican, Barbian, Papaguscan, and Kervian ancestry. Podrosians are also found throughout the remainder of the Podrosian islands, located within the Islamic Union of the Podros.

A 2016 study found that 99.2% of the population identified as either being of Podrosian or "Jahore" ancestry, while the remaining 0.8% of the population identified with other ethnicities, predominantly as either Maronan, Papaguscan, or Taharian. Jahores are a subgroup of Podrosians which inhabit the island of Jalotte. Biological analysis has found no significant biological differences between Jahores and other Podrosians, thus Jahores are considered to be a sociocultural subgrouping of Podrosians rather than a biological group.

### Languages and religion

The sole official language of Jalotte is Maronan, which is the language of the government, education system, and entertainment industry in Jalotte. However, Maronan is only spoken natively by a small minority of the population, with various other indigenous languages serving as the native language of the majority of residents. The most largely spoken native language on the island is Jahorian, which is a variety of the Podrosian language. It is estimated that about 45% of the population speaks Jahorian as their native language. The remaining 55% of the population primarily speaks other varieties of the Podrosian language, spoken by Podrosian immigrant communities, Papaguscan, which is often spoken by Papaguscan immigrants, or Maronan, which is primarily spoken by the upper-class and residents born in metropolitan Marone or Tahare. These languages are primarily only used in personal and casual contexts, such as while speaking to friends and family, while Maronan is commonly used for more formal contexts. Barbic is also widely understood on the island, as many residents attend Quranic after-school programs, where Barbic is taught. It is believed that as much as 10% of the population cannot speak Maronan, primarily amongst the older generation, immigrants, and those living in extreme poverty.

The predominant religion in Jalotte is Islam, principally Eurean Islam. It is estimated that Eurean Muslims comprise 96.5% of the population in Jalotte, followed by Christianity (principally Eurean Catholicism) at 3.0%. The remaining 0.5% of the population is comprised of adherents to other religions, in addition to those identifying as atheist, agnostic, or irreligious. Unlike in the Podros, it is believed that there is a high level of religious tolerance in Jalotte, with there not having been any significant conflict between its Muslim majority and Christian minority since the 1940s. Additionally, religious devoutness is believed to be lower in Jalotte than in other islands of the Podros.

## Government

### Politics

*Main article: Politics of Jalotte*
Like other overseas regions of Marone, Jalotte has a combined regional and departmental council known as the General Council of Jalotte. The General Council possesses the powers of both a departmental and regional council, and is the chief legislative body within the territory of Jalotte. One of the members of the General Council is also elected by voters to serve as president, a role akin to a prime minister; the president is typically the leader of the electoral list that receives a majority of seats in the General Council.

### Administrative divisions

Like other regions of overseas Marone, Jalotte is divided into communes, which are grouped into arrondissements. There are 21 communes in Jalotte, while the region also functions as its own arrondissement; Jalotte is the only department of Marone to not have at least two arrondissements.

Arrondissements serve no legal function in Marone, other than being the jurisdictions of prefects and subprefects. Communes elect both a mayor and municipal council, and are responsible for services such as water management, sanitation, garbage disposal, keeping a civil register, and municipal police.