Qitzikwaka

**Qitzikwaka** is an African landlocked nation so say that it was made for "April Fools Day 2020" but others disagree. It was first colonized by Russia, and the inhabitants live mostly underground. The economy relies heavily on natural gas. It is close to the tri-point of Niger, Chad, & Libya. There is a Reddit for the country too.

## Irrelevant Details

The map of (the fictional country) Qitzikwaka (according to Paul) looks like a submarine. The country's borders are shaped similarly to the New York City borough of Staten Island (although this detail was not mentioned by Paul). The currency is the East African Shilling, they use the Type Q outlet (A fictional outlet type made by Paul), & they drive on the left side of the road (but they also have left-hand steering wheels too).

## Brief History

Qitzikwaka was illegally colonized by Russian explorers whom where kicked out of there temporary settlements in Djibouti many escaped French capture by escaping via the Red Sea however because of low supplies and room the Russian generals where cautious and refused to let the Buddhists minority on board. Whereas the Orthodox-Christians managed to escape back to there Russian homeland the Buddhists where left to roam free and eventually found there new homeland when they came across tribes who allowed them to settle in return for tribute forming the Kingdom of Qitzikwaka which was run by a regency council since no king was ever elected. A violent Stalinist backed coup in 1924 declared a new Qitzikwaka Republic however after much reform it has become a much more hospitable place to foreigners especially since the 1980s.

## Politics

Since the inhabitants are largely Russian - many citizens are staunch socialists and have formed a far left government by western standards their values are purely based on a 'collectivist ethos' and other communist ideas including abolishing private land ownership. This explains why countries including the USA and other western powers still refuse to recognise them. Moreover trade is largely restricted to Qitzikwaka local neighbours which fuels their civilian economy. Interestingly because of foreign investment Canada is rather friendly when compared with everyone else and might be one of the first major nations to fully recognise it.

## Size

It has a strikingly similar shape to New York on a basic flag map but is about 4500 sq miles/12000 sq km, making it just slightly larger than Qatar, it has 2 main settlements; first the capital 'Ger' (Population: 41,000 people (13,000 live above ground, 28,000 live underground), which is situated entirely in the Mokodinza Crater, and "Kyrkrə" (The 3rd largest town in the country, with about 15,000 people), which is right next to the Krykra Reservoir. However, there are more Subterranean Villages underground.

## Temperature

Average surface temperatures in the summer months can reach up to 120° F (~50°C) this is unbearable heat and is one of the major reasons why most of the population live underground where the environment can be controlled.

## Demographics

The population is very diverse and labelled as the 'Qitzikwak' nethertheless they have a rich, strong and distinct culture because of the initial Russian and Buddhist settlers the capital 'Ger' has a population of 41,000 people with 13,000 living above ground and 28,000 living underground. Sources can't pinpoint the underground population of 'Kyrkrə' (the second largest town) but what we can say is it has roughly around 15,000 inhabitants.

Having a population of 101,000 (2020 est) many of the underground towns are very intricate and cramped and with Russian Buddhists it makes the nation the highest in Buddhist population per capita inside of Africa which is a remarkable achievement.

The population is reasonably diverse with 52% of the population having Qitzi-maba origin or exactly 52,520 another 30% are Quitzi-kalmyk or about 30,300 with the last big majority being 14% Afro-slav or around about 14,140 and 4% are others or about 4040 these are the minority and include alien visitors at the time of recording.

## Recognition

Sadly, to this day no country has ever fully recognised Qitzikwaka this is for many reasons largely due to the fact that its a underground society. They have also been rejected by the Dalai Lama and therefore a whole range of fellow Buddhist nations such as Bhutan, Cambodia and Myanmar but luckily for the people of Qitzikwaka tourism from other Buddhist countries like Mongolia, Japan and Thailand is rising. However by far the biggest player is in recent talks between the government of Qitzikwaka and Russia which have resulted in a foreign investment program due to the large amounts of fuel reserves that Qitzikwaka owns many Qitzikwaks believe this is the first step towards Russian recognition and since talks are almost underway with Canada its only a matter of time. Norway is another possibility as previous leaders of Norway say they are proud of this country and its remarkable achievements.