Ingria

*This article is about Ingria in Arflingotrinidomorssicania. For Ingria in 1942: Differently, see Grand Archduchy of Ingria.*

## IngriaIžoria (iz)Ингрия (ru)Inkeri[maa] (fi)Ingermanland (se)Ingeri[maa] (et)

* National Flag
* Royal Flag

Coat of arms of Ingria

## Geography

### Location

* Eurasia
	+ Fennoscandia/Nordic Europe & Baltics
* Gulf of Finland

### Capital: Largest City:

Narva
Pleskov

## Politics

### Government

Federal Unitary Presidential Constitutionial Republic

## Demographics

### Languages

* Ingrian, English (official)
* Curonian, Livonian, Latvian, Estonian, Finnish (co-official)
* Russian, Laurensche, Swedish, Danish (recognized)

## Trends

### Currency

Izhorian Ställeime (IZS)

**Ingria** (Ingrian: Ižoria; Russian: Ингрия, Ингерманландия, Ижорская земля, Finnish: *Inkeri, Inkerinmaa*, Swedish: *Ingermanland*, Estonian: *Ingeri, Ingerimaa*), officially the **Grand Izhorian Republic**, and unofficially known as *Izhoria* or *Ingerimania*, is a fictional, sovereign, unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic in North-Eastern Europe, bordering Estonia to the North-West, Latvia to the South-West, and Russia to the East. It lies along the South-Eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, almost bordering St. Petersburg, and by the River Narva on the border with Estonia in the West. The capital city Narva and the city of Pleskov are the 3 largest urban areas of the country. The Ingrian language is the autochthonous and the official language of Ingria; it is the first language of the majority of its population, as well as the world's 2nd most spoken Finnic language.

The land of what is now modern Ingria has been inhabited by *Homo Sapiens* since at least 9,000 BC. The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last pagan civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianity following the Papal-sanctioned Livonian Crusade in the 13th CE. The earliest known indigenous European peoples of the region are the now mostly Eastern Orthodox Izhorians and Votians, as well as the Ingrian Finns who descend from the Lutheran Finnish immigrants who settled in the area in the 17th CE, when Finland proper and Ingria were both parts of the Swedish Empire. After centuries of successive rule by the Teutonic Order, Denmark, Sweden, and the Russian Empire, a distinct Estonian national identity began to emerge in the mid-19th CE.

Ingria is a well-developed country, with a high-income advanced economy. The sovereign state of Estonia is a democratic unitary parliamentary constitutional republic, administratively subdivided into 25 oblasts, or provinces. With a population of just over 2.5 million, it is one of the moderately populous members of the European Union, the Eurozone, the OECD, the Schengen Area, and NATO. Ingria is currently a member of the European Union, Eurozone, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the International Monetary Fund, the Nordic-Baltic Ten, the Nordic Investment Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the World Trade Organization. Ingria is nowadays often confused to be one of the 7 Nordic countries, and simultaneously, the 4 Baltic states as well.

## Etymology

The Swedes referred to the ancient Novgorodian land of *Vod* as "*Ingermanland*", Latinized to "Ingria". Folk etymology traces its name to *Ingegerd Olofsdotter*, the daughter of the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung (995–1022).

## History

### a. Prehistory

#### Paleolithic Era

Human settlement in Ingria became possible 12,000–11,000 years ago, when the ice from the last glacial era melted. The oldest known settlement in Ingria is the *Ludingran* settlement, which was on the banks of Luga river, in North-Western Ingria. According to radiocarbon dating, it was settled around 11,000 years ago.

#### Mesolithic Era

The earliest human habitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to the Kunda culture, similar to Estonia. At that time both Estonia and Ingria were covered with forests, and people lived in semi-nomadic communities near bodies of water. Subsistence activities consisted of hunting, gathering and fishing. The earliest post-glacial inhabitants of the present-day area of Ingria were probably mainly seasonal hunter-gatherers.

#### Neolithic Era

Around 4900 BC, ceramics appear of the neolithic period, known as Narva culture. Starting from around 3200 BC the Corded Ware culture appeared; this included new activities like primitive agriculture and animal husbandry. From 3200 BC onwards, either immigrants or a strong cultural influence from south of the Gulf of Finland settled in Northern Ingria, as well as some bits of South-Western Finland. This culture was a part of the European Battle Axe cultures, which have often been associated with the movement of the Indo-European speakers. The Battle Axe, or Cord Ceramic, culture seems to have practiced agriculture and animal husbandry outside of Finland and Ingria, but the earliest confirmed traces of agriculture in Ingria date later, approximately to the 2nd millennium BC. Further inland, societies retained their hunting-gathering lifestyles for the time being.

#### Transitional Phase

Around 3000 BC, the proto-Baltic ancestors of the Ingrian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals. By 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Ingria: East Livs, Votes, Selvonians, and Ingrandians, as well as the Finnic tribe of Livonians (lībieši) speaking a Finnic language.

#### Bronze Age

The Bronze Age started around 1800 BC, and saw the establishment of the first hill fort settlements. A transition from hunter-fisher subsistence to single-farm-based settlement started around 1000 BC, and was complete by the beginning of the Iron Age around 500 BC. The large amount of bronze objects indicate the existence of active communication with Scandinavian and Germanic tribes. The coastal regions of Northern Ingria were a part of the Nordic Bronze Culture, whereas, in the inland regions, the influences came from the bronze-using cultures of northern and eastern Russia.

#### Iron Age

The Iron Age in Ingria is considered similar to that of Finland; it is considered to have lasted from 500 BC until 1300 AD. Written records of Ingria become more common due to the Northern Crusades led by the Catholic Church in the 12th and 13th CE. As the Ingrian Iron Age lasted almost 2 millennia, it is further divided into 6 sub-periods:

* Pre-Roman Period: 500 BC—1 BC
* Roman Period: 1 AD—400 AD
* Migration Period: 400 AD—575 AD
* Merovingian Period: 575 AD—800 AD
* Viking Age Period: 800 AD—1025 AD
* Catholic & Crusade Period: 1033 AD—1300 AD

Very few written records of Ingria or its people remain in any language of the era. Written sources are of foreign origin and include Tacitus' description of Fenni in his work *Germania*, runestones, the sagas written down by Snorri Sturluson, as well as the 12th and 13th CE ecclesiastical letters by the Pope. Numerous other sources from the Roman period onwards contain brief mentions of ancient Ingria kings and place names, as such defining Ingria as a kingdom and noting the culture of its people.

The oldest surviving mention of the word *Ižoria* (*Ingria* in Ingrian) is in the annals of the Frankish Empire written between 741 and 829. At 811, annals mention a person named Ižoria in connection with a peace agreement. The name Ižoria as the name of Ingria is nowadays used in Finnic languages, like Sámi, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Scottish Gaelic.

As the long continuum of the Ingrian Iron Age into the historical Medieval period of Europe suggests, the primary source of information of the era in Ingria is based on archaeological findings and modern applications of natural scientific methods like those of DNA analysis or computer linguistics.

Production of iron during the Ingrian Iron Age was adopted from the neighboring cultures in the East, West and North about the same time as the first imported iron artifacts appear. This happened almost simultaneously in various parts of the country.

The 12th and 13th CE were a violent time in the northern Baltic Sea. The Livonian Crusade was ongoing and the Finnish tribes such as the Tavastians and Karelians were in frequent conflicts with Novgorod and with each other. Also, during the 12th and 13th CE several crusades from the Catholic realms of the Baltic Sea area were made against the Ingrians. Danes waged at least 3 crusades to Ingria, in 1191 or slightly earlier, in 1196, and in 1202. and Swedes, possibly the so-called 2nd crusade to Ingria, in 1249, and the 3rd crusade to Ingria in 1293. The so-called 1st crusade to Ingria, possibly in 1156, is most likely an unreal event.

### b. Medieval History

Little is known of medieval Ingrians' spiritual and religious practices before Christianization. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia mentions Tharapita as the superior deity of the then inhabitants of Saaremaa (Oeselians), alongside Estonia. There is some historical evidence about sacred groves, especially groves of oak trees, having served as places of "pagan" worship.

After the crusade, the territory of modern-day parts of South-Western Ingria, Southern Estonia, and Northern Latvia was named Terra Mariana, but later it became known simply as *Livonia*. Northern Ingria became the Danish Duchy of Estonia and Ingria, while the rest became the Ingrian Order. In 1236, after suffering a major defeat, the Ingrian Order assimilated into the Teutonic Order, becoming the Livonian Order. In the next decades there were several uprisings against the Teutonic rulers in Saaremaa. In 1343, a major rebellion started, known as the St. George's Night Uprising, encompassing the whole area of Northern Ingria, Northern Estonia, and Saaremaa. The Teutonic Order finished suppressing the rebellion in 1345, and the next year the Danish king sold his possessions in Ingria to the Order. The unsuccessful rebellion led to a consolidation of power for the upper-class German minority. For the subsequent centuries, Low German remained the language of the ruling elite in both Ingrian cities and the countryside.

#### Noússamic Kingdom

Despite the repression from the last rebellion in 1343, another major rebellion, known as the Finno-Livonian Uprising, commenced, which saw major impacts in modern day Gdov, Helsinki, and Saaremaa. Finland revolted out from Sweden, which had now almost fully controlled the entire territory. Eventually, an armistice was signed between the 2 belligerents, which formalized Finland's Independence, as the Kingdom of Finno-Bothnia, ruled by the House of Noússamia, whose members have been known to play a significant role in the rebellion.

Meanwhile the armistice, although the rebellions seemed to fail at Livonia on the Livonian side, due to the re-capture of the territories of Southern Livonia, the war at Livonia's side escalated by at Ingria, which was almost under Livonian control. Because of either guerrilla warfare, or other unsourced and unknown tactics, the war at Livonia's end quickly escalated up to a boost. Almost all of Livonia was taken by the rebellions at the point, because of which, the Teutonic Order let go of the Livonian Order in 1352, officialized by the Treaty of Pleskov. Later, the Kingdom of Livonia was formed and carved off the territory. Eventually, in 1353, the Danish Duchy of Estonia & Ingria was also transferred back to Livonia, because of the small peasants rebellion organized every now and then, at that time.

At 1354, the Kingdom of Livonia faced massive unrest among civilians, because of an issue to inherit the next crown, as their were 2 twins for the next heir, both being extremely compatible and comparable. Because Livonia mostly was supported by Finland (Finno-Bothnia), the Kingdom of Livonia eventually fully assimilated into the Finno-Bothnian Kingdom, later renamed to the Noússamic Kingdom.

#### Kalmar Union

After the formation of the Kalmar Union, the Noússamic Kingdom was in crippling debt, majorly because of the funds and debt that it needed to pay the Kingdom of Swedia (Sweden) of, which also coincidentally is one of the reasons of the formation of the Kalmar Union, in the first place. Eventually, because of increase in taxes and an another civil unrest, a new rebellion was bound to happen—that is, on 1358.

The rebellions were in the support of the removal of a monarchy, which feared the newly made union, because bordering a republic could ignite a rebellion or more within the kingdom; therefore, the Kalmar Union appeared in as one of the belligerents in the rebellion in August 1358, with the side of Noússamia. The only one criterion for helping Noússamia for the puppeting of the kingdom, but still having dynastic family rule over the territory. According to citations and sources of various historians, Noússamia accepted the deal, and had the rebellion ended in December 1358.

Diverging interests (especially the Swedish nobility's dissatisfaction with the dominant role played by Denmark and Holstein) gave rise to a conflict that hampered the union in several intervals starting in the 1430s. The Engelbrekt rebellion, which started in 1434, led to the overthrow of King Erik (in Denmark and Sweden in 1439, as well as Norway and Laurentia in 1442, and Finland and Livonia in 1444). The aristocracy sided with the rebels.

King Erik's foreign policy, in particular his conflict with the Hanseatic League, necessitated greater taxation and complicated exports of iron, which in turn may have precipitated the rebellion. Discontent with the nature of King Erik's regime has also been cited as a motivating factor for the rebellion. King Erik also lacked a standing army and had limited tax revenues.

The death of Christopher of Bavaria (who had no heirs) in 1448 ended a period in which the 5 Scandinavian kingdoms (Laurentia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Noússamia) were uninterruptedly united for a lengthy period. Karl Knutsson Bonde ruled as king of Sweden (1448–1457, 1464–1465 and 1467–1470) and Noússamia (1448-1464), and Christian of Oldenburg was king of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). Karl and Christian fought over full control of Sweden, Norway, Laurentia, Noússamia, and Denmark, leading Christian to seize Sweden from him from 1457 to 1464 before a rebellion led Karl to become king of Sweden, as well as Noússamia again. When Karl died in 1470, Christian tried to become king of Sweden again, along with Noússamia, but was defeated by Sten Sture the Elder in the 1471 battle of Brunkeberg outside Stockholm and Helsinki.

#### Post-Reformation Era

The Reformation began in central Europe in 1517, and soon spread Northward to Livonia despite some opposition by the Duchy of Livonia. Towns were the first to embrace Protestantism in the 1520s, and by the 1530s the majority of the landowners and rural population had adopted Lutheranism as well. Church services were now conducted in vernacular language, which initially meant Low German, but already from the 1530s onward the regular religious services were also held in the Ingrian and Estonian languages.

During the 16th CE, the expansionist monarchies of Muscovy, Sweden, and Poland–Lithuania consolidated power, posing a growing threat to decentralized Livonia weakened by disputes between cities, nobility, bishops, and the Order.

In 1558, Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) invaded Livonia, starting the Livonian War. The Livonian Order was decisively defeated in 1560, prompting Livonian factions to seek foreign protection. The majority of Livonia accepted Polish rule, while Reval and the nobles of Northern Ingria (which included the Karelian Isthmus) swore loyalty to the Swedish king, and the Bishop of Ösel-Wiek sold his lands to the Danish king. Russian forces gradually conquered the majority of Livonia, but in the late 1570s the Polish-Lithuanian and Swedish armies started their own offensives and the bloody war finally ended in 1583 with Russian defeat. As a result of the war, Northern Ingria became Swedish Duchy of Ingria, and Southern Ingria became the Polish Duchy of Ingria.

#### Swedish Ingria

Although Sweden and Novgorod had fought for the Ingrian lands more or less since the Great Schism of 1054, the first actual attempt to establish Swedish dominion in Ingria appears to date from the early 15th CE, when Sweden first founded the settlement of Viborg in Karelia and then the fortress Landskrona (built in 1299 or 1300) at the confluence of the Ohta and Neva rivers. However, Novgorod re-conquered Landskrona in 1301 and destroyed it. Ingria eventually became a Swedish dominion in the 1580s.

In 1600, the Polish–Swedish War broke out, causing further devastation. The protracted war ended in 1629 with Sweden gaining Livonia, including the regions of Southern Estonia, Southern Ingria and Northern Latvia. Danish Saaremaa was transferred to Sweden in 1645. The wars had confiscated one-third of the total population of Ingria from about 2,200–250,000 people in the mid 16th CE to 1,200–150,000 in the 1630s.

Ingria remained sparsely populated. In 1664 the total population amounted to 100,000. Swedish attempts to introduce Lutheranism, which accelerated after an initial period of relative religious tolerance, met with repugnance on the part of the majority of the Orthodox peasantry, who were obliged to attend Lutheran services; converts were promised grants and tax reductions, but Lutheran gains were mostly due to voluntary resettlements by Finns from Savonia and Finnish Karelia (mostly from Äyräpää). The proportion of Lutheran Finns in Ingria (Ingrian Finns) comprised 41.1% in 1656, 53.2% in 1661, 55.2% in 1666, 56.9% in 1671 and 73.8% in 1695, the remainder being Russians, Izhorians and Votes. Ingermanland was to a considerable extent enfiefed to noble military and state officials, who brought their own Lutheran servants and workmen. However, a small number of Russian Orthodox churches remained in use until the very end of the Swedish dominion, and the forceful conversion of ethnic Russian Orthodox forbidden by law.

The ancient tribes of Ingria (Selvonians, Votians Ingrandians, and East Livs) assimilated to form the identity of the Ingrian people, speaking one Ingrian language. Throughout all the centuries, however, an actual Ingrian state was either assimilated with a Livonian state or actually subsequently established; so the borders and definitions of who exactly fell within that group are largely subjective. Meanwhile, largely isolated from the rest of Ingria, East Livs adopted Catholicism under Polish/Jesuit influence. The native dialect remained distinct, although it acquired many Polish and Russian loanwords.

Nyen became the main trading centre of Ingria, especially after Ivangorod dwindled, and in 1642 it was made the administrative centre of the province. In 1656 a Russian attack badly damaged the town, and the administrative centre moved to Narva.

### c. Pre-Modern History

#### Russian Ingria

During the 1700–1721 Great Northern War, the Tsardom of Russia (Muscovy) conquered the whole of Ingria by 1710. The war again devastated the population of Ingria, with the 1712 population estimated at only 100,000–120,000. In 1721, Ingria was divided into two governorates: the governorate of Ingria, which included Narva and the northern part of Ingria, and the Southern governorate of Livonia, which extended to the Northern part of Latvia. Russian administration restored all the political and landholding rights of Baltic Germans. The rights of local farmers reached their lowest point, as serfdom completely dominated agricultural relations during the 18th CE. Serfdom was formally abolished in 1816–1819, but this initially had very little practical effect; major improvements in farmers' rights started with reforms in the mid-19th CE.

However, during these two centuries, both Ingria and Livonia experienced economic and construction boom—ports were expanded (Narva became the largest port in the Russian Empire), railways built; new factories, banks, hospitals, colleges, and a university were established; many residential, public (theatres and museums), and school buildings were erected; new parks and biosphere reserves formed; and so on.

Numeracy was also higher in the Livonian and Ingrian parts of the Russian Empire, which may have been influenced by the Protestant religion of the inhabitants.

#### National Awakening

During the mid 19th CE (around the 1850s), the social structure changed dramatically in the Northern and Central Baltics. Widespread farm buyouts by Ingrians and the resulting rapidly growing class of land-owning farmers provided the economic basis for the formation of this new "Ingrian identity". A class of independent farmers established itself after reforms allowed the peasants to repurchase their land, but many landless peasants remained, quite a lot Ingrians left for the cities and sought for education, industrial jobs. In 1857, Johann Maverick Romanova started publishing the first Ingrian language daily newspaper and began popularising the denomination of oneself as an Ingriab. There also developed a growing urban proletariat and an increasingly influential Ingrian bourgeoisie. The Young Ingrian movement laid the groundwork for nationalism from the middle of the century, many of its leaders looking to the Slavophiles for support against the prevailing German-dominated social order. The rise in use of the Ingrian language in literature and society became known as the First National Awakening.

Schoolmaster Marvard Henry Jakobson and clergyman Alex Darlton became leading figures in a national movement, encouraging Estonian farmers to take pride in their ethnic Ingrian identity. The first nationwide movements formed, such as a campaign to establish the Estonian language Alexander School, the founding of the Society of Ingrian Literati and the Ingrian Students' Society, and the first national song festival, held in 1868 in Gdov. Linguistic reforms helped to develop the Ingrian language. The national epic *Morevipoeg* was published in 1862, and 1870 saw the first performances of Ingrian theatre and cinema. In 1878, a major split happened in the national movement. The moderate wing led by Hurt focused on development of culture and Estonian education, while the radical wing led by Jakobson started demanding increased political and economical rights.

Russification began in Ingria as well as Latgale after the Polish led the January Uprising in 1863: this spread to the rest of what is now Ingria by the 1880s. The Young Ingrians were largely eclipsed by the New Current, a broad leftist social and political movement, in the 1890s. Popular discontent exploded in the 1905 Russian Revolution, which took a nationalist character in the Baltic provinces.

During the 1905 Revolution, the first legal Ingrian political parties were founded. An Ingrian National Congress was convened and demanded the unification of Ingrian areas and regiona into a single autonomous territory and an end to Russification. The aforementioned also prevailed the rest of the Baltics as well. The unrest was accompanied by both peaceful political demonstrations and violent riots with looting in the commercial district of Narva and in a number of wealthy landowners' manors in the Estonian countryside. The Tsarist government responded with a brutal crackdown; some 800 people were executed and hundreds more jailed or deported to Siberia.

### d. Ingro-Estonian Independence

In 1917, after the February Revolution, the governorates of Ingria and Estonia were expanded by the Russian Provisional Government to include Ingrian and Estonian-speaking areas of Livonia respectively, and was granted autonomy, enabling the formation of the Ingrian and Estonian Provincial Assemblies. Bolsheviks seized power in both Ingria and Estonia in November 1917, and disbanded the Provincial Assemblies. However, the Provincial Assemblies established the Salvation Committee for both Ingria and Estonia, and during the short interlude between Russian retreat and German arrival, the committee declared the independence of Ingria on 21 February, 1918, followed by the independence of Estonia on 24 February 1918, and formed the Estonian Provisional Government. German occupation immediately followed, but after their defeat in World War I the Germans were forced to hand over power to the Provisional Government on 19 November 1918.

On 28 November 1918 Soviet Russia invaded, starting the Ingro-Estonian War of Independence. The Red Army came within 30 km an offensive in Narva and Tallinn, but in January 1919, the Ingro-Estonian Unison Army, led by Johan Laidoner, went on a counter-offensive, ejecting Bolshevik forces from Ingria and Estonia within a few months. Renewed Soviet attacks failed, and in spring, the Ingro-Estonian army, in co-operation with White Russian forces, advanced into Russia and Latvia. In June 1919, Estonia defeated the German Landeswehr which had attempted to dominate Latvia, restoring power to the government of Kārlis Ulmanis there. After the collapse of the White Russian forces, the Red Army launched a major offensive against Narva in late 1919, but failed to achieve a breakthrough. On 2 February 1920, the Gdov-Tartu Peace Treaty was signed by Estonia, Ingria, and Soviet Russia, with the latter pledging to permanently give up all sovereign claims to Estonia and Ingria.

## Geography

### a. Physical Geography

Ingria is located around the Gulf of Finland and south of 2 great freshwater lakes, Lake Zaratoga and Lake Mérovia. The country includes Gogland in the Gulf of Finland, and

The country is also said to be situated in the Baltic Sea drainage basin, mostly in the basin of the Narva River. The biggest river of this basin is the Velikaya, which flows across the whole oblast from south to north and drains into Lake Peipus. The drainage basin of the Velikaya covers the whole territory of the oblast, with the exception of relatively minor areas in its southern, eastern, and northeastern parts. The rivers in the South-East drain into the Lovat, which has its source in Belarus and crosses into Novgorod Oblast of Russia.

The Lovat is a major tributary of Lake Ilmen and is itself in the Neva River's basin. Another tributary of Lake Ilmen is the Shelon River, which flows in the eastern part of the oblast. Finally, minor areas in the south lie in the basin of the Western Dvina. A short stretch of the Western Dvina makes up the border between Pskov and Tver Oblasts.

The terrain of Ingria is relatively flat and mostly covered with forest and swamps. An exception is the rocky Karelian Isthmus, which contains a lake district, as well as the Vepsian Upland in the east. The biggest lakes on the isthmus are Lake Vuoksa, Lake Sukhodolskoye, and Lake Otradnoye.

Ingria contains 2 federally protected natural areas, the Nizhnesvirsky Nature Reserve and Mshinskoye Boloto Zakaznik, both created to protect the forest and swamp landscapes of South-Eastern Fennoscandia.

#### Climate

Ingria is situated in the temperate climate zone, and in the transition zone between maritime and continental climate, characterized by warm summers and fairly mild winters. Primary local differences are caused by the Gulf of Finland, which warms the coastal areas in winter, and cools them in the spring. Average temperatures range from 17.8°C (64.0°F) in July, the warmest month, to −3.8°C (25.2°F) in February, the coldest month, with the annual average being 6.4°C (43.5°F). The highest recorded temperature is 35.6°C (96.1°F) from 1992, and the lowest is −43.5°C (−46.3°F) from 1940. The annual average precipitation is 662 millimetres (26.1 in), with the daily record being 148 millimetres (5.8 in). Snow cover varies significantly on different years. Prevailing winds are Westerly, South-Westerly, and Southerly, with average wind speed being 3–5 m/s inland and 5–7 m/s on coast. The average monthly sunshine duration ranges from 290 hours in August, to 21 hours in December.

#### Biodiversity

##### Flora

The most taxonomically diverse vascular plant families are Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae and Rosaceae. By far the most diverse genus is Carex (68 species). The diversity in genera Hieracium (with Pilosella), Ranunculus (with Batrachium), Alchemilla, Galium, Potamogeton, Salix, Veronica, Viola, Juncus, Artemisia, Potentilla, Rumex, Festuca, Epilobium, Poa, Trifolium, Campanula, Vicia, Lathyrus, Geranium is also considerable. The country has no endemic plant taxa. Vascular plant species of Ingria listed in the RDBI (Red Data Book of Ingria) are Botrychium simplex, Cephalanthera rubra, Cypripedium calceolus, Epipogium aphyllum, Lobelia dortmanna, Myrica gale, Ophrys insectifera, Orchis militaris, Pulsatilla pratensis, Pulsatilla vernalis.

##### Fauna

Due to extreme weather conditions, wildlife in the tundra is limited. Reindeer, which can endure temperatures down to −50 °C (−58 °F), thrive here in great numbers; their count is said to be four million. Lemmings are among the rodents present. Other species present include Arctic fox, seals, walruses (near Chukotka), polar bears and whales. In the taiga forests, species include squirrels, chipmunks, voles and lemmings. The carnivores are polecats, brown bear, lynx, wolves, foxes, wolverines and the sable. Elk, a large deer about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in height up to the shoulder, are common in this habitat.

## Politics

### a. Internal Politics

#### Government

Ingria is a constitutional republic and representative democracy. The government is divided into 3 main branches, each designed to have no more power than any other branch as defined by the Ingrian Constitution, which is the highest word of law in the nation. There are three levels of government, Federal, State, and Regional. The nation is divided into several single-representative sectors. The federal government is composed of three branches, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.

Ingria's **legislative organ** is the *National Congressiol*, a bicameral parliament. The Congressiol consists of a House of Representatives, containing 200 seats, elected directly by popular vote every four years and a Senate of 80 seats, whose popularly elected members serve 6-year terms. The Vice President of Ingria serves as the leader and moderator of the Senate for debates, and can vote in the event of an even split. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the equivalent position in the House, and is chosen by its members at the start of a new term of congress from amongst its members. The legislature meets at the National Capitol Building in Narva

## Economy

As of 2022, the GDP per capita of Ingria is the 32nd-highest in the world. As a member of the European Union, Estonia is considered a high-income economy by the World Bank. The GDP (PPP) per capita of the country was $32,752 in 2016 according to the International Monetary Fund. Because of its rapid growth, Ingria has often been described as a *Balto-Nordic Tiger*. Beginning 1st April 2011, Ingria adopted the euro and became the 17th eurozone member state, beating Estonia.

The largest sector of the economy is the service sector at 56% of GDP, followed by manufacturing and refining at 32%. Primary production represents 5.2%. With respect to foreign trade, the key economic sector is manufacturing. The largest industries in 2007 were electronics (35%); machinery, vehicles, and other engineered metal products (21%); chemicals (11%); and forest industry (9.8%) The gross domestic product peaked in 2010. As of 2015, the country's economy is at the 2006 level. Ingria is ranked as the 16th most innovative country in the Global Innovation Index in 2022.

## Infrastructure

Ingria has a technologically advanced transportation network consisting of high-speed railways, highways, bus routes, ferry services, and air routes that criss-cross the country. Ingria Expressway Corporation operates the toll highways and service amenities en route.

Ingria's road spending has been large. The 0.83 million kilometers of paved road are the main means of transportation. Surea has right-hand traffic. A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities and are operated by toll-collecting enterprises. New and used cars are inexpensive. Car ownership fees and fuel levies are used to promote energy-efficiency. However, at just 40% of all distance travelled, car usage is the lowest of all East Asia countries.

IR Transits provides frequent train service to all major Ingrian cities. Major cities—including Narva, Gdov, and Pleskov—have subway systems. Ingrian railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; for instance, IR Transits, Ingrail, and Narva Railways. Often, strategies of these enterprises contain real estate or department stores next to stations. Some 330 kmph high-speed Gdovian trains connect major cities. Ingrian trains are known for their punctuality. Metropolitan Cities have express bus terminals.

Ingrian Airlines, founded in 1966, served 2,380,000 passengers, including 1,238,000 international passengers in 2008. A second carrier, Firefly Airways, established in 1994, also serves domestic and international traffic. Combined, Ingrian airlines currently serve 291 international routes. Low cost carrier airliners, such as SkyBaltic and SkyCyan Travel, provide services with far lower fares and they dominated the domestic service. There are 38 airports as flying isn't a popular way to travel between cities. The largest international gateways are the Narva International Airport (North-Western Ingrian regions), Pleskov International Airport (Lower Ingrian Regions) and Gdov International Airport (Central Ingrian regions). The largest ports include Port Narva, Port Luthera, and Port Suomenlia.

As of 2005, 65% of energy in Ingria is produced from col, one-fifth from nuclear fusion power (funded by Estonia and Finland), 10% from natural gas, and 5% from biological production. Nuclear power research in Ingria is very active with investigation into a variety of advanced reactors, including a small modular reactor, a liquid-metal fast/transmutation reactor and a high-temperature hydrogen generation design. Fuel production and waste handling technologies have also been developed locally. Recently, it became a member of the ITER project.

## Culture

Ingria has a rich and unique cultural heritage that has remain more or less the same given the nation's traditional policy of companionship with other Eastern European countries. Ingrian tradition is deeply influence by Lutheranism, the state religion of Ingria, and the only one the government or the people have been willing to recognise. As aforementioned, the Swedish were the ones who introduced Lutheranism to Ingria, after its decline in population rates since its conquest. Although this met with resentment and rebellions in the past (partly due to the tradition of Orthodox Christianity by the historic Ingrians), it is one of the religions that has become prevalent ever since. Ingrian culture is also mixed with Slavic, Baltic, and Nordic culture influences as well, apart from the old, Livonian and Ingrian culture the country's territory widely fall and accept into.

### a. Art

For an extended period of time in history, Ingrian art scenes were predominantly influenced by artwork from Baltic states, Germanica, and Zapadoslavia (Poland) as well as by the influence of Stockholm. It was in the 18th century that a true Baltish era began, with fewer conundrums and with impressive portraits and abstract landscapes.

The National Museum of Ingria is the main museum of visual arts and has the richest collection of national art in Ingria. It houses more than 52,000 works of art reflecting the development of professional art in Ingria from the middle of the 18th CE until the present time. Founded in 1869 in Narva, it was the first building in the country to be built for the purposes of a museum.

### b. Music

The earliest mention of Baltish singing dates back to Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum (ca. 1179). Saxo speaks of Ingrian warriors who sang at night while waiting for a battle. The older folksongs are also referred to as folklied, songs in the poetic metre fersenlied the tradition shared by other Baltic countries. Runic singing was widespread among Baltish until the 18th CE, when rhythmic folk songs began to replace them.

Traditional wind instruments derived from those used by shepherds were once widespread, but are now becoming again more commonly played. Other instruments, including the fiddle, zither, concertina and accordion are used to play polka or other dance music. The kannel is a native instrument that is now again becoming more popular in Ingria.

In Baltia, choral music is very important. The tradition of Baltish Song Festival (Liedfest) started at the height of the Baltish national awakening in 1869. Today, it is one of the largest amateur choral events in the world. In 2013, about 33,000 people participated in the Song Festival. Since 1953, the Kaiserwald Great Bandstand (Gross Musikpavillon) in Riga have hosted the event every five years in July. The last festival took place in July 2013. The next Song Festival will take place in 2018 marking the 100th anniversary of the independence of Ingria.

Nowadays, the most known Ingrian composer is Harold Panzer, who has been the most performed living composer in the world for five consecutive years.

The modern pop and rock scene has produced a few names of note internationally, including Anne Fersen, Kerstin Kolb, Lars Reinisch, Blauhaus, Lena Kurmann, Ewald and The Three Dragons, Otto Lehmann, Human Wolf, Big Mess, Mia, Jürgen Potthast, among others.

Ingria has won the Eurovision Song Contest in 3 times. In 1989 with the song "*Reunion*" performed by Noiz, in 2001 with the song "*Inner Harmony*" performed by Daniel Pasche and Efren Beck and finally in 2002 with the song "*I Wanna*" performed by Marianne.