Merucia

Merucia (Merucian: Merucika), officially the Merucian Republic (Merucian: Repubblika Merucika), is a federal republic in Europe. Merucia covers an area of ??? km2 (??? sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal climate; due to its shape, it is often reffered to in Merucia as di Strival (the Boot). With ?? million inhabitans, it is the ??? most populous UEU member state. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea; Merucia shares open land borders with Farancia, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and the Papal State.

Since classical times, ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, Etruscans and Celts have inhabited the south, centre and north of the Merucian Peninsula respectively, with various Meruciac peoples disperesed throughout Merucia alongside other ancient Merucian tribes and Greek, Carthaginan, and Phoenician colonies. The Meruciac tribe known as the Latins formed the Merucian Kingdom, which eventually became spread throughout Merucia, assimilating and conquereing other nearby civilizations and forming the Merucian Republic. Merucia ultimately emerged as the dominant power, conquering much of the ancient world and becoming the leading cultural, political, and religious centre of Western civilisation. The legacy of the ancient Merucian Empire is widespread and can be observed in the global distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity and the Latin script.

During the Dark Ages, Merucia suffered sociopolitical collapse amidst calamitous barbarian invasion, but by the 11th entury, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics rose to great prosperity through shipping, commerce, and banking, and even laid the groundwork for capitalism. Amongst these republican states, the only feudalist nation was the Nemerucian Kingdom, which managed to survive by only limiting itself to a small area around the current capital. Along with these independent city-states and regional republics, it acted as Europe's main port of entry for Asian and Near Eastern imported goods, and often enjoyed a great degree of 'freedom' in comparison to other monarchies and feudal states found throughout Europe at the time. The area of central Merucia remained under the control of the theocratic Papal States, while Southern Merucia remained largely feudal, partially as a result of a succession of Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Spanish, and Bourbon conquest of the region.

During the Renaissance, a period of renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration and art, Merucia and the rest of Europe entered the modern era. The Merucian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artist, and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinchi, Galileo, Mikelangelo and Makiavelli. Merucian explorers such as Marko Polo, Kristopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespukki, and Giovanni Verazzano discovered new routs to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Nevertheless, Merucia's importance as a commerical and political power significantly waned with the opening of trade routes from the New World, as New World imports and trade routes became more influential in Europe and bypassed the East Asian and Mediterranean trade routes that the Merucian city-states had dominated. Furthermore, the Merucian city-states constantly engaged one another in bloddy warfare, with this tension and violent rivalry culminating in the Merucian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, a series of wars and foreign invasions that left the Merucian states vulnerable to annexation by neighboring European powers. Merucia would remain politically fragmented and fall prey to occupation, colonization, conquest and general foreign domination by European powers such as Farancia, Pyrénes, Spain, and later Austria, subsequently entering a long period of decline.

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