United Great Lakes

The United Great Lakes ( /juˈnaɪtəd greɪt leɪks/) officially the Federal Republic of Great Lakes, is a federal republic located in North America. The country is composed of 5 states and one federal district. The five states and the federal district are located in Midwestern North America, around a series of interconnected freshwater lakes called Great Lakes. United Great Lakes are located in the temperate climate and southern parts of the country are covered in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and northern parts are covered with taiga. Over 27% of the country's area is freshwater. The country's population is over 29 million people. Its capital is Detroit, its largest metropolis is Toronto; other major urban areas include Milwaukee, Sudbury, Kingston and Thunder Bay.

Great Lakes were ruled by both France and Great Britain during the European colonization, but in 1860's most of the North American colonies became independent. So did Michigan, Wisconsin, Toronto, Hurona and Superior. Federal Republic of Great Lakes was formed at the end of 19th century, when those following former colonies united into a country for financial reasons. Also the united countries got their federalism inspiration from their North American neighbors.

In the end of 20th century, Economy of United Great Lakes has raised much and has world's 15th economy by nominal GDP. United Great Lakes is a developed country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled and productive society. It sustains a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection and a tuition-free university education.

United Great Lakes belongs to the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement and it's one of the founders of Triple Federal Alliance along Federal Republic of Guyana and Monteregis. United Great Lakes has a membership in the Commonwealth of Official Nations.

Etymology
The name Great Lakes is a straight translate from French name for Great Lakes, Grand Lacs. It was named by Jacques Cartier, Viceroy of New France when he was exploring North America with his expedition.

When France lost some of his lands to the United Kingdom, British rulers decided to keep the French name only if it was translated to English. Name Great Lakes lasted long in the area and the sub-colonies during the British rule were called Great Lakes colonies.

Aboriginal peoples
During the last glacial period, several tribes, nowadays known as American Indians traveled to North America from Beringia which was a land bridge from Eurasia to Americas. That land bridge closed when the glaciation melted and water level raised.

There were several tribes in the current area of United Great Lakes: Iroquoises, Siouxes, Hurons and Odawas. These tribes nearly died during European colonization, most of them in American Indian Wars. Today, there are about 124,000 American Indians in United Great Lakes, in four reservations.

Colonization
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.

Federated states
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.

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.

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.

Congress
The federal legislature is the bicameral Congress of the Great Lakes, composed of the Senate of Great Lakes and the House of Deputies. The Congress makes federal law, declares war, imposes taxes, approves the national budget and international treaties. The House of Deputies has 330 deputies and the Senate of Great Lakes 90. The Congress is elected by plurality vote in every state. Every state sends 55 deputies and 15 senators.

The House of Deputies and the Senate of Great Lakes are both elected for a four-year term. The deputies and senators elected by plurality vote. Deputy elections are usually held in March and Senate elections in May. The latest Congress was elected in 2014.

Foreign relations
President of United Great Lakes leads the foreign policy in cooperation with the government. United Great Lakes is part of United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement. United Great Lakes belongs to Mapperdonian Group of Nine which is 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 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.

States
United Great Lakes is divided into five states and one federal district. The states are based on the Great Lakes sub-colonies, who became independent and later formed the country.

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.

Tourism
In 2010, tourism of Great Lakes grossed over D 10.8 billion. There are many attractions in United Great Lakes which attracted over 20 million visitors in 2013. Commercial cruises between major port cities in the Great Lakes play a significant role in the local tourism industry.

Outdoor activities range from fishing, yachting, lake cruises, hiking, and kayaking, among many others. Wildlife is abundant in Northern United Great Lakes. Bird-watching is popular for bird-watchers, however hunting is also popular.

Demographics
Federal Statistical Office of Great Lakes counted a total population of 29,235,000 in 2017. The growth rate of United Great Lakes has increased in recent decades and it's still growing rapidly. In 2030, the population of United Great Lakes has estimated to be over 35 million. About 48 percent of the population lives in cities. The largest settlements in 2016 are Toronto, Detroit and Milwaukee.

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. New immigrants settle mostly in major urban areas such as Toronto and Detroit.

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.

Music and art
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 twice. 40-years old woman singer Sia sang her song "Alive" to her victory in the 8th edition and 30-years old woman singer Ellie Goulding sang her song "Love Me Like You Do" to her victory in the 19th edition.

The visual arts in United Great Lakes started before the states united, in the 19th century. The best known of Great Laker painters, George Callahan, started painting in a naturalist style, but moved to national romanticism.

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.

Cuisine
There are many overlaps between Great Lakes food and the rest of the cuisine in North America, many unique dishes and variations are found in the country. Commonly Butter tart and peameal bacon are considered as national foods of United Great Lakes. Maple syrup is often called as national food by Great Lakers, but the place origin is disputed with United Great Lakes' neighbor countries.

The cuisine of United Great Lakes also differs between the states. Wisconsin and Michigan both share common cuisine which has a strong influence from United States. Meanwhile Superior, Hurona and Toronto share similar cuisine with Canada.

Public holidays
The United Great Lakes observes holidays derived from events in Great Lakes history and Christian traditions. Some holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, are celebrated in the neighbor countries too.

Independence Day celebrates the anniversary of the country's independence from Great Britain. It is generally celebrated by parades throughout the day and the shooting of fireworks at night. National colors are often seen during the day.

Federally recognized holidays are as follows: