Cagayan

Cagayan, officially known as the Confederal Republic of the Cagayan (: República Confederal del Cagayán; Tiberico Mixto: Kumpederal na Republika de Kagayan), is a  in Southern Kesh, stretching from the innermost extent of the South Kesh Bay northwards to the Kamarband range. The country has a generally tropical geography, with dominating much of the landscape, though a significant portion of the east is covered in forest. Cagayan covers an area of 701,286 km² with a population of around 106.6 million as of 2019. The official language of the confederation is, though a similar auxiliary status is granted to a Tiberican-based called Tiberico Mixto used throughout the country. Though there is no single capital, much of the confederation's highest authorities, such as the Chamber of the Senators and the Supreme Court of Grace and Justice, are based in Cagayan, a city and conurbation at the mouth of the Cagayan River, which thus serves as a de facto capital.

Cagayan has been inhabited since the at least 200,000 years ago, with the  period in the area beginning by the  with the introduction and cultivation of  and, and later on by the  migration waves,. The first civilisations would not appear until the with the rise of the ancient city of Callao. Since then, the area has been home to successive civilisations, becoming the center of various polities such as Talaquin, Tacloban, Sasmuan, Calunasan, Sugda, Skolota, Arimaspa and the Lakanate of Cagayan, which would later on give its name to the area. In the, the polities of the area would become vassals to the Zhou Empire of Kodeshia along with Pelankan to the southwest, which would become known as Heiban, though they would later revolt against the Zhou in the 16th century and re-establish their independence. The arrival of Fernando de Soto in 1622, however, would mark the beginning of colonisation by Agrana y Griegro, leading to Cagayan becoming a part of the kingdom as the Viceroyalty of the Cagayan for over 200 years. During this time, would become the dominant religion, and the city of Cagayan on the river delta would become a major trade hub.

In 1872, the Cagayan War of Independence began, leading to the independence of Cagayan as the Kingdom of the Cagayan, though it would be followed by an era of volatility, leading to a civil war in 1879, followed by a series of revolts and mutinies in the following years, revolutions in 1912 and 1913, another civil war from 1913-1915 after the 1913 revolution failed to fully take control, followed by another revolution in 1916 on the tail end of the war. A military dictatorship would later take full control, rapidly industrialising the country in pursuit of and fully annexing what is now Northern Cagayan by 1947, but another civil war would break out from 1972 to 1980 and break its power, ultimately replacing the dictatorship with the current confederal system by 1981.

Cagayan is a inhabited by more than 100 ethnic groups speaking around 120 distinct languages and dialects in a complex mesh of cultures. The largest ethnic groups are the and  peoples in the south and the  and  peoples in the north, which, with the exception of the Tagailog, are themselves clusters of culturally-related ethnolinguistic groups, with the languages of the Southern Cagayano and Aftari especially constituting extensive. The Confederal Charter of the Cagayan guarantees and is home to an eclectic mix of, , and  populations, as well as believers in traditional faiths.

Etymology
The name Cagayan for the country is directly derived from the name of the Cagayan River. From there, it is speculated that the word Cagayan directly comes from a word for "river" from one of the in the area, cognate to  carayan,  cayayan, and  calayan, all of which mean "river" and go back to a   *kaRayan. The word is most similar to or  cagayan which may well be the origin of the term, though whether it definitely originates in either language is contested due to their distance from the river itself.

However, though Cagayan was surely first used for the Cagayan River, the use of Cagayan to refer to the modern-day political unit is relatively recent, and reflects a gradual development. It was first used for the old settlement at the river delta, which later became modern-day Cagayan City. After that, it became used for the Lakanate of Cagayan that emerged around the settlement, and subsequently the region approximating the range of that polity. This name for the region was later taken up by the Viceroyalty of the Cagayan, which was in turn taken up by the newly-independent Kingdom of the Cagayan, which later expanded northwards to encompass the modern-day bounds of Cagayan.

Paleolithic era
The earliest attested archaeological artifacts in Cagayan confirm the presence of human species have inhabited the area continuously since about 200,000 years ago in the, though would not arrive in the area by the  around 30,000 BC. Human habitation was mainly restricted to the foothills of the Kamarband and the upper reaches of the Cagayan Valley, constituting a part of what became known as the East Kamarband cultural complex. The humans of the area were confronted by a harsh climate and led a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, as well as leaving behind a large number of decorated caves, such as the caves of Mayungib, which contained the oldest traces of human life in Cagayan, and were continuously inhabited for a long time. By around 12,000 BC, the climate became milder and more stable, with humans spreading south into the lower river valley, and the area entered the Neolithic by 9,000 BC.

Neolithic era
The early Neolithic occupation of Cagayan was, like the Paleolithic that preceded it, largely confined to the foothills of the Kamarband. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic period would see the gradual introduction of from around 9,000 BC with the domestication of  until around 8,000 BC, when the incursion of the Netted Ware culture from the northeast would see the introduction of  and the subsequent rapid spread of settlement to the lower Cagayan Valley, effectively subsuming the previous cultures there. By 7,500 BC, the Macabebe-Caña horizon that emerged had already broke up into distinct, flourishing cultures across the valley. The earliest Neolithic sites of the era, such as Jamac and Pinacpac were in the northern foothills and began developing, while southern settlements began to eschew in favour of more complicated irrigation methods, the first of which was Ycalauang Taytay, settled by farmers bringing the Pinacpac culture from the north. Later on, the appeared in the area by 5000 BC as the Pali culture, bringing with them the cultivation of.



Pottery continued to be decorated, though the designs grew more and more complicated compared to the earlier Netted Ware design of criss-crossed hatches, and this decoration began to extend from pottery to claywork in general. The most prominent example of decorated claywork from the era comes from the Kipapaoan culture from 6,500-5,500 BC, which were often coloured red with mixed in with the clay, primarily. The concentration of iron oxides was manipulated to produce different shades of rust red, resulting in what was essentially pottery with geometric or animal motifs. The Kipapaoan culture also created similarly polychrome fertility figurines and stamp seals.

Politics
Cagayan is one of the world's despite having a highly divergent system. As a, it effectively operates as a with various  in existence, though they work differently as largely informal, loosely-bound interest groups with citizen membership. This is due to the system itself lacking any measures related to political parties, as well as the focus on meaning that politicians do not have the power to push for legislation on their own, as these legislations have to come from their constituents. There are up to 80 known political parties with members in the Congress, the largest of which are Convergencia Popular – Libertad (CPL) and Alianzas Autóctonos (ALA). With the political divide tending more broadly towards one between those advocating for and those advocating for, parties have been coalescing into devolutionist and centralist parties. Since the foundation of the current state in the 1980s, the devolutionists have held a majority in Congress, and continue to do so to this day, mainly due to the country's experience with centralised government under the Junta Sindicalista Nacional in the early 20th century. On the other hand, the recent Southern Kesh brought about a small surge in popularity for centralism, though it has not been substantial enough to make any inroads.

Government
Cagayan is a with elements of, practicing  through. It has the elements of a confederation in that its administrative divisions enjoy near-total autonomy without a separate central government, though provided that these constituents do not contravene the Confederal Charter of the Cagayan, which serves as the country's. The Charter originated from a set of agreements between the cantons that came to constitute Cagayan in the aftermath of the Second Cagayano Civil War, which was eventually codified in 1981 and became the highest laws of the country.

The legislature and executive are condensed into one power, invested in the Congress of the Confederation of the Cagayan (Congreso de la Confederación del Cagayán) simply known as the Congress. It is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Chambers of the Federations, Cantons, and Localities (Cámaras de las Federaciones, Cantones, y Barrios) or the Lower Chambers (Cámaras Inferiores), and an upper house, the Chamber of the Senators (Cámara de los Senadores) or the Upper Chamber (Cámara Superior). Legislators in the Lower Chambers, the, the intendents, and the federal presidents, represent their local constituencies, which are the , the , and the , respectively. The legislators in the Upper Chamber, the senators, are chosen independently of their local constituencies. Both are chosen by majority vote, with the legislators of the Lower Chambers elected by the councils of their local constituency, and the senators being elected from across the confederation.

The president serves as the, and is elected by the members of the Congress among themselves, which serves as the collective head of government. The president does not hold much power, as their function is merely to represent the country in official and international functions. When they are elected, their seat in the Congress becomes vacated, and if they come from the Lower Chambers, their seat representing their local constituency, and an election for an interim replacement takes place. If the president is dismissed, then they will return to their former seat in Congress, and the interim member of Congress is dismissed in turn.

Administrative divisions
Cagayan, as a confederation, is divided into 9 federations that serve as the main highest-level divisions of the country. These federations are then nominally composed of cantons, which are in turn composed of. However, each federation has the power to freely reorganise its constituents with their consent, and some, as a result, have other subdivisions aside from cantons and localities. However, these internal divisions do not hold much power outside their federation, and are not represented in the Lower Chamber of Congress. In addition, there are also cantons that do not have a higher-level division, which are the 21 independent cantons, and in these cases they simply act as de facto federations in their own right.

Economy
The Cagayano economy produced an estimated (nominal) of around $835.4 billion and its primary exports include,  and , , , fruits, rice, and coffee. Its unit of currency is the Cagayano peso (₱ or CAP).

As a, the Cagayano economy is transitioning from an economy largely based on , especially , to an economy becoming mainly based on and the. Currently, the economy is dominated by the industry and manufacturing sector, which makes up around 54.7% of the country's GDP, while the service industry and agriculture make up 33.1% and 12.2%, respectively.

The foundations of industry in Cagayan largely originate from the intense industrialisation programs of the Junta Sindicalista Nacional over the 1920s to the 1960s, which resulted in a rapid growth of and  as well as the massive build-up of infrastructure across the country. Though the industrialisation programs resulted in a sharp decrease in the and a series of severe famines due to neglect of the agricultural sector, the modern Cagayano economy continues to function at the expense of the industrial base built on these programs.

Agriculture and fishery
Agriculture constitutes the largest part of Cagayan's primary sector, contributing around 9% of the country's GDP. This number has been increasing over the past decade, with agriculture contributing to an ever greater percentage of GDP every year, which is largely the result of active government and direct popular projects, including, , and , along with increasing research and mechanisation. Currently, around 25% of the country's total land area is used for agricultural purposes, and around 35% of the workforce is employed in agriculture. A wide variety of crops are planted across Cagayan, though most of these crops are food crops. The most commonly cultivated crops are, , and , all grains. Other crops include, , , , and various fruits.

The agricultural sector consists of two main modes of production. They are the, usually owned by state or private companies and managed by hacienderos, and the , often family-owned or communally-owned. Most of Cagayan’s food supply comes from smallholdings, while are mainly supplied by plantations. This is because haciendas are characterised by consolidated, mostly relying on cash crop, in contrast to smallholdings' small-scale agriculture and  of cash and food crops. Certain labour-intensive cash crops such as coffee and are mainly supplied by smallholdings instead of haciendas, generally due to the amount of labour making mass cultivation unprofitable. However, the number of haciendas have been decreasing in recent years due to land reforms, which is projected to result in lower production of cash crops as more farmers shift to polyculture.

Demographics
The 2019 census conducted by the Office of Census and Statistics recorded Cagayan's population at 106,595,621 with a population growth of 1.63%. Nearly a fourth of the population, around 28 million, resides in the highly urbanised Cagayan Delta region. The first official census covering the entire modern-day area was taken in 1950 after the Northern Cagayan Expedition. Before that, the first official census held within Cagayan was conducted in 1802 by the Viceroyalty of the Cagayan and recorded a population of 5,862,325; however, only men aged between 20 to 70 were counted as the purpose of the census was for tax collection. The country currently possesses a relatively young population, with at least 40% of the population being born from 1990 onwards.