Avalonia

Avalonia is a landmass comprised of North an South Avalonia and encompasses most of the land area in the western hemisphere of Anterra. It has a total land area of 23,272,096 kilometres squared, making it the largest continent in Anterra with 32% of Anterra's landmass being located within Avalonia. Individually North Avalonia is the bigger landmass at 12,069,688 km² and South Avalonia the smaller one at 11,202,408 km². It borders the Boreal Ocean to the north; the Iapetus Ocean to the east; the Hyberian Ocean to the south; and the Tethys Ocean to the west.

Geographically Avalonia consists of several large mountain chains like the West-Avalonian Wall running from Osorra all the way to Tavaluda, The Brigantic mountain range and the Ophelion and Baekdu Mountains on the border between Zahava, SiWallqanqa and Kaya. The continent also features various plains and basins like the Azure-lake basin in Tavaluda and Badzevalari, the Kaesami desert and plateau in Tilenno, Arroyo-Abeille and surrounding nations, the Floresta de Deus basin in Albaterra, Baileneu Ma and Santa Magdalena and the Paracas Desert in Siwallqanqa and the other Paracas Coast nations. The largest rivers in Avalonia are the Azure, Mesèra and Blue Carrot. The largest islands of Avalonia are the main Brigantica Island near the Adeline Sea, Ostrovia in the Boreal Ocean, North Island in the Sea of Tavaluda and Chezzetcook, Iere in the Iapetus Ocean and Theyka at the Ingonian Sea. Avalonia also spans most climate regions, from frigid tundras in the north to deserts in the central areas and tropical rainforest in the middle.

Administratively Avalonia is divided up into 35 Sovereign states of which Arroyo-Abeille is the overall biggest area wise and Osorra population wise in North Avalonia. Zahava is the biggest area wise in South Avalonia and Kaya overall population wise. In addition to sovereign states, several other nations have a presence in Avalonia in the form of dependent territories. Tiperyn, Agrana y Griegro and Jungastia and Mero-Curgovina still own territories in Avalonia. Several regional organisations and alliances exist in Avalonia, of which the biggest one is ECOSEAS. The largest cities on the continent are Arcanium in Zahava, Sudo in Kaya the West-Gantian Megalopolis in Tilenno, Zalivkov in Osorra and the Buel metro area in Iere.

South Avalonia was the original habitat of human species before they migrated out to other continents. Due to this, Avalonia has a long and rich history often starting before other continents. There were 3 major distinct ancient civilizations, the Masali river civilization in Zahava, the Perto-Mesèra civilization in Tilenno and the Paracas civilization in SiWallqanqa. Later on the regions of Zahava, Perela, Maracatibe and Kaya would be home to great kingdoms and empires who conquered large portions of land, but also existed in a cyclical process of collapsing and unifying. Change happened when the Akitei people crossed the Tethys Ocean around 700 CE, creating a trade route between Northwest Avalonia and East Kesh. This brought in a whole new slew of technologies, innovations, crops and ideas to the Avalonian continent, giving whoever had access to the Keshi trade a major advantage over their opponents. In the 16th century colonizers from Artemia arrived in Avalonia. They managed to colonise large regions of the continent but were unable to defeat the established civilised areas, with the exception of the Maracatibean civilizations, which were dominated by the Jungastians after several decades of wars.

Modern history of Avalonia was characterised by the ongoing struggle between native populations and colonisers and the difficult decolonisation process. Avalonia however chose to stay outside many major international conflicts fought on the other continents like the Grand Campaigns and Great Kesh War play a more passive supporting role than an offensive role. The 1980's were in particular a very tumultuous period in Avalonian history with the advent of the Osorra-Tilenno War in which nuclear weapons were used and the revolution of Arbenz.

Etymology and Naming
You are free to add your own indigenous name and explanation for the continent!

Avalonia is by all means an  given to the continent by Artemian explorers in the 16th century. Originally the term was only used to refer to the island of Brigantica as a reference to the mythical island of Avalon in Tiperyn folklore. The name Avalon comes from the old term insula pomorum. mening fruit bearing place. It was believed that Avalon lay beyond the horizon and was a place of incredible riches and wealth where one would never have to suffer. Due to the popularity of the term, it became used for the entire continent as more regions were discovered.

Avalonia is not the only name that was ever given to the region. When Akitei sailors discovered the continent in the 8th century they gave it the name Shujin no Kiri which liberally translates to owner of fog or fog-harbouring land. This was mainly a reference to the mysterious nature of the continent lying far across the ocean. In Kodeshian texts the continent could also been seen referred to as De Tàiyáng Guā meaning something like sun-scraped land or sun-struck earth. This refers mainly to the Tilennan people who they encountered had a dark skin tone and white hair, opposite to what they were used to. The terms have however become outdated and are not used anymore in East-Kesh.

Avalonia also has been given many indigenous names. The Tilennan name for the continent was Pèrèla, meaning habitable land. The term has been replaced by the borrowed word Àvàlona in modern Tilennan. However the term  Pèrèla can still be seen in the name for the region of North-West Avalonia where Tilenno is located, namely Perela. They also referred to the civilizations of South Avalonia as the Pilaemá Roso or gold weavers. No one really known where this name came from, but it is believed to have something to do with the clothes Zahavan merchants wore when they came across Tilennan travelers.

In Maracatibe, the Bangui and Kwaba peoples called the entire portion of land to the west by Paraguaçu (Iapetus Ocean), as Obibiguaçu, which means in "great green land". In the, spoken by civilizations in the west of the country, Avalonia was referred to as Bebinadi, which means "land of men" (the Machapi believed in three continents: one inhabited by demons, others by men and another by the dead forgiven by the court of Tacoba, the judge of souls). In the, southern Avalonia is known as Uraydruma (where there are jaguars).

Nations and Dependencies
The following list contains all 34 sovereign states of Avalonia and the 4 dependencies. Included is their area as defined by the List of countries by area, their population according to the Anterran Bureau for Statistics and their population density. The GDP is based on their economic output in 2019 according to the Anterran World Bank. The languages section contains all official and spoken languages in the nation in the order from most to least spoken. The capital is the official capital as defined by the nation itself, except for Confederate States of Northern Avalonia, for which Schangau, the de facto capital, has been included.

The following map is also interactive, click a nation or dependency to see its wiki entry!

Terminology
You are free to add your own view on Avalonia here

Avalonia is often divided up into smaller subregions based on geography, culture and language. Often these definitions change and contradict each other between nations, languages and even people within the same region. The most common ways of dividing up Avalonia are explained here and how these terms vary between nations.

Most nations however agree on the North-South division of Avalonia, cutting off on the northern border of Baileneu Ma and with Theyka included with the North. Sometimes Theyka and Arbenz are included with the South, but this is more of an exception than a rule.

Tilennan
Tilenno divides Avalonia up into 3 large groups of nations. The first on is Perela or North West Avalonia. Included in this region is Tilenno itself together with Osorra, Cipertine, Terres Riveraines and Arroyo-Abeille. However these last two are often put into a separate category because of their heavy colonial influences on their culture. The second major group is the North. This includes almost all the nations of the traditional definition of North Avalonia, except for Arbenz. This group is also subdivided into the High North, which includes all the nations north of Arroyo-Abeille; and the North East, which includes all the remaining nations East of Perela. The final group is the South, which includes all the nations of South Avalonia and Arbenz. This region is further divided into the Latin South, which includes all Agranan and Jungastian speaking nations of the South. The remaining nations are considered Indigenous South as they have retained more native Avalonian elements in their culture.