St. Anthony County, Gold Coast

St. Anthony County is a county located in the K.S. province of the Gold Coast. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 2,274,910, making it the third most populous county in the Gold Coast, the seventh-most populous in Sierra, and more populous than thirty provinces, states, and areas. The county seat and largest city is Grands Ballons. The 2016 Royal Bureau of Census estimate for St. Anthony County's population was 2,627,821. It is the eighth most densely populated county in the country. The county's five largest cities, Grand Ballons,, , , and , each have a population greater than 150,000. It is considered the center of the Saintiana or Creole Coast region, and has the highest concentration and second highest percentage of Sierran Creoles in the country. The county is located in the southeastern corner of the Gold Coast and is its fourth-largest county. It borders the City and County of Porciúncula to the northwest and Prince Charles County to the northeast. To the southeast, it borders the Orange county of St. Anne. It shares southern maritime borders with the Étoile Parish of the Channel Islands in the.

St. Anthony County is included in the Porciúncula–Grands Ballons–St. Anne Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Porciúncula Area. Fourteen incorporated cities and nine unincorporated census-designated places are located in the county. Much of the county's economic development and political activity is concentrated around the city of Grands Ballons, with the rest of the county's population centers being largely suburban or industrial. Its only coastline is found in Grands Ballons, where the city meets the, which forms the southern border.

The name "St. Anthony" originated with, who is the of the Gold Coast. The county was historically a large stretch of land known as that was owned by Spanish soldier  and his family. The native and other Indian tribes were assimilated by the French and the Spanish during the 18th and 19th century. During the mid-19th century, St. Anthony County received rapid economic growth and a population boom, which was concentrated around the city of Grands Ballons. St. Anthony County was formally established in 1897. As agricultural land turned into industrial towns, the county became one of the fastest growing counties in the country. The county is known for its highly diverse population, which includes the largest concentration of Sierran Creoles and the largest community of Sierran Francophones outside the Channel Islands.

History
St. Anthony County was formed from a partition of several former Spanish ranches (ranchos) that were created during the late 18th century and early 19th century. The majority of St. Anthony County's current territory was once a part of, which belonged to Spanish soldier. The rancho was a large area of land granted by King, and covered 300,000 acres ((1,200 km$2$). The ranch included virtually all of St. Anthony County as well as portions of western Orange. This rancho was preserved into the Mexican and Californian periods, as the Nieto Family and their associates retained control over the land until it was sold to the Government of Sierra in 1863. After the land went public, it fell under the jurisdiction of Porciúncula County, the original and sole county of the Gold Coast. St. Anthony County was finally formed in 1897, in an act of the Gold Coast Legislature, which granted the emerging city of Grands Ballons and its surrounding communities autonomy from the capital city.

Prior to European settlement in the region, a number of Amerindian tribes inhabited St. Anthony County. The most prominent group were the people, who referred to themselves as the "People of the Earth". The Tongva were later referred to as the "Gabrieleños" after the nearby, which was located further in. The Tongva were the most prolific and developed Amerindian group in the entire region at the time, and made up the majority of indentured Indians who worked for the Spanish settlers.

Development began at the southern tip of St. Anthony County, in the present-day site of the Port of Grands Ballons and the Old Spanish Town. With Manuel Nieto's permission, family friend and fellow soldier Julian Manuel Coronel built an estate near the harbor and leased the land to incoming settlers and Tongva natives who were seeking employment and bartering opportunities. He helped expand an existing Amerindian village into a proper  with funding from the Spanish Crown, and oversaw an efficient irrigation system that obtained its water from the Porciúncula River.

The alleged appearance of the off the coast of Grands Ballons during the late 18th century was immortalized in memory as Our Lady of Catalina by locals. This incident spurred growth and development in the region, and the county's advantageous position between the Channels and Porciúncula made it an ideal location for trade and commerce. The county's rapid population growth combined with Spanish colonial rule created a complex system of multiracial hierarchy, which consisted of a large mixed-race Creole underclass and a Franco-Spaniard elite. These unique conditions led to the rise of the Sierran Creole people and their culture, and placed St. Anthony County at the center of the Saintiana region.

During the Californian War of Independence and concurrent Mexican-American War, the region came under the joint occupational forces of the Anglo-Americans and Californian separatists. The local, non-Anglophone community were mainly neutral in the conflict, but submitted to Anglo-American authority nonetheless. Under the California Republic, the entire county, with the exception of Grands Ballons, was an unincorporated section of the Porciúncula County. When California reorganized itself into the Kingdom of Sierra, the county remained under the jurisdiction of this county.

Between 1884 and 1892, there was a strong push in Gold Coast legislation towards the creation of additional counties in the Gold Coast. At the time, there were only three counties: Porciúncula, Wilcox, and Frémont. There were numerous proposals including a St. Pierre-Chah County and a South Porciúncula County. Finally, in 1888, a ballot measure for a new county appeared before Gold Coast electors. The proposal would include most of the former lands held by the House of Nieto and was tentatively named "Grands Ballons County", after the proposed area's largest city. The measure passed, and the county was officially formed on October 9, 1889, out of a partition of southeastern Porciúncula County. Voters chose Grands Ballons as the county seat and the name "St. Anthony", in honor of the, the patron saint of Saintiana. Two other counties: Trinity and Prince Charles, were also approved and formed in the same year.

Geography


According to the K.S. Royal Bureau of Census, the county has an area of about 122 square miles, of which (316 km$2$), of which 120 square miles is land and approximately 1.65 square miles (1.35%) is water, making it the smallest of the Gold Coast's seven counties. St. Anthony County's eastern boundaries border the province of Orange and its county of St. Anne. St. Anthony's entire southern borders meets the at Long Arch Bay. To the west of St. Anthony County is the City and County of Porciúncula, as well as its satellite communities. To the north, St. Anthony County borders Prince Charles County.

Topographically, St. Anthony County is relatively flat, with the elevation gradually rising above sea level the further inland and north one goes. It is unique among the Gold Coast counties in having no significant mountains or hills at all within its area. Aside from several federally and provincially protected areas (most notably the ), the county is almost entirely developed, with a significant degree of urbanization around Grands Ballons. There are no major natural bodies of water in the County, with the exception of the, which flows southward into the Pacific Ocean. The county's western boundary roughly follows the path of this river for most of its length within the county to the mouth at Queensbay in Downtown Grands Ballons.

The majority of the population is concentrated in the south and southwest, with major population centers in Grands Ballons, Putian Park, and Monterose. The county is one of the most densely populated in the country, which has prompted calls for more vertically-based urban development due to the decreasing availability of land for construction and expansion.

Major divisions of the county

 * North:, , , portions of
 * Central:, , , , , , North Grands Ballons
 * South: Downtown Grands Ballons, Old Spanish Town, Circle Area, Naples, Marina Pacifica

National and provincial protected areas

 * Lewellyn Bixby Provincial Park
 * Puente Hills National Recreational Area (part)
 * Puente Hills National Recreational Area (part)

Demographics
According to the 2010 K.S. Royal Bureau of Census, the county had a population of 2,627,821. The racial makeup of St. Anthony County was 1,042,693 (39.6%) White, 653,644 (24.8%) Asian, 536,943 (20.4%) Black, 11,089 (0.4%) Amerindian, 50,191 (1.9%) Pacific Islander, 184,446 (7.0%) from other races, and 193,985 (7.3%) from two or more races. Non-Hispanic Whites made up 383,031 (14.5%) of the population, while Latinos and Hispanics of any race numbered 531,135 (20.2%). Creoles of any race numbered 456,899 (17.3%).

The largest European-Sierran ancestry groups are French (7.3%), German (5.2%), Irish (4.7%), Jacobite (3.9%), English (3.5%), Italian (3.3%), and Dutch (2.7%). Nearly two-thirds of white Sierrans in the county claimed ancestry from Anglo-America, while the remaining third identified with being European-Sierrans or exclusively "white".

The Hispanic and Latino population in St. Anthony County is predominantly of Mexican origin. Mexicans accounted for 16.4% of the population, followed by Salvadorans (0.5%), Guatemalans (0.3%), Cubans (0.3%), Nicaraguans (0.3%), Colombians (0.3%), Peruvians (0.3%), and Chileans (0.2%). Hispanics and Latinos made up nearly 80% of the total population in the city of Zanja, making the community one of the most Hispanic/Latino percentage cities in both the Gold Coast and Sierra outside of Los Pacíficos and the Yucatán.

Of the county's Asian population, Hans made up 5.1% of the population, followed by Vietnamese (4.7%), Chinese (4.5%), Koreans (3.9%), Japanese (1.1%), Indians (0.3%), Indonesians (0.2%), Pakistanis (0.2%), Cambodians (0.1%), Laotians (0.1%), Thais (0.1%), and other Asian (0.2%). Of the Asian population, 15.4% identified themselves as Hapas.

St. Anthony County had the second highest concentration and largest population of Sierran Creoles out of all counties in the county. Its largest Creole communities are found in the northwestern sections of Grands Ballons, Putian Park, and Aviemore. The county has long been regarded as the cultural center of Sierran Creoles, and has a rich, longstanding history embedded with Creole traditions. The Creole population in St. Anthony County represents the largest Francophone community in Sierra outside the Channels.

Government
The County of Saint Anthony is a charter county of the Gold Coast and is authorized by the Gold Coast Legislature to be organized and governed under its own charter, with respect to the Constitution of the Gold Coast and Gold Coast law. Its seat is in the city of Grands Ballons. The County government provides a broad range of services and undertakes equally as many responsibilities for its citizens. These include, but are not limited to, elections, public utilities, libraries, schools, jails, courts, post offices, parks, waste disposal and collection, road maintenance, public transportation, senior care, daycare, public health, property records, family registers, tax collection, voter registration, jury selection, and social services. The County government also serves as the local government for all of the unincorporated areas. As is the case for many subnational entities in Sierra, the county has a ceremonial head of state, the Lord Count, who is Her Royal Majesty's viceregal representative in St. Anthony County. All acts and proclamations must be done in the name of the Queen, and only the Lord Count has the authority within the county to give assent to county laws on her behalf.

St. Anthony County is governed by the elected offices of the five-member Board of Supervisors, who are assisted by the offices of the Chief Executive Officer, Sheriff-Coroner, Assessor, Treasurer, Auditor, District Attorney, Clerk, Pursuivant of Arms, Public Defender, and other county posts.

Board of Supervisors
Each of the five members on the St. Anthony County Board of Supervisors are elected from the five supervisory districts that divide the county. The board is responsible for the oversight and evaluation of the county's agencies and departments. Possessing a fusion of powers, the Board of Supervisors exercises executive, legislative, and quasi-judicial power over the county. The Board sets policies and county ordinances aimed towards county development, security, economic growth, and social services. Each calendar year, the Board selects among themselves a Chair and a Vice Chair, who presides over board meetings. The Board is tasked with appointing a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who oversees the day-to-day management of city operations and services. The CEO serves at the pleasure of the Board. In addition to this post, the Board appoints the Clerk, the Assessor, and the Treasurer, who all also serve at the Board's pleasure.

Population ranking
The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of St. Anthony County.

† county seat

Cities and towns
Under Gold Coast law, the legal definitions of "city" and "town" are synonymous and interchangeable. Consequently, there is no legal distinction between the two terms, and incorporated communities are free to choose whichever term to use to refer to themselves. All incorporated communities in St. Anthony County with the exception of Han Gardens and Leregard are referred to as "cities", while the latter are known officially as "towns".


 * Grands Ballons (county seat)
 * Grands Ballons (county seat)
 * Grands Ballons (county seat)

Census-designated places

 * Davenport
 * East Zanja
 * Jordan
 * Rendalia
 * Studebaker
 * Studebaker

Other communities
The following communities are all part of incorporated cities as neighborhoods but are nonetheless significant enough in population and area to be recognized distinctly and de facto separably from the city.


 * Bixby Knolls
 * Carson Park
 * Circle Area
 * Hollydale
 * Naples
 * Old Spanish Town
 * Rancho Estates
 * Wrigley Heights