Ponant

The Ponant or Republic of Ponant is a country located on the Lemurian Archipelago in the Northwestern area of Pacific Ocean. With approximately 1.4 million square kilometers and with more than 280 millions inhabitants, it is the most populated and the greatest country in the Pacific Region. His capital is Phoenix (locally called Fenizo) which counts more than thirty millions habitants and which is the largest city in the world by its urban area and population.

The country is a Federal Republic (Republiko Federeta) which counts 420 districts (urbaros) in 41 provinces (landonos) themselves in 6 regions (landos). Nearest regions is the Hawaii archipelago which is 1,200 kilometers to the east south east. The country is the most populous of all the Pacific region and Oceania: its population actually represents more than 90% of the total population of Oceania. About seventy percent of inhabitants in the Ponant are from malayo-polynesian ancestry, and fifty percent is from amerindo-european migrants.

The climate of the island is tropical on the coast and temperate in the highlands. The highest point located in the republic is the Monte Nevita (2,443 meters) and the lowest is the Pacific Ocean (0 meter). About five percent of the total area is water : the Lago de Dragon is the greatest lake of the country and alone constitutes 70% of the freshwater resources of the island.

Pre-European Settlements


According to specialists of the scientific community, the actual native Lemurians were peoples who emigrated from actual Micronesia, Japan and Taiwan. Firsts traces of habitation were found on the western and northern coasts of actual Vascon Province. Thoses traces dated from the middle of the fourth century. Those peoples, the Proto-Lemurian peoples, according to human remains recovered, were of southern Asian type : haplogroup (in the Y chromosome) of their nowadays' descendants seems to correspond to Southeast Asian ethnies, from which we can affirmate that proto-lemurian were mostly Asian sailors who arrived to the Ponant. Some tools have also been recovered near Tausan and was dated from 250 CE. According to specialists, the archipelago of Lemuria was therefore one of the first far Pacific islands to be populated. First by early Austronesian peoples and later by melanesian and polynesian peoples.

The Proto-lemurian people lived in villages inhabited by more than 100 persons and were mostly semi-nomadic. The food was abundant, semi-nomadic peoples became gradually sedentary, but the territory is vast and constituted villages lived in a quasi-autarky. Isolation maintained ancient languages which became isolate progressively in the time, and some of which are still spoken nowadays like Auma, Iwi or Na'e languages, which later influenced the classical Aka language.

The Austronesian peoples from the current archipelago of Micronesia came to colonize the coastal regions and the southern region of Lemuria to the seventh century, and mixed with Asian populations from inner regions.

The 7th century knew the emergence and the expansion of Lakhang civilization ; his culture influenced all other cultures throughout Lemuria. From that time, prays, biographies and chronicles written in Lakhang script were also recovered. From the 7th to the 12th century, Lakhang language was used for most of literary works.

In 1150, Lakhang civilization and culture declined. This period marked the vulgarization of Lakhang languages and the emergence of Lakhan languages, many vulgar languages appearead. It's in this moment that began to appear and modernize most of actual Lemurian languages. Aka language, derived from Proto-Lemurian languages (Auma, Na'e, Iwi), was more and more used and dialects increasingly distant of the mother language appeared circa 1400.

The population was estimated to be around 220,000 inhabitants.

In the 14th and the 15th centuries, explorers from the Hawaii Archipelago began to settle in the southern Lemuria ; their languages influenced and were influenced by local dialects.

European Colonization
First european to discover the Island was Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in 1606 and built a colony names Providencia first inhabited by about one 117 persons. Exploration of the island was finished in 1608. After building Providencia, they sent a first and a second ship to Acapulco and to Manila to bring the settlers.

After Quiros death in 1614, Providencia, the only spanish colony of the archipelago, built in the actual Janalando province, counts 20,887 inhabitants. But around 1620, tensions arose between indigenous peoples and peoples from the sea : among the natives, many thought that these people came from the sea is bad for their people, indeed, when they arrived on the archipelago, many peoples were decimated by diseases previously unknown by the natives. Moreover, the growing power of the City of Povidencia worried a lot of tribal leaders : and since its creation, sixteen attacks had been already conducted against the colony.

Indigenous Peoples (Nehuis, Lakhang, Impengi) increasingly embarrassed by the growing power of Providencia conspired against the city and made a long siege which ended in a bloodbath killing more than 99% of Providencia the population. Only 200 of 20,000 inhabitants of the city survived only a few hundred inhabitants. Surviving peoples built a new village in the southern part of actual Barbudo province. This village called as Nueva Providencia (actual Belmaro de Barbudo), this place, now the capital of Barbudo province, is also known as the "first independent city". This village was very prosperous and in 1640, it counted around 2,500 inhabitants in 1645.



The First Era
The Confederate Nations of Lemuria (CNL) was created as a result of the Pledge of Nations (Juramento de las Naciones) in April 14th 1665. This pledge was binding on the indigenous and European nations among themselves. The leader of the CNL is elected by the People's Assembly among leaders of Nations of the confederation. The elected leader led the confederation during six years.

The population of the CNL was estimated between 550,000 and 640,000 inhabitants (with 22k from european descent). About the whole archipelago, it was estimated between 800,000 and 2 million inhabitants.

Fearing this powerful new the CNL, rival nations joined together to form several confederations, which themselves were trained to form the Union of the Ten Nations, which was led by the Tunguna Kynnutuyubisan also called as Bayanghintsungsagana Antziyu ("Chief-of-the-Ten-Nations the First"). He managed to unite all the nations of Eastern and Northern. Thus was formed the Confederacy of the Ten Nations in January 23th 1671. This confederation based his headquarters in the village of Tayumaya (act. Urbo Tunguna).

First Lemurian War
Military pressure was constant. Their armed forces were equal and a war between the two nations would lead to an unprecedented bloodbath. However, the CNL had a naval force largely superior to the Confederation of the Ten Nations.

Bayanghintsungsagana and his wife were found murdered in his bedroom the morning of April 17, 1675. Co-leaders of the deceased leader accused the leaders the Confederate Nations to sponsor the murder. To choose a new leader, a council was held and Amaktuya, a Bayanghintsungsagana's brother, was designated to succeed the deceased leader.

Immediately after being designated. Amaktuya condemned the CNL for having commited such crime. An ultimatum to was issued by the Confederation of the Ten Nations and a compensation was asked. That ultimatum was refused by the CNL as it doesn't recognise officialy the Confederation of the Ten Nations. After ultimatum, the was against the CNL was declared.

The Ten Nations Army invaded the CNL territory on March, according to historical documents, more than 170,000 soldiers were enrolled by the army of the Ten Nations during the First-Lemurian War. The seven nations of the CNL had about 180,000 soldiers plus 33 warships.

The Confederate Nations of Lemuria was technologically superior to Ten Nation's army, mainly because of spanish settler descendants who brought their expertise in weaponry (gunpowder, steel etc.). The "Great War" lasted nearly twenty years (1677 - 1696) and ended with the capitulation of Amaktuya and the dissolution of the Confederation of the Ten Nations.

The war was extremely catastrophic in terms of human toll : nearly 660,000 dead (approx. 1/3 of the total population). The situation was even more catastrophic economically : hundreds thousand of hectares of farmland were destroyed, making starvation more frequent which forced people to emigrate to California, less affected economically by the "Great War" than the rest of Lemuria ; thus, during the ten years following the end of the "Great War", nearly seventy thousand people migrated to California in search of a better future. In 1700, the population is estimated between 140,000 people in Lemuria, 200,000 people in California (with 100,000 migrants).

The Second Era (1700-1788)
After the dark period that lasted from 1700 to around 1715, the reconstruction of the country ravaged by war started. The crops abandoned by their owners were starting to produce, reducing starvation in the countryside and poverty and disease in the cities. Crops are so productive that the population started to increase : in the 1720 first census the Confederate Nations of Lemuria counted 428,400 inhabitants : the empty caused by emigration was filled but manpower started to be insufficient because there were many mouths to feed : to remedy this, we brought slaves from California, they were Native Americans for a good portion of them, because Africa was too far.

The country was back again prosperous and viable, but manpower was still rare and expensive. The population is very fastly growing (more than four percent per year) because of increasing of agricultural productivity and a decrease of illness and starvation.

In 1720, the population in Lemuria was estimated to 850,000 person, with more than 420,000 living in the East Coast. This population was unevenly distributed due to internal migration of people who are attracted from rural Northern and Western regions to the fertile and prosperous lands of Ilineo.

In America, colonies of California are very prosperous and had over a million and half people. However in 1744, an expeditionary force with nearly a hundred thousand men came back from Mexico the land. Then follows a war followed by a famine that killed nearly a quarter of the people of California formerly so prosperous. In 1748, Defeated by New Spain, Lemurian colonies of California were abandoned and from 1745 to 1769, more than 580,000 settlers left California to take refuge to Lemuria. Thus ended the colonization of Lemurian California.

In addition to the loss of the so prosperous colony of California, the CNL suffered a coup d'état masterminded by Ta'o Natana, a leader of Tungi origin. He proclaimed the Kingdom of Lemuria, became the king of the kingdom of Lemuria under the name of Ta'o I and ordered the closure of the country to foreigners and prohibited citizens to leave the country. Thus was decreted the autarky policy in July 1769.

The new kingdom, although again become prosperous by the arrival of settlers returning from California, was closed to foreign products and goods in order to develop local industries and then accelerate the country development with local manpower and financing methods. During the Kingdom Era from 1769 until 1815, population has increased sharply throughout the archipelago : It went from two to six million in less than 60 years. This demographic surge is due to people's health improvement with the eradication of starvation in the countryside.

Ta'o I died in 1788, and his son Ta'o II succeeded him, continues his father's autarky policy and reformed the education. He imposed the Criollatina instead of Spanish as official language of the Kingdom and was written in that language the Book of Rights and Duties (Criollatina : Libro dos Derejos y dos Deveres).

But all is not well in that period of economic prosperity, even during the autarky politic. Indeed, some regions who are very far of the East Coast like in the Lingkang region are still poor because of lack of infrastructures like practicable and secure roads which would allow them to sell their harvests in prosperous regions.

Fragmentation of the Confederate Nations of Lemuria
In 1788, the country wiped away two terrible droughts that destroyed nearly two-thirds of cereal crops, which provoked a revolt that spread from region to region, fueled more by the disapproval of the new king's reign, which appeared more low in the eyes of the Lemurian. Believing that King unable to run the country, many nations broke the Oath of Nations and seceded. The cities of Rio Pablo, Ciuda Jaui and Veracruz did likewise and elected their own leader. Between 1788 and 1791 twenty-four independent States shares the archipelago of Lemuria. The population was estimated at nine millions of inhabitants. Demographic grow in that time was very high (it was estimated to be at about 4 or 5 percent because of a birth rate of 85 per thousand)

The 24 independent state were relatively peaceful. Making the local language as official language, the 24 countries maintained good business relationships and were in peace and industry started his development, especially in the central and the eastern regions.

Main spoken languages by the independent states were Spanish, Aka and Criollatina. Some states changed local dialects to make them usable as official languages (Criollatina : Dialectos oficialis). Almost all countries abandoned autarky policy set up by Ta'o Natana.

Third Era (1791-1888)


The Archipelago of Lemuria is now fragmentated in twenty four independent countries. The Third Era began with the partition of the Confederate Nations of Lemuria, and ended with the total reunification of the archipelago and consequently the establishement of the Republic of the Ponant in 1889.

In Lemuria, consecutive liberty gained to the "balkanization" of the Lemuria archipelago, many newly formed states which were under different influences (Mostly spanish influence due to close relations with spanish colonies of the Pacific, but also Dutch, Chinese and Japanese.) : Spanish was abandoned in favor of local vernacular languages.

In 1800 the independent states in the archipelago of Lemuria are :

During the Third Era, the States that occupied the islands of Lemuria developped and industrialized. The western states are economically turning to Asia while the eastern states are turning to Latin America.

Peace in the archipelago of Lemuria is maintained by economic prosperity and industrialization due to the abundance of natural resources such as iron or gold. Often the exchanges with Europe are made via european colonies (Mexico, Colombia, Philippines, Indonesia, India).

The Southern Confederacy
In the central part of the main island is the Southern Confederacy: the largest state and one of the most powerful. It focused more on the conquests of the southern islands of the Pacific Ocean. In 1799, The Southern Confederation navy (Confederación del Sur) invaded the Hawaiian archipelago located in the southwest.

The Southern Confederacy, as the coastal states of Eastern and Western, had a powerful navy. Unlike other nations of Lemuria, who maintained good diplomatic relations with European powers, the Southern Confederacy had no relationship with European powers, and although she was one of the most powerful nations militarily, she had for European nations no official existence.

The leaders of the Confederation of South decided to invade the islands and archipelagos of the Southern Pacific Ocean, beginning with the Hawaiian Islands and Micronesia in 1805, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji in 1806 and 1807, then New Caledonia in 1808. The Southern Confederate explorer Georgio Vallante (1770-1844) who explored Viti and Vanua Levu, founded the colony of Urbo Georgiana near the actual city of Nasau in June 19, 1812. Penal colonies were created in the surrounding islands and in 1833, in order to deport all prisoners held in the Southern Confederacy, almost all of the 25,000 prisoners of the Southern Confederacy were deported to the Southern Islands.

Demography
The population of the Southern Confederacy was estimated to be at about 4 million inhabitants in 1800, which was 44% percent of the total population of Lemuria, estimated to 9 million in 1830.

The waves of colonization led policies have impacted so significantly on the composition of the population of the southern islands. And in the Fiji islands there were nearly 50,000 Southern Confederate nationals in 1850.

Most populated States were eastern hispanophone States. This large population was mostly found in the fertile and prosperous regions of Ilini. Thus the only region in southern region of the Alliance of Santiago, there were nearly two million inhabitants. Even today, it is one of the most populated regions, with nearly 22 million people.

Dialects of Criollatina
The first communication language was no more Spanish language but several Spanish dialects called Criollatina, based in spanish language which is mainly spoken by inhabitants from amerindo-european descent. It became the vehicular language of Lemuria after the fragmentation of the Confederate states of Lemuria. But written language was mainly Spanish, and aside the Pledge of Nations written in the proto-Criollatina language, very few documents were written in that language. This favored the dialectization language during the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Explanations of emergence criollatina were diverse: isolation of the mother language from the language's source (Spain), extension of the language, its use by non-spanish language speakers. Spanish language is spoken mainly by people of the East who have more or less privileged with hispanophone colonies of America.

Criollatina dialects were considered by the elite as an impure or "colloquial" form of Spanish language. But, those "colloquial" form of Spanish language started in the nineteenth century to have its own identity and culture, but it was mostly an oral culture and the quasi-absence of litterature and a regulating organism slows very strongly the unification of the language ; but during the fragmentation of the Lemurian Archipelago, Many states have used the local language as official language, which accelerated local languages normalization in a state. This led to fragmentation of languages spoken in several regions : and Western Criollatina dialect had five different spellings ; the language had not been normalised until 1890 where a uniformisation of Criollatina has been tried. Normalisation and using of only one Criollatina language was unsuccessful because of too big differences between dialects, and only western and eastern dialects were successful. Criollatina dialects have also inspired the conceivers of Kriollatino, a language that later inspired L. Zamenhof and its International Language.

The Reunification (1867-1888)
With economic prosperity and moved in order to have more power over the world at that time, the states that were still independent and began to ally himself to merge to form larger states. It was thus that the states of Veracruz, Santiago and cities beyond the East Estuary merged to form the Allied Eastern States in 1867, which counted nearly six million inhabitants.

To match for such a state, the Southern Confederacy signed a treaty of union between himself and ten other coastal states to form the 1st January 1868, the Union of Great Lemuria (Union de Lemuria Grande) was created.

That newly-formed state adopted an industrialization policy, but on 12 million inhabitants, five millions were unable to work (mostly children under 8). Because of lack of workforce, industrialization of the country was slow and to avoid shortage of workforce, the Union of Great Lemuria opened its borders and most of newly admitted immigrants were hired by a company for 10 or 15 years. During that period, many skilled immigrants had Employment contract of indefinite duration. (see immigration in the Republic of the Ponant)

Immigration in the Union of Great Lemuria was very high during ten years and number of new migrants doubled in size each ten years, and, in 1880, nine years before the unification of the Lemuria, there was yearly more than 300,000 migrants coming to the Union of Great Lemuria.

Industrialization of the Union of Great Lemuria, comparing to the Allied Eastern States, was very fast. So fast that it was feared that a war could ravage the archipelago once again. To avoid a future war that would plunge the whole archipelago into a war without end that sacrifices of the same pitch all the progress made in economics, the two superpowers signed a nonaggression pact March 1 1869 followed a year later by a peace treaty. The reconciliation between the two countries continued smoothly, and in 1875 to facilitate trade between the two states; customs fees were lowered, and finally abolished in 1880.

In order to accelerate unification of the Allied Eastern States and Great Lemuria, respective assemblies of both nations together voted for unification. In 1883, a parliamentary vote was held in both parliaments and the majority vote was 52% for the Allied East States and 61.5% for Great Lemuria. The deed of covenant was applied on May 8 of that year, committing the two countries in a common caretaker government. The caretaker leader Fernando Gonzalez (Ferdinando Goncalvo) who later became the first president of the Ponant lead a caretaker government that lasted more than four years during which the administration of the territory, the national constitution and the official language will be drafted. In 1885, the development of Kriollatino, future official language of the Republic of the Ponant, was achieved, and the first criollatina-kriollatino dictionary was published in 1886 under the title of Una Gramatiko de Linguon Nacia (First Grammar Of The National Language). The language was then adopted as the national and official language of the Republic of the Ponant. After the conception and the creation of the National Academy of languages, the Kriollatino had to be propagated, because no one apart one thousand speakers belonging to the conception committee in the country spoke Kriollatino language, which was supposed to be propagated to unite the country under one language. To remedy this and to accelerate the spread of the language, the government considered progressive Kriollatinization of the country.

Fourth Era
Also called as Era of Prosperity (Kriollatino : Éro de Prosperon), the Fourth Era starts by the formation of the Republic of the Ponant by the unification of the Eastern Allied States and the Kingdom of Great Lemuria.

The future first president of the new republic had to be elected by relative majority, and at the first round, Fernando Gonzalez, the former caretaker government leader, was elected by more than 69.1% of votes. He will become the first president of the Republic of the Ponant and will be investe don January 1st 1888 ; he will be maintained president until December 31, 1899.

First Prosperity Era
The newly formed country had a very dynamic economy. Thanks to abondant resources and a very productive agriculture, the country has in any point taken a new breath, and the end of the 19th century is considered by many eminent modern historians as the First Prosperity era. But recently, according to the economic growth of the Ponant thoughout the History, the First Prosperity Era does not start at the same time with the beginning of the Fourth Era, it actually had begun twenty or thirty years earlier. It is taught in schools that the Prosperity Era had begun with the Fourth Era to ease History understanding.

World War I

During the W.W.I, as an ally of the United States, the Republic of the Ponant sent to Europe 15,000 soldiers (called famously in Kriollatino as gereros, from the Spanish word guerrero meaning warrior) and only 8,300 of them has survived. The last survivor of the soldiers sent by the Ponant to go to war during the W.W.I died in 2001 at the age of 112 years.

After the World War I

After the First World War, the Ponant realized that army training is very insufficient, then the part of the budget allocated to the National Army increased to 10%, and Arms Industry was financially exonerated.

In the beginning of the year 1920, The Republic of the Ponant joined the League of Nations in order to preserve peace in the World and left it in 1930 during the 1929 crisis.

End of the First Prosperity Era 

The Prosperity Era ended with the 1929 economical crisis. At this time, the whole industry and the financial system of the Ponant was threatened, and State debt has reached a level it never reach before. One of the causes of the 1930 crisis is mainly industrial surproduction.

Kriollatinization
The Republic of the ponant was officially created : the new administration had taken place ; the scolar system and the administration will be slowly kriollatinized (see Kriollatinization)

Geography


From east to the west, the Lemurian archipelago is approximately 1,900km and from the north to the south, it is 1320km. Its total area is 1.4 million square kilometers and the mainland is the third greatest island of the world.

The Republic of the Ponant is an archipelago which is approximately 2,500km west of Hawaiian city of Honolulu and 500km north of Insulo Natahari (actual Midway Islands). This island south of the Lemuria island was originally part of the Ponantian territory but it has been occupied by the US Navy in World War II until today.

The Ponant has power on all islands of the Lemuria Archipelago. The archipelago was unified under the same country in 1889 when unification of the country was proclaimed.

Lemurian Archipelago
The Ponant occupied the whole Lemurian archipelago. Which is composed by the main Island (also Mainland Ponant) which composes more than 90% of the total area and 40 islands over 100 km².

Lemuria is based on a submarine continental shelf. Parts of the continental shelf emerged from sea when the continental shelf passed over Hawaiian hot spot 45 million years ago.

Having been isolated from the rest of the world by Pacific ocean, Lemuria has a unique faune and flora of the world, but most of them are in danger bue to population pressure, massive deforestation and environment pollution. In order to prevent extinction of endemic species, 34% of the total land area has been classified natural reservations.

Administrative subdivisions

 * East region : 128,5 million
 * South region : 66,6 million
 * Western region : 44 million
 * Northern region : 26,5 million
 * Northwestern region : 13,9 million
 * Centre : 7,98 million


 * Total : 287 million



The Republic of the Ponant (R.P) is divided into 41 provinces divided into six regions: Norto, Nortésto, Centėro, Ésto, Súđo and Ùesto. The current territorial organization of the Republic of the Ponant dated 1 January 1889, when the Republic of the Ponant was proclaimed. Since that date, special territories were created, including the Ćefa Landono, which is an enclave of the Lakaño region. The Ćefa Landono (means "Main Region") was created under Pláto Augustido (1870-1945) in 1920 to recentralize Lakaño region which focused more than 70% of its industry in the capital and surrounding cities.

Communities
Regions are divided into departments, departments are divided into municipalities, and municipalities are divided into communities. Communities have different sizes depending on whether they are in town or in the countryside. Largest communities have more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, while smaller communities make up only one thousand people. Communities are rearranged every twenty years to optimize the management of the national territory and to cut superfluous spendings : the reorganization aims to merge small communities to form larger communities and larger communities are divided to make smaller ones.

Community leaders are elected and only elected by residents in the community in a community council held every ten years. Community leaders meet with other leaders from other regions in an inter-meeting held every two years. Large meetings gathering all communities in all regions to take place every five years Fenizo, six months before presidential elections.

Demographics


According to June 2010 official census, the population of the Republic of the Ponant is 244,013,670 inhabitants, (3.5% of the global population), the country is the fourth by its population. Its population growth reate is 1.44% per year ; this makes the most fertile country in Oceania.

The high population umber of the Ponant is due to the high birth rate of the country with a very long period of heterogeneous demographic transition : poorer eastern provinces for example has a non-negligible weight in actual Ponant demography, because for more than fifty years, this region is the region of the Ponant which has the highest demographic growth in the country ; for a long time, unemployment caused by fast-growing population made migration strong and young people born in that region mainly emigrate to the western and central provinces. Since the year 2000, emigrations of inhabitants living in eastern provinces have decelerated but is still high because of a lower purchasing power and life quality.

Composition of population
The Dunguna (descendents of immigrants) composes now a bit more than a half (53%) of the overall Ponant population. This proportion is becoming lower and lower due to the low natality of immigrants from Europe/America and Asia. The proportion of the Indigenous in the Ponant took off centuries of low population growing : from 7% in 1900, they pass 20% in 1950 and now (as of 2010) 37% of the overall population.

Education
From the age of three years, children can be sent to school to incorporate primary school preparatory classes (Klasos Priparenta), which can last more or less lontemps depending on the age at which children are educated: three years (ie three years preparatory class), four (two) or five years (one year of preparatory class). during the preparatory cycle, pupils learn the basics of learning and social life. No end

At the age of six to sixteen, pupils have to perform the obligatory first cycle. Cycle in which the basic subjects such as the study of Kriollatino and regional languages, mathematics, science, arts and foreign languages​​. Each year has to be validated by a end-year examinations (Evaluo de Fino de Anno).

On obligtory secondary cycle, pupils study Litterature, regional language (mostly Spanish), first foreign language (English, Chinese, Portuguese) and later second foreign language, physics, mathematics, natural science, technology and sports. The Evaluo de Ámíto al Supėra Eskolos (EÁSE) valids the whole obligatory cycles, and has to be successful to be admitted to national universities and colleges. Unlike other exams, anyone can voluntary register to perform the examination, and there is no second chance or possible repetition.

Year-end Exams
All end-year examinations must be successful to be authorised to access the second cycle of compulsory education classes. Those who failed the exam are recalled to the board one week prior to the start of school. The test is a written test in second chance. If this second chance was still a failure, third, fourth and fifth chance exam are done orally. Meanwhile, whether the exam is successful or not, they must pass a higher class, except in the final year of the cycle where if they have not passed the end-year examination, have to repass their final year, as times as they needed until the student has passed all the exams at the end of the year to which it has not been received. The period of year-end ratings are one week before classes end, and period of catch-up assessments spread to five weeks after the course ends. The second period of catch-up lasts until five weeks before the start of school. Theoretically this leaves to students two weeks of rest period.

At the end of obligatory first cycle, pupils perform an end-cycle exam to be admitted to the obligatory second cycle. To be received, students must score at least 60% (12/20). If failure, they have to repass their year as many times as posible, but the number of points needed to be admitted decreases each time (-10% needed to repass) til 5/20 or 20%.

Politics
The Assembly of delegates (Deleġentos) of the Ponant is the Ponantian national legislature. It consists of the President of the Ponant and 398 delegates. The delegates of the Assembly are directly elected under universal suffrage of all citizens of the Republic of the Ponant who reside and who are at least 18 years of age. An election is held at least once in every ten years. But if a majorit of delegates vote for dissolution, the Assembly can be dissolved and a new election.

The number of delegates allowed per province is calculated by the country's whole population got by a census made every decade. The House of delegates elects the President of the Republic, and vote laws.

Economy
Main article : Economy of the Ponant

The economy of the Ponant is the second largest in the world, after the United States. The country's per capita GDP was $29,000 in 2010. Development of the Ponant is due to productivity, employment rates and longer working hours than the average of developped countries (2,205 hours). Developped infractructure, moderately low level of taxation, the spirit of free enterprise that derives economic liberalism, make the Ponant economy one of the most competitive in the world.

The current economic situation of the Ponant is the result of more than 12 decades of constant development efforts. Since the unification and the establishment of the Republic of the Ponant, the first task of the first government was to maintain and even accelerate economic and industrial development of the new country. Since 1993, Le Ponant is the second global economic Absorbed power after overtaking Japan. Nowadays, the country is a major industrial power thanks to its skilled and abundant workforce with a labor force strong by 131 million people.

Ponantian economy is mainly a service economy but with an industry still very present: the tertiary occupies over 70% of the workforce, and cons for about 65% of its GDP while the primary sector (agriculture, fishing) represents only 8% of assets for 5.7% of the production of national wealth, and the secondary sector (mainly industry) with respectively 12.7% and 29.3% (2010 est.). Unemployment rate is relatively low with 9.3% in 2010.

The economy of the Ponant has been strongly affected during the 1994 debt crisis which failed to sink the national economy. During that year, public debt cames from 98% to 149% of the national GDP. In order to maintain the economy, one of the strongest austerity measures has been led by the government : income taxes increased to 26%, VAT to 22%, lowering social security expenditures... Such measures have rudely slowed down the economic dynamism of the country from 0.7% a year before 1994 to -4.1% during the year 1995-1998. But in 2002, the austerity paid off, and the national debt passed to 70.5% of the national GDP. "Emergency state" and austerity lowered, and the dynamism of the economy was back.

Public debt is at about 70.5% of national GDP as of 2010 while the external debt reaches 2.4%. Many efforts has been made in maintain it at a low level. All measure in reducing public debt have been led and adopted successfully in the beginning of the year 2000, but it has encountered a strong popular opposition due to increasing unemployment, as result of this policy, the VAT rate has increased to 22.1%. It is as such since 2006.

During the 2008 world economical crisis, the Ponant has relatively limited damages : "only" one million more people were unemployed during the year 2007-2009 : the growth rate was globally maintained (at 1.4%) which makes the international markets to give the country more trust ; which allowed the country to loan more easily money from the market with a reasonable interest rate. The economical growth of the country is for most of it due to the economical lift-off of developping provinces.

Industries
The Ponant is a major industrial country. The country was for a long time the Northern Pacific industrial product provider. Its economic dynamism and its efficiency in research has make the Ponant one a major industrial power in the word. The Ponant industrialized in the late 19th century, when the New country has been formed. It was initially a heavy industry ; later in the beginning of the 20th century, industry was oriented to consumption and exportation of goods, it exported mainly to Asia and to the Northern Pacific Ocean Countries, where the Ponantian state has built railway networks and roads.

Automotive construction
In 1924, Kopo, the first automobile construction in the Ponant, opened. Its production was still modest during the decade, but it has not crashed in the 1930 economic crisis. It produces now more than 450,000 cars daily.

Electronic industry
During the 1980s and the 1990s, the Ponant became a leader of electronic componement constructions, especially semi-conductors.

Railways
The Ponant has 64,725km of railways, of which about 38,100km of electrified railways. The tracks are divided into classes according to their gauge. These classes define among others the speed limit, but also the maximum load per vehicle.

Total length of Railways in the Republic of the Ponant is 64,725km with :
 * 20,044km in Class III Trackgauge (1,260mm) — All railways constructed before 1924 have this measure. Railways having this Track Gauge are low-speed railway mainly located in old industrial cities, such as Nauario (Fenizo) or Łarmandio (Santiago). Only 24% of the network is electrified
 * 17,700km in Class I Trackgauge (1,668mm) — This track gauge is for high-speed railways. Around 55% of Class I railways are electrified and are mainly used for passenger and freight transportation.
 * 20,900km in Class II Trackgauge (1,600mm) — Used for very high-speed highways. 84% of Class II track gauges are electrified.
 * 6,081km in Class IV Trackgauge (1,372mm — 1,524mm) — Class IV railways are all railways which does not belong to three previous classes. Trackgauges in that class are mainly 1,372mm (92%, due Cirkėlaga rałvio); others trackgauges, like 1,524mm are also in use.

Government
The Republic of the Ponant is a presidential republic. Actual constitution of the Second Republic was approved by the Assembly of delegates on 9 October 1946 after the caretaker government. Legislative Branch is led by the assembly of delegates and its prime minister, while executive branch is led by the President elected for a ten-year term.

Law
According to the constitution of the Second Republic of the Ponant, any province has the power to vote its own laws. There are provincial laws, which are province-wide, and national laws, which are nationwide. Nationwide law is prior to be applied.

Military
The Ponant is one of the greatest military power of the World. Ponant's armed forces (Forto Nacia), comprising the Ponantian Army (Forto Tera), Ponantian Air Force (Forto Aera Ponanto), Ponant Navy (Marforto Ponanta) and Ponantian Paramilitary Force (Forto Elmilitforto). The Ponant has an force of 500,000 active soldiers (350,000 in Army, 100,000 in Navy and 50,000 in Airforce). There are also a reserve of 40,000 soldiers, making the Ponant the Twentieth army of the World.