This is a fictional country that was created in the Created Worlds web site. The contrary to the assertions of some, Bergonia is not an imaginary country,

but rather a very real island-continent situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. A thousand miles of ocean separate Bergonia's western shore from Cape Hatteras.

Bergonia, the land, just over a million square miles, offers a beautiful mélange of grassy plains, high altitude oak & evergreen, lofty peaks, and lush lowland subtropical forests, all wrapped in mild climate.

Bergonia, the nation, is a stable multi-party socialist democracy, and a vigilant foe of America's unrelenting efforts to impose its "liberal-democratic" mega-corporate capitalist system on the rest of the world. Paradoxically Bergonia also offers vacation repose and hospitality to thousands of Americans every year, while Bergonian and American businesses routinely engage in billions worth of trade-- Americans especially appreciative of the elegantly smooth styling of "Berg" furniture, glassware & jewelry.

Bergonia, the civilization, over 3,000 years old, is distinctive for its reverence for the written word, the male-female duality of its god, belief in spiritual pollution and purification, extreme respect for animal life, the strict system of clans, and the warrior caste of antiquity. It produced a multiplicity of religions than ultimately coalesced into Miradi, the balance tolerance which made Christianity seem like a throwback to a more primitive perspective.

Modern Bergonia enjoys: Freedom from domination by the automobile-- people walk and take the subway or train. "Slow" values of craftsmanship, cuisine and courtesy. Local produce markets, good fresh food & long dinners. Obsessive recycling & other low-energy lifestyle changes. Modesty, propriety and etiquette in public life; laughter, frankness and loyalty in private life. Collective decision-making and fierce egalitarianism on all levels-- "bossism" is the ultimate evil. Positive value seen in loafing. Generosity to bums & nomads. Fierce loyalty to the hometown. Sanctioned, lawful "busting loose" with festivals & rowdy demonstrations. Lots and Lots of music & dancing, with dancehalls in every town & neighborhood.

Geography

The Land -- over a million square miles of varied geography, highland plateaus, balmy climate, horrendous hurricanes. Plus a different way of allocating and using land & resources. Climate includes dry balmy and the occasional horrendous hurricanes. Plus a different way of allocating and using land & resources.

The People -- 171,000,000 people. Big cities and 31 provinces. People of different races, speaking different languages and following different religions, form a single society-- a patchwork quilt threaded together by a common ideology of egalitarianism, civility and "live-and-let-live."

Government -- A slew of representative councils make decisions under the supervision of the elected Congress, President & Executive Council. Powerful local governments function, often with direct democracy. State governments can veto many decisions of the national government. The publicly-conducted elaborate electoral campaigns are nothing like the USA's political marketing wars.

The Economy -- Applied anarcho-syndicalist socialism has produced an open economy of worker-owned cooperatives, publicly-owned corporations, with a few select monopolies. An enterprise's profits are shared by all its workers. Sole proprietorships (i.e. small shops & professions) are the only remnant of capitalism.

Ecology -- Bergonia's most recent revolution-- the "Greening" of the 1980's-- has utterly changed the nation's way of life. Ecological concerns stand at the center of all policy considerations and planning. The country is hell-bent dedicated to reducing energy use, eliminating waste, switching to renewable resources, and preserving the natural environment.

Religion -- Miradi, the indigenous religion, has simple purification rites, minimalist theology & dogma, and much prayerful meditation. Its followers seek "perfect vision," to see true holiness in (and beyond) all things. 25% of the population is Christian, a legacy of European colonization. Also see lot about past religions & mythologies.

History

Atlantis -- Called "Catlantia" in Bergonia -- the mythic origins of Bergonia.

2000 BC to 200 BC: The Ancient Era-- Neolithic revolution-- beginning of agriculture. Cities sprang up in both the west and the Amota region in the east. Domination by banda warrior elites. The Empire of Ceiolai arose and conquered half of Bergonia from 600 to 200 BC. A heroic age. A time of epics, passionate pantheism, divination and sorcery. The beginnings of high art and the stratification of society into social classes.

200 BC to 200 AD: The Rise of Shufrantei -- The great Prophet Ierecina handed down the Shufrantei religion, and within two hundred years of his death his followers had united most of Bergonia into a single civilization. The warrior class evolved into a ruling class, consisting of army officers commanding legions and a fat landed gentry living off the peasantry. A few large metropolises and many smaller cities grew.

200 AD to 550 AD: The Age of the Two Empires: The Shufrantei era peaked with the creation of two highly organized Empires, the Necruruean Empire in the west and the Second Ceiolaian Empire in the east. Both followed and sponsored orthodox Shufrantei. Literature, philosophy, mathematics and scientific inquiry all flourished. People in later times regarded this the classic era of Bergonian civilization.

550 AD to 1000 AD: The Medieval Era -- The Two Empires collapsed. first the Necruruean collapsed in a violent civil war that resulted in the ascendancy of the horrid dictator Prakai Eleusi, who butchered people like sheep. He attacked and severely wounded the Second Ceiolaian Empire, and thereafter it rapidly disintegrated. Bergonia for most of this era consisted of many fractured states, each ruled either by a tieri (king/dictator) or a council of aristocrats. A severe famine from 615 to 649 killed many. A sequence of wars took a heavy toll on economic and social health. All this travail depressed the population and caused Shufrantei to suffer a crisis of faith, and many new reformist sects arose to challenge orthodox Shufrantei. But this era ends as do most shakedowns-- all that does not die is strengthened-- with a newfound political and economic stability.

1000 to 1500 AD: The Tanic Era -- After 1000 AD. A time of expansion. Rise of trader ethics and an urban-based middle class. In this cosmopolitan and more skeptical era, a new "minimalist" religion called Miradi swept Shufrantei aside like a house of cards. New egalitarian ideologies, urbanism, professionalism & specialization motivated a "bourgeoisie revolution" of sorts. A series of revolutionary wars within and between the various states ended the domination of the old military-gentry class, and in most places the rule of law and republican government replaced the old tieris. After 1300 peace was achieved, the various peoples prospered, art flourished, and life became very good...

Then on 22 March 1496 came Christopher Columbus...

1500-1780: The Colonial Era -- European explorers and conquistadors come. Plagues of smallpox and other European diseases decimated the native population, allowing a wave of French, English and Portuguese colonists. Native Bergonian culture shattered. Catholic missions converted many of the surviving natives. After winning the Seven Years War in 1763, Britain briefly controlled all Bergonia.

1780-1920: The Bergonian Republic -- In 1780 a coalition of French traders and native strongmen declared an independent republic. The 1800s saw this state grow and mature, though not without civil war and ethnic strife. A resurgence in native population brought revivals and resurgence of Native Bergonian culture. The Miradi religion adapts, perseveres and grows. Tension & struggle between Atrei (native) & European cultures, but mutual borrowing & synthesis occurs too.

1920-1934: The Revolution -- A fiery civil war and socialist-syndicalist revolution transformed Bergonia in the 1930s.

1934-1980: The Socialist Era -- The pluralistic revolutionaries compromised and wrote a constitution enshrining individual rights and freedoms. Strict monetary policy iwas enforced by the new government, while the economy of worker collective consolidated. Political debate about how to structure the new economy was lively.

1980-Present: The "Greening" -- A great revolution in public opinion occurred during the 1970s and 1980s with the sudden triumph of environmentalism, allowing for a radical turn in public policy and daily life.
The Weather

Temperature: The lowlands remain warm or at least mild all year long. But two thirds of the land mass consists of uplands-- mountains, plateaus and high tablelands-- and the higher the altitude, the cooler the weather (typically 5º cooler daytime highs per 1000 ft higher), so that the uplands often get cold winters. Thus the highest mountain ranges (over 10,,000 feet high) wear year-round crowns of ice.

Rainfall: The southeastern lowlands, most affected by the summer Trade Winds, get only 12-17 inches of a year. On the opposite extreme, windward slopes in the extreme northwest get as much as 80 inches. Because of the many variations in altitude, there is great variation in rainfall, sometimes within very short distances. One side of a mountain range may catch as much as 60 inches a year, while the other side gets only 15.

Also see

Constructed world

Role-playing game

The Web site

http://www.bergonia.org/index.html

See

fictional, places, world, fictional country and fantasy

Category: Fictional countries