Eastern Balboa

[Retep Molinari 68]

I have been working on this City Journal for many  months and have now decided to being it into the forums!

Now, when I started this CJ, I was just reinstalling the game on my new PC, getting all my plugins, and trying to be good at it again! So, this version of my CJ will cut out some of the weaker photos and entries. I hope you like the new and improved Eastern Balboa!

If you want to skip ahead, the full and original CJ can be found right here.

Introduction & History of Eastern Balboa!

I developed the region of Eastern Balboa, a small, fictional nation located on the southern tip of am island off the west coast of North America.

Make sure you check out the history of Balboa and Syldav Island, as this fictional place is nevertheless tied into real world events and historical shifts and events. Good times, so read it all here!

Region Details:

This region of the nation includes its three largest cities: Taraville, East Port, Mario City, and Balboa City.

Balboa City:

The nation's original capital, it is Balboas oldest and biggest city.

         

Taraville: The second-largest city, is a manufacture hub with a strong educational and artistic culture.

     

 

East Port:

Balboa's industrial core with a major intrest in sports and technological advancements.

     

Mario City:

Only growing from small suburb to a legit city since the 1980s, Mario City is a close-knit yet cutting edge city that mixed small town community with big-city resources in the arts, education, sports, and commerce.

     

These are all cities that I have actually been building with Sim City for years, but now have the tools, knowledge, and strong PC to actually build them to what I have always envisioned.

Current Political System:

The Syldav Union is now a full democracy with a unicameral parliament. The parliament appoints an Executive President who acts as the Chief Executive Officer of the government and the Commander in Chief. This President also has a large  role in initiating policy and producing an annual budget.

The framers of the new Syldav Union, where Balboa is located, cited multiple layers of government and electoral confusion as the primary deterrents to participation in and the accoutnability of government. Here, electoral districts are used to elect both City Supervisors (aka Councilmen) and Senators to Parliament.

History:

The island of Syldav, where Balboa is located, has been populated by natives since the end of the last ice age, when there existed a land bridge between the island and northern California. The first European immigration came in 1513 when a component of Vasco Núñez de Balboa's exploratory party split from the rest of the party. Vasco Núñez de Balboa, located in present-day Panama and having discovered the Pacific Ocean only one year before, sought to establish a trading post further to the north. While a small post, christened Puerto de Balboa, was founded on the southern tip of the island--present day Balboa City.

Connections between Puerto de Balboa and the Spanish settlements in Panama were largely severed, however, in July of 1514 when Pedro Arias de Ávila, better known as Pedrarias, arrived from Spain to take political control of Balboa's conquests. Pedrarias showed little interest in maintaining Puerto de Balboa, as Spain demanded high returns of gold from it's new territories and Puerto de Balboa had little to offer.

"Vasco Núñez de Balboa claiming the Pacific Ocean for the Spanish Crown, one year before founding Puerto de Balboa."

Over 200 years, Puerto de Balboa grew quickly, first over the immediate south-east corner of the island and then upward throughout the land mass. The residents of Puerto de Balboa, aware of their small numbers, made great efforts to maintain a peaceful relationship with the native inhabitants and limited their political control to their south-east corner.

Russian explorers found the island's northern shores in July 1741, after Peter I of Russia ordered new explorations of the Americans following the discovery of Alaska. A detachment of this expedition landed and then named the island "Syldav." The expedition traveled inland and, finding a rather small native population formed a colonial monarchy detached from Russia. With the Russians assuming control of the entire island, the residents of Puerto de Balboa gave up their technical sovereignty while maintaining much of their independence.

In 1850, with disputes over the economic direction of the nation in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the Syldav territories on the eastern and western coasts split. The core of Syldav opted to remain a largely agricultural society, while Bordav to the east and Peotav to the west fully embraced the industrial revolution. Syldav maintained it's monarchy, while Bordav and Peotav formed military-industrial backed Oligarchy-styled governments.

Formation and Political System:

In 1898, the region of Balboa, now including most of the southern portion of the Island of Syldav, split to form the Democratic Republic of Balboa. Balboa was designed as the first capitalist democracy on Syldav Island, though democracy was at first limited. The President, actually a Monarch, served as the Chief Executive and was accountable to the democratically elected parliament.

Syldav allowed Balboa to split because in needed more support to fight off Bordav and Peotav--both economiclly and millitarily. Unwilling to change much with the times, Syldav granted Balboa an "independant charter." This allowed Balboa to operate as a seperate nation, but tied by law to protect Syldav and reunify the island under Syldav's leadership.

Recent History and Reunification:

Throughout the 20th Century, all four of the small nations often fell into combat over resources and territorial disputes. Balboa typically sided with Syldav against Bordav and Peotav. By the end of the century, however, Balboa had the clear economic and political advantage on the island. In 2000, a young and popular leader lead a palace coup rooted in popular demands from all four nations to reunify the island. Following the coup, Balboa's military released quick dispatch to the capitals of Syldav, Peotav and Bordav to overcome the political leadership of the nations.

Following the reunification, Balboa moved it's capital from Balboa City to the more centrally-located Taraville. Since this reunification, the new Syldav Union has moved to greatly expand pubic works, especially in transportation and education, to promote unity and economic self-reliance.

[Follarch 326]

Nice cities for an introduction.

The Light Rail lines give your cities a boost as well as the nice choice in customized buildings.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Welcome! Glad to see you here too.

[naftixe 131]

I moved mine too on the 7th. I plan on doing a primary post in the New CJ area, then doing a "rerun" in this area. I may do a simulcast, or somethingelse. I am still trying to fiqure out how I want to broadcast my updates, But it is nice to see you here with me.

[Retep Molinari 68]

Balboa City: 1900-1926

Thanks so much for the interest! It's been fun seeing all these new people check out my work. So don't forget to leave a comment: makes me keep posting!

The layout of the city in 1900

A wealthier part of town.

The working class neighborhoods were also serviced by the tram

Manufacturing the raw goods from the rest of Syldav Island is a big part of Balboa City's economy.

Coming home after a long day at work. This was before the 8-hour work day laws that came in 1916 (then chanced to 7 hours in 1993).

Jankowsky Farms is a hamlet north of Balboa City. The train station loads goods, merchants, and family members to the capital city.

Adalbert Jankowski immigrated from Poland to strike it rich in the California Gold Rush in 1853, but by that time most good opportunities were gone. He moved to Balboa in the spring of 1854 and started a small farm. Others sprung up around his, and soon a small town formed.

The one room school house in Jankowsi farms.

[Larks2242 251]

Nice city, cool tram!

[Retep Molinari 68]

Archean:

Thank you! I really like the positive feedback--though negative feedback works to. Anyway, I donno if I'd even gotten a view or a comment from you, so getting your comment validated my want to put this CJ in the forums!

Schulmanator:

Thank you--and damn that's a lot of rewards. I need to vote soon (note to self)

naftixe:

Yeah! I saw you lurking around. Reppin' the bay!!

Larks2242:

Everyone always likes my trams! I feel so cool. Can we have a Trixi for best tram? That's like the only thing I think I could ever think of winning. The talent here is just amazing.

Thank you all and I will post a new entry soon!

[Petrovar Ambassador 15]

very nice! I love the calm setting of the tram in the residential center. Looking forward for your next update

[Retep Molinari 68]

Originally posted by: Petrovar Ambassador

very nice! I love the calm setting of the tram in the residential center. Looking forward for your next update quote>

Why thank you! And here it is:

the beginnings of Taraville

(ok, this is more of a teaser)

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull work my friend

[Retep Molinari 68]

Welcome to Taraville!

Taraville owes its economic strength to it's position. The splits in the river around the island prevented the direct transportation of goods directly to Balboa City to the south. Therefore, raw materials from the north and the west came to Taraville first to be either a) repackaged for further shipment, or b) used to create finished goods to be shipped all over the nation and elsewhere.

All those raw goods created a strong industry, which in turn created a ton of wealthy merchants. Of course, they seemed to want their own neighborhood.

New entertainment was popular in Taraville, like the moives. This theater was built in 1919.

Taraville's people tended to resent Balboa City's reputation as the "big city" and so they made every effort to have every luxury afford to a  city twice its size. Here we can see the great university built, larger with the funds of the wealthy merchants and for their students. Over time, however, it was donated to the City, expanded, and made open to every citizen.

The main hall was built in 1887.

The full university, today.