Les Plaines
| |
| Subdivision of: | The North American League |
| Cities: | |
| Capital: | Liberté |
| Largest: | Minnéapolis |
| Other: | Des Moines, Centralia, |
| Languages: | |
| Official: | Francien, English |
| Others: | Angli, Finnish, Hutterite German (Hutterisch), Scots, Swedish/Norwegian (Riksmål dialects), various Native languages |
| Governor/Prefect: | Germaine Altare |
| Area: | 1,000,000 |
| Population: | 12,190,115 millions |
| Established: | 1828 (as territory), Conquest from Louisianne |
| Admission to NAL: | 1904 (32nd) |
Les Plaines was, until the admission of Nya Island, the westernmost province of the NAL-SLC. Les Plaines is often viewed as the breadbasket of the NAL, producing large amounts of corn, soy and beef in the southern reaches near the Mississippi-Missouri confluence.
Largely pastoral, Les Plaines does maintain a fair sized population all the same, and is a pointed stop on national campaign tours.
History
Prior to the 1828 War Les Plaines was part of Louisianne. Following this time, this wide open plains region was stripped away. The people of Les Plaines were more than happy to unite with the NAL after the years of squabbling between New Francy and Louisianne.
Some of what is now Les Plaines was settled by the Red River Colony, a colonization effort by the Scots, but the majority of the territory of the former Red River Colony is located in the Unincorporated Territories.
For a time there was discussion of forming a condominium state between the NAL and Louisianne, but this was quickly vetoed by the population of Les Plaines. Though English is spoken in some locales, French is the common and official tongue of the populace. Les Plaines officially encourages the use of French, and maintains close ties with France, and recently, Louisianne. A bill making Angli the official language of the province was considered but ultimately rejected.
The Northern reaches of Les Plaines and the Unincorporated Territories are dotted with Communes of Hutterites.
Economy
Les Plaines produces a great amount of Corn, Wheat, and Soy for the consumption of the NAL and the world at large, rivalling the production capacity of Louisianne.
Foire Agricole de Saint-Louis
Fromages Plainois are featured in the Foire Agricole de Saint-Louis each year, and tariffs are relaxed on purchases made there, a great boon to the Les Plaines cheese-makers, as Louisianna is a large importer of cheeses. Cheeses must be certified of Francophone origin, which has lead to many cheese-makers hiring francophone personnel to at least one key position in their efforts to thus qualify for the strictures.
This has lead to some resentment among Anglophone Les Plaines cheese-makers, but most make the small change to their production structure and thus comply, and garner the benefit of a somewhat cornered market as well as the goodwill of a largely Francophone populace.
The Les-Plaines farming community is very interested to see what sort of competition opens with an Agricultural Festival in Lyons-sur-Mizouri or Paris-sur-Mizouri.
