Pacifica

Pacifica (officially the United Pacific States, or the UPS) is a representative federation comprising 20 semi-autonomous states, located in the western area of the North American continent. With 45 million residents, it is one of the most populous countries in the Americas. The capital is Eureka, and its most populous cities are Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. The cities and their metropolitan area comprise more than half the country's population.

Pacifica is a constitutional republic, with an emphasis on state autonomy. It consists of two democratically elected houses (the Senate and the Curia). It is currently led by President Charles Mendoza, of the Whig Party (a conservative coalition), with the Progressive Party as the majority opposition party, since the 2016 elections. He holds a majority in its House of Representatives, in coalition with the eight representatives from the Green Party.

Its economy is heavily based on trade, finance and tech industry, having become a global trendsetter in popular culture, innovation and finance. Trade flows from East Asia and the Pacific into the American continent through the various deepwater ports, and profit from the finance firms feeds the new tech industries. Pioneering in green energies thanks to its strong sea currents, sunny days and windy shorelines, Pacifica is at the forefront of technological innovation, and a promoter of the New Eureka Climate Accords (NECA). It's also one of the biggest agricultural hubs in the continent, due to its mild climate.

Originally inhabitated by native peoples, very diverse in culture and language, which only federated with the arrival of the Spanish colonists in the 17th Century. Gaspar de Portolà's expeditions and Fra Juníper Serra's missions set the basis for Spanish colonization, but in contrast with the dominion held by colonists in lower Mexico, or the displacement which white colonists imposed on the US natives, Californio colonists mainly focused on trade, following a French-like system of colonization in which tribes were given legal status and land grants, so long as they traded with the Spanish. This all changed with the US entry in the Napoleonic Wars, when an American expedition wandered into Mexican-held California and rallied some Native tribes, which prompted the Californio landwoners to strip Natives of rights and expell them from their land grants. This began the century long struggle of Natives to be recognised as full-right citizens of California. In the meantime, as independent Mexico lost control over its territories, Californian elites felt more emboldened to seek out independence. The Bear Flag Rebellion was put down by Mexican troops, but Spanish Californios rallied to help the American-born Bear Flaggers and in two months, the country gained its independence from the desintegrating Mexican Empire.