Palombia

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Population || 227,895 (1959)
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Area || 42,042 sqkm
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Capital || Chiquito
(123,765 inhabitants)
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Official language || Spanish
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Dominant religion || Catholic Christianity
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Currency || Palombo
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colspan=2 align=right style="padding: 0 5px 0 5px" | edit|PalombiaPalombia is a fictitious South American country from the Belgian "Spirou et Fantasio" and "Marsupilami" comic book stories. The name is a portmanteau of Paraguay and Colombia.

Overview

Palombia (officially, Estados Unidos de Palombia) is a small country in South America. It is bordered by the Orinoco river in the north, by the Andes in the west and by Amazon Rainforest in the south, an area that, judging from the description, actually lies within Venezuela. Its area covers only 42,042 square kilometers, which makes it the smallest country in the continent. Catholic Christianity is officially the dominant religion. Its official language is Spanish, and the official currency the palombo. The capital is Chiquito, although the name of the city has changed several times, due to the frequent change of regime. The flag of the Republic of Palombia is made up of three vertical strips, yellow, blue and red, from left to right. Under Baby Prinz's regime, a Marsupilami had been added on the central strip. Note that the flag resembles the flag of New Granada turned upside down.

The official name (in English, "United States of Palombia") is a misnomer at best. The Population of the capital Chiquito (Small in Spanish) is 123,765. According to the latest census (from the year 1959), the whole population is 227,895 Palombians. However, the survey mainly disregarded the indigenous tribes in the jungle, including the dominant Atzhiuh tribe.

History

The first known human inhabitants were of an Amerindian tribe that is currently called "sigomaztecs" (mainly because remains of their architecture bear certain resemblance to that of Aztecs). According to local native traditions, the sigomaztecs worshipped a god called Marzupitcoatl whose statues have a distinct resemblance to the most prominent member of Palombian fauna, Marsupilami. Both Portuguese and Spanish colonial efforts in Palombia failed mainly due to a lack of any readily exploitable resources. Chiquito was founded by Spanish-speaking settlers at the end of the 19th century, at the edge of the rain-forest.

Palombia declared independence in 1923. After that, the history has followed an all too familiar South American path with numerous revolutions, coups and border conflicts. Modernization attempts to create parliamentarian democracy in the 1960s mainly served to increase Palombian foreign debt. Attempts ended with the military coup of Papa Prinz in 1964, and his son later followed him as a military ruler. In the 1970s, Belgian-born Zantafio, alias Zantas, after Papa Prinz was assassinated, briefly took over as a military dictator until he was forced to abdicate. Afterwards mad scientist Zorglub built his secret base in the jungle until he also was forced to abandon his plans. Baby Prinz, Papa Prinz's sons took over after Zantafio until he was deposed in 1990 by Achilio Zavatas, former Propaganda Minister and owner of a company selling soaps, and the only candidate at the 1990 elections.

Economy

Palombia is enclosed by mountains and rainforest, so that communication with neighbouring countries and within the territory is difficult. "Palombian World Airways" has a regular weekly flight to Chiquito from Caracas, Venezuela. Attempts to create a road network have regularly come to grief because the jungle tends to take back the area very quickly: a road (Nationale Sete) once linking Chiquito to the North was overwhelmed by jungle, and later, a project of a Transpalombia road launched by a multinational company also failed. Rapids and falls in the waterways make it impossible to use anything more sophisticated than a small steamship or a canoe.

Despite numerous attempts to the contrary, Palombian economy is next to nonexistent. In the 1930s Henry Ford attempted to industrialize the jungle, establishing factories close to his plantations to be easily provided with rubber. Deep and stubborn jungle has made mineral surveys and other resource exploitation too costly. Even the large Palombian range of exotic fruit is too perishable for export.

However, in the late 1960s, the economy was largely modernized and the country benefited from tourism. Palombian Airways was renamed Palombian World Airways and proposed direct flight between Europe and Chiquito. There were also a boom of the banking system. At this time, the economy also went through crisis, above all the soap crisis, caused by the marketing methods of the two companies Zugol and Z Bul.

Geography

Most of the geography of Palombia is composed of rain forest that will slowly become savanna in the south of the country. It has numerous deep lakes. The Palombian part of the Andes is composed of mountains and (usually) dormant volcanoes. The rainforest spread from the capital to the volcano El sombrero, situated partly in the bordering state of Guaracha, and can be crossed in 20 days walk. The rainforest is irrigated by Amazon's tributaries, such as Rio Soupopoaro and Rio Soupalagrimaz, the latter being threatened by pollution.

Fauna is the same as the Amazonian forest: jaguar, perrots, aras, piranhas. But the main scientific interest in the Palombian rain forest is the long-tailed creature Marsupilami. Other strange inhabitants of the forest or rivers are pink dolphins (threatened by pollution), crog-frog (an extremely dangerous animal living on the edge of the Rio Soupopoaro river), the flash (a nocturnal insect which hypnotize other animals), carnivorous ants, glyphodons (prehistorical animals), tignass (bird close to the colibri, it has big ears that allow it to have an extraordinary hearing, it often screams "Titititignass"). The imalipusram has a long tail and the same fur as the Marsupilami, and can also shape his tail. However, it is a small and weak animal. In case of danger, the tail can blow up and takes the appearance of a marsupilami, which scares enemies.

Palombia has an equatorial climate with added influence of the rain forest. Heavy afternoon rains are regular. The main seasonal difference is less rain from July to September. Weather is warm throughough the year, but nights are much colder than days. Violent showers can occur in the afternoon. Stifling humidity makes the forest unappropriate for human life. While snow is very rare, it has occurred once in the History of Palombia. The savanna of Palombia, in the South of the country, is more dry and consist of grand plains without vegetation, except the presence of comtil, a cactus once worshiped as a god by Zigomaztecs. This plant blooms every fifteen years, and its flowers spread a strong scent and smoke.

Culture

While situated in South America, Palombia is culturally close to Central America: tortillas and tamales are typical foods, and tequila the most common drink, above all of the Coyotl brand. Beer became also popular, with the opening of the country, the most common brand being Colibri.

Banking and money are typical activities in Palombia. The coutry is also specialized in the production of soap and toothpaste, with the presence of the two giants Zugol and Z Bul. Turism-related activities contribute to make Palombia culture known. Some souvenirs can be bought there by turists, such as Marsupilamis' hair, often forged one.

Palombia is well-known for its unique fauna and vegetation which attract a lot of scientists and collectors, but also hunters seeking for glory and unusual trophies. European researchers are notably interested in the Marsupilami. The presence of gold in the forest, notably in the Rio Soupalagrimaz, attract many gold-diggers.

ources

*http://www.marsupilami.com/site/fr/index.php?pg=abc
*http://g.courtial.free.fr/airpalombia/index.htm

External links

* [http://www.savepalombia.com/ Save Palombia site] french icon
* [http://www.franquin.com/index.php Franquin.com] french icon
* [http://www.marsuproductions.com/index2.php Marsu Production site] french icon
* [http://www.marsupilami.com/site/index1_fr.htm Marsupilami.com] french icon