Lindenholt

Lindenholt, pronounced, officially the Kingdom of Lindenholt, is a medium-sized unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy located in Western Vestea. The roughly 73 million Lindians live in one of the country's nine provinces which border Umbrellya and micro? to the south, ? to the east, ? to the north and to the west, separated by the ?-sea lies Capsland.

The country's capital and largest city is Artwingen, with the second and third largest cities being Stokfort and Dorningen respectively. The three cities host some of the largest sea ports in the world, as the rivers on which they lie are considered to be the lifeline of the Western Vestean hinterland.

By virtue of its expansive river systems, Lindenholt has a long history of trade that ranges from medieval trading leagues and a global colonial empire to modern times, where it is considered a key economy within the Vestean Union. Another major theme of Lindian history is that of innovation and progressive thought, which was a key factor in the nation's unification during the Fifteen Years' War.

Today Lindenholt boasts a highly-developed market economy and ranks in the top ten largest economies of the world. Lindenholt is member of Vestean Union, the Aureizone, org and org. It's high standard of living combined with fully legalised abortion, prostitution, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, a liberal drug policy and extensive civil rights and liberties underline the nation's liberal character and complement it's high standard of living.



Etymology
A forested area stretching from the Brusseland marshes in the west to the eastern bank of the Sonnae river was known to the Romans as Tilia Silvestris (lit.  forest). While the linden tree was found in Lindenholt at this time, nothing in the historic record suggests that the tree was overly represented in its forested areas. Instead, this etymology likely traces its history to decorative woodcarving art and shields made from by the Tilian tribes inhabiting the area.

After the fall of the Roman Empire and during the Early Middle Ages, the meaning of Tilia Silvestris had come to encompass most of what is considered modern-day Lindenholt. It was also during this time that the literal old- translation of the name gained popularity among its rulers and inhabitants when referring to the  realm north of Umbrellia.

Demographics
The National Bureau for Statistics (Rijksbureau voor Statistiek) counted that on 1 January 2016 Lindenholt had a population of 73,453,603. Of those 33,610,652 people live in one of the thirty largest cities' metropolitan areas. Lindenholt's population density is around 179 people per square kilometre, although it should be noted that this figure is an average for the entire country. In reality the western provinces of Lindenholt are much more densely populated than the north and west, which are largely rural.

In 1900 Lindenholt had a population of around 34 million people. Over the past 100 years the population had almost doubled, as in the year 2000 Lindenholt reached a population of almost 70 million. In 2015 the National Bureau for Statistics registered a birth rate of 13 births per 1000 inhabitants. Coupled with a positive migration rate, Lindenholt's population has an annual growth rate of 0.6%.

According to the National Bureau for Statistics there are 7,811,114. According to estimates of the Lindian LGBTQ movement, there are around 3.8 million self-proclaimed members of the community.

Language
Lindenholt's national language is. Schools across the country teach and instruct students in the language's standardised variant. Standard Lindian is predominantly spoken in the urbanised west, whereas a dialect continuum exists in more rural parts of the country. These dialects are collectively known as plat (lit. flat). Due to the widespread use of Standard Lindian in the media, official communications and schools, the overwhelming majority of platspeakers are fully fluent in the Standardised language. Over the past years some dialects have come under threat of extinction. While speakers of several of these dialects have made efforts to gain official recognition, such efforts have yet to amount to any recognition by the Lindian government.

The National Bureau for Statistics' census reports that 96% of the population has an at least intermediary grasp of the Lindian language. The same census reports that around 38% of Lindian above the age of 18 were conversationally proficient in, most of them centred in areas bordering Umbrellia. is the most spoken foreign language, with 85% of Lindians above the ages of 18 reporting conversational proficiency.