Godenhaven

Godenhaven (Godsharbor) is the largest and capital city of Edury. Comprising a municipal population of 900,000 people, and a metro population of 1.4 million, it has held the position of largest city in Edury since cir. 1750. Located where the Godenafdeling, a distribrutary of the Edu river, meets the sea, it has held a place of prominence as a trading hub since the 1500s.

The city is known for its extensive and ancient system of levees, dykes, canals, and other water works. These started as a necessity for the fishing community that once stood in the city's place, but as time went on, allowed the city to expand exponentially with the industrial revolution. The city was briefly the capital of the Marshlander's League, a short-lived military alliance meant to check the medieval Eduran Confederation, until the latter conquered the former. Godenhaven would be chosen as the new capital of the Grand Commonwealth, and would continue to expand.

Godenhaven is a cultural, economic, and political center. Immigrants from Altrua and the world have communities in the city, the oldest being from Edury's former colonies which totally exist. Godenhaven has been called the 'emerald metropolis' for its extensive green-space. The city also hosts the most restaurants per capita of the country, with one establishment licensed to serve food for every 16 people.

As the capital of Edury, the city is the seat of the Assembly of Edury as well as the residence of the Lord Magistrate. The Palace of the People sits on a tuun, an artificially constructed hill meant to provide shelter from flooding.

History
From 1205 to 1250, it was the capital of the Marshlander's League, a rival of the medieval Eduran Confederation. In that year, the two went to war, and while the Marshlanders initially held the upper hand, the first Daar of Edury Namelater Supercoolguy smashed the League at the Battle of the Dam, paving the way for the more centralized Confederation to annex the Marshander's League. Godenhaven was incorporated into the Confederation in 1276. Battling both men and storm, the city remained mostly stagnant in terms of population until the 1500s, in which it started to surpass its local neighbors as a trading hub, with merchant fleets sailing across the width and breadth of east Altrua, expanding their trade routes across the globe in the passing centuries. It would be chosen as the new capital of the Grand Commonwealth by the petite merchants of the Revolution, where it would continue to grow in size and import.

Early history
The oldest surviving written record of Godenhaven is in a 12th century treatise on river navigation, which mentions Den Goden Haven, which it says was known for it's harbor able to accommodate river and sea-going vessels. Wooden pilings found under the Ta'andos in the Old Quarter were dated to cir 600 CE, leading archeologists to believe that Godenhaven had its start as a stilt-village on the shore of the Bay of Edury. Charred sections of some of these pilings have lead these archeologists to believe that pirates or raiders from Gladomyr visited with some regularity until between 1000 and 1100 CE.

Marshlander's League
By the 13th century, Godenhaven has grown in size and stature enough to be the prominent settlement in the north of Edury. As the power of the medieval Eduran Confederation spread from Eduvesting and the central valley of the heartland, many settlements in the north grew to resent the military might of the central states. In 1205, delegates from Hentetz, Oudewijk, Nuiewijk, 'S-Rivibocht, and Hoftledorf met in Godenhaven to form the Marshlander's League, a military alliance of states in the northern marshlands of northern Edury. In 1250, the first Daar of the Senate of the Confederation of Edury defeated the poorly lead Marshlanders at the Battle of the Three Dams, and annexed the League.

Pre-revolutionary history
As oceanic trade became more and more important, and ships grew in size, Godenhaven's place along the shoreline allowed it to grow into a trade hub, as newer larger vessels could not travel very far up the distributary of the Edu on which GOdenhaven and many other important ports sat. By 1500, Godenhaven had a larger population than Eduvesting.

Revolutions
In 1801, the Assembly of the Estates declared Godenhaven to be the new capital of Edury. In 1845, the new Assembly had outgrown its old seat in the Kerkhuis, and had a new building made for themselves closer to the shoreline, and the Palace of the People was opened in 1859. Two years later, in the Revolution of 1861, the Palace was nearly stormed by the worker's militias lead by Barend de Boer. Through the industrial revolution, the city ballooned in size, going from 50,000 people to 200,000 people from 1800-1870. Shipyards and docks septupled in size, and the city became a world capital for shipping and finance.

Flesh all this out later

Government
The city is governed by an Assembly of the Estates, and a mayor, called the Burgemeester. The city is split into 47 wards, which each elect one member of the Assembly of the Estates.

Culture
Godenhaven is known for its nightlife, historicity, and a whole bunch of other things I'll list later. The city is known as a melting pot of culture, where immigrants and native citizens alike take and give aspects of every people of the world to meld into their own. It is said that in the capital, there is no Ta'arohan, Ordrish, Myrish, Betlagiry, or Riyatic cuisine, as you might have something from each just for lunch. Ta'andos, a Ta'arohan cuisine restaurant popular in Edury, got its start in Godenhaven.

As a university city, Godenhaven has a comparatively young average age, hovering around 25-30 years. As such, nightlife is extensive, with over 1,000 nightclubs in the city.

In regards to the two Cultuurgroepen of Edury, the Old Quarter, Fredrichdorp, Rookstad, and Otheroldplace are typically Tuinmannen neighborhoods. The outer suburbs tend to be Bestuurderen, and the newer, central financial district is loathed by both groups but settled by them as well.