Agarad

Agarad, officially the Holy Rukhulate of Agarad, is a country in southern Harad. Consisting of 74 provinces, it stretches from the Dahar desert in the north to the !Forest rainforest in the south, and from the Shazabi Ocean in the west to the !Mountains in the east. Predominantly desert, the west-flowing Mishrayil and Mishrawad rivers are the lifeblood of the country, along which most of the population lives. Agarad borders Haksarad to the east.

Agarad is one of the oldest countries in the world. It has existed as a continuous entity since the invasion of the region by the Manuaks in the 5th century BCE, who subjugated and destroyed the previous civilizations of the area. Pre-Manuak Agarad was made up of several advanced civilizations that existed in the strip of land between the Mishrayil and Mishrawad rivers, today apart of Aliqah Province, Sehdimshar Province, and Dar Imeshar Province. Among these were the !NorthDelta, !SouthDelta, !TBD, !TBD, and Khadrami peoples, all of whom were eventually conquered or displaced by the Manuak Agars.

The conquest of Agarad was the first and largest of the !EarlyMuslimConquests. The invasion was led by Shayr Ha-Zal of the Ha-Lebari tribe, more commonly known as Sharazal, who gathered an alliance of fifteen Manuak tribes and invaded the !Country in 465 BCE. The Mishrayil Delta was conquered by the Manuaks by 460 BCE and the Mishrawad Delta fell to them in 457 following the successful siege of !City. Although this was not the end of Sharazal's conquests, the surrender of !City to the Manuaks is considered the beginning of the Agar country; Sharazal himself declared that "I have reached the water; this place shall be the kingdom of h'Ejrad." Under Sharazal and his successors' rule, the entire region went through a period of intense Manuakification, during which pre-Agar cultures and religions were thoroughly wiped out and converted to h'Ejrad. The Agar Manuaks quickly transformed Sehdimshar into one of the most densely populated and wealthy regions of the ancient world, establishing a rich cultural and religious tradition that spread across Harad and contributed to the development of early h'Ejrad outside of the Dahar desert. Ancient Agarad developed some of the earliest systems of agriculture, urbanization, architecture, and central government in the world. As h'Ejrad expanded across Harad and beyond, Agarad developed into a primary center of Manuak culture, at several points in time claiming leadership over all Manuak peoples living west of the Hibrag mountains.

Etymology
The Manuak term Agarad, originally Agurrad, is derived from the Old Manuak word agur 'house' and the suffix -arad, roughly meaning "land of houses." This term reflected the sedentary civilizations present south of the Dahar in contrast with the nomadic society of the early Manuaks. Originally, the term referred to a much larger region. According to the early Manuaks, Agurrad was bounded by the Dahar desert and the !mountains to the north, the Shazabi Ocean to the west, the Hibrag mountains to the east, and the !forest to the south. The first Agars laid claim to the entirety of Agurrad; however, as the initial Manuak conquests did not reach that full extent, the term gradually became used to describe only the specific realm that Sharazal established.

Prehistory and Ancient Agarad (before 5th century BCE)
Humans have lived within modern Agar borders since at least the paleolithic period. Early humans inhabiting the region were concentrated along and between the Mishrayil and Mishrawad rivers, and their lifestyles likely primarily consisted of fishing and foraging. Starting in the 12th millennium BCE, these hunter-gathering cultures were gradually replaced by grain-grinding cultures, which increased the population's dependency on the twin rivers. The regular, the frequent flooding exhibited by both rivers allowed agriculturalists to sustain a large and growing population.

By the 5th millennium BCE, a Neolithic civilization developed in the Mishrawad river valley, which quickly expanded to become the dominant power in the region.

Manuak Agarad (5th century BCE–8th century CE)

 * Sharazal establishes Agarad in 465 BCE
 * Khadrimi invade Alero

Middle Ages (8th century–13th century)

 * Agar Dayashafirate established in 8th century
 * Agars come into direct or indirect control over basically all of Harad south of the Dahar Desert
 * H'Ejrad schism in 11th century
 * Agar Dayashafirate falls apart

Early modern period (13th century–17th century)

 * Agars explore the Shazabi ocean starting from 13th century
 * Agars find Vidina

Imperial Agarad (17th century–1900)

 * Agars are peaceful traders until mid-late 1700s when they start taking over Casalia

Modern period (1900–1977)

 * Joins Dayashafirate with Haksarad in early 20th century
 * Tries to take over the world
 * Fights in Casalia, Harad, and the Shazabi Ocean during WW1
 * Loses badly
 * Violates terms of WW1 treaty in 1951, coalition declares war to enforce treaty
 * First Agar Conflict fought between Agarad and coalition, heavy Haksar support for the Agars
 * Indecisive conclusion when Riyata pulls out in 1955/1956 to focus on Alutran War

Agar Civil War (1977–present)

 * Civil war begins in 1977 sparking global oil crisis

Geography
Agarad lies wholly within the continent of Harad, where it covers 2,224,619.76 km2. As a result of the extreme aridity found in most areas of the country, the population is concentrated around and between the Mishrayil and Mishrawad rivers, which flow from the !easternmountains in the east to the Shazabi Ocean. Aside from these two major rivers, the majority of the country is desert and mountainous, except for the south, which includes part of the !tbd rainforest. The country contains part of the Dahar Desert, where winds create sand dunes that can reach to more than 25 m high. The !easternmountains straddle Agarad's eastern border with Haksarad, with peaks reaching more than 5,000 m high.

Economy


Agarad's nominal GDP was Ꝟ90.8 billion in 2020, according to World Forum estimates, or Ꝟ256 per capita. It is one of the world's least developed countries, with more than half of all working-age adults being employed in agriculture. The widespread underdevelopment and economic instability is primarily attributed to the Agar Civil War, a brutal conflict that has raged since 1977.

Population
According to World Forum estimates, the population of Agarad was 354,875,039 in 2020. It is the second-most populous country in Harad and the world, after Haksarad.

Diaspora
Agarad is the largest refugee-producing nation in the world. Up to 120 million Agars, around a third of the population, have been internally displaced since the Agar Civil War began in 1977. Due to the length and scale of the conflict, large refugee communities have formed in countries around the world, the largest of which are in Haksarad, Esharat, !Neighbor, and !Neighbor. Most asylum seekers never return to Agarad and instead pursue naturalization or permanent residence at their destination. Globally, there are between 25 to 30 million people of Agar ancestry living outside Agarad. A sizable part of the Agar diaspora has been formed by Agar refugees and their descendants, although the majority trace their history back to Agarad's waves of colonial migration in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 2015, the number of Agar refugees born outside of Agarad surpassed the number of first-generation refugees.

Language
The official language of Agarad is Manuak, dialects of which are spoken by around 97% of the population. Agar Manuak (87%) and Haksar Manuak (8%) are the most commonly spoken, with various other dialects covering the remaining 2%. Minority languages persist in the southeast, including Pashwari and TBD.

Religion
The official and state religion of Agarad is H'Ejrad. It is one of the most religiously homogenous and devout countries in the world, with the population almost universally adhering to some form of H'Ejrad, overwhelmingly !ajaxite H'Ejrad.

Pyramids
agarad has egypt pyramids do not steal