Louise Charlotte (New Courland)
Louise Charlotte is the capital of New Courland. It was founded in 1834 as Port Carolina when New Courland was still a British colony and grew out to the capital of the island. After the 1962 independence, Port Carolina was renamed Louise Charlotte; margravine Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg (1617 - 1676) was a duchess consort of Courland; she was married to duke Jacob Kettler of Courland (1610 - 1682).
The municipality of Louise Charlotte has ca. 61,000 inhabitants in total. The city of Louise Charlotte itself is truly the capital of the country, in that it hosts parliament (the Diet) and government buildings, and most of the embassies of other countries. Cultural activities take place in the Theatre, which is a multifunctional building that includes a theatre, which is also used for small classical concerts while modern bands play in the nearby Leonard Winter Hall. Furthermore, there are a cinema, a conference hall and many other features. At the western border of the city, the Gustavs Bļodnieks Stadium can be found, the largest stadium of the country which hosts most rugby and soccer matches. Nearby, one finds the Commonwealth Grounds, where cricket is played.
Apart from Louise Charlotte proper (which has a population of mixed origin), there are the villages of Green Hill and Ainava. Green Hill is mostly inhabited by wealthy former Britons, and plays host to some of other countries' embassies. Ainava (Latvian for 'Landscape' or 'Scenery') is almost completely inhabited by Baltic New Courlanders.
Mayors of Louise Charlotte were:
# | mayor | took office | left office | party |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tommy Linlithgow | 1955 | 1961 | Conservative Party |
2 | Geoffrey Macfadyen | 1961 | 1969 | Conservative Party |
3 | Arnold Cever | 1969 | 1973 | independent |
4 | Surendra Prasad | 1973 | 1977 | Progress and Development Party |
5 | Chandreswar Atkins | 1977 | 1982 | Conservative Party |
6 | Rufus Linlithgow | 1982 | 1986 | Conservative Party |
7 | Ignacio Méndez | 1986 | 2001 | Progress and Development Party |
8 | Satyavant Bhandare | 2001 | 2005 | Progress and Development Party |
9 | Harry Griffith | 2005 | incumbent | Conservative Party |
Municipalities of New Courland |
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Jauna Piltene · Kettler's Port · Louise Charlotte · Maza Osta / Little Harbour · Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Dolor · Penllergaer · Yeovil · Zelta Kalni |