Petlenuk

Petlenuk (: 페틀누크) is the largest city in Yelamu and the Kawetka Bay urban agglomeration, and the country's main financial, commercial, and cultural center. It is located on the coast at the mouth of Kawetka Bay, on the Petlenuk Peninsula between Kawetka Bay and Thunderbird Bay, in west-central Yelamu. It is known for its natural beauty, eventful history, and uniquely multicultural character.

History


Before the 19th century, Petlenuk was a relatively small fishing port and military outpost. Due to its strategic position and relatively lax royal presence, it saw a sudden boom in population and economic activity during the 1850s, as the main port for foreign trade of the Yelamese Gold Rush. As the result of tensions arising from the Gold Rush, the three powers of Fusen, Jeongmi, and Meisaan jointly seized Petlenuk in the Punitive Expedition of 1860 and forced the Kingdom of Yelamu to cede it to them as a in the  of 1860. Each power controlled a concession adjacent to the port, while Yelamu retained control of the neighborhoods that sprang up adjacent to the concessions to trade with them. When the Triple Protectorate was officially formed in 1867, Petlenuk became the seat of its administration.

Petlenuk continued to thrive and expand throughout the Triple Protectorate period, to the point of famously becoming the first city in Yeongju with a, and its prosperity and distinctly Sinjuan character attracted resentment from the rest of Yelamu. The Kuhma Rebellion climaxed in 1896 with the siege of the foreign concessions by the Kuhmas, and their relief by Hachuabshi forces, who became an additional presence in the city and built their own district. The foreign concessions in Petlenuk were the only part of Yelamu not annexed by Hachuabsh in 1912, instead continuing to be administered by the former protectorate powers, while the Hachuabshi colonial administration was also run from Petlenuk. Falling outside of Hachuabshi jurisdiction, the relatively lightly-policed concessions were a major hub for the Yelamese independence movement, as well as for smuggling and other illegal activity.

Immediately upon joining the Great Eulhae War in 1936, Hachuabsh, a Contingent Power, seized and occupied the foreign concessions belonging to the Allied Powers, in one of the only formal military actions to take place in Yelamu itself during Eulhae. The concessions would remain under occupation for the duration of the war. Petlenuk was one of the major flashpoints of the Yelamese Revolution of 1943, and subsequently as a stronghold of the communists one of the main flashpoints of the Yelamese Civil War. After the civil war, the new nationalist government moved the capital of the Republic of Yelamu from Petlenuk back to the old royal capital of Točayune at the other end of Kawetka Bay, but Petlenuk remained the new country's main economic and cultural hub.

As such, Petlenuk was the main locus and beneficiary of the post-independence Yelamese economic miracle, and expanded significantly in population and area in the 1950s and 1960s, which saw the construction of the New City, where the majority of Petlenuk's population now resides, and landmarks and infrastructure such as the Kawetka Bridge and metro system. During the military regime...

Cityscape
Petlenuk is divided into fifteen wards between the Old City, built before independence, at the tip of the peninsula, and the New City, built after independence, extending further south. The New City is larger in both area and population while the Old City holds the majority of financial and cultural institutions and tourist attractions. The Old City, which includes the old foreign concessions, is divided into five wards: the Fusenese Concession, the Jeongmian Concession, the Meisaani Concession, the Yelamese Ward, and the International Ward (formerly, and still sometimes informally referred to as, the Hachuabshi Ward). The New City is divided into ten wards...

Climate
Petlenuk has cool summers and mild winters, and is famously (or infamously) foggy.

Cuisine
Food in Petlenuk is more globalized and influenced by Sinju and other countries than in the rest of Yelamu. In particular, yamilssam, introduced through the Yahuimilcan diaspora community in the Jeongmian Concession, is iconically popular in the city.

Government and politics
Petlenuk is stereotypically more left-wing than the rest of Yelamu, and is a stronghold of the social-democratic Himmetka Party.