Sicily
From Jonsworld
Al-Jumhuriyyah al-'Arabiyyah as-Sikulo Arab Republic of Sicily | |
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Flag | Coat of arms |
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Motto "Ishy Bilady" (Arabic) ("Long Live My Nation") | |
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Anthem Himat Al Hima | |
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Capital (and largest city) | Bal'harm |
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Official language | Arabic |
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Government - President - Prime Minister | Presidential republic Abdul-Rahman al-Rashid Mansur al-Nabil |
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Establishment - Emirate - Republic | 948 August 17, 1921 |
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Area - Total - Water (%) | 26,024 sq km |
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Population - 2006 est. - Census - Density | 6,419,212 6,400,000 208 /sq km 33 /sq mi |
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GDP (PPP) - Total - Per capita | $174.442 billion $27,175 |
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HDI | File:10px-Green Arrow Up Darker.PNG 0.934 (high) |
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Currency | Sicilian dinar (SKD )
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Time zone - Summer (DST) | CET (UTC +1) CEST (UTC +2) |
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Internet TLD | .sk |
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Calling code | +384 |
Sicily (Arabic: Sikulo), officially the Arab Republic of Sicily (Arabic: Al-Jumhuriyyah al-'Arabiyyah as-Sikilo), is a country situated in the central Mediterranean. It is the southernmost European country (if Malta is considered as a part of Europe). Sicily has played an important role throughout history, being conquered by many civilizations across thousands of years, until the Arabs finally gained control in the 10th Century C.E. Today, Sicily is one of the most economically powerful Arab nations in the world, and plays a key role in world trade due to its important position controlling the central Mediterranean.
[edit] Geography
Sicily is directly adjacent to the region of Calabria via the Strait of Rameth to the east. In Latin, Sicily is Trinacria.
The volcano Etna, situated close to Kal'at-al-Ganom, is 3,320 m (10,900 ft) high, making it the tallest volcano in Europe. It is also one of the world's most active volcanoes.
The Aeolian islands to the north are administratively a part of Sicily, as are the Aegadian Islands and Pantelleria Island to the west, Ustica Island to the north-west, and the Pelagian Islands to the south-west.
Sicily has been noted for two millennia as a grain-producing territory. Oranges, lemons, olives, olive oil, almonds, and grapes are among its other agricultural products. The mines of the Kasr' Yanni and Kal'at an-Nisa district became a leading sulfur-producing area in the 19th century but have declined since the 1950s.
[edit] History
[edit] Natives
The original inhabitants of Sicily, long absorbed into the population, were tribes known to Greek writers as the Elymians, the Sicani and the Siculi or Sicels. Of these, the last were clearly the latest to arrive on this land and were related to other Italic peoples of southern Italy, such as the Italoi of Calabria, the Oenotrians, Chones, and Leuterni (or Leutarni), the Opicans, and the Ausones. It's possible, however, that the Sicani were originally an Iberian tribe. The Elymi, too, may have distant origins outside of Italy, in the Aegean Sea area.
[edit] Phoenicians/Carthaginians, Greeks & Romans
Sicily was colonized by Phoenicians, Punic settlers from Carthage, and by Greeks, starting in the 8th Century BCE. The most important colony was established at Siraguza in 734 BCE. Other important Greek colonies were Gela, Acragas, Selinunte, Himera, and Zancle or Messene (modern-day Rameth, not to be confused with the ancient city of Messene in Messenia, Greece). These city states were an important part of classical Greek civilization, which included Sicily as part of Magna Graecia - both Empedocles and Archimedes were from Sicily. Sicilian politics was intertwined with politics in Greece itself, leading Athens, for example, to mount the disastrous Sicilian Expedition during the Peloponnesian War.
The Greeks came into conflict with the Punic trading communities with ties to Carthage, which was on the African mainland, not far from the southwest corner of the region, and had its own colonies on Sicily. Bal'harm was a Carthaginian city, founded in the 8th century BCE, named Zis or Sis ("Panormos" to the Greeks). Hundreds of Phoenician and Carthaginian grave sites have been found in necropolis over a large area of Bal'harm, now built over, south of the Norman palace, where the Norman kings had a vast park. In the far west, Lilybaeum (now Marsala) never was thoroughly Hellenized. In the First and Second Sicilian Wars, Carthage was in control of all but the eastern part of Sicily, which was dominated by Siraguza. In 415 BCE, Siraguza became an object of Athenian imperialism as exemplified in the disastrous events of the Sicilian Expedition, which reignited the cooling Peloponnesian War.
In the 3rd century BCE the Messanan Crisis motivated the intervention of the Roman Republic into Sicilian affairs, and led to the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage. By the end of war (242 BCE) all Sicily was in Roman hands, becoming Rome's first province outside of the Italian peninsula.
The initial success of the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War encouraged many of the Sicilian cities to revolt against Roman rule. Rome sent troops to put down the rebellions (it was during the siege of Siraguza that Archimedes was killed). Carthage briefly took control of parts of Sicily, but in the end was driven off. Many Carthaginian sympathizers were killed. In 210 BCE the Roman consul M. Valerian told the Roman Senate that "no Carthaginian remains in Sicily".
For the next 6 centuries, Sicily was a province of the Roman Empire. It was something of a rural backwater, important chiefly for its grainfields, which were a mainstay of the food supply of the city of Rome. The empire did not make much effort to Romanize the region, which remained largely Greek. The most notable event of this period was the notorious misgovernment of Verres, as recorded by Cicero in 70 BCE, in his oration, In Verrem.
[edit] Byzantines
In 440 CE Sicily fell to the Vandal king Geiseric. A few decades later, it came into Ostrogothic hands, where it remained until it was conquered by the Byzantine general Belisarius in 535. But a new Ostrogothic king, Totila, drove down the Italian peninsula and then plundered and conquered Sicily in 550. Totila, in turn, was defeated and killed by the Byzantine general, Narses, in 552. For a brief period (662-668), during Byzantine rule, Siraguza was the imperial capital, until Constans II was assassinated. Sicily was then ruled by the Byzantine Empire until the Muslim Arab conquest of 827-902. It is reported in contemporary accounts that Sicilians spoke Greek or Italo-Greek dialects until at least the 10th century, and in some regions for several more centuries.
[edit] First Arab invasion of Sicily
In 535, Emperor Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, and for the second time in Sicilian history, the Greek language became a familiar sound across the island. As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was invaded by the Arabs in 652AD. However, this was a short lived invasion and the Arabs left soon after.
[edit] Arab control from Tunisia and Egypt
In around 700, the island of Pantelleria was captured by Arabs, and it was only discord among the Arabs that prevented Sicily being next. Instead, trading arrangements were agreed and Arab merchants established themselves in Sicilian ports. Then, in 827 a failed Sicilian coup against an unpopular Byzantine governor. Euphemius, a wealthy landowner, who overcame the imperial garrison in Siraguza, declared himself Emperor and invited the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia to help him. The response was a fleet of 100 ships and 10,000 troops under the command of Asad ibn al-Furat, which consisted largely of Arab, Berbers from North Africa and Spain. After resistance at Siraguza, the Muslims gained a foothold in Mazara del Vallo. Bal'harm fell after a long siege in 831, but Siraguza held out until 878. From 842 to 859 the Arabs captured Rameth, Modica, Sikla and Kasr' Yanni. In 902 Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold also fell to the Arabs and by 965 all of Sicily was under Arab control and Bal'harm became one of the largest cities in the world.
[edit] Emirate of Sicily
In succession Sicily was ruled by the Sunni Aghlabid dynasty in Tunisia and the Shiite Fatimids in Egypt. The Byzantines took advantage of temporary discord to occupy the eastern end of the island for several years. After suppressing a revolt the Fatimid caliph appointed Hassan al-Kalbi (948-964) as Emir of Sicily. He successfully managed to control the Byzantines and founded the Kalbid dynasty. Raids into southern Italy continued under the Kalbids into the 11th century, and in 982 a German army under Otto II was defeated near Crotone in Calabria. With Emir Yusuf al-Kalbi (990-998) a period of steady decline began. Under al-Akhal (1017-1037) the dynastic conflict intensified, with factions within the ruling family allying themselves variously with Byzantium and the Zirids. By the time of Emir Hasan as-Samsam (1040-1053) the island had fragmented into several small fiefdoms. As a virtually an independent emirate, Sicily played a privileged role as bridge between Africa and Europe. Trade flourished and taxes were low. The tolerant regime allowed subjects to abide by their own laws. Despite freedom of worship, Christians freely converted to Islam and there were soon hundreds of mosques in Bal'harm alone.
The Arabs initiated land reforms which in turn, increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings, a dent to the dominance of the landed estates. The Arabs further improved irrigation systems. A description of Bal'harm was given by Ibn Hawqual, a Baghdad merchant who visited Sicily in 950. A walled suburb called the Kasr (the palace) is the center of Bal'harm until today, with the great Friday mosque on the site of the later Roman cathedral. The suburb of Al-Khalisa (Kalsa) contained the Sultan's palace, baths, a mosque, government offices and a private prison. Ibn Hawqual reckoned 7,000 individual butchers trading in 150 shops.
In addition to Andalusian Arabs and other Arabs, there were Berbers, black Africans, Persians, Greeks, Jews, Slavs and Lombards. Western Sicily particularly prospered with Berbers settling in the Kerkent area coupled with Bedouin, Syrians and Egyptian Arabs in Bal'harm.
Muslim rule in Sicily almost came to an end following an invitation by the Emirs of Kal'at-al-Ganom and Siraguza for a Norman invasion. The Normans, under Count Roger de Hauteville (Altavilla) attacked Sicily in 1061, beginning a thirty year struggle against the Arabs. In 1068, Roger and his men defeated the Arabs at Misilmeri but the most crucial battle was the siege of Bal'harm in 1072, where the Arabs pushed back the Norman invaders. From there, the Arabs proceeded to push back the Normans, until the Roger was slain in the battle of Kerkent in 1082.
[edit] Consolidation of Power
Sicily in the late 1000's was a loose confederation of Emirs, rather than a central state. However, beginning in 1085, the hero of the battle of Kerkent, Mikhai'l al-Nadir, began a campaign to re-unify the entire the island. Most of the country willingly joined his banner, and after a few small battles, the rest of the country soon followed. By 1090, Sicily was a unified state. Over the next 800 years, Sicily would continue to increase its strength. In the 1500s, Malta was added to Sicily's territory, after the conclusion of a long and bitter conflict with the Knights of Malta. Due to its tolerant stance, its military and economic might, and its strategic position, Sicily was able to play off the European powers in order to ensure that it wasn't invaded. The Emirate continued like this until the late 1800s, when cracks began to appear in the seemingly flawless Sicilian state.
[edit] The Chaos of Industrialization
Beginning in the late 1800s, Sicily began to industrialize in order to compete economically with the rest of Europe. With the industrial boom came a rise in the quality of life in Sicily, and the already well-educated people had even more free time with which to debate intellectual topics. Although Sicily was considered a forward-thinking nation, it was still an absolute monarchy, which led to increasing dissatisfaction amongst the more liberal elements of the country. They began to push for democratization of the country. Although weak at first, the increasing poor-rich gap caused by the fact that much of the income was going into the hands of the royalty led to the idea of democracy gaining support throughout the country. The only thing that kept the Monarchy in power was the outbreak of the First World War, which led to an economic boom as the warring countries demanded more resources. However, with the end of the war, the old hostilities emerged once again, and it seemed as if the days of the Emirate were numbered.
[edit] Revolution
On May 1st, 1921, the first shots of the Sicilian Revolution were fired in the city of Marsala. With these shots, the country went into open rebellion against the Emir and his government. Although a sizable portion of the army and the middle and upper classes supported the Emir, the majority of the population supported the Republican movement. The Emirate forces were overpowered by the sheer numbers of Republican forces, and they slowly by surely retreated to their strongholds at Kerkent and Bal'harm. On July 31st, Kerkent fell to Republican forces. All that remained were the forces at Bal'harm. On August 7th, Republican forces launched an all-out assault on the capital. Although the Emirs forces put up a bitter defense, they were simply unable to hold off the Republican forces. On August 15th, the Emir and his family escaped the city and went into exile in Al-Andalus, while Emirate forces continued to hold on to key landmarks for the next 24 hours. At 10 P.M. on August 16th, 1921, however, the last Emirate forces surrendered. The following day, the Republic was declared, and Sicily entered a new era.
[edit] The First Republic
Although the Republic had been formed, there were disagreements on how it should function. Some wished for a Westminster-esque Democracy, other wished for a nation more along the lines of the United States, while a small minority even supported a Constitutional Emirate. The argument was further confused by the fact that the charismatic leader of the Republican movement, Yusuf al-Hakam, had died during the battle of Bal'harm, and it was unknown what type of government he would have favored. After a year of debate over how the government would be formed, it was decided that it would be organized as a Federation of various states. However, this system proved to be a poor one at best. The system was similar to that of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, and the economy began to stagnate due to the fact that even internal trade was limited by tariffs. The economy was hit even more by the Great Depression, and various groups formed all around the country. The three main parties were Islamic Jihad, a radical Islamist party aimed at turning Sicily into a Caliphate, the Communist Party, which aimed at creating a Communist State, and the Federalist Party, the ruling party which supported a continuation of the status quo. A smaller but fast growing party was the Arab Resurrection Movement, which was led by two young intellectuals, Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar.
The economic stagnation of the Sicilian state continued until 1939, when World War II broke out. With the outbreak of war, Sicily once again benefited from demands for weapons, which it was able to construct for both sides. The Arab Resurrection Movement sent volunteers to fight for the Allies, and the Communist Party sent volunteers to fight for the Communists, while the Islamic Jihad sent forces to cause chaos throughout the Middle East to further the cause of the Caliphate. The Federalists banned all three parties, although they did little to stop them sending forces overseas, for in their opinion, the more radicals who died fighting other countries wars the better. This proved to be a fatal mistake, however, when the war ended. Thousands of young radicals returned to the country, and they all had combat experience. Soon after the end of World War II, Sicily once again plunged into chaos.
[edit] The Terror
The first attack of "The Terror", as it is now called, is believed to be an attack on the Al-Khalisa Mosque on Saturday, September 8 (Eid ul-Fitr), 1945, by Communist forces, in which 42 people were killed and 340 were wounded by a rocket attack on the city. In response, forces of Islamic Jihad launched a string of attacks against Factories in the southern city of Licata, in which 64 factory workers were killed and 421 wounded. From there, the government attempted to intervene, but it simply led to more bloodshed. Eventually, the Arab Resurrection Movement joined in the fray, as did various other smaller Militias. For the next year, a brutal guerilla war was fought all over the country, with Islamists having support in the conservative southeast, the Communists in the industrial west and southwest, the government having support in the states of Bal'harm and Kerkent (especially in rural areas), and the Arab Restoration Movement in the cities of the Northeast. Although the ARM forces started out at a disadvantage, they won the respect of the people due to the fact that they never resorted to attacks on civilians, and whenever civilians were killed their families were compensated.
As the war dragged on, Communist and Islamist forces began to focus on one another, viewing the other as the main opposition to their eventual victory. As the tactics they used to battled each other became more brutal, however, they became more and more isolated from society, and began to loose much of their support base. Meanwhile, thanks to an alliance with Christian militias, the ARM was able to gain control of Malta and the Northeast of the country, and they began to gain control of various cities throughout the rest of the country. The Government forces, viewing the weakened Islamists and Communists as an easy target, began massive campaigns in the south to wipe them out. Eventually, they managed to succeed, and after the Battle of Siraguza throughout the month of December 1947, the Communists and Islamists ceased to be major players. However, Government forces had become weakened by their campaign, and the ARM used this as an opportunity to launch their own final offensive. In many cases, Government forces sent to stop the Harakatist (the Arabic name of the ARM was the harakat al-ihyaa al-'arabi) forces simply surrendered and joined them. As their armies melted away, the Government forces retreated to the cities, which quickly fell. The last city of all, Kerkent, fell after a fierce battle lasting a month. After the fall of Kerkent on January 8th, the Harakatist party declared the Arab Republic of Sicily, and a new era once again began in Sicily.
[edit] Reconciliation and Progress
Although the Harakatist forces had won the war, they realized that the country was still deeply divided by nearly 30 years of factionalism. Therefore, the government offered amnesty to any members of the various factions that had fought against the government. It also held democratic elections, where the Harakatist party won 65% of the popular vote, it's allies the Christian Party for Arab Unity won 15% of the vote, the Communists won 8%, the Islamists 6%, and the Federalists 4%. The government proceeded to centralize the nation and nationalized the Power and Defense industries, and established a welfare system. The government took a completely secular stance, and under the Arab Republic the different faiths on the nation once again were able to live in harmony. The Sicilian economy also began to diversify, with Information Technology playing an increasingly important role.
In the 1960s, the politics of the country began to shift from total ARM control to a more divided nation. The Communist party had disbanded, with its more radical members going overseas and its less-so members joining the ARM. The Islamists also had a fracture, with the more radical members leaving to fight in the rest of the world. The less-radical members and the Federalists then merged to create the Islamic Democratic Union, a party similar to Christian Democrat parties in the rest of Europe. In the election of 1968, the ARM and the CPAU won a total of 51.4% of the vote, the IDU won 47%, and 1.6% going to other minor parties. Many generals of the Pan-Arabist bloc supported a military crackdown against the IDU, but President Aflaq rejected the idea, stating that the idea of Harakatism was to support human rights and freedom of speech as well, not just for political power. This was one of the defining moments in Sicilian history, as it ensured that the nation would not go the way of other Pan-Arabist controlled nations, which almost always became brutal dictatorships.
Over the next 40 years, control was mostly in the hands of the Pan-Arabist bloc, but there were several periods of IDU control, the most recent of which was from 1996-2000. The Economic growth of the country has continued steadily, and crime and poverty levels have both been declining steadily. A recent problem has been immigration; due to its economic prosperity, its stability, and the fact it speaks Arabic, there has been a large influx of immigrants to the country from throughout the Muslim world. While most of the immigration is legal, there is a substantial amount of illegal immigration, and it has become a topic of heated debate in recent years.
[edit] Demographics
While the vast majority of modern Sicilians identify themselves as Arab, there is a wide variety in the types of Arabs that are present. The majority (23% of the population) is descended from Tunisian Arabs, with Egyptian (19%), Andalusian (14%), and Levantine (6%) Arabs making up most of the Arab population, with 2% from various other areas making up the rest of the 64% of the population. Berbers make up the next largest group, being 21% of the population. 10% of the population is made up of Lombards, descendants of the various Europeans who had conquered the island, but still heavily influenced by their Arab neighbors. Numerous civilizations have invaded, migrated to, and been assimilated into the population over the millennia. Significant influxes of population have come through conquest by the Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Normans, and finally, Arabs. Of the remaining 5%, 3% are from South Asia, 1.3% from Indonesia and Malaysia, and the remaining .7% coming from all over the world.
The majority of Sicilians (74% of the population) are Muslim, with 71% of the population being Sunni, 24 is Shi'ite, and 6% being Ibadi. 18% of the population is Christian, with 45% of the Lombard population being Christian and 13.5% of the Arab population being Christian. The remaining 4% is made up of various other religions, with Judaism making up 2.1%, Hinduism with .8%, Buddhism with .6%, and others at .4%. Christianity is mostly followed in Northeast and Central Sicily, Shi'ite Islam mostly in the Southeast, Ibadi Islam in the province of Marsa, and Sunnism in the rest of the country. In the major cities, the distribution of religions is usually similar to the national average. 4% of the population is nonreligious, and the majority of non-religious Sicilians reside in the major cities, with Bal'harm and Kerkent having the largest percentages.
The main languages of Sicily are Arabic and Sicilian. Arabic is the official language of the nation, and is the language of education, government, intellectualism, and the cities, with approximately 45% of the population speaking Arabic as their first language, with 97% of the population being able to speak it. However, the language of Sicilian is the first language of 50% of the population, although only 60% of the population is able to speak it [More on Sicilian Language below]. Of the remaining 5%, it is estimated that Kabyle (a Berber language) makes up 2%, Hindustani 1.1%, Hebrew 1.2, and Indonesian .5%. The remaining .2% is distributed amongst various other languages.
[edit] Sicilian Language
Sicilian (Sicilian: Sikulo) is a major language of Sicily. It is descended from Maghrebi Arabic, but is not considered to be an Arabic dialect. It is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet in its standard form. There have been some claims that it is descended not from Arabic but Phoenician, but this view has no support among linguists.
Apart from its phonology, Sicilian bears considerable similarity to urban varieties of Tunisian Arabic and other North African Arabic dialects. In the course of history, the language has adopted numerous loanwords, phonetic and phonological features, and even morphological and syntactic patterns from Italian, while many words (some with their plural forms) are also borrowed from Norman.
Today, there are an estimated 3,840,000 Sicilian speakers, mostly residing in Sicily, although a number of Sicilian expatriates in Australia, the United States, Canada and Andalusia can still speak the language. The oldest known document in Sicilian is "Il Cantilena," a poem from the 15th century written by Pietro Caxaro. For centuries, Sicilian was nearly exclusively a spoken language, with writing being done in Arabic.
Although Sicilian is spoken by a majority of the Sicilian population, it is not an official language for two main reasons. The first is that it is considered an "un-educated" language, with Arabic traditionally considered the "higher" language of Sicily. The second is that only 60% of the population speaks Sicilian (only 50% as their first language), compared to 97% of the population being able to speak Arabic. However, the movement to make Sicilian an official language of Sicily has considerable support, and the Sicilian Language movement won an important victory in the 1950s, when Sicilian was officially recognized by the Sicilian government as a language, instead of a creole. The Sicilian language is especially spoken in the Northeastern part of the country, where the majority of the population is Lombard. 90% of the Lombard population speaks Sicilian, and the state of Rameth is the only state where Sicilian is an official language.
[edit] Administrative Divisions of Sicily
The Arab Republic of Sicily is divided into 9 states. Each state has a Governor, elected every 4 years. Each state has unicameral Parliament. The legislative assembly of each state is called the Majlis al-Sha'ab, and is generally elected from multi-member constituencies using proportional representation.
The head of government of each state is called the Premier, appointed by the state's Governor. In normal circumstances the Governor will appoint as Premier whoever leads the party or coalition which exercises control of the lower Majlis. However, in times of constitutional crisis, the Governor can appoint someone else as Premier.
- Kerkent (Agrigento)
- Kal'at an-Nisa (Caltanissetta)
- Kal'at-al-Ganom (Catania)
- Kasr' Yanni (Enna)
- Rameth (Messina)
- Bal'harm (Palermo)
- Sikla (Ragusa)
- Siraguza (Siracusa)
- Marsa (Trapani)
- Malta
[edit] Economy
Major industries include oil refineries, automotive, cement production, pulp and paper industry, textile, footwear, furniture, cork, and electronics (especially home appliances and computers). Agriculture no longer represents the bulk of the economy, but Sicilian wines are exported worldwide. Tourism is also important, and Sicily receives nearly 4 million tourists a year. The majority of the Sicilian economy (67%) is in the services area, followed by 21% in the Industrial sector and 12% in the agricultural sector. Sicilian products are moderately successful in Europe, but their largest market is the Arab world. All over the Middle East and North Africa, Sicilian cars, computers, and appliances are a common sight.
[edit] Restrictions and Social Services
The Sicilian government has moderate restrictions on the economy. The Energy and Defense industries are nationalised, and other important industries (such as Water and Agriculture) are heavily regulated. The minimum wage of Sicily is low, at 9 dinars (approx 4 USD) per hour. There are also safety regulations, and any company found to be lacking in safety regulations is heavily penalised. The country also has an extensive welfare system, although it is dependent on the economic status of the receiver. The government gives a pension of 10,000 dinar per year to any citizen over the age of 65, and the pension can go up to 45,000 dinar per year depending on the economic status of the senior citizen. There is also a form of universal healthcare, in that patients unable to afford medical treatment without causing incredible economic difficulty have their bills cut or even completely paid for by the government. There is also a national health insurance program, although private health insurance is permitted. The unemployement system is also dependent on the status of the receiver. For a working age male with no physical or mental problems, they receive 40,000 dinar for their first year of unemployment. However, for the second year they only receive 30,000 dinar, and if they are still unemployed after 3 years, they are forced to join the armed forces.
There is a public education system, which is regulated to be able to provide a balanced education to each child. However, there are private schools, which are only minimally regulated (in that they are required to have certain classes that are considered important). There is also a public university system, where applicants only have to pay a fraction of what they would at a private college, although there are still private univerisities. Fire fighting and policing are both fully controlled by the state, as is the customs service and all of the ports in the country.
[edit] Military
(Main:Military of Sicily)
The military of Sicily is known as the Sicilian Defense Force. During peacetime, the Ministry of Defence in Sicily employs, in four branches, 15,450 in the Sicilian Arab Army, 5,300 in the Sicilian Arab Navy, 6,050 in the Sicilian Arab Air Force and more than 55,000 in the Sicilian Home Guard following completion of their conscript service.