Ishvalem
Ishvalem is a province of the Kalmasan Samraj whose territory covers nearly all of the Veshkalni Peninsula . It shares a southern border with the province of Donava. The west is bordered by the Torvalen Sea, the west by the Rirha Mountains and the province of Neraj to the north. Ishvalem was previously an independent Eshtem raj and the first to be conquered by Mahendran I, first emperor of Kalmasa. Ishvalem has a warm, temperate climate. It was once almost entirely forested, but now much of the south has been clear cut for agriculture. The province produces grain, tree fruit, livestock as well as iron and silver mines. The northern half is still mostly forest and is settled mainly by freeholding Eshtem peasants and the traditional clan villages of the Maxcaltec.
The native Maxcaltec were instrumental in helping Mahendran conquer the province. They had been forced into slavery and serfdom by House Ishvalem. Those that escaped fled north into the forests. As part of a treaty with Mahendran, they were granted the return of their ancestral lands and allowed to follow traditional worship and customs. The land developed by the Eshtem was parceled out by Mahendran and wild lands to the north opened for settlement by any Kalmasan citizen who paid and made the land productive.
The population of Ishvalem is mostly Maxcaltec, followed by tlanelolli of mixed Eshtem and Calmaxtec ethnicity, mainly in urban areas, with minority populations of Tzetzal in the south.
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