Hurbanova

Hurbanova is a Lovian town on Peace Island and it's the capital of Oceana. The town has an interesting history. Hurbanova was founded in 1881 and is one of the oldest towns of Lovia. There are possible language misunderstandings due to the usafe of the dialect of Oceana. It's always useful to know some standard vocabulary in that dialect to prevent miscommunication. Hurbanova is surrounded by a beautiful area. Most of the time Hurbanova is a quiet town. Hurbanova is known of the fact that all buildings are made of wood.

Name
The name Hurbanova might come from Pope Urban I. The name used in some old, and hardly readable, documents is Urban One which probably changed to Hurban Ona and later on to Hurbanova. Pope Urban I is known as the protector of the drunken people. Probably the people of Hurbanova drank much, but that's just a theory. It's not exactly known why the town would be called after Pope Urban I.

Some people think it's derived from the Latin words Urbs Nova, which means new city. This theory as well isn't supported by all specialists, because there should be no reason why one of the oldest town of Lovia should be called new city.

A third group of people think its origin is Slovak. In Slovakia there is a town called Hurbanovo. The name of Hurbanova in the Oceana dialect is Hurbanovo. Since many people in Hurbanova have Slovak blood, this could be a realistic theory. On the other hand, the Slovak town wasn't named Hurbanovo untill 1948. So this probably isn't the origin of the name Hurbanova.

A forth group of people think its origin isn't Slovak or Latin, but Oceana. Hurb (from Slovak hrb) means 'a lot (of)', banoft (from Slovak banoviť) means 'to feel sorry' and novo (from Slovak mnoho) means 'a lot (of)'. So, its name could be hurb banoft novo or hrb banoviť mnoho or a lot of feeling sorry, a lot. This could be in connection with the 1884 fire. Many people disagree the fact that 'a lot (of)' is used twice in the name, they think this is a mistake and an indication it's not Oceana. However, it is usual in the Oceana dialect to use a word twice if you really mean something for sure, but it's not possible to use the same word twice. For example, hurb banoft hurb should be incorrect as hurb is used twice, hurb banoft novo isn't incorrect because hurb is only used only once.

Town map

 * 1) Old Wharf
 * 2) Mayores Road

History
Hurbanova is one of the oldest towns of Lovia. The town was founded in 1881. The reason why people started to live here was because they found something special, the Oceana Wall. This brick wall was already built before the first people arrived in Lovia. Even today this wall is a mystery. The village never grew much and is still as large as it was in 1930. Most buildings in the town are old and made of wood.

Hurbanova has been built together with a village 2 kilometers away from the town, Scotland. Scotland was a less rich village with a population of about 40 people of which most where from Scots our Irish origin. The only thing left of the village of Scotland are the ruins of an unfinished castle. Scotland was left in 1904 for unknown reason. Probably because the village was not protected for floods of a nearby river. Scotland has never officialy become a part of Lovia, but because nobody lives there anymore, nobody cares. Scotland had 14 houses, 36 stables, one unfinished castle from McLeid, one well, one monastry and one chappel.

In 1884, when the town was three years old, there was an enormous fire in town which caused the destruction of almost 90% of all the buildings. Almost 39 people died of suffocation because they were trapped in the shecks. The population decreased from 201 to 162 and most people were homeless. The cause of the fire has never been found out and it's possible it has been done on purpose. The population didn't reach the 200s anymore until the year 1938. The town was renewed shortly after. Though the fire destroyed almost all buildings because they were made of wood, all new buildings were made of wood too. This was done because the mayor of that time, Rashkolit' Shadenki did not want to change the town's look. As he said in his own words: ''We buet nada do un shmean to oshine mest. O that obdif buet got do That Mest. (translation: We shall not betray our city. Or the tourists will leave us and go to Noble City.'') All people of Hurbanova agreed with him and started to rebuild the houses and other buildings. New mines were built outside of the town, so workers couldn't sufficated anymore when there would come a new fire in Hurbanova. Fortunately, there would never come a fire on this scale in Hurbanova anymore. Thie owen buet nada come nomo. (translation: The fire shall never come no more.)

Until 1917 one of the four original city gates, the Slinkni Brana (gate of the sun), was still standing. Hurbanova wasn't part of Lovia until 1887 when it was occupied by the Lovian army. There never was any trouble because the Lovians helped rebuilding the town after the 1884 fire. The gates were built by the third mayor, Kelový, to prevent that in times of war the town would be destroyed. The complete defence of Hurbanova of that time was a part of the Oceana Wall, a moat, a river and 4 gates. The gouvernment of Oceana decided in 1917 to blow up the remaining gate. This resulted in protests of the inhabitants of Hurbanova and the monastry. Only one picture of the gate has ever been taken. At the time the picture was taken the gate was already damaged severely and only one of the two towers was still standing. Even though many people where against the destruction of the gate the gouvernment decided to do it and on March 5, 1917, the remainings of the gate were blown up. The moat was later on filled and there is almost nothing left of the original fortification.

In June 2005 the renovation of the town began. It has been estimated 30% of all the buildings are heavily affected by woodworm. It's expected that the renovation will take two years and ten months, so all the work should be done in April 2008. The damaged buildings repel the tourists from coming to Hurbanova. This has been said by the ex-mayor Kčalit' Úskalie. His own words were: ''Thie woodcherref chest 'oshine sheals! As that so pokrochoved am got chelft 'on! (translation: Those woodworms eat of our houses! If this keeps going on like this forever I'd rather kill them one by one with my own bare hands!'')

Archeologists are currently searching for more evidence that indicate there were people in Lovia before the Founding Fathers. The Oceana Wall is "the evidence" according to most Hurbanovans. Until now, nobody really had an answer to the question how the wall came there. Recently, an inhabitant of Hurbanova, Zabel Šlanovič said he had found some pottery near the wall. Experts from universities all over Lovia and even some experts from other countries came to Hurbanova to investigate this pottery. Research made clear the pottery was over 1000 years old, almost 750 years before western people went to Lovia for the first time. It's possible this pottery doesn't come from Lovia but from another country, but the inhabitans of Hurbanova already said: Thatte rontsher is un part o'that Lovian culture. (translation: This pottery is part of the Lovian culture.)

Mining history
Hurbanova was a place were people found coles in the underground. Not only coles, also gold and silver (though very little) were found in Hurbanova. As soon as 1877 the first mines were dug, even before the foundation of the town. Most people lived in small houses near the mines or in Noble City. Most mines were closed in the '60 and '70 of the twentieth century, though some mines are still in use. Oceana was one of the few areas of Lovia were mining became so important. Most wealth in Hurbanova nowadays is due to the mining industry.

There are still two mines opened nowadays, those are the Zlate Mine and the Lovian State Mine. The economy of Hurbanova depends for a large part on these two mines. Almost 10% of all inhabitants of Hurbanova (84) work in one of those mines, most other miners live in Noble City. Once nearly 100 % of the population of Hurbanova worked in the mines, but this changed when the first women arrived.

The following mines lay near Hurbanova.

Anthem
Hurbanova has had its own anthem since 1894. The text was written by P.L.Q.C. Úskalie and translated to English by C.L. Easterfields, the music is by H. Sauren, who also wrote many famous country songs of Hurbanova.

In everyday life in Oceana around 1900 the English language was of no importance. Everything was done in Oceana, Slovak or Polish. Newspapers in the 19th and 20th century were written in Oceana, Slovak, Polish or even Latin and in most parts of Oceana German and Latin were the languages used in church and education. In this time Hurbanova still had a very strong connection with Slavic-speaking areas in Eastern-Europe. Easterfields's translation was used on purpose to force the people of Oceana to speak English. Proof of this is the very un-Oceana part in the anthem, the reference to the Lovian royal family, who were very unpopular in Oceana, nowadays Oceana is still the state with the least connection to the royal family but they don't dislike them anymore. In 1900 the people in Oceana had to swear their allegiance to the Lovian royal family in the so-called "dependency declaration to the Lovian royal family" and had to start using English instead of Oceana, Polish, Slovak and German.

Geography
Hurbanova lays in the green state of Oceana on Peace Island. The town is surrounded by many different types of areas. In the north a quite flat agricultural area is situated. In the south the town is blocked by the Oceana Wall. In the east, the only roads to the town are laying. Those roads go through the pine forests. In the west lays the Oceana Beach and the Pacific Ocean.

Surrounding area
In the area surrounding Hurbanova are many pine forests were you can walk through. There are many colemines left which are dangerous, so if you walk in the forrests try to keep away from those mines. In the last twenty years 27 tourists, 4 locals and 42 people from other places of Lovia lost their lifes because they fell into a mineshaft. If you want to see a mine with your own eyes you can visit one of the still functioning working museums.

You can visit the Oceana Beach at any time of the year. You can go fishing, diving the Oceana Reef, swimming and so on. Many people have left jewelry in the past so if you look well you might find a golden bracelet or a watch. The beach is at its narrowst point one meter and 74 centimeters and at its widest point it's almost 12 meters. The most visited area of the beach is the Hurbanovan Beach which lays adjacent to the Oceana Hotel and the Supermarket Doshmat.

Other places which you might want to see near Hurbanova are the Isle of London and the Isle of Frisco. These islands form the City Archipelago. Once there were three islands. The third island, which sank after an earthquake in 1903, was the only habited island. Its name was the Isle of Bratislava. All people survived the earthquake, but were once was the island now is a muddy ground. The Oceana people call this That Wodate Oster, the wet island.

Tourism
Hurbanova is one of the best developed touristic places of Lovia. It's very popular during the summer vacation, because of the beautiful and extremely clean beaches. Next to these beaches, are some small hotels and there is also a great possibility for shopping.

Places of interest
Hurbanova is a place with a history, so it has got some places of interest.
 * Oceana Town Hall or Hurbanova Town Hall: This building houses the local authorities of the Oceana State. It's a wooden building which actually was a church untill 1963. It has been renovated in 1974 and was totally rebuilt.
 * The Old Oceans' Farm: This is a very old farm on the edge of the town. The Old Oceans' Farm was one of the first buildings to be built in town. The exact date isn't known, but it should be somewhere in the '90 of the ninteenth century. Nowadays, it functions as community center of the town. Most young people of town go to this building each day. Another function of the building is that it houses the town's primary school.
 * Hurbanova Central Park: This park, which lies in the middle of town, has good grass and a few trees surrounding it. Remarkable of this park is that there are no statues or fontains.
 * Oceana Wall: A mystery. This wall is at least 500 years old and was built before any people from "the known world" came to Lovia. This wall could indicated that there were people in Lovia a very long time ago.
 * Oceana Court House: The building where the lawsuits of the Oceana State Court take place. It's built in 1902 and is a real attraction. The building is almost entirely built of wood.
 * Oceana Hotel: The Oceana Hotel is the only hotel of Hurbanova. It has been built in 1898 as a farm and has been renovated in 2004. It became a hotel in 1975. Like most other buildings it's made of wood, but most other buildings also have some stone for the safety and strenght. Oceana Hotel is made of wood only and nothing else, except the windows. Even all te floors and the cellar are made of wood.
 * Post Office Hurbanova or Hurbanova Post Office is the only post office of Hurbanova. It lies at the railway. It was built in 1882, which makes it one of the oldest buildings of Hurbanova. It has been renovated in 1923. Like most Hurbanovan buildings it's made of wood.
 * Hurbanova Railway Station is an old railway station built in 1914. It has been renovated in 1957 and 2007. The building is often been called the Mail Station. That's because the mail used to arrive here. Nowadays, many mail goes by car.

Media
The most popular newspaper read in Hurbanova is Hurbanova Novine. This paper is written in English (Hurbanovan spelling) and the local dialect. The paper is also well read out of Oceana. Many famous people, for example King Dimitri I, read the newspaper.

Many Hurbanovans watch Slovak television, but also the local television is watched. This channel is called Televishka Hurbanovni, which means Horbanovan Television.

Famous Hurbanovans
Many famous people from Lovia are born or have lived in Hurbanova. The following three people have lived in Hurbanova.
 * 1812-1909: Rashkolit' Shadenki, mayor from 1883-1886
 * 1885-1933: James M. Jackson, writer
 * 1902-1969: Oscar O'Neill, poet
 * 1947-?: Pažkolit Úskalie, fisherman, discovered the Oceana Reef in 1974.

Mayors
The following list is a list of all official mayors of Hurbanova. The current mayor is Oos Wes Ilava. As there have never lived so many people in Hurbanova, many famous people became mayor. For example the famous writer Jonas Hladovka Sr.. Paškolit' Úskalie, the man who discovered the Oceana Reef. And ofcourse John Ladowkah (Šon Hladovka), he was older than 100 years when he became mayor. Many mayors are family of eachother.

Sister cities

 * Cettatie, Cettatie
 * Gäörne, Mäöres