Mount Diju 2129

Zozan Amuda is the most famous Kurdish scientist known, partly because she was also a starship captain. With close ties to the USA, Kurdistan bought an old science ship called 'Lightning' and with HAS assistance, upgraded it and reclassified it as HASS Lightning. Zozan had kept the original name of 'Lightning' for the ship as she felt that “the old ship had earned it”.

In 2129 the crew of the ship HASS Lightning discovered a protoearth and in being an official Kurdish ship, claimed the planet as part of Kurdistan. They named it Mount Diju, due to its continent sized shield volcano similar to Olympus Mons on Mars, and being about the size of Australia, it is the dominant feature of the planet.

With help from REC, the planet took about 16 years to terraform, longer than usual due to the continuous volcanic outpouring of CO₂ and that the Kurdistani government chose not to seed the sea with Oxgae. Instead they chose to accept Zozan's request to become Planetary Scientist, who with the help of REC developed the Diju tomato. The tomato naturally grows in proportion of the level of carbon dioxide but can only grow on the ultra-fertile ground of the lava field so it cannot be grown anywhere else. Specifically in fact, it can only grew in the Diju soil. In gratitude for support, the USA White House was gifted with a tomato plant in a large pot containing the famous soil, as a thank you to the USA. The high fertility of the soil is defined by the various minerals etc that exists in the lava fields but the fields are themselves solid rock. Zoxan’s science team developed a process of powdering a strip of rock down to a depth of 10 metres, and watering it to allow the powder to clump and become soil.

Mount Diju gained independence in 2147 under the Settlement Act 2109, as the registered population crossed the finish line of 20,000 people with new births in the hospital. Mout Diju was run as an autonomous region of Kurdistan and so independence went mostly unnoticed. The two nations remain close to the point of effectively being the same country.

Economy

The Diju tomato is exceptionally tasty, due to Zozan’s foresight in prioritising flavour above all else. She had realised that the best tasting tomato that would grow would meet a tomatoes true purpose, whereas developing the best growing tomato with a taste would only solve the terraforming issue. The original plan was to use excess production to make composted soil for the other continents but due to its popularity, all tomatoes are exported as a lucrative premium product. The money made is spent on machinery to convert the other continents into regularly fertile ground.

Tourism

The first settled town at the foot of Mount Diju was named New Amuda in her honour, and is the capital. It enjoys a thriving tourist trade where people come to see the ‘red mountain’, sample every kind of tomato product, including an alcoholic beverage invented in Little America (name by American settlers). Tourists also come to swim in crystal clear seas full of interesting crystal mineral deposits, and to spa in the hydrothermal pools. The planets beauty is famed across the Humanitarian Sphere.