At the time of the story, the summer of 2276, Oceania as already been an underwater city for 146 years. Although Allie is told some of the city’s history, there’s a lot of information not included in the novel. So, I thought you’d like to read a little more about the history of Oceania as a city. The following is only a brief history and will not spoil the contents of the novel.
*Note that the following is fictional and all references of Oceania refer to the fictional underwater city, not the real-world location of Oceania, the region comprised of a group of Pacific Islands.
2130
Oceania was founded in 2130 by the Top 20 Nations (T2N), a coalition of the richest world governments on earth at the time. Residents of the city comprised of people from every country across the globe. One million people populated the city at its inception with all individuals being experts in a variety of fields, professions, and abilities. The residents got along well from the start, creating an engaging environment for research of all kinds and a welcoming environment for all. After settling into jobs, homes, and family life, the residents found the underwater city to be an easy transition.
2132-2138
At first, the connection between Oceania and land was constant, but it was soon determined that Oceania could function quite well on its own without assistance from land. Instead, the connection between the sole underwater city and the surface world became a sharing of ideas and technology more than support.
2134
A few years after the city’s founding, the citizens began to feel a void in the land to sea transition. Missing some comforts of the land world that was lacking in Oceania, the city’s residents started developing their own technology to compensate for it. A focus on finding ways to replicate the land world under the sea drove the city to establish the Entertainment District.
2135
An extensive survey of the ocean floor surrounding the city is conducted. The sediments on the ocean floor are checked for organisms, microbes, and other forms of life to study their potential uses. A large edible species of deep-sea fish is discovered, leading the Oceanian scientists conducting the survey to consider depending on the ocean more for food.
2140
As an underwater city, Oceania had strong ties to the sea from the start. Ocean exploration was a big part of the city’s research focus and within ten years, marine scientists nearly doubled the prior amount of information known about the ocean. Other scientific fields flourished under the special conditions of the sea. Psychologists and sociologists had a unique opportunity to study the effects of artificial sunlight, diurnal simulations, and multi-cultural interactions. The compartmentalized nature of the city helped others to thrive like artists, business people, doctors, educators, and other professionals by having a network of like-minded individuals nearby.
2144
The complete survey of the ocean floor surrounding Oceania for miles in every direction is completed. The discoveries of the survey immensely change the Oceanian way of life. The discovery of a variety of edible deep-sea fish species changes the entire cuisine of the city to more ocean-based and less old world (aka land-dweller) food.
2152
A mechanical error in the robotic bees used to pollinate the plants in the greenhouse sublevel causes a produce shortage for the year, leading the entire city to go on ration and find more uses for the ocean fish they’d been eating.
2154
An undersea earthquake causes the entire city of Oceania to quake for a full twenty seconds. It was the city’s first natural disaster. No major damage occurred outside of plates and other breakables falling inside people’s homes. The survival of the city attested to the greatness of the city’s engineers and architects, making the residents of the city feel invincible against natural disasters.
2167
Contact between Oceania and the land-dwelling world is lost.
2172
A leak in one of the maintenance tunnels to the ocean nearly causes a disastrous flooding of one of the maintenance sectors leading to the rest of the city but was contained at the last moment by the marine engineering team. The only damage was to the maintenance tunnel, which was promptly fixed by the team.
2183
The first OVRR was developed to simulate entertainment experiences unique to land at the time like theme parks, surface water sports, and field sports. It was the final piece in filling the void left from the move underwater.
2191
A fungus-born illness created a small epidemic in the city, leading to an explosion of medical research for the prevention of all sorts of diseases.
2214
Oceania’s diet consists of food sustainably taken from the sea by nearly 80%.
2226
In 2226, Oceania discovered the cure for the common cold, leading to sick days across the city becoming almost nil. Due to the success of the city and the low rate of illness, the population had exploded. In the same year, the Oceanian government implemented a one-child per family policy to slow the rapid growth of the city to a sustainable manner. The policy is set to expire at the start of the year 2336, a 110 years after the initial policy setting.
2230
Oceania celebrates its one-hundredth anniversary with an undersea voyage to the Marianas Trench for the winners of a city-wide raffle.
2250-2260
To promote marine exploration, a new line of deep-sea exploration vessels are released for scientific research, opening up the ocean for further exploration.
2270
Nearly all research has been reduced to the deep sea and twilight zone. Very little research is done in the photic and intertidal zones.
2276
The year in which the story takes place.
That’s the end of the brief history of Oceania. If you want to learn more about Oceania, you can read the book (if you haven’t already) or wait for the sequel, which will be coming out later this year.
In a couple weeks, I have a blog post coming up that I want suggestions for. If you have any suggestions of anything about the book you want to know more about, or just want to read about, send me an email at elizataye@gmail.com. I may just choose yours to feature!
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