This page is divided up into a number of sections covering different aspects of the South America Union. These include the history of the country, a description of its internal organisation, and its flag. Click on the section headings to return to the top of the page.
The SAU began its existence in 1910, shortly after the Chilean Empire took over Ecuador, when the four remaining independent nations of South America, Columbia, Venezuela, Uruguay and Brazil, realised that if they did not stand together they were going to fall separately. Initially a simple defensive alliance, the four nations soon realised that they stood to gain much more from closer unity, and in 1913 incorporated into a single government based at Goiana in Brazil, under the name of the South American Union.
The Chilean Empire has tried to overthrow/destabilise the SAU several times.
The SAU is organised as a federate with common defence and foreign policy plus common policy on large civil projects. Law enforcement and taxation are handled on a local level, apart from inter-member state crimes. Education is also controlled on a local level, but minimum educational standards are set centrally. The country is run by a ruling council of ministers with representatives from all the states which make up the SAU. The position of head of state rotates on a four-yearly basis between the different member states.
The SAU has two official languages - Spanish and Portuguese.
Several organisations supported by the central SAU government exist to help people escape from the Chilean Empire (the membership of these organisations tends to change fairly rapidly as the Chileans often assassinate/attempt to assassinate their members). The SAU government also assists organisations which work against the Chilean Empire, even if they would be called terrorists by other nations.
The SAU accepts any refugees from the Chilean Empire as a matter of policy (although there are not many of these), but vets all refugees stringently.
The SAU internal security forces are a nationwide, centrally controlled organisation who are quite powerful due to the constant Chilean threat and the actions of Chilean agents against Chilean refugees in the SAU. They are answerable only to the government and have wide powers to tap phones, observe suspects and stop and search people. However, they are answerable to the central government and in general are not too corrupt as they have the example of their nemesis the Chilean Empire across the border to show them what happens if things become too corrupt.
The flag of the SAU consists of a merger of the flags of its four constituent nations (in a manner similar to the way in which the Union Jack is a merger of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish flags). Four horizontal bands (gold, white, blue and red) incorporate elements from the flags of Columbia, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the top left corner is an insert derived from the Brazilian flag. Four small stars on the blue globe of the insert represent the member states of the Union while a large star centred between them symbolises the Union itself, as being greater than the sum of its parts. A semi-circle of seven stars in the gold band are derived from the Venezuelan flag and were incorporated at the insistence of the Venezuelan government.