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| Name | Centreville | ||||||
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| Hexacode | KI-AH-CE | ||||||
| Population | 376[1] | ||||||
| Language(s) | Lovian English | ||||||
| Next to | Manchester, Westmark, Newcastle, Koningsdorp | ||||||
| Nicknames | Centerville | ||||||
Centreville is a Lovian hamlet in the state of Kings. Centreville is located on Kings Island, on the southwest side of the Abby Highlands (though there are also some mountains to the southwest of Centreville, partially surrounding it; hence the name). The settlement was founded in 1895, for the purposes of mining and allowing easier access to more northern parts of Kings's central regions. The settlement experienced a population boom in the early twentieth century, particularly in the 1920s, because of the success of nearby mines, reaching a peak population of close to two thousand. However, from the time of the Second World War onward, mine closure and related migration to more successful mines further north in Kings and in Oceana, and urbanization, caused the population to decline, which in turn left considerable outer parts of Centreville uninhabited. As of the twentyfirst century, the majority of the town is now employed in agriculture and still-functional mines further north, with the town also gaining revenue from tourism to the Highlands, the mines (some of which have been converted to museums) and the abandoned outer parts of the settlement (which have been used in numerous Lovian films, and are currently being protected by the Centreville Historical Protection Agency).
History[]
Centreville was founded in 1895 by farmers, miners and travellers, mainly from Westmark (which had been founded just four years earlier), seeking to establish an outpost to allow easier access to the Abby Highlands and central Kings, and also looking for opportunities to establish mines. Over roughly the first fifteen years of its existence, Centreville's population remained relatively small (roughly two hundred on average), owing to the limited resources of the settlers (with trading mostly occurring in ports, like Westmark and Newcastle), the relatively hard-to-reach position of the settlement, and the relative lack of farmable land in its vicinity. Also, only one mine was established near Centreville in this time period, with limited output (mostly of coal and iron), known simply as the Centre Mine.
However, in 1910, a small amount of gold was found in the Centre River, which runs through the settlement. This attracted the attention of prospectors to Centreville. As no gold had been found at the Centre Mine then, impetus was created to start mining operations slightly further upriver and deeper into the Highlands, to find the source of this gold. Roughly a year after the initial discovery of gold in the Centre River, in 1911, the New Centre Mine was established on the east side of Centreville. An influx of prospectors and labourers looking to work at both the Centre Mine and the New Centre Mine increased the population of Centreville somewhat, though it is believed the population did not rise much above three hundred at this stage.