Sparta is the largest province of Dynamo island and the most intensively industrialised. The region between Rugby, on the River Pitch, and Top March, Upper March and Lower March on the River Wicket, is the most densely populated part of the country with a wide range of manufacturing and processing industries. The existence of large iron ore deposits, and some coal, in the limestone escarpments and of lead, zinc, copper and gold in the Handlebar Mountains, led from the late 18^th century to an important metallurgical industry, one that with modernisation and refinement has continued to thrive until today. Rugby’s city centre is still an attractive jumble of late 18^th– and early 19^th-century metal workshops, many of which are still active, and is criss-crossed by an old narrow-gauge railway that continues to provide essential transport for raw materials and finished products between the various workshops and depots of the city.

While Rugby from the beginning of the railway age in the early 19^th century became the country’s leading producer of steel rails, bridging, cranes and dockland winches, nearly two hundred years later, Lower March, at the confluence of the Crease and the Rafter, is the centre of engineering (machine tools, factory robotics, electric motors) and is famous for its Dynamo Institute of Technology (DRIT). Upper March is famous for its ceramic and glass industries, using local clay and sand, while Top March specializes in high quality clockwork, camera and other optical equipment. ‘Wicket’ watches are prized throughout the country, while ‘Top March’ digital cameras are an important export. Significant dying and chemical industries are established at Lower March, using the abundant waters of the converging tributaries of the Crease and the local potash deposits. Hydroelectric stations towards the headwaters of these tributaries provide the energy to power not only the region’s industry but also the bulk of the country’s electric train system. The more recent development of wind- and wave-power is centred at Philadelpho and New Dublin on the north coast of Sparta, which is itself the choice site of these energy-producing installations as it is exposed to Atlantic winds and tides. Philadelpho is also an important port for coal and other raw material imports and for export of Spartan industrial goods.

The rugged nature of Spartan scenery, particularly the hills to the west, is reflected in the proverbial strength and resistance of the natives. Sparta is the home of Dynamoan rugby (the province’s badge is the rugby pine), with the various March towns, along with Rugby, Philadelpho and Oarhouse (in Spokane) engaging in strong regional sporting rivalries. The tough resistance of the Celtic tribes to Roman invasion meant that for several centuries there were violent skirmishes between the two, though the famous repulsion of the Roman legionaries by the Celtic chieftain, Rory, at Rory Gap in 300AD, marked the end of Roman domination and the start of a progressive unifying of the different traditions. Owing to its gold deposits and, further east, the outcrops of flint, the high limestone plains of Sparta and Spokane were the site of a pre-historic civilization, whose most famous monument is the 3000-year-old stone henge situated at Marl Grange, at the confluence of the rivers Rafter and Crease. Aligned on a north-south axis, it seems to have had both religious and astrological functions.