User:Npearso2/sandbox

Origins
Genoa is a port city by birth, establishing itself as the merchant capital of the newly established Republic of Genoa in 1005 and maintaining its autonomy until 1797. Italian unification of 1861 resulted in Genoa becoming the maritime hub of the new Italian state. Genoese establishment of trade routes along the Mediterranean brought wealth and political power to the city. The naval fleet’s participation in the Crusades allowed Genoa to further establish prosperous trading colonies in the Holy Land. The Genoese trading station of Caffa in Crimea brought the Black Death the Europe, through infected rats on ships fleeing siege in 1346.

Language
Language in Marseille and the region of southern France it inhabits is considered to be of cultural and historical significance in Medieval Europe, with written evidence of regional language dating back to the 10th century. Courtly poetry originated in this region around 1100 and when it reached it's peak in the 12th-13th centuries, influenced the works of famed poetess Marie de France. As Marseille is located in the Provençal region of France, or langue d'Oc region (south), Provençal French is the most used dialect. This trend continued into the 14th century, with residents considering French a foreign language despite the linguistic roots of Provençal in Latin and French words. Langue d'Oc refers to the geographical, not the linguistic designation of the language.

Linguistics itself did not emerge until the later 18th century, making the boundaries of dialect unclear even in the city. The first documented use of the term Occitan was in 1886 to describe the language of the region in which Marseille is situated. By the end of the 19th century, the terms Langue d'Oc, Occitan, Provençal, and Southern French were often used interchangeably.

French became the official language of France and it's Commonwealth in 1994 with the passage of the Toubon Act. This made French the official political and national language, to be used in all education, professional, and political systems. Although in current years the terms Occitan and Provençal French have been used as synonyms, there has been debate over whether Occitan is a dialect of Provençal French, or a language onto itself. Many perceive the Provençal French spoken in Marseille to be less accurate than Parisian French, yet more romantic in tone and flow.

Cultural integration of immigrants has also shaped the languages spoken in Marseille. The ethnic and religious tolerance of city politicians has made way for a variety of languages to exist simultaneously in Marseille. Twenty percent of Marseille has a migrant background, with Portuguese, Algerian, and Moroccan immigrants most prevalent at the turn of the 21st century. The languages of France are diverse and no exception is made for Marseille. 

The Velvet Revolution - Prague (Italicized indicates preexisting text)
The Velvet Revolution was a nonviolent change of power that marked the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia.

Between March 1988 and November 1989, around thirty demonstrations were initiated by human rights groups in dissent to the Communist regime, and approximately half were met with severe police intervention.

City officials in Prague granted permission for a rally on 17 November 1989 sponsored by the Union of Socialist Youth on the anniversary of the Nazi invasion and killing of Czech student Jan Opletal in 1939. The rally began as a march along the riverfront but strayed from the city permitted course moving onto Narodni Trida – the “National Way." The dissidents then marched to Wenceslas Square, a location of literary significance and the symbolic heart of Prague. A standoff between demonstrators and riot police was deliberate by revolution organizers whose principal ideal was nonviolence. The standoff did not last long, and the protesters were brutally assaulted by the special police.  It is unclear exactly who ordered the extreme police response to the nearly 100,000 students and theatre participants that gathered.

On 21 November 1989, the Czechoslovak Prime Minister met with the Prague public, announcing that force would no longer be used to disperse demonstrators, but the protection of socialism was not negotiable.

The Czech Civic Forum and its Slovak counterpart, Public Against Violence, became official political movements during the Velvet Revolution but their dissent was rooted in the decades before. They used this unofficial organizing to mobilize and oust the Communist leadership. Civic Forum organized a general strike to take place on 27 November 1989 and the result was a successful demonstration of the ability to disrupt the political order. After just 10 days of demonstrations, the Communist regime abdicated. Six weeks later, Czechoslovak Parliament elected Václav Havel as president. In February of 1990, Civic Forum became a political party, Civic Democratic Party, and replaced 45% of Prague's assemblies with activists. The first free democratic elections in over four decades began in March of 1990.

Theatres were a critical point of congregation during the strike, with public discussions replacing performances. The Magic Lantern Theatre near Wenceslas Square became the Prague headquarters for Civic Forum. The theater community in Prague functioned as a space to develop leadership connections and organize the peaceful nature of the movement. Most reporting on the Velvet Revolution was from word of mouth, as the Communist regime still restricted the media in Prague. This carried the news to locals and served as a tool for communication and organizing.

After the Revolution
The Warsaw Pact officially disbanded on 1 July 1991 at a meeting in Prague, and the Czech-German Declaration of Historical Reconciliation was signed in Prague on 20 January 1997.

From 1995 high-rise buildings began to be built in Prague in large quantities.

Enabled by the new free-market economy, urban restructuring and globalization occurred in Prague throughout the early 1990s. In the late 1990s, Prague again became an important cultural centre of Europe and was notably influenced by globalisation.

''In 2000, IMF and World Bank summit took place in Prague and anti-globalization riots took place here. In 2002, Prague suffered from widespread floods that damaged buildings and its underground transport system.''

In 2004, disagreement between political parties on how to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution escalated and echoed the events of 17 November 1989 through demonstrations.

''Prague launched a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but failed to make the candidate city shortlist. In June 2009, as the result of financial pressures from the global recession, Prague's officials also chose to cancel the city's planned bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.''

Economy Post-Communism
Privatization of formerly state-owned businesses in Prague and across the Czech Republic in the early 1990s was crucial to the transformation from a state-run to a free-market economy. In June of 1993, the Prague Stock Exchange was established to allow company shares from voucher privatization to be traded. The move from state-run to free-market economy meant that adults had to learn an entirely new stock system. Of the adult population, more than 90 percent participated in the voucher privatization successfully.

The shift in economic structure moved the city toward more contemporary global capitalism patterns.

Public Perception Post-Revolution
Social scientists call this change of power velvet, tender, peaceful, and gentle as it was the fastest and most organized of the Eastern European revolutions. The image of the Velvet Revolution to Prague natives does not remain in a constant state, instead, it is subject to change in processing and memory. Historians note that the nonviolence of 1989 could not have occurred without the prior violence of the Prague Spring in 1968.

The Velvet Revolution in Prague has also influenced change in Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, and Kyrgyzstan in 2005 by serving as a model for revolution.