Part 93

Learn about Bucharest, Florence, and Geneva in Civilization V. Discover their founding dates, locations, and historical significance.

Bucharest

Founded - 1459 AD

Location - South-Eastern Romania

Population - 2,151,880

Lying along the banks of the Dâmbovita River, Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania. Archeological excavations have shown that people have lived in the Bucharest area from as early as 9,000 BC, but the city of Bucharest was not first mentioned until 1459 AD in a document signed by Vlad III, the Impaler. Vlad III built the first fortress and his summer residence at Bucharest at this time in an attempt to hold back the encroaching Ottoman forces, but to little avail. In the early 17th century the city was burned down by the Ottomans, who then captured and rebuilt it.

Bucharest developed rapidly under the Ottomans and became the main economic center and capital of the seized Walachia region in 1659. For the next two hundred years, Bucharest was almost destroyed by natural disasters many times, (stubbornly rebuilt after every occurrence), ravaged by the Bubonic plague, and was occupied repeatedly by both the Habsburg Monarchy and Imperial Russia, ultimately residing under the Russians.

Walachia remained under Russian rule until a series of civic unrests in Bucharest helped to unify the Walachia and Moldavia regions, forming the state of Romania in 1859; Bucharest was named its capital in 1862. As the capital of the new kingdom, the city's population increased dramatically and large-scale architectural projects were begun. The extravagance shown by Bucharest's residences at this time earned it the nickname "The Paris of the East".

While escaping relatively unscathed during the First World War, Bucharest suffered substantial damage during World War II, primarily from heavy Allied bombings. After the wars, much of the old historic district of the city was torn down to make way for high-rise apartment buildings commissioned by the Communist government, and a massive earthquake in 1977 destroyed many of the remaining historic neighborhoods.

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 ended Communist rule in Romania when many disillusioned and dissatisfied protesters gathered in Bucharest. While at a speech being delivered by President Nicolae Ceausescu, the protesters turned to rioting and fighting, overrunning the ineffective and desperate attempt by the police to contain them. Since the fall of communism, Bucharest has enjoyed a newfound economic boom and period of modernization, as well as new attempts by the local government to restore its nearly demolished historic center.

Florence

Founded - 59 BC

Location - North-Central Italy

Population - 132,800

Florence (in Italian, "Firenze") is one of the most interesting and beautiful cities in Europe. It lies on the River Arno in northern Italy, in the heart of the beautiful Tuscany region. Florence was founded in 59 BC by Julius Caesar as a settlement for former Roman soldiers, at the strategic location where the Via Cassia (the main route north from Rome) crosses the Arno. It was laid out in a checkerboard pattern, in the style of a military encampment. Its position allowed Florence to greatly prosper from the trade between Rome and the north, and by 300 AD the city was made the capital of the province of Tuscia (Tuscany). For the next several hundred years the city was under attack from both Ostrogoths and Byzantines, and ownership changed hands repeatedly until 774 AD, when Charlemagne took and held the city, fending off further foreign attack.

Florence regained its wealth and prominence during the subsequent centuries, growing to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful city-states anywhere in Europe. In 1252 the Republic of Florence introduced its own currency, the gold florin. Florins were accepted across much of the Mediterranean and into Europe, and Florentine merchants and bankers rapidly spread across the known world.

During the Renaissance Florence was controlled by several extremely wealthy and ruthless families, including the Medici. When not engaged in deadly power struggles with each other the Florentine nobility were great patrons of the arts, Lorenzo de Medici alone commissioning works by Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci, to name just three of the brilliant men he supported. By the mid fifteenth century the Medici's were made the hereditary Grand Dukes of Tuscany, ruling the province and Florence for several centuries. In 1737 Florence became part of the territories of Austria, in 1859 it was transferred to the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, and in 1861 it became part of the newly-united Kingdom of Italy.

Modern Florence is a thriving tourist center of some 500,000 citizens, a city that relishes its Roman, Medieval and Renaissance histories. It remains one of the most beautiful and evocative places in Europe, and indeed in the entire world.

Geneva

Founded - 500 BC

Location - South-Western Switzerland

Population - 186,825

The original site of the city lay upon a hill overlooking a lake, settled sometime during the Paleolithic Period and later by a tribe of Ligurian and pre-Celtic peoples. Around 500 BC Geneva became a fortified town inhabited by the Celts before it was taken by the Romans in 121 BC. Ownership of the city continued to flip between the warring neighboring states, before landing in the hands of the German Emperor in 1033 AD. By this time Geneva had become an important ecclesiastical seat, with the bishop of the city a direct vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor as a territorially vested prince.