1.
San Marino
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Its size is just over 61 km2, with a population of 33,562. Its capital is the City of San Marino and its largest city is Dogana, San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe. The country takes its name from Marinus, a stonemason originating from the Roman colony on the island of Rab, in 257 CE Marinus participated in the reconstruction of Riminis city walls after their destruction by Liburnian pirates. San Marino is governed by the Constitution of San Marino, a series of six books written in Latin in the late 16th century, the country is considered to have the earliest written governing documents still in effect. The countrys economy mainly relies on finance, industry, services and it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP, with a figure comparable to the most developed European regions. San Marino is considered to have a stable economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, no national debt. It is the country with more vehicles than people. Saint Marinus left the island of Arba in present-day Croatia with his lifelong friend Leo, and went to the city of Rimini as a stonemason. After the Diocletianic Persecution following his Christian sermons, he escaped to the nearby Monte Titano, the official date of the founding of what is now known as the Republic is 3 September 301. In 1631, its independence was recognized by the Papacy, the offer was declined by the Regents, fearing future retaliation from other states revanchism. During the later phase of the Italian unification process in the 19th century, in recognition of this support, Giuseppe Garibaldi accepted the wish of San Marino not to be incorporated into the new Italian state. The government of San Marino made United States President Abraham Lincoln an honorary citizen and he wrote in reply, saying that the republic proved that government founded on republican principles is capable of being so administered as to be secure and enduring. Italy tried to establish a detachment of Carabinieri in the republic. Two groups of ten volunteers joined Italian forces in the fighting on the Italian front, the first as combatants, the existence of this hospital later caused Austria-Hungary to suspend diplomatic relations with San Marino. From 1923 to 1943, San Marino was under the rule of the Sammarinese Fascist Party. During World War II, San Marino remained neutral, although it was reported in an article from The New York Times that it had declared war on the United Kingdom on 17 September 1940. The Sammarinese government later transmitted a message to the British government stating that they had not declared war on the United Kingdom, Three days after the fall of Benito Mussolini in Italy, PFS rule collapsed and the new government declared neutrality in the conflict. The Fascists regained power on 1 April 1944 but kept neutrality intact, despite that, on 26 June 1944 San Marino was bombed by the Royal Air Force, in the belief that San Marino had been overrun by German forces and was being used to amass stores and ammunition
2.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
3.
Dogana
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Dogana is a town and a civil parish, whose name means Customs House, it is located in the north-eastern corner of San Marino in the Serravalle municipality. The town is the most populated settlement in the republic, the town is situated at the northernmost point of San Marino after Falciano, close to the border with Italy. It has a population of roughly 7,000, due to its size, in 2006 it asked to split away from Serravalle and become its own castello, but in 2007 the proposal was refused. Partial autonomy is reflected in Doganas having its own postal code, Dogana is the main entry point for travellers arriving into San Marino from Italy. The local football team is the Juvenes, stadio Olimpico Serravalle Cà Ragni Cinque Vie Falciano Lesignano Ponte Mellini Rovereta Valgiurata Media related to Dogana at Wikimedia Commons
4.
Crusades
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The First Crusade arose after a call to arms in a 1095 sermon by Pope Urban II. Urban urged military support for the Byzantine Empire and its Emperor, Alexios I, the response to Urbans preaching by people of many different classes across Western Europe established the precedent for later Crusades. Volunteers became Crusaders by taking a vow and receiving plenary indulgences from the church. Some were hoping for apotheosis at Jerusalem, or forgiveness from God for all their sins, others participated to satisfy feudal obligations, gain glory and honour, or find opportunities for economic and political gain. Many modern Historians have polarised opinions of the Crusaders behaviour under Papal sanction, to some it was incongruous with the stated aims and implied moral authority of the papacy and the Crusades, to the extent that on occasions that the Pope excommunicated Crusaders. Crusaders often pillaged as they travelled, while their leaders retained control of captured territory rather than returning it to the Byzantines. During the Peoples Crusade thousands of Jews were murdered in what is now called the Rhineland massacres, Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade rendering the reunification of Christendom impossible. These tales consequently galvanised medieval romance, philosophy and literature, but the Crusades also reinforced the connection between Western Christendom, feudalism, and militarism. Crusade is not a term, instead the terms iter for journey or peregrinatio for pilgrimage were used. Not until the word crucesignatus for one who was signed with the cross was adopted at the close of the century was specific terminology developed. The Middle English equivalents were derived from old French, croiserie in the 13th–15th centuries, croisade appeared in English c1575, and continued to be the leading form till c1760. By convention historians adopt the term for the Christian holy wars from 1095, the Crusades in the Holy Land are traditionally counted as nine distinct campaigns, numbered from the First Crusade of 1095–99 to the Ninth Crusade of 1271/2. Usage of the term Crusade may differ depending on the author, pluralists use the term Crusade of any campaign explicitly sanctioned by the reigning Pope. This reflects the view of the Roman Catholic Church that every military campaign given Papal sanction is equally valid as a Crusade, regardless of its cause, justification, generalists see Crusades as any and all holy wars connected with the Latin Church and fought in defence of their faith. Popularists limit the Crusades to only those that were characterised by popular groundswells of religious fervour – that is, only the First Crusade, Medieval Muslim historiographers such as Ali ibn al-Athir refer to the Crusades as the Frankish Wars. The term used in modern Arabic, ḥamalāt ṣalībiyya حملات صليبية, campaigns of the cross, is a loan translation of the term Crusade as used in Western historiography. The Islamic prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, the resulting unified polity in the seventh and eighth centuries led to a rapid expansion of Arab power. This influence stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent, across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, tolerance, trade, and political relationships between the Arabs and the Christian states of Europe waxed and waned
5.
Murata (San Marino)
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Murata is a village in the middle of San Marino. It belongs to the municipality of San Marino and is its most populated curazia, the village is situated on the hills between the City of San Marino and Fiorentino. It has a quarter named Fonte dellOvo, seat of the plants of Murata. The local football team is the Murata, San Marino Cà Berlone Canepa Casole Castellaro Montalbo Santa Mustiola
6.
Transport in San Marino
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San Marino is a small European republic, with limited public transport facilities. It is an enclave in central Italy, for a few years prior to World War II, San Marino had a railway network consisting of a single line, connecting the country with the Italian rail network at Rimini railway station. Due to difficulties in accessing the capital, San Marino City, however, with a joint effort between San Marino and Italy the railway was extended to reach the capital through a steep and winding track comprising many tunnels. The railway was opened on 12 June 1932 and it was an advanced system for its time, being an electric railway, powered by overhead electric cables. The trains drew power from these cables by means of a pantograph system, the train carriages had a distinctive appearance, being liveried in the national colours of San Marino, blue and white layered horizontally, the service offered first class and third class seats. There were 17 tunnels, all located within Sammarinese territory, ranging from about 50 m to 800 m in length, most of the tunnels are well preserved today and three of them have been checked for safety, provided with lighting and opened for pedestrian use. Most of the others have either been closed for safety reasons or purchased privately for storage, inside the last tunnel, about 500 m long, closest to the former San Marino station, some of the train coaches once used are still being preserved. Some of the bridges and other used by the former railway have become well loved landmarks, especially the Fontevecchia bridge. Doganas station is now the centre of a public park. Other stations have either converted to private homes or demolished. Since 21 July 2012, next to the station of San Marino, it was reactivated an 800 m-long electrified stretch, for tourist. It was the first step to reactivate the line, or part of it, indeed, for the tourist visitor the aerial tramway gives the best available views of Borgo Maggiore, as the cars sweep low over the rooftops of the main town square. From here a connection is available to the nations largest settlement, Dogana. Two aerial tramway cars, known as gondolas, and numbered 1 and 2, operate in opposition on a cable, a third vehicle is available on the system, being a service car for the use of engineers maintaining the tramway. The upper station of the aerial tramway serves no other purpose, however, the lower station in Borgo Maggiore has a number of retail and catering outlets situated within its overall structure. There are 220 km of highways in the country, the road being the San Marino Superhighway. Roads are well used by car drivers. Sammarinese authorities license private vehicles with distinctive licence plates which are white with blue figures, to the left of these figures is printed the national Coat of Arms of San Marino
San Marino
Media related to San Marino (city) at Wikimedia Commons
