[muawiyah]

Vilnius used to be a Swedish speaking city. Some things happened. The Swedes left. Other folks moved in. At one time it was the third largest Swedish city.

[Clemenza]

Yep, and at at one time, Warsaw was a third Jewish, as was Baghdad. Granada was said to have been majority Jewish, although the evidence for the latter is largely anecdotal.

G'Dansk was until quite recently the Prussian city of Danzig, with a majority-German speaking population. There were once more German and Slovenian speakers in Trieste than Italian speakers.

Back before the rise of nationalism, it was very common for most large cities in Europe (especially in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean) the be multi-ethnic and multi-lingual. Even in the Polish countryside, until the late 19th century, you had German villages, Czech villages, and ethnic Polish villages.

Contrary to current mythology (believed by many Freepers), the idea of nationalism is barely two centuries old, and many if not most European polities were multiethnic and multilingual, with no requirements to "assimilate."

Of course, this didn't stop the German petty-monarchies from encouraging the colonialization of eastern Europe through emigration in the middle ages. Same goes for the scandanavians.

[Clemenza]

Yep, and at at one time, Warsaw was a third Jewish, as was Baghdad. Granada was said to have been majority Jewish, although the evidence for the latter is largely anecdotal.

G'Dansk was until quite recently the Prussian city of Danzig, with a majority-German speaking population. There were once more German and Slovenian speakers in Trieste than Italian speakers.

Back before the rise of nationalism, it was very common for most large cities in Europe (especially in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean) the be multi-ethnic and multi-lingual. Even in the Polish countryside, until the late 19th century, you had German villages, Czech villages, and ethnic Polish villages.

Contrary to current mythology (believed by many Freepers), the idea of nationalism is barely two centuries old, and many if not most European polities were multiethnic and multilingual, with no requirements to "assimilate."

Of course, this didn't stop the German petty-monarchies from encouraging the colonialization of eastern Europe through emigration in the middle ages. Same goes for the scandanavians.