Invaders, warriors or industrious traders, coming from the west or the far east, the Etruscans formed the first consistent basis of civilization in that area. The Etruscans at first occupied the land near river Arno and the Tiber but later spread into an area, wider than the present Tuscany, extending to Umbria and a part of Lazio, reaching the north as far as Liguria. The first contribution of Tuscany to European Civilization was marked by the extraordinary creativity and advanced sense of enterprise of the people. The exploitation of the fertile valleys and of the mines, together with the expansion of trade, strongly marked the life of this people, rich in creativity, devoutness and artistic fancy. Thanks to the Etruscans the whole area was able to reach a political organization and a civilized social development. The Etruscans transformed the prehistoric scattered hamlets into the towns that are present in our time. Chiusi, Volterra, Cortona, Arezzo,Fiesole are there thousand years old and, apart from Greece, no other country in Europe can boast sucha long history. The Etruscans did not create a real united nation; their system ( as the Greek one) saw a coexistence of self-governing towns that could sometime even fight one against the other. Still this people showed a strong sense of religious and national unity; in the VII th century a.C. the Etruscan leadership spread on a large part of central and northern Italy (almost reaching the Po Valley) even extending on central Corsica. The main features of this civilization dissolved quickly. By the Vth century some signs of decadence were made visible by the weak resistance demonstrated against the assaults coming from the sea (by the Greek and the Carthaginians) and from land (by the Gauls and the Romans). Then the Etruscans withdrew and later had to submit to Roman power. Tuscany (Italian Toscana), region in northern Italy, formerly a sovereign grand duchy, bordered on the north by the regions of Liguria and Emilia-Romagna, on the east by Marche and Umbria, on the south by Latium, and on the west by the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas. It is divided into the maritime provinces of Grosseto, Leghorn (Livorno), Lucca, and Pisa; the inland provinces of Arezzo, Florence, Pistoia, and Siena; and the province of Massa-Carrara, extending north from the sea between Liguria Region and the Apennines. The regional capital is Florence. Land and Resources Tuscany is chiefly mountainous; in addition to the Apennines it has two mountain groups, the Apuane Alps, where marble is quarried, and a group in the south, the Colline Metallifere, where iron, magnesium, borax, and quicksilver are mined. The rivers are the Arno, Cecina, Ombrone, and upper Tiber; all flow into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Except in the Maremma, a marshy region in the south, the climate is mild. Agricultural products are wheat, maize, grapes, olives, and tobacco. The most important manufactured products are wool and cotton textiles, chemicals, machinery, glass, and ceramics. Area, 22,992 sq km (8,877 sq mi); population (1991) 3,599,085. History Tuscany nearly corresponds to ancient Etruria. Its inhabitants, the Tusci, or Etruscans, were conquered by the Romans, who called the land Tuscia. It was held in turn by the Ostrogoths, the Byzantines, and the Lombards. The last were conquered by Charlemagne and placed under a Frankish duke. In 1030 Boniface II of the House of Canossa became Duke of Tuscany. After his assassination, his wife, Beatrice, governed until 1076, when her daughter, Countess Matilda, inherited the lands. Matilda supported the papal party during the investiture struggle, and she bequeathed all her dominions to the papacy. Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, however, claimed the duchy, and for more than a century the "property of Matilda" caused strife between the popes and the emperors. During this period the major cities became independent and prosperous. Pisa was by then a great maritime republic. Middle Ages In the 14th century the poet Dante, the painter Giotto, the humanist Petrarch, and the writer Boccaccio made Tuscany pre-eminent in the revival of letters and arts. The Tuscan dialect became the literary language of Italy. In 1406 Pisa submitted to Florence, which then became the major power in Tuscany. After 1434 Florence was ruled by the Medici family. Cosimo I de' Medici, who became duke in 1537, expanded the duchy by receiving Siena from Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This gift bound the Medici to Spain, and for nearly two centuries Tuscany was under Spanish influence. Modern Times The House of Medici died out in the male line in 1737. In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna (1735), the grand duchy was then given to Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine, later Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. Grand Duke Ferdinand III was dispossessed by the French in 1799, but he was reinstated in 1814 and ruled until 1824. His son, Leopold II, promoted the prosperity of Tuscany. In 1848 he granted a liberal constitution to his subjects, but the tide of revolution that subsequently swept Italy carried everything before it, and in 1859 the grand duchy was occupied by the forces of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia. 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