Soisson
From SCJU Wiki
Soisson is the economic capital and largest city in New Burgundy.
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| Motto: "Semper Porolis " (Latin) "Forever Moving Forwards" | |||||
| Location | |||||
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| Metropolitan | |||||
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| Government | |||||
| Mayor | Mattieu Prelar | ||||
| Met Ruling Party | MSD-PPS | ||||
| Area & Population | |||||
| Area Total {{{local_area_name}}} | {{{total_area}}} km² 3 155.75 km² | ||||
| Population • Total2009 est. • 2004 census • Population Density> | 3,755,944 3,532,853 1190.75 per km/km² | ||||
| Important Dates | |||||
| Founding | 1585 | ||||
| Incorporation | |||||
| Next Election | {{{elect_date}}} | ||||
History
While Soisson and Egandés have been inhabited for centuries, the city traces its origins to an outpost founded in 1585. This outpost, Fort-Soissons, was the first major French outpost in the south of New Burgundy, which was still nominally under the control of the Heribidor Confederation. The northern regions, of course, had signed treaties that put them under French control. Regardless, Egandés was under undisputed French control by 1600, and served as a base from which French launched journeys to their Caribbean colonies and Louisiana. The city served a similar purpose under British control, under which it lost the “Fort” and the s at the end of Soissons. The city was a center of independentist agitation at the beginning of the last decade of the 18th century, and it was said that no British soldier or official could walk down the city’s street without running the risk of assault by the end of the decade. A rebellion ousted the British in 1798, and the whole of Egandés had been taken by 1801. It was only before two weeks before the Proclamation of Sovereignty that the British staged a futile assault from Pezigand across Autun Inlet, which was repelled none other than a Charles de la Vallon, then leader of the Fort-Soissons Sovereign Guard. It was largely due to this battle that de la Vallon was chosen to lead the independentist forces during the War of Independence, which of course led to him becoming King Charles I.
After the war, the city once again thrived as a port, serving as a major crossroads between Europe and the Americas. While not as important in that role as Saint-Laurent, Soisson found its calling as an industrial city. Merchants were quick to notice the mass-produced goods largely coming from Britain in the early 19th century, and soon acquired the manufacturing technology required to make those goods, primarily through industrial espionage. The city industrialized quickly, specializing in the production of dyes, paints, as well as shipbuilding.
The political situation in the city remained contentious throughout the first half of the century, with major riots in 1806 when the monarchy was declared, 1824 and 1837 against Alexander I’s lavish expenditures, 1843 demanding a return to constitutional rule, and in 1848 as part of the liberal revolutions that swept Europe and led to the fall of Francis I. The city, by the 1860’s, was known to be a “veritable hotbed of republicanism”.
By the latter half of the century, the city had already acquired some of its modern characteristics, a “never-ending sprawl of tenement and factory, where a person “without a certain standard of wealth would have depression soon overcome him,” and a place where “man had irreversibly and utterly overrun nature.” Indeed, when the city had been founded, it had been a swamp that was crisscrossed by hundreds of small streams. By 1879, the last of these streams had been rerouted to flow into the artificial Lake Greandence. The swamp had been completely dredged, and from it came the artificial Soisson River. A traveler wrote, perhaps under the belief that the Soisson River was natural, that “the people have totally tamed their river… it appears more artificial than any canal would.”
By the turn of the century, Soisson was largely the city is was today, and it began to grow upwards soon after. The 2,000,000 square meter Balthazar’s opened in 1927 was then the largest department store. During the 1979 coup attempt. Soisson, a stronghold of “The Left” party, took to the streets to show their support for the coup. Prime Minister Lefevre had invested a great deal of money in housing projects and his initiatives greatly contributed to the city surpassing Saint-Laurent in size. Thusly, the city suffered greatly under the Military Commission, multiple city officials were either imprisoned or had their citizenship revoked and were deported. Soisson quickly rebounded, and rose to become the major financial city today. Now, it’s the urban sprawl that most are familiar with.