Bonus- do we have records telling us what was the first opera performed in the Americas?

1. Charlemagne was King of the Franks (and Lombards), so naturally what language was his mother tongue? A form of Old German, or old French?

2. What language did the Frankish people speak?

3. Franks were a mixture of Germanic peoples, and Gauls, as well as Lombards and Romans. Which of these was most prevalent in the culture and being of the Frankish?

EDIT: Sorry for the vague term! By "black" I mean black africans, ethiopians.

I'm just interested in how the New York name developed in terms of the city and the state.

Was there a city called New York that grew so large and wealthy that it was able to become one of the original 13 colonies?

Or was the colony created and a city named New York after that?

Also what factors went into deciding to name them the same thing? Was there a dispute over the name of either?

I understand that in modern times the population is predominantly Arab, but has it always been this way? Some groups are arguing that Egyptians were as black as peoples from other areas of Africa, but I find that hard to imagine. Is anyone able to clarify?

I'm interested more in the financial aspect of it. I know there was a dad and his 5 sons, and they opened offices in several financial centers in Europe. I read the Wiki, and I would like more details about this part:

the new kind of international bank created by the Rothschilds was impervious to local attacks. Their assets were held in financial instruments, circulating through the world as stocks, bonds and debts. Changes made by the Rothschilds allowed them to insulate their property from local violence: "Henceforth their real wealth was beyond the reach of the mob, almost beyond the reach of greedy monarchs."

What are the changes that the Rothschilds made?

Thank you.

I've created this thread to settle a small debate between two friends of mine regarding how much Christian beliefs and ideas from their neighbours influenced the mythology of Norse paganism.

One of them is adamant that Ragnarok is a creation of Christian missionaries or later Christian revisionism of the old myths. He is also of the opinion that the role of Loki was "rewritten" from a neutral trickster god to the a more Satan-like position by this Christianisation of Viking culture.

The other person in the debate takes the opinion that this apparent change in the nature of various entities in the Norse myths are the result of natural change over time. I'm inclined to agree with this view, although I would think that Christianity did have an influence but more due to cultural osmosis rather than intentional revisionism.

Basically, what we want to know is how Christianity may have influenced the mythology and religion of the Viking peoples.