German revolutions of 1848–49 used on today's national flag of Germany as a symbol of the Republican movement and of the unity among the German-speaking people. Activism for liberal reforms spread through many of the German states, each of which had distinct revolutions. They were also inspired by the street demonstrations of workers and artisans led in Paris, France, from February 22 through 24, 1848, which resulted in the abdication by King Louis-Philippe of France and his exile in Britain. In France the revolution of 1848 became known as the February Revolution. The revolutions spread from France across Europe; they erupted soon thereafter in
Italy and the colonization of the Americas Thornton considered as a possible site of a Tuscan or Italian colony now lies in modern French Guiana, near Cayenne, which would be colonised by France in 1630. In the first years of the 17th century Ferdinando I of Tuscany evaluated the possibility of a colony in Brasil and gave captain Thornton a caravelle and a tartane for an expedition in 1608. Thornton sailed for one year, reaching Guyana and Brasil, exploring the Amazon and Orinoco river but in February of that year the Grand Duke died and in Florence nobody after him was still thinking about establishing an overseas