In distinction, the heavier soils north of the Alps requires a different technology: the moldboard plow and oxen (horses) a set of equipment not available until the Middle Ages. Therefore, the Germanic peoples: Germans, Saxons, Swedes, & etc tended to concentrate on stock raising at first. This required a dispersed population. In the north 'cities' were primarily established to be trading centers - I'm thinking of Hedeby - or centers of power and production - the Celtic oppidum.
As always, behind the obvious generalization, there are greater subtleties. It was more meant as a wink to the "we are the cities we have" that seems to sustain a passionate debate in this thread :-)
If we must live in a global world, let it be with our differences and the understanding of those... "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
