survived in England, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and many of the German statelets, the southern ones particularly. In the eighteenth century, the English parliament was effectively transplanted to the United States, and in the nineteenth century it evolved there in an increasingly democratic direction. The American variant propagated in due course to Latin America, but meanwhile in Europe there was a general revival of the representative assembly based principally on the English model. France revived its Estates General in the wake of its revolution. Later, after the disintegration of the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, assemblies re-emerged in Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Spain. The British Empire especially at the time of its dismantlement in the twentieth century was instrumental in spreading parliamentary democracy far and wide, and in modern times the immense international influence of the United States has encouraged the spread of representative democracy worldwide. Where forms of representative democracy have spread to countries that already had a tradition of assemblies, a merger of ideas has often taken place and the traditional name has tended to be used. Examples include majlis in certain Muslim countries, jirga in Afghanistan, duma in Russia. See list of national legislatures for more examples. The first instance: the councils of León and Galicia In Galicia in 1113, Bishop Diego II of Santiago de Compostela ordered a monthly convening of councils in the regions of his bishopric “as it was the custom of our ancestors”, bringing together churchmen, knights ('milites') and peasants to do justice, in what has been interpreted as a continuation of old Celtic or Suevi local traditions. Later, in 1188, King Ferdinand II of León and Galicia called for a general council of his kingdoms to meet in the capital, León, bringing together bishops, nobility and – allegedly for the first time in European history – representatives of the major cities and towns. State of the art In more modern times, the supremacy of the lower chamber became normal, so did the organisation of representatives into competing parties, so did election and an extended franchise, so did the idea that the ministers of the executive should be responsible to it. For more details on the state of the institution in the modern world, consult the "See also" list below. See also National Assembly Deliberative assembly Legislative Assembly Legislature Diet (assembly) Notes References (1997): The History of Government from the Earliest Times – chapter