1.   A derelict wasteland on the north banks has metamorphosed into a thriving European financial center.

2.   It has fallen far from the era when, as Antioch, it was a thriving center of trade and craftsmanship.

3.   It was a thriving commercial center long before any European set foot on either the North or South American continent.

4.   It was a thriving center for the Silk Road trade on the banks of the Euphrates River, comparable in size and wealth to Pompeii.

5.   Its position on the banks of the Euphrates River, and its role as a thriving center of Silk Road trade, made it immensely wealthy.

6.   The exhibit further lends credence to the notion that Sichuan was one of several thriving regional centers independently producing artworks and asserting a clear regional flavor.

7.   The worldwide economic boom of the past few years helped turn backward nations, such as Ireland, into thriving centers of economic activity.

8.   Industry experts say there are other obstacles particular to Miami that have prevented the city from becoming the thriving center for live music that it should and could be.

9.   Once a thriving provincial center, the town is deserted by dusk.

10.   The mountainous northern region borders the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro and is well-known as a thriving center for smuggling.