Paris (pronounced /ˈpærɨs/ in English;[3] [paʁi] (help·info) in French) is the capital city of France. It is situated on the Seine river, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (also known as the "Paris Region"; French: Région parisienne). The city of Paris within its administrative limits (largely unchanged since 1860) has an estimated population of 2,167,994 (January 2006)[4]. The Paris unité urbaine (or urban area) extends well beyond the administrative city limits and has an estimated population of 9.93 million (in 2005).[5] The Paris aire urbaine (or metropolitan area) has a population of nearly 12 million[6], and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe.[7]
An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities.[8] The Paris Region (Île-de-France) is Europe's biggest city economy, and is fifth in the World's list of cities by GDP. With €500.8 billion (US$628.9 billion), it produced more than a quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) of France in 2006.[9] The Paris Region hosts 36 of the Fortune Global 500 companies[10] in several business districts, notably La Défense, the largest purpose-built business district in Europe.[11] Paris also hosts many international organizations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the ICC and the informal Paris Club.
Paris is the most popular tourist destination in the world, with over 30 million foreign visitors per year.[12] There are numerous iconic landmarks among its many attractions, along with world famous institutions and popular parks.
History
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Beginnings
The earliest archaeological signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 BC.[14] The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, known as boatsmen and traders[citation needed], inhabited the area near the river Seine from around 250 BC[citation needed]. The Romans conquered the Paris basin in 52 BC,[14] with a permanent settlement by the end of the same century on the Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill and the Île de la Cité island. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia, but later Gallicised to Lutèce. It expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with a forum, palaces, baths, temples, theatres and an amphitheatre.[15] The collapse of the Roman empire and the third-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline. By 400 AD Lutèce, by then largely abandoned by its inhabitants, was little more than a garrison town entrenched into the hastily fortified central island.[14] The city reclaimed its original appellation of "Paris" towards the end of the Roman occupation.
Middle ages
Around AD 500, Paris was the seat of Frankish king Clovis I, who commissioned the first cathedral and its first abbey dedicated to his contemporary, later patron saint of the city, Sainte Geneviève[citation needed]. On the death of Clovis, the Frankish kingdom was divided, and Paris became the capital of a much smaller sovereign state[citation needed]. By the time of the Carolingian dynasty (9th century), Paris was little more than a feudal county stronghold[citation needed]. The Counts of Paris gradually rose to prominence and eventually wielded greater power than the Kings of Francia occidentalis. Odo, Count of Paris was elected king in place of the incumbent Charles the Fat, namely for the fame he gained in his defense of Paris during the Viking siege (Siege of Paris (885-886)). Although the Cité island had survived the Viking attacks, most of the unprotected Left Bank city was destroyed; rather than rebuild there, after drying marshlands to the north of the island, Paris began to expand onto the Right Bank[citation needed]. In 987 AD, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected King of France, founding the Capetian dynasty which would raise Paris to become France's capital[citation needed].
From 1190, King Philip Augustus enclosed Paris on both banks with a wall that had the Louvre as its western fortress and in 1200 chartered the University of Paris which brought visitors from across Europe[citation needed]. It was during this period that the city developed a spatial distribution of activities that can still be seen: the central island housed government and ecclesiastical institutions, the left bank became a scholastic centre with the University and colleges, while the right bank developed as the centre of commerce and trade around the central Les Halles marketplace[citation needed].
Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm while occupied by the English-allied Burgundians during the Hundred Years' War, but regained its title when Charles VII reclaimed the city in 1437. Although Paris was capital once again, the Crown preferred to remain in its Loire Valley castles[citation needed]. During the French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic party, culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572). King Henry IV re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594 after he converted to Roman Catholicism (with this historic sentence: Paris is well worth a Mass). During the Fronde, Parisians rose in rebellion and the royal family fled the city (1648). King Louis XIV then moved the royal court permanently to Versailles in 1682. A century later, Paris was the centre stage for the French Revolution, with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792[citation needed].
Nineteenth century
The Industrial Revolution, the French Second Empire, and the Belle Époque brought Paris the greatest development in its history. From the 1840s, rail transport allowed an unprecedented flow of migrants into Paris attracted by employment in the new industries in the suburbs. The city underwent a massive renovation under Napoleon III and his préfet Haussmann, who levelled entire districts of narrow, winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical façades of modern Paris. This programme of "Haussmannization" was designed to make the city both more beautiful and more sanitary for its inhabitants, although it did have the added benefit that in case of future revolts or revolutions, cavalry charges and rifle fire could be used to deal with the insurrection while the rebel tactic of barricading so often used during the Revolution would become obsolete.[16]
Cholera epidemics in 1832 and 1849 affected the population of Paris—the 1832 epidemic alone claimed 20,000 of the then population of 650,000.[17] Paris also suffered greatly from the siege which ended the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871): in the chaos caused by the fall of Napoleon III's government, the Commune of Paris (1871) sent many of Paris's administrative centres (and city archives) up in flames while 20,000 Parisians were killed by fighting between Commune and Government forces in what became known as the semaine sanglante (Bloody Week)[18].
Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of the late nineteenth century.[19] The Eiffel Tower was built for the French Revolution centennial 1889 Universal Exposition, as a "temporary" display of architectural engineering prowess but remained the world's tallest building until 1930, and is the city's best-known landmark, while the 1900 Universal Exposition saw the opening of the first Paris Métro line. Paris's World's Fairs also consolidated its position in the tourist industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.[19]
Twentieth century
During World War I, Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having been spared a German invasion by the French and British victory at the First Battle of the Marne in 1914. In 1918-1919, it was the scene of Allied victory parades and peace negotiations. In the inter-war period Paris was famed for its cultural and artistic communities and its nightlife. The city became a gathering place of artists from around the world, from exiled Russian composer Stravinsky and Spanish painters Picasso and Dalí to American writer Hemingway.[20] In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the Battle of France, Paris fell to German occupation forces who remained there until the city was liberated in August 1944, two months after the Normandy invasion.[21]
Central Paris endured World War II practically unscathed, as there were no strategic targets for Allied bombers (train stations in central Paris are terminal stations; major factories were located in the suburbs), and also because of its cultural significance. German General von Choltitz did not destroy all Parisian monuments before any German retreat, as ordered by Adolf Hitler, who had visited the city in 1940.[22]
In the post-war era, Paris experienced its largest development since the end of the Belle Époque in 1914. The suburbs began to expand considerably, with the construction of large social estates known as cités and the beginning of the business district La Défense. A comprehensive express subway network, the RER, was built to complement the Métro and serve the distant suburbs, while a network of freeways was developed in the suburbs, centred on the Périphérique expressway circling around the city[citation needed].
Since the 1970s, many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the eastern ones) have experienced deindustrialization, and the once-thriving cités have gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of unemployment[citation needed]. At the same time, the city of Paris (within its Périphérique ring) and the western and southern suburbs have successfully shifted their economic base from traditional manufacturing to high value-added services and high-tech manufacturing, generating great wealth for their residents whose per capita income is among the highest in Europe[citation needed]. The resulting widening social gap between these two areas has led to periodic unrest since the mid-1980s, such as the 2005 riots which largely concentrated in the northeastern suburbs.[23]
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paris"
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