- For other uses, see Paris
(disambiguation).
Paris is the capital city of France, as well as the capital of the Île-de-France
région, whose territory encompasses Paris and its suburbs. The city of Paris proper is also a département, called Paris département (French: département de Paris).
The city of Paris proper, with 2,125,246 inhabitants at the 1999 census (2,142,800 as of
February 2004 estimates), is the largest city in France. Together with its suburbs and
satellite cities it forms the Greater Paris metropolitan area
(French: aire
urbaine de Paris) covering 14,518 km² (5,606 sq. miles), and with a population of 11,174,743 inhabitants at the 1999 census (11.5 million as of January 2004 estimates). The
Greater Paris metropolitan area is the second largest in Europe (after Moscow, and
along with London), and approximately the 20th largest in the world. It is also the
world's largest French speaking metropolitan area.
Greater Paris metropolitan area, with a total GDP higher than Australia, is the largest financial and business center of Europe (on par with London), harboring more than 30% of France's white-collar population, as well as more than 40% of the
headquarters of French companies, with the largest business district of Europe (La Défense), and the 2nd largest stock exchange in Europe (Euronext).
Known worldwide as the City of Light (la Ville Lumière), Paris has been a major tourist destination for centuries. The city is renowned for the
beauty of its architecture, its urban perspectives and avenues, as well as the wealth of its museums. Built on an arc of the
River Seine, it is divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to the
south.
Formerly the capital of a colonial empire stretching over five continents, Paris is still regarded as the heart of the
French-speaking world and has retained a strong international position, hosting the headquarters of the OECD and the UNESCO among others. This, combined with its financial,
business, political, and tourism activities, have turned Paris into one of the major transportation hubs on Earth, and Paris is
recognized as one of a handful of "world cities".
Geography
Coordinates
Paris is located at 48°52′ North, 2°19′59″ East (48.866667, 2.333056).kl
Area
The city (commune) of Paris has an area of 105.398 km² (40.69
sq. miles, or 26,044 acres). Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de
Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the actual area of the city
is only 86.928 km² (33.56 sq. miles, or 21,480 acres).
This is not a very large area, and in fact the commune of Paris is only the 113th largest commune of France (out of 36,782
communes). For comparison, Greater London has an area of 1,572 km² (607
sq. mi), and New York City has an area of 786 km² (303 sq. miles). This
peculiar fact is due to the conservatism of administrative limits in France. Unlike other western metropolises such as London,
New York, or Berlin whose limits were extended in the 20th century to include suburbs previously independent, in the case of
Paris no such enlargement happened. In fact, the last time Paris was enlarged was in 1860
when Napoleon III and the prefect Haussmann annexed the then suburban communes surrounding Paris, such as Montmartre or Auteuil, extending the
area of the city from 34.50 km² (13.3 sq. miles) to 78 km² (30.1 sq. miles), and creating the 20 arrondissements of Paris. Since 1860, the limits of
Paris have only marginally changed, reaching the 86.9km² figure indicated above. In 1929,
the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes were officially incorporated into the city of Paris.
Thus, the Brooklyn, Greenwich,
or Charlottenburg of Paris are still lying outside of the city of Paris
proper, and the city of Paris can be more rightly compared to the borough of Manhattan (59.5 km²/23 sq. miles) or to Inner London (319 km²/123 sq. miles). Even the largest business and financial district of Paris, known as
La Défense, lies outside of the city limits.
The urban area of Paris (unité urbaine de Paris), however, is
much more extended than the administrative city of Paris. It had an area of 2,723 km² (1,051.4 sq. miles) in 1999, about 26 times larger than the city of Paris. As for the metropolitan area of Paris (aire urbaine de
Paris), its area in 1999 was 14,518 km² (5,605.5 sq. miles), about 138 times larger than the city of Paris.
The city of Paris proper, excluding the outlying Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, has an almost regular oval shape,
with a circumference of 35.5 km.(22 miles). This oval extends 9.5 km.(6
miles) from north to south, and 11 km.(7 miles) from east to west.
Density
At the 1999 French census the population density in the city of Paris was 20,164 inh.
per km² (52,225 inh. per sq. mile). Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the
density in the city was actually 24,448 inh. per km² (63,321 inh. per sq. mile). As a matter of comparison, the density in
Manhattan at the 2000 US census was 25,846 inh. per km² (66,940 inh. per sq. mile), and the
density in Inner London at the 2001 UK census was 8,663 inh. per km² (22,438 inh. per sq.
mile).
The population density in the city of Paris is very high compared to most western cities, which are rarely as crowded as Paris
(except for Manhattan). The density in Paris is comparable to the densities met
with in Asian cities. In many western cities, people have left the city center in the 20th century to relocate to the distant
suburbs, leaving the city center as a business district dead at night. Although the city of Paris has also experienced a decline
in population since the 1920s, it has nonetheless seen fewer inhabitants relocating to the suburbs than has ocurred in other
western cities.
More precisely, people relocating to the suburbs were for the most part replaced by new people attracted to an urban
lifestyle, and buildings were not converted into offices as systematically as has happened elsewhere, such as in London where the
inhabitants have left the city center since the Second World War,
and the density of Inner London is now much lower than that of Paris. This is most striking in the medieval heart of both
metropolises: the City of London and the four first arrondissements of Paris were the medieval heart of each
metropolis, with densities reaching 75,000 to 100,000 inh. per km² before the Industrial Revolution. Today, the City of London is almost empty, with a population density of only
2,478 inh. per km² (6,417 inh. per sq. mile) in 2001, whereas the four first arrondissements of Paris still have a density of
18,139 inh. per km² (46,979 inh. per sq. mile) in 1999, seven times more dense than in the City of London.
Today, the most crowded arrondissement in the city of Paris is the 11th arrondissement, with a density reaching 40,672 inh. per km² (105,339 inh. per sq. mile) in 1999.
Some neighborhoods in the east of this arrondissement are known to have densities of almost 100,000 inh. per km² (260,000 inh.
per sq. mile).
Altitude
The altitude of Paris varies, with several prominent hills :
The highest elevation in the urban area of Paris is in the Forest of Montmorency
(Val-d'Oise département), 19.5 km. (12 miles) north-northwest of the center of Paris as the crow flies, at 195 meters
(640 ft) above sea-level.
Temperatures
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Paris since meteorological records started in 1873 was on December 10, 1879 when the temperature went down to –23.9° C (–11.0° F).
The hottest temperature was recorded on July 28, 1947 when the temperature reached 40.4° C (104.7° F). During the deadly heat wave of 2003, the temperature "only" reached 38.1° C (100.6° F) during the day, but the lowest temperature at night on
July 11 and July 12, 2003 was 25.5° C (77.9° F), which is the hottest minimum temperature at night ever registered in Paris, causing
the death of many old people whose body temperature could not cool down.
History
Main article: History of Paris
Brief history
The name of the city comes from the name of a Gallic tribe (parisis) inhabiting the region at the time of the Roman
conquest. The historical heart of Paris is the Île de la Cité, a
small island largely occupied by the huge Palais de
Justice and the Cathedral of Notre Dame de
Paris. It is connected with the smaller Ile
Saint-Louis (another island) occupied by elegant houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Paris was occupied by a Gallic tribe until the Romans arrived in 52 BC. The invaders referred to the previous
occupants as the Parisii, but called their new city Lutetia, meaning "marshy place". About fifty years later the city had spread to the left bank of the Seine, now
known as the Latin Quarter, and had been renamed "Paris".
Roman rule had ceased by 508, when Clovis the
Frank made the city the capital of the Merovingian dynasty of the
Franks. Viking invasions during the 800s forced
the Parisians to build a fortress on the Ile de la Cité. On March 28, 845 Paris was sacked by Viking raiders,
probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collected a huge ransom in exchange
for leaving. The weakness of the late Carolingian kings of France led to the gradual rise in power of the Counts of Paris;
Odo, Count of Paris was elected king of France by feudal
lords while Charles III was also claiming the throne.
Finally, in 987 Hugh Capet, count of Paris,
was elected king of France by the great feudal lords after the last Carolingian died.
During the 11th century the city spread to the Right Bank. In the
12th and 13th
centuries, which included the reign of Philip II Augustus
(1180-1223), the city grew strongly. Main
thoroughfares were paved, the first Louvre was built as a fortress, and several
churches, including the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, were constructed or begun. Several schools on the Left Bank were grouped
together into the Sorbonne, which counts Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas among its
early scholars. In the Middle Ages Paris prospered as a trading and
intellectual nucleus, interrupted temporarily when the Black Death struck in
the 14th century. Under the reign of King Louis XIV, the Sun King, from 1643 to 1715, the royal residence was moved from Paris to nearby Versailles.
The French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Many of the conflicts in the next few years were between Paris and the outlying rural areas.
In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War ended in a siege of Paris and the Paris Commune, which surrendered in 1871
after a winter of famine and bloodshed. The Eiffel Tower, the best-known
landmark in Paris, was built in 1889 in a period of prosperity known as La Belle Époque (The Beautiful period).
In 1900 Paris hosted the 1900 Summer Olympics. In late August 1944 after the battle of Normandy, Paris was liberated when the German general Dietrich von Choltitz surrendered after skirmishes to the French 2nd Armoured Division commanded by
Philippe de Hauteclocque backed by the Allies.
Population of Paris
- See main article: Population of Paris
At the 1999 census, the population of the city of Paris (excluding suburbs) was
2,125,246. The population of the metropolitan area of Paris was 11,174,743.
Historically, the population of the city of Paris peaked in 1921, when it reached 2.9
million. However, there has been since then a movement towards living in suburbs, as well as the gentrification of many areas of inner Paris, and the use of available space for offices rather than
dwellings, although this phenomenon was not as massive as happened in London or in
American cities. These tendencies are controversial, and the current city administration is trying to reverse them.
As a matter of fact, as of February 2004 estimates the population of the city reached 2,142,800 inhabitants, increasing for
the first time since 1954.
At the 1999 census, 19.4% of the total population of the metropolitan area were born outside of France; 4.2% of the total
population of the metropolitan area were recent migrants (i.e. people who were not living in France in 1990).
Administration
The city of Paris is itself a département of France (Paris, 75),
part of the Ile-de-France région. Paris is divided into twenty numerically arranged districts, the arrondissements. These districts are numbered in a
spiral pattern with the 1er
arrondissement at the center of the city.
The city of Paris also comprises two forests: the Bois de
Boulogne on the west and the Bois de Vincennes on
the east.
Prior to 1968, département 75 was the Seine département, which contained the city of Paris and its immediate suburbs. The
splitting up of the Seine département resulted in the creation of four new départements: Paris proper (75), and three départements (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and
Val-de-Marne) forming a ring around Paris, often called la petite
couronne (i.e. the "small ring", as opposed to the "large ring" of the more distant suburbs of Paris).
As an exception to the normal rules for French cities, some powers normally vested in the mayor of the city are instead vested
in a representative of the national government, the Prefecture
of Police which also controls the Paris Fire Brigade. As an
example, Paris has no municipal police force, though it has some traffic wardens. This
is a legacy of the situation that up to 1977, Paris had no mayor and was essentially run by
the prefectoral administration.
Citizens of Paris elect in each arrondissement some municipal council members. Each arrondissement has its own
council, which elects the mayor of the arrondissement. Some members of the arrondissement councils form the Council
of Paris, which elects the mayor of Paris, and has the double functions of a municipal council and the general council of the
département.
Bertrand Delanoë has been the Mayor of Paris since March 18, 2001. Mr Delanoë is openly homosexual.
Former mayors Jacques Chirac and Jean Tiberi were cited in corruption scandals in the Paris region.
Transport
Paris is served by two principal airports: Orly Airport, which is south
of Paris, and the Charles
De Gaulle International Airport in nearby Roissy-en-France. A
third and much smaller airport, at the town of Beauvais, 70km (45 miles) to the
north of the city, is used by charter and low-cost airlines. Le
Bourget airport nowadays only hosts business jets, air trade shows and the aerospace museum.
Paris is densely covered by a metro system, the Métro, as well as by a large number of bus lines. This interconnects with a
high-speed regional network, the RER, and also the train network: commuter lines, national
train lines, and the TGV (or derivatives like Thalys or Eurostar for specific destinations). There are two
tangential tramway lines in the suburbs: Line T1 runs from Saint-Denis to Noisy-le-Sec, line T2 runs from La Défense to Issy. A third line along the southern orbital road is currently under construction.
Administratively speaking, the public transportation networks of the Paris region are coordinated by the Syndicat des
transports d'Île-de-France (STIF), formerly Syndicat des transports parisiens (STP). official site (http://www.stif-idf.fr/) Members of the syndicate include the RATP, which operates the Parisian and some suburban busses, the Métro, and sections of the RER; the SNCF, which operates the rest of the RER and the suburban train lines; and other operators.
The city is the hub of France's motorway network, and is surrounded by an
orbital road, the Peripherique. On/off ramps of the Peripherique are called
'Portes', as they correspond to the city gates. Most of these 'Portes' have
parking areas and a metro station, where non-residents are advised to leave cars. Traffic in Paris is notoriously heavy, slow and
tiresome.
Paris tourist attractions
The river Seine is well known for its tree-lined quais (walks along the river
banks), open-air bookstalls and historic bridges that connect the Right and Left banks. Paris is also famous for its tree-lined
boulevards such as the Champs-Élysées, and for its many architectural gems.
Places in Paris one may like to visit:
Monuments and buildings
Museums
Streets and other areas within Paris
Boutiques, department stores and hotels
Night life
Sports clubs
Paris's main sports clubs are Paris Saint-Germain,
football club and Stade Français, rugby club.
In the suburbs and the greater Paris region (Île-de-France)
- business districts
- La Défense - major office, cinema and shopping complex, west of
Paris
Name of Paris and its inhabitants
Paris is pronounced
/'pæɹɪs/ in English, and
/paʀi/ in French.
The original Latin name of Paris was Lutetia (
/lutetja/), known in French as Lutèce (
/lytɛs/). The name was later changed into Paris, based on the name of the Gallic parisi tribe.
Traditionally Paris is known as Paname (
/panam/) in French slang, but this name is gradually losing currency.
The inhabitants of Paris are known as Parisians in English, as
Parisiens (
/paʀizjɛ̃/) in French, and as Parigots
(
/paʀigo/) in French slang.
Locally, inhabitants of the Paris suburbs are known as banlieusards (
/bɑ̃ljøzaʀ/). Inhabitants of the whole Paris metropolitan area are known as Franciliens
(
/fʀɑ̃siljɛ̃/), i.e. from Île-de-France.
Events
- 52 BC - Lutetia, later to become Paris, is built by the Gallo-Romans
- 1113 - Pierre Abélard opens
his school
- 1163 - Building of Notre Dame begins
- 1257 - The Sorbonne University is founded
- 1682 - Louis XIV moves the French court from the Tuileries palace to Versailles
- July, 1789 - Storming of the Bastille
- 1814 - Paris occupied by the armies of the Sixth Coalition after the fall of Napoleon
- 1815 - Paris is again occupied, this time by the Seventh Coalition, after the end of the Hundred
Days
- 1840 - Napoleon's remains are buried at Les Invalides
- 1853 - Baron Haussmann rebuilds the
center of Paris
- 1855 - Exposition Universelle (1855)
- 1856 - Congress of
Paris is held
- 1867 - Exposition Universelle (1867)
- January 28th, 1871 - Paris Commune falls
- 1878 - Exposition Universelle (1878)
- 1889 - Exposition Universelle (1889) - Eiffel
Tower
- 1900 - Exposition Universelle (1900)
- 1925 - Exposition Internationale des Arts
Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (1925)
- 1931 - French Colonial Exposition (1931)
- June 13, 1940 - Nazis enter Paris
- August 24, 1944 - Allies liberate the city
- 1968 - Student riots
in Paris, combined with a series of strikes by workers across the country, threaten to bring down the Gaullist government
- 1999 - Opening of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Paris hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1900 and 1924. The 1998 World Cup was hosted by France; several matches were held in Paris proper at Parc des Princes, and several others, including the final, were held at
Stade de France in the suburb of Saint-Denis.
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