Paris is the capital city of France, and the headquarters of the Île-de-France région. The city is located in the northern part of the country, on the banks of the River Seine. With an estimated mid-2004 population of 2,144,700,[2] and an extended urban population of 9.9 million,[3] it is the most populous city in France. Paris represents France's most dynamic centre of economic activity. Renowned as a center for fashion, art, and gastronomy, it is widely regarded as one of the world's major global cities.[4] Dubbed "the City of Light" (la Ville des Lumières) since the 19th century, Paris has a reputation as a "romantic" city.[5]
Many international organisations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the ICC, or the informal Paris Club have their headquarters in Paris.
Paris is located on a north-bending arc of the river Seine and includes two inhabited islands, the Île Saint-Louis and the larger Île de la Cité which is the heart and origin of the city. Paris has several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130 metres (426½ ft) above sea level.
The City of Paris, excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, covers an oval measuring 86.928 square kilometres (33.56 mi²) in area. The city's last major annexation of outlying territories in 1860 not only gave it its modern form, but created the twenty clockwise-spiralling arrondissements it still has today. From its 1860 78 km² (30.1 mi²), these limits changed marginally to 86.9 km² in the 1920's, and in 1929 the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes forest parks were officially annexed to the city, bringing its area to its present 105.397 square kilometres (40.69 mi²).
The Paris agglomeration (urban area) extends from the city limits to an area much greater than Paris itself (app. 26 times larger) in an irregular oval with tentacles of urban growth extending along the Seine and Marne river from the city's south-east and east, and along the Seine and Oise rivers to the city's north-west and north. Urban density drops sharply in the land surrounding; a mix of forest and agriculture dotted with a network of relatively evenly dispersed satellite towns, this couronne péri-urbaine (commuter belt), when combined with the Paris agglomeration, completes a Paris aire urbaine (metropolitan area) that covers an oval 14,518 km² (5,605.5 mi²)[citation needed] in area, or an area about 138 times that of Paris itself.
Paris has an Oceanic climate and is affected by the North Atlantic Drift, so the city enjoys a temperate climate that rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures. The average yearly high temperature is about 24 °C (75 °F), and yearly lows tend to remain around an average of 1 °C (34 °F). The highest temperature ever, recorded on 28 July 1948, was 40.4 °C (104.7 °F), and the lowest was a −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F) temperature reached on 10 December 1879.[6] The Paris region has recently seen temperatures reaching both extremes, with the heat wave of 2003 and the cold wave of 2006.
Rainfall can occur at any time of the year, and Paris is known for its sudden showers. The city sees an average yearly precipitation of around 641.6 mm (25.2 inches).[6] Snowfall is a rare occurrence, usually appearing in the coldest months of January or February (but has been recorded as late as April), and almost never accumulates enough to make a covering that will last more than a day
These are a few of Paris' major districts.
- Champs-Élysées (8th arrondissement, right bank) is a seventeenth century garden-promenade turned avenue connecting the Concorde and Arc de Triomphe. It is one of the many tourist attractions and a major shopping street of Paris. This avenue has been called "la plus belle avenue du monde" ("the most beautiful avenue in the world").
- Avenue Montaigne (8th arrondissement) is, like the two previous districts, home to luxury brand labels such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Dior and Givenchy.
- Place de la Concorde (8th arrondissement, right bank) is at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, built as the "Place Louis XV", site of the infamous guillotine. The Egyptian obelisk it holds today can be considered Paris's "oldest monument". On this place, on the two side of the Rue Royale live two identical stone buildings: the eastern houses the French Naval Ministry, the western the luxurious Hôtel de Crillon. Nearby Place Vendome is famous for its fashionable and deluxe hotels, such as Hotel Ritz. Many famous fashion designers have had their salons in the square.
- Faubourg Saint-Honoré (8th arrondissement, right bank) is one of Paris' high-fashion districts, home to labels such as Hermès and Christian Lacroix.
- L'Opéra (2nd arrondissement, right bank) is the area around the Opéra Garnier is a home to the capital's densest concentration of both department stores and offices. A few examples are the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette grands magasins (department stores), and the Paris headquarters of financial giants such as Crédit Lyonnais and American Express.
- Montmartre (18th arrondissement, right bank) is a historic area on the Butte, home to the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur. Montmartre has always had a history with artists and has many studios and cafés of many great artists in that area.
- Les Halles (1st arrondissement, right bank) was formerly Paris' central meat and produce market, since the late 1970s a major shopping center around an important metro connection station (the biggest in Europe). The past Les Halles was destroyed in 1971 and replaced by the current day Forum des Halles.
- Le Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements) is a trendy Right Bank district. With large gay and Jewish populations it is a very culturally open place.
- Place de la Bastille (4th, 11th and 12th arrondissements, right bank) being one of the most historic districts, being a location of an essential event of not only Paris, but the whole country of France. Because of its historical value the square is often used for political demonstrations, including the massive anti-CPE demonstration of March 28, 2006.
- Quartier Latin (5th and 6th arrondissements, left bank) is a twelfth century scholastic centre formerly stretching between the Left Bank's Place Maubert and the Sorbonne campus. It is known for its lively atmosphere and many bistros. With various higher education establishments, such as the École Normale Supérieure, the École des Mines and the Jussieu university campus make it a major educational center in Paris, which also contributes to its atmosphere.
- Montparnasse (14th arrondissement) is a historic Left Bank area famous for artists studios, music halls, and café life. The large Montparnasse - Bienvenüe métro station and the lone Tour Montparnasse skyscraper are located there.
- Paris' suburban La Défense (Courbevoie, Nanterre, Puteaux) district is one of the largest business centres in the world, and a major destination for business tourism. Built at the western end of a westward extension of Paris' historical axis from the Champs-Élysées, mainly during the 80's, La Défense consists mainly of business highrises and with 3.5 million m² of offices, it is today the largest CBD in Europe. The Grande Arche (Great Arch) of la Defense, which houses a part of the French Transports Minister's headquarters, is also located in central square.
History
The earliest signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 BC[7]. Celtic migrants began to settle the area from 250 BC, and the Parisii tribe of these, known as boatmen and traders, established a settlement near the river Seine from around then.
Westward Roman conquest and the ensuing Gallic War overtook the Paris basin from 52 BC[7], and by the end of the century Paris' Île de la Cité island and Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill had become the Roman town of Lutetia. Gallo-Roman Lutèce would expand over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with palaces, a forum, baths, temples, theatres and an amphitheatre[8].
As other Roman cities, early Lutetia was structured as a regular grid (300 feet squares), with the cardo maximus (main North-South axis) being the current Rue Saint-Jacques, and the decumani (East-West axis) were parallel to current Bd Saint-Germain and Rue des Ecoles. The "point zero", or groma of this grid was probably located at the southwest corner of the forum, which corresponds to nos. 172 and 174 of Rue Saint-Jacques: the highest point on the Saint-Geneviève hill[9].
The collapse of the Roman empire and third-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline: by 400 AD Lutèce, largely abandoned by its inhabitants, was little more than a garrison town entrenched into its hastily fortified central island[7]. The city would reclaim its original "Paris" appellation towards the end of the Roman occupation
Around AD 500, Paris was the capital of the Frankish king Clovis I, who commissioned the first cathedral and abbey. On the death of Clovis, the Frankish kingdom was divided, and Paris became the capital of a much smaller sovereign state. By the time of the Carolingian dynasty (9th century), Paris was little more than a feudal county stronghold. 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 defence of Paris during the Viking siege of 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. 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.
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. It was during this period that the city developed a spatial distribution of activities that exists even today: 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.
Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm while occupied by the English-ally 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. 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 captured the city from the Catholic party. 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
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