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ParisParis is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank in the south. The city proper has about 2 million residents (1999 census: 2,147,857). The Greater Paris metropolitan area has about 11 million residents (1999 census: 11,174,743).
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View from the Montparnasse Tower (Tour Montparnasse) towards the Eiffel Tower. On the right Napoleon's tomb lies under the golden dome at Les Invalides. The towers of the office and entertainment centre La Defense line the horizon. Larger version. |
Paris was occupied by a Gallic tribe until the Romans arrived in 52 BC. The invaders referred to the previous occupants 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 was over 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. During one invasion Paris was sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collected a huge ransom in exchange for leaving on March 27, 845. The first French king, Odo, was chosen in this period.
During the 11th century the city spread to the Right Bank. The 12th and 13th centuries, which included the reign of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), are especially notable for the growth of the city. 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 organized 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 centre, 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 of France.
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View over Paris and the Seine from the roof top café on La Samaritaine[?] department store. Larger version |
In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War ended in a siege of Paris and the Paris Commune, which surrendered in 1871 after a hard winter. The Eiffel Tower, the best-known landmark in Paris, was built in 1889 in a period of prosperity known as La Belle Époque[?].
Prior to 1964, département 75 was "Seine", which contained the city and the surrounding suburbs. The change in boundaries resulted in the creation of 3 new départements forming a ring around Paris, often called la petite couronne (the little crown): Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne.
Bertrand Delanoë is Paris Mayor since March 18, 2001.
Former mayors: Jacques Chirac, Jean Tiberi[?]
Paris is densely covered by an underground railway system, the Métro. This interconnects with a high-speed regional network, the RER, and also the train network: commuter lines, national train lines, and the TGV.
The city is the hub of France's motorway network, and is surrounded by a large orbital road, the Peripherique.
The Arc de Triomphe
and the Champs Elysees.
Larger version
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