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Paris, France - City Description
When you think of world-class cities, names like New York
and London always come to mind. But Paris is actually the
most popular city in the world based on its number of foreign
visitors. With over 30 million visitors per year, Paris attracts 15
times more visitors than it has residents!
Paris is both the capital of France, as well as the country’s
largest city. While the city has about 2.1 million residents, the
total population of the metropolitan area is about 12 million.
Its location in northwestern France affords residents easy
access to other major cities such as London and Brussels.
The city sits on the River Seine and is divided into essentially
2 islands, known as the Left Bank and Right Bank. It is also
divided into 20 different districts, which in French are called
Arrondissements. Each Arrondissement has a number, so for
instance the Louvre is located in the 1st Arrondissement,
while the Avenue des Champs-Elysees is in the 8th
Arrondissement.
The history of Paris goes back over 2,000 years to
sometime between 250 to 200 BC when a tribe of Celtic
fisherman settled there. They named the area Lutetia, until
Clovis I changed it to Paris between the 4th and 9th
centuries.
The city as we now know it didn’t really begin to take
shape until 1163 when construction on Notre Dame began.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, construction began on
other current sites, such as the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral
and the Sorbonne. It was also around this time that the
land on the right bank was drained and construction began
on a fortress that included what is now the Louvre.
The next two hundred years saw almost half of the
population die from the Black Death, followed by Joan of
Arc defeating the English at Orléans and thereby pushing
the English from France.
From here things began to look up in Paris. The late 15th
century was the beginning of the Renaissance, which saw
Paris become a center of technology, science, art and
architecture. It also meant that Paris began to grow in both
size and wealth, leading to a time of outright decadence. It
was at this time that Louis XIV built his country estate,
known as Versailles, thereby taking power from the center
of Paris and moving it to the countryside.
Things began to turn again when Louis XVI became King
in 1774. During his reign, the Bastille prison was burned to
the ground, which began the French Revolution. The year
1792 saw the end of the monarchy and one year later,
Louis XVI was beheaded along with his wife, Marie
Antoinette.
The 19th Century really turned Paris into what it is today.
Baron Haussmann, under the direction of Napoleon III,
designed the wide boulevards and added a sewer system.
Then in the late 19th Century the third Republic was
declared, which began democracy in France. It was also
the beginning of Art Nouveau architecture and
Impressionism in the art world.
The 20th Century saw Paris become the place to be as
famous writers such as Ernest Hemingway and James
Joyce, as well as artists Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso,
move to Paris.
The rest, as they say, is history. Those who visit fall in
love with it’s charm, elegance, attitude, cuisine, and
culture. There is, after all, a very good reason that Paris is
the most popular tourist destination in the world!
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