History of the city

• History of Paris

History of Paris

Ancient Paris

Paris is more than 2,000 years old. Gauls of the Parisii tribe settled there between 250 and 200 BC and founded a fishing village on an island in the river that is the present-day Ile de la Cité - the center around which Paris developed.
Lutèce (ancient name of Paris) was conquered by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, and existed as a regional center under the Romans and in the early Middle Ages. In 987 Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, became king of France, and under his successors, the city's position as the nation's capital got established.

Medieval Paris

The Middle Ages were time of both prosperity and discontent. 
Work on the Notre Dame was started in the 12th century (and finished 200 years later), the Sorbonne welcame its first visitors in 1253; and the Louvre began life as a riverside fortress at the start of the 13th century. 
The North side of the Seine River, around Marais, was drained and made habitable; today it is known as the Right Bank. 
During this period Scandinavian Vikings, also known as the Normans of England, had been persistently battering at the coastal regions of France, and by the 1200's, had their eye on Paris.

Hundred Years' War

The ongoing conflict eventually led to the Hundred Years' War between England and France, which resulted in English forces seizing the city of Paris in 1420. In 1429, partly because of contributions by Jeanne d’Arc, the French rallied and expelled the English from most of France. 
The spirited and independent French people were not laying down under Royal rule, simply taking what came along. In 1355, under the leadership of radical Etienne Marcel, the people of Paris declared themselves to be an independent entity, not part of the rapidly growing patchwork of cities and regions of France. 

Early Modern Paris

Royalist France achieved its greatest heights under Louis XIV, the "Sun King." His minister of finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert undertook lavish building projects in Paris in an effort to make it a "new Rome" fit for the Sun King. The king himself, however, detested Paris, preferring instead to rule France from his vast chateau at Versailles. The city had by this time grown far beyond its medieval boundaries, with some 500,000 inhabitants and 25,000 houses by the mid-17th century. 
During the second half of the 18^th century Paris became the intellectual and cultural capital of the Western world and the centre of the Enlightenment with its salons and new way of thinking This was positively encouraged by the state, with Louis' mistress Madame de Pompadour supporting the city's intellectuals and prompting the king to construct striking new monuments.

Paris in the 18th - 19th centuries

The storming of the Bastille in 1789 was the first of a series of key actions by the Parisian people during the French Revolution. Paris also played a major role in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. 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 Age of Beauty).

The 20th century Paris

During World War I the Germans were prevented from reaching Paris, but they occupied the city during World War II from 1940 to 1944. Paris was again the scene of violence during the student riots of 1968.
Under George Pompidou and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing Paris underwent major physical development. The radical Centre Pompidou was built along with the ultra-modern complex at La Villette and the ancient market at Les Halles was demolished and replaced with an incongruous underground shopping mall. 
The election of François Mitterrand in 1981 saw further major changes to the city's appearance and politics. He undertook a number of grandiose grands projets to stamp his mark on the city. The Louvre was redeveloped and acquired its spectacular glass pyramid, while a futuristic new district was constructed just outside the city limits at La Défense. 
Today, Paris is still one of the most cosmopolitan centres in Europe, hosting millions of tourists every year, who come for the arts, the wine, and, simply, the ambiance of the City of Lights.

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