| Revision as of 18:37, 10 May 2007 view source142.165.132.33 (talk) →Etymology← Previous edit | Revision as of 22:31, 10 May 2007 view source 75.138.185.240 (talk) Paris ProjectNext edit → | ||
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| {{otheruses1|the capital of France}} | |||
| {{French commune | |||
| |native_name = Ville de Paris | |||
| |common_name = Paris | |||
| |image = ] | |||
| |caption = Paris' ] as seen from the esplanade du ]. | |||
| |image_flag = Flag of Paris.svg | |||
| |image_flag_size = 85px | |||
| |image_coat_of_arms = Paris coa.png | |||
| |image_coat_of_arms_size = 120px | |||
| |flag_legend = City flag | |||
| |Coat_of_arms_legend = City coat of arms | |||
| |city_motto = '']''<br /><small> | |||
| (]: "Tossed by the waves, she does not sink")</small> | |||
| |image_map = France_jms.png | |||
| |x = 141 | |||
| |y = 73 | |||
| |time zone = CET <small>(GMT +1)</small> | |||
| |lat_long = {{coor dms|48|52|0|N|2|19|59|E|type:city(2144700)_region:FR}} | |||
| |region = ] | |||
| |departement = Paris (75) | |||
| |mayor = ] | |||
| |party = ] | |||
| |mandat = since 2001 | |||
| |subdivisions_entry = ] | |||
| |subdivisions = ] | |||
| |area = <!-- later use ]<br /> -->]<ref name="area"> Excluding ] and ]</ref> | |||
| |date-population =2005 estimate | |||
| |population = 2,153,600 | |||
| |population-ranking=1st in France | |||
| |date-density = 2005<ref name="area" /> | |||
| |density = 24,783 | |||
| |UU-area = ] | |||
| |UU-area-date = 1999 | |||
| |UU-pop = 9 644 507 | |||
| |UU-pop-date =1999 | |||
| |AU-area = ] | |||
| |AU-area-date = 1999 | |||
| |AU-pop = 12,067,000 | |||
| |AU-pop-date =2007 | |||
| }} | |||
| '''Paris''' is the ] of ]. It is situated on the ], in northern France, at the heart of the ] ] ("Région parisienne"). The city of Paris has an estimated population of 2,153,600 within city limit (2005 est.).<ref name="paris_pop_2005">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/recensement/nouv_recens/resultats/grandes-villes.htm#P| title="Estimation de population pour certaines grandes villes"| first=]| last=]| accessdate=2006-04-10}}</ref> The Paris urban area has a population of 9.93 million <ref name="UU_2005">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifcle_fiche.asp?ref_id=CMPTEF01103&tab_id=18| title="Population des villes et unités urbaines de plus de 1 million d'habitants de l'Union Européenne"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-04-10}}</ref> and a ] around the same completes the Paris "]" (roughly: "]") that, with its population of 12 million,<ref name="paris_AU99_pop">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/wr_page.affiche?p_id_nivgeo=M&p_id_loca=001&p_id_princ=POP1&p_theme=ALL&p_typeprod=ALL&p_langue=FR| title="Aire Urbaine '99 - pop totale par sexe et âge"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-04-10}}</ref> is one of the most populated areas of its kind in ].<ref name="metro_areas">{{en icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&dat=32&srt=pnan&col=aohdq&va=&pt=a| title="World Metropolitan Areas"| last=World Gazetteer| accessdate=2007-01-18}}</ref> | |||
| Paris' location at a crossroads between land and river trade routes in lands of abundant agriculture had made it one of ]'s principal cities by the 10th century, rich with royal ]s, wealthy abbeys and a ]; by the 12th century Paris had become one of Europe's foremost centres of learning and the arts. Today, Paris is a major influence in politics, fashion, business, arts and science. The city serves as an important hub of intercontinental transportation and is home to universities, sport events, opera companies and museums of international renown,<ref name=culture> {{cite web| url=http://travel.nytimes.com/frommers/travel/guides/europe/france/paris/frm_paris_0062020048.html| title=Neighborhoods in Brief | author=]| publisher=]| accessdate=2007-01-16}}</ref><ref name="paris_arts">{{cite web| url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-59646| title=Encyclopedia Britannica: Character of the city (from Paris)| first=| last=| accessdate=2006-06-28}}</ref> making it an attraction for over 30 million foreign visitors per year.<ref name=tourism>{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/insee_regions/idf/rfc/docs/bilan2004tour.pdf| title=Le tourisme se porte mieux en 2004 | author=]| format=PDF| accessdate=2007-01-16}}</ref> | |||
| The Paris region (]) is France's foremost centre of economic activity. With €478.7 billion (US$595.3 billion), it produced more than a quarter of the ] (GDP) of France in 2005. With ], the largest purpose-built business district in Europe, it hosts the head offices of almost half of the major French companies, as well as the headquarters of ten of the world's 100 largest companies.<ref name="Forbes"> {{cite news| url=http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/29/06f2k_worlds-largest-public-companies_land.html| title=The World's 2000 Largest Public Companies|first=Scott| last= DeCarlo |date=2006-03-30 | publisher=]| accessdate=2007-01-16}}</ref> Paris also hosts many international organizations such as ], the ], the ], or the informal ]. It is regarded as one of the world's 4 major ].<ref>, GaWC, ]</ref> | |||
| {{TOChidden}} | |||
| == Etymology == | |||
| Paris is ] "{{IPA|}}" in ] and "{{Audio-IPA|Paris1.ogg|}}" in ]. The city derives its name from that of its pre-Roman-era inhabitants, the ] '']'' tribe. The city became known as '']'' ({{IPA|/lutetja/}}) during the first to sixth century Roman occupation, but began to adopt its present-day name towards the end of this period. | |||
| Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is 'The City of Light' (''La Ville-lumière''), a name it owes both to its fame as a centre of education and ideas and its early adoption of ]ing. <!-- The following should go to less generalistic article -->Paris since the early 20th century has also been known in Parisian ] as ''Paname'' ({{IPA|}}; {{Audio|Fr-moi-jsuis-dPaname.ogg|''Moi j'suis d'Paname''}}, i.e. "I'm from Paname"), a slang name that has been regaining favor with young people in recent years. | |||
| Paris's inhabitants are known in English as "Parisians" ({{IPA|}} or {{IPA|}}) and as ''Parisiens'' ({{Audio-IPA|Parisien2.ogg|}}) in ]. Parisians are often pejoratively called ''Parigots'' ({{Audio-IPA|Parigot.ogg|}}) by those living outside the Paris Region, but this is a term sometimes considered endearing by Parisians themselves. | |||
| :''See ] for the name of Paris in various languages other than English and French.'' | |||
| == History == | |||
| ], 1st century BC, (], Paris)]] | |||
| {{main|History of Paris}} | |||
| ===Early beginnings=== | |||
| The earliest signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 ].<ref name="roman_chronology">{{en icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.culture.fr/en/ow_chrono.htm| author=www.paris.culture.fr|title=Paris, Roman City - Chronology| accessdate=2006-07-16| format=HTML}}</ref> Known boatsmen and traders, a sub-tribe of the ]ic ], the '']'', settled the area near the river Seine from around 250 ]. | |||
| The Roman westward campaigns had conquered the Paris basin in 52 ].<ref name="roman_chronology">{{en icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.culture.fr/en/ow_chrono.htm| author=www.paris.culture.fr|title=Paris, Roman City - Chronology| accessdate=2006-07-16| format=HTML}}</ref> A permanent Roman settlement began towards the end of the same century on Paris' ] ] and ] island, in a town first called ], but later becoming Gallicised ''Lutèce''. The ] town expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with palaces, a forum, baths, temples, theatres and an amphitheatre.<ref name="roman_city">{{en icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.culture.fr/en/| author=www.paris.culture.fr|title=Paris, Roman City - The City| accessdate=2006-07-16| format=HTML}}</ref> | |||
| The collapse of the Roman empire and third-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline: by ] ''Lutèce'', largely abandoned by its inhabitants, was little more than a garrison town entrenched into its hastily fortified central island.<ref name="roman_chronology">{{en icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.culture.fr/en/ow_chrono.htm| author=www.paris.culture.fr|title=Paris, Roman City - Chronology| accessdate=2006-07-16| format=HTML}}</ref> The city would reclaim its original "Paris" appellation towards the end of the ] occupation. | |||
| === Middle ages === | |||
| ] wall and ] castle]] | |||
| Around ] 500, Paris was the capital of the ] ] ], who commissioned the first ] and its first abbey dedicated to his contemporary, later ] of the city, ]. 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 ] 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 ]. ] was elected king in place of the incumbent ], namely for the fame he gained in his defence of Paris during the ] siege (]). Although the ] had survived the Viking attacks, most of the unprotected ] city was destroyed; rather than rebuild there, after drying marshlands to the north of the island, Paris began to expand onto the ]. In 987 AD, ], Count of Paris, was elected King of France, founding the ] which would raise Paris to become France's capital. | |||
| From 1190, King ] enclosed Paris on both banks with a wall that had the ] as its western fortress and in 1200 chartered the ] which brought visitors from across ]. It was during this period that the city developed a spatial distribution of activities that can still be seen: the central island housed government and ecclesiastical institutions, the left bank became a scholastic centre with the University and ]s, while the right bank developed as the centre of commerce and trade around the central ] marketplace. | |||
| Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm while occupied by the English-ally ] during the ], but regained its title when ] reclaimed the city in ]; although Paris was capital once again, the Crown preferred to remain in its ] castles. During the ], Paris was a stronghold of the ], culminating in the ] (]). King ] re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594 after he captured the city from the Catholic party. During the ], Parisians rose in rebellion and the royal family fled the city (]). King ] then moved the royal court permanently to ] in ]. A century later, Paris was the centre stage for the ], with the ] in 1789 and the ] of the monarchy in ]. | |||
| === Nineteenth century === | |||
| ]]] | |||
| The ], the ], and the '']'' brought Paris the greatest development in its history. From the 1840s, rail transport allowed an unprecedented flow of migrants into Paris attracted by employment in the new industries in the suburbs. The city underwent a massive renovation under ] and his '']'' ], who ] of narrow-winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical façades of modern Paris. | |||
| ] epidemics in 1832 and 1849 affected the population of Paris — the 1832 epidemic alone claimed 20,000 of the then population of 650,000.<ref name="cholera">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.amicale-genealogie.org/Histoires_temps-passe/Epidemies/chol01.htm| title="Le Cholera"| first=Amicale Genealogie| last=La Petite Gazette Généalogique| accessdate=2006-04-10}}</ref> Paris also suffered greatly from the ] ending the ] (1870-1871), and the ensuing civil war ] (1871) killed thousands and sent many of Paris's administrative centres (and city archives) up in flames. | |||
| Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous ]s of the late ]. The ] was built for the French Revolution centennial ], as a "temporary" display of architectural engineering prowess but remained the world's tallest building until 1930, and is the city's best-known landmark. The first line of the ] opened for the ] and was an attraction in itself for visitors from the world over. Paris's World's Fair years also consolidated its position in the tourist industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows. | |||
| === Twentieth century === | |||
| ]]] | |||
| During ], Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having been spared a German invasion by the French and British victory at the ] in 1914. In 1918-1919, it was the scene of ] victory parades and peace negotiations. In the ] Paris was famed for its cultural and artistic communities and its nightlife. The city became a gathering place of artists from around the world, from exiled Russian composer ] and Spanish painters ] and ] to American writer ]. In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the ], a partially evacuated Paris fell to German occupation forces who remained until the city was liberated in August of 1944. After the Normandy invasion Paris waited for liberation. Central Paris endured ] practically unscathed, as there were no strategic targets for bombers (train stations in central Paris are ]s; major factories were located in the suburbs), and also because German ] refused to carry out ]'s order that all Parisian monuments be destroyed before any German retreat. | |||
| In the post-war era, Paris experienced its largest development since the end of the '']'' in 1914. The suburbs began to expand considerably, with the construction of large social estates known as ''cités'' and the beginning of the business district ]. A comprehensive express subway network, the ], was built to complement the Métro and serve the distant suburbs, while a network of freeways was developed in the suburbs, centered on the '']'' expressway circling around the city. | |||
| Since the 1970s, many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the eastern ones) have experienced ], and the once-thriving ''cités'' have gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of unemployment. At the same time, the City of Paris (within its ''Périphérique'' ring) and the western and southern suburbs have successfully shifted their economic base from traditional manufacturing to high value-added services and high-tech manufacturing, generating great wealth for their residents whose per capita income is among the highest in Europe. The resulting widening social gap between these two areas has led to periodic unrest since the mid-1980s, such as the ] which largely concentrated in the northeastern suburbs. | |||
| == Geography== | |||
| ===Topography=== | |||
| ] | |||
| {{Main|Topography of Paris}} | |||
| Paris is located on a north-bending arc of the ] and includes two islands, the ] and the larger ] which forms the oldest part of the city. Paris has several prominent hills, of which the highest is ] at 130 metres (426 ft) above sea level. | |||
| Paris, excluding the outlying parks of ] and ], 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 ] (municipal boroughs). From its 1860 78 km² (30.1 mi²), these limits expanded marginally to 86.9 km² in the 1920s, and in 1929 the ] and ] forest parks were officially annexed to the city, bringing its area to its present 105.397 ]s (40.69 ]). | |||
| The Paris ] extends far beyond the city limits, forming an irregular oval with arms of urban growth extending along the Seine and ] rivers from the city's south-east and east, and along the Seine and ] rivers to the city's north-west and north. Farther beyond the central suburbs, population density drops sharply in the surrounding land; a mix of forest and agriculture dotted with a network of relatively evenly dispersed satellite towns, this ], when combined with the Paris agglomeration, completes a Paris '']'' (]) that covers an oval 14,518 km² (5,605.5 mi²){{Fact|date=January 2007}} in area, or about 138 times that of Paris itself. | |||
| ===Climate=== | |||
| Paris has an ] and is affected by the ], so the city enjoys a temperate climate that rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures. The average yearly high temperature is about 15 ] (59 ]), and yearly lows tend to remain around an average of 7 °C (45 °F). The highest temperature ever, recorded on ] ], was 40.4 °C (104.7 °F), and the lowest was a −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F) temperature reached on ] ].<ref name="climate">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.fr/portail/accueil/Portal.lut?page_id=4946&document_type_id=5&document_id=3076&portlet_id=10579| title="Géographie de la capitale - Le climat"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-05-24| format=HTML}}</ref> The Paris region has recently seen temperatures reaching both extremes, with the ] and ]. | |||
| 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 641.6 mm (25.2 inches).<ref name="climate">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.fr/portail/accueil/Portal.lut?page_id=4946&document_type_id=5&document_id=3076&portlet_id=10579| title="Géographie de la capitale - Le climat"| accessdate=2006-05-24| format=HTML}}</ref> 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. | |||
| {{-}} | |||
| {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:100%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;" | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" |Month | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jan | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Feb | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Mar | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Apr | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | May | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jun | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jul | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Aug | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Sep | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Oct | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Nov | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Dec | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Year | |||
| |- | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" |Avg high °C (°F) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 4 (39) | |||
| | style="background: #DDDDDD; color:#000000;" | 6 (43) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFFCC; color:#000000;" | 10 (51) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 14 (57) | |||
| | style="background: #FFCC66; color:#000000;" | 18 (64) | |||
| | style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 21 (70) | |||
| | style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 24 (75) | |||
| | style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 24 (75) | |||
| | style="background: #FFCC66; color:#000000;" | 20 (69) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 15 (59) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFFCC; color:#000000;" | 9 (49) | |||
| | style="background: #DDDDDD; color:#000000;" | 7 (45) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 15 (59) | |||
| |- | |||
| ! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" height="16;" |Avg low temperature °C (°F) | |||
| | style="background: #80FFFF; color: black;" | -2 (27) | |||
| | style="background: #80FFFF; color: black;" | -1 (29) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 3 (38) | |||
| | style="background: #DDDDDD; color: black;" | 5 (42) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFFCC; color: black;" | 9 (49) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 12 (54) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 14 (58) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 14 (57) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 11 (52) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFFCC; color: black;" | 8 (46) | |||
| | style="background: #DDDDDD; color: black;" | 4 (39) | |||
| | style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 2 (36) | |||
| | style="background: #DDDDDD; color: black;" | 7 (45) | |||
| |- | |||
| | colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|''Source: '' | |||
| |} | |||
| ==Cityscape== | |||
| ===Architecture === | |||
| ] and its buildings typical of ]]] | |||
| ]]] | |||
| "Modern" Paris is the result of a vast ]. For centuries it had been a labyrinth of narrow streets and ] houses, but beginning in 1852, the ]'s vast urbanisation levelled entire quarters to make way for wide avenues lined with neo-classical stone buildings of ''bourgeoise'' standing; most of this 'new' Paris is the Paris we see today. These ] plans are in many cases still actual, as the city of Paris imposes the then-defined "''alignement''" law (imposed position defining a predetermined street width) on many new constructions. A building's height was also defined according to the width of the street it lines, and Paris' building code has seen few changes since the mid-19th century to allow for higher constructions. It is for this reason that Paris is mainly a "flat" city. | |||
| Paris' unchanging borders, strict building codes and lack of developable land have together contributed in creating a phenomenon called ''muséification'' (or "museumification") as, at the same time as they strive to preserve Paris' historical past, existing laws make it difficult to create within city limits the larger buildings and utilities needed for a growing population. Many of Paris' institutions and economic infrastructure are already located in, or are planning on moving to, the suburbs. The financial (]) business district, the main food wholesale market (]), major renowned schools ('']'', ], ], ], etc.), world famous research laboratories (in ] or ]), the largest sport stadium ('']''), and some ministries (namely the Ministry of Transportation) are located outside of the city of Paris. The National Archives of France are due to relocate to the northern suburbs before 2010. | |||
| ===Districts and historical centres=== | |||
| {{main|Paris districts}} | |||
| These are a few of Paris' major districts. | |||
| ] to the east from the ]]] | |||
| ].]] | |||
| ]]] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| * ''']''' (8<sup>th</sup> arrondissement, right bank) is a ] garden-promenade turned avenue connecting the Concorde and ]. 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"). | |||
| * ''']''' (8<sup>th</sup> arrondissement), next to the Champs-Élysées, is home to luxury brand labels such as ], ] (]), ] and ]. | |||
| * ''']''' (8<sup>th</sup> arrondissement, right bank) is at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, built as the "Place Louis XV", site of the infamous ]. The Egyptian obelisk is 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 ]. Nearby ''']''' is famous for its fashionable and deluxe hotels (] and ]) and its jewellers. Many famous fashion designers have had their salons in the square. | |||
| * ''']''' (8<sup>th</sup> arrondissement, right bank) is one of Paris' high-fashion districts, home to labels such as ] and ]. | |||
| * ''']''' (9<sup>th</sup> arrondissement, right bank) is the area around the ] is a home to the capital's densest concentration of both department stores and offices. A few examples are the ] and ] ''grands magasins'' (department stores), and the Paris headquarters of financial giants such as ] and ]. | |||
| * ''']''' (18<sup>th</sup> arrondissement, right bank) is a historic area on the Butte, home to the ]. Montmartre has always had a history with artists and has many studios and cafés of many great artists in that area. | |||
| * ''']''' (1<sup>st</sup> arrondissement, right bank) was formerly Paris' central meat and produce market, since the late 1970s a major shopping center around an important ] connection station (the biggest in Europe). The past Les Halles was destroyed in 1971 and replaced by the ]. The central market of Paris, the biggest wholesale food market in the world, was transferred to ], in the southern suburbs. | |||
| * ''']''' (3<sup>rd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> arrondissements) is a trendy Right Bank district. With large ] and ]ish populations it is a very culturally open place. | |||
| * ''']''' (4<sup>th</sup>, 11<sup>th</sup> and 12<sup>th</sup> 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 ]. | |||
| * ''']''' (5<sup>th</sup> and 6<sup>th</sup> arrondissements, left bank) is a ] scholastic centre formerly stretching between the Left Bank's Place Maubert and the ] campus. It is known for its lively atmosphere and many ]s. With various higher education establishments, such as the ], ] and the ] make it a major educational center in Paris, which also contributes to its atmosphere. | |||
| * ''']''' (14<sup>th</sup> arrondissement) is a historic Left Bank area famous for artists studios, music halls, and café life. The large ] '']'' station and the lone ] ] are located there. | |||
| * ''']''' (straddling the ] of ], ], and ], 2.5 km/1.5 miles west of the City of Paris) is a ] of Paris and is one of the largest business centres in the world. Built at the western end of a westward extension of Paris' historical axis from the ], La Défense consists mainly of business ]s. Initiated by the French government in 1958, the district hosts 3.5 million m² of offices, making of it the largest district in Europe specifically developed for business. The ] (Great Arch) of la Defense, which houses a part of the French Transports Minister's headquarters, ends the central Esplanade around which the district is organized. | |||
| ===Monuments and landmarks=== | |||
| ] by day]] | |||
| {{main|Paris landmarks}} | |||
| Three of the most famous Parisian ] are the ] ] ] on the ], the ] ], and the ] ]. The Eiffel Tower was a "temporary" construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 ] but the tower was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris. It is visible from many parts of the city as are the ] skyscraper and the ] on the ] hill. | |||
| The ] is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that run in a roughly straight line from the city centre westwards: the line of monuments begins with the ] and continues through the ], the ] and the ] centred in the ] circus. From the 1960s the line was prolonged even further west to the ] business district dominated by square-shaped triumphal ] of its own; this district hosts most of the ] in the Paris ]. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| The ] museum is the burial place for many great French soldiers, including ], and the ] church is where many of France's illustrious men and women are buried. The former ] prison held some prominent '']'' members before their deaths during the ]. Another symbol of the Revolution are the two ] located on the ] on the Seine and in the ]. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to ] in 1886 and now stands in ]'s harbour. | |||
| The ] built in the later ] period, houses the Paris Opera and the ], while the former palace of the ] now houses one of the most famous museums in the world. The ] is the most famous part of the ] and is based in the centre of the ]. Apart from Notre Dame de Paris, there are several other ecclesiastical masterpieces including the Gothic ] ] palace chapel and the ]. | |||
| ===Parks and gardens=== | |||
| ] | |||
| {{main|List of parks and gardens in Paris}} | |||
| Two of Paris's oldest and famous ]s are the ], created from the 16th century for a palace on the banks of the ] near the ], and the ] ], another formerly private garden belonging to a château built for the ] in 1612. The ], created by ]'s doctor ] for the cultivation of medicinal plants, was Paris' first public garden. | |||
| ]architect ] | |||
| A few of Paris' other large gardens are ] creations: the formerly suburban parks of ], ] and ] (formerly known as the "folie de Chartres"), were creations of ]'s engineer ] and the landscape . You will often see Parisians having picnics at the parks, soaking up the warm sunshine, or simply enjoying the nature. They are peaceful escapes from the city and are enjoyed by all ages. Another project executed under the orders of ] was the re-sculpting of Paris' western ] forest-parklands; the ], to Paris' opposite eastern end, received a similar treatment in years following. | |||
| Newer additions to Paris' park landscape are the ], built by the architect ] on the location of Paris' former ]s, and gardens being lain to Paris' periphery along the traces of its former circular "]" railway line. | |||
| ===Cemeteries=== | |||
| ] of ]]] | |||
| Paris' cemeteries were on its outskirts upon their 1804 creation. Many of Paris' churches had their own cemeteries, but, by the late 18th century, they were making living conditions unpleasant for nearby housing. Abolished from 1786, all parish cemeteries contents were taken to abandoned limestone mines outside the southern gates of then Paris, today the ]'s place ]. The latter are known today as the ]. | |||
| Although Paris today has once again grown to surround all its former cemeteries, these have become much-appreciated oases of quiet in a thriving city. Many of Paris's historical figures have found rest in ]. Other notable cemeteries include ], ], ] and the ]. | |||
| New suburban cemeteries were created in the early 20th century: the largest of these are the ''Cimetière Parisien de ]'', the ''Cimetière Parisien de ]-]'', the ''Cimetière Parisien d']'' and the ''Cimetière Parisien de ].'' | |||
| == Culture == | |||
| ===Entertainment=== | |||
| '''Opera'''<br /> | |||
| Paris' largest opera houses are the 19th-century ] and modern ]; the former tends towards the more classic ballets and operas, and the latter provides a mixed repertoire of classic and modern. | |||
| '''Theatre/Concert halls'''<br /> | |||
| Theatre traditionally has had a large place in Parisian culture. This still holds true today, although, perhaps strangely, many of its most popular actors today are also stars of French television. A few of Paris' major theatres are ], ] and the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse. Some Parisian theatres also doubled as concert halls. | |||
| Many of France's greatest musical legends such as ], ], ] and ] found their fame in Parisian concert halls: legendary yet still-showing examples of these are ], ], ] and ]. | |||
| The below-mentioned Élysées-Montmartre, much reduced from its original size, is a concert hall today. The New Morning is one of few Parisian clubs still holding jazz concerts, but the same also specialises in 'indie' music. More recently, the ] hall in Paris' ] quarter and a "''parc-omnisports''" stadium in ] serve as large-scale rock concert halls. | |||
| ]]] | |||
| '''Dancehalls/Discotheques'''<br /> | |||
| ''Guinguettes'' and ''Bals-concerts'' were the backbone of Parisian entertainment before the mid-20th century. Early to mid-19th century examples were the ''Moulin de la Galette'' guinguette and the ''Élysées-Montmartre'' and ''Chateau-Rouge'' dancehalls-gardens. Popular orchestral fare gave way to the Parisian accordionists of lore whose music moved the ''Apollo'' and ''le Java'' faubourg du Temple and ] dance-hall crowds. Out of the clubs remaining from this era grew the modern ''discothèque'': Le Palace, although closed today, is Paris' most legendary example. Today, much of the clubbing in Paris happens in clubs like Le Queen, L'Etoile, Le Cab which are highly selective. Electronic music oriented clubs such as Le Rex, the Batofar (a boat converted into a club) or The Pulp are quite popular and the world's best DJs play there. | |||
| '''Cinema'''<br/> | |||
| Parisians tend to share the same movie-going trends as many of the world's global cities, that is to say with a dominance of Hollywood-generated film entertainment. French cinema comes a close second, with major directors (''réalisateurs'') such as ], ], ] and ], and the more slapstick/popular genre with director ] as an example. European and Asian films are also widely shown and appreciated. A specialty of Paris is its very large network of small movie theaters: on a given week the movie fan has the choice between around 300 old or new movies from all over the world. | |||
| Many of Paris' concert/dance halls were transformed into movie theatres when the media became popular from the 1930s. Later most of the largest cinemas were divided into multiple, smaller rooms: Paris' largest cinema today is by far '']'' theatre with 2800 seats, while other cinemas all have less than 1000 seats. There is now a trend toward modern multiplexes with more than 10 or 20 screens in the same building. | |||
| '''Cafés, restaurants and hotels'''<br/> | |||
| ]; one of the most famous Parisian cafés, in ].]] | |||
| ], another famous Parisian café, in ].]] | |||
| Cafés quickly became an integral part of French culture from their appearance, namely from the opening of the ] ] in 1689 and the ''café Régence'' at the ] one year earlier. The cafés in the gardens of the latter locale became quite popular through the 18th-century, and can be considered Paris' first "terrace cafés"; these would not become widespread until sidewalks and boulevards began to appear from the mid-19th century. Cafés are an almost obligatory stop on the way to or from work for many Parisians, and especially during lunchtime. | |||
| Paris' culinary reputation has its base in the many origins of its inhabitants. With the early-19th-century railways and ensuing industrial revolution came a flood of migration that brought with it all the gastronomical diversity of France's many different regions, and maintained through 'local speciality' restaurants catering to the tastes of people from all. "Chez Jenny" is a typical example of a restaurant specialising in the cuisine of the ] region, and "Aux Lyonnais" is another with traditional fare originating from its city name's region. Of course migration from even more distant climes meant an even greater culinary diversity, and today, in addition to a great number of North African and Asian establishments, in Paris one can find top-quality cuisine from virtually the world over. | |||
| Hotels were another result of widespread travel and ], especially Paris' late-19th century ] (World's Fairs). Of the most luxurious of these, the ] appeared in the ] from 1898, and the ] opened its doors on the north side of the ] from 1909. | |||
| ===Tourism=== | |||
| {{main|List of museums in Paris}} | |||
| Paris had always been a destination for traders, students and those on religious pilgrimages, but its 'tourism' in the proper sense of the term began on a large scale only with the appearance of rail travel, namely from state organisation of France's rail network from 1848. One of Paris' first 'mass' attractions drawing international interest were, from 1855, the above-mentioned ] that would bring Paris many new monuments, namely the ] from 1889. These, in addition to the Capital's ] embellishments, did much to make the city itself the attraction it is today. | |||
| ] | |||
| Paris' museums and monuments are by far its highest-esteemed attractions, and tourist interest has been nothing but a benefit to these; tourism has even motivated both city and State to create new ones. The city's most prized museum, the ], sees over 6 million visitors a year. Paris' cathedrals are another main attraction: its ] and ] basilica receive 12 million and 8 million visitors respectively. The ], by far Paris' most famous monument, averages over 6 million visitors per year. ] is a major tourist attraction not only for visitors to Paris, but to Europe as well, with 12.4 million visitors in ]. | |||
| ], one of the ]'s most famous treasures.]] | |||
| The ] is one of the largest and most famous museums, housing many works of art, including the '']'' (''La Joconde'') and the '']'' statue. Works by ] and ] are found in ] and ] respectively, while the ] is chronicled at the ]. Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior, the ], also known as ''Beaubourg'', houses the ]. Lastly, art and artifacts from the ] and ] eras are kept in ] and ] respectively, the former with the prized tapestry cycle '']''. | |||
| Many of Paris' once-popular local establishments have metamorphised into a parody of French culture, in a form catering to the tastes and expectations of tourist capital. The ] cabaret-dancehall, for example, is a staged dinner theatre spectacle, a dance display that was once but one aspect of the cabaret's former atmosphere. All of the establishment's former social or cultural elements, such as its ballrooms and gardens, are gone today. Much of Paris' hotel, restaurant and night entertainment trades have become heavily dependent on tourism, with results not always positive for Parisian culture. | |||
| <!-- activate with tourism section {| border="0" align="right" cellpadding="1px" style="border: 1px solid #999; background-color:#FFFFFF; font-size:80%; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px" | |||
| ! colspan=2 align="center" style="background-color:#cccccc;font-weight:bold;"| Tourist attractions by visitor numbers (2004)<ref name="tourism>{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.ortif.info/documents/uploaded/CC2005.pdf#5| title="Chiffres clés du tourisme 2004 en Île-de-France"| first=(ORTIF)| last=Observatoire Régional du Tourisme d'Ile-de-France| accessdate=2006-04-10| format=PDF}}</ref> | |||
| |- | |||
| | ] ] ||12,800,000 | |||
| |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | ] ||12,400,000 | |||
| |- | |||
| | ] || 8,000,000 | |||
| |-bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | ] || 6,600,398 | |||
| |- | |||
| | ] || 6,229,993 | |||
| |-bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | ] || 5,368,548 | |||
| |- | |||
| | ] || 3,300,200 | |||
| |-bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | ],<br />] || 2,795,000 | |||
| |- | |||
| | ] || 2,590,316 | |||
| |-bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | ] || 1,800,000<ref name="parc_asterix>{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://cultureetloisirs.france2.fr/loisirs/9729459-fr.php| title="Ouverture du Parc Astérix pour sa 17e saison"| first=France 2| last=Culture et Loisirs| accessdate=2006-04-10}}</ref> | |||
| |} --> | |||
| ===Sports=== | |||
| Paris's main sport clubs are the ] club ], the ] team ] and the ] club ]. The 80,000-seat ] was built for the ] and is used for football and rugby union, and is used annually for ]'s home matches of the ] and sometimes for big matches for the Stade Français rugby team. ] (who now play in ]) is another rugby team, which actually contested the first ever final against Stade Français in 1892. Paris also hosted the ] and ] Olympic Games and was venue for the ] and ] ]s. | |||
| Although the starting point and the route of the famous ] varies each year, the final stage always finishes in Paris and since 1975, the race has finished on the Champs-Elysées. ] is another popular sport in Paris and throughout France. The ], held every year on the red clay of the '']'' National Tennis Center near the ''Bois de Boulogne'', is one of the four '']'' events of the world professional tennis tour. The ] between ] and ] was played in the ]. Paris will host this years' ] final at Stade de France on ], ]. | |||
| ==Economy== | |||
| {{main|Economy of Paris}} | |||
| ], the financial district of Paris.]] | |||
| ].]] | |||
| With a ] ] of €478.7 billion<ref name="idf_gdp">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docs_ffc/PIB_reg.xls| title="Produits intérieurs bruts régionaux en valeur de 1990 à 2005"|first=Government of France| last=INSEE| format=XLS| accessdate=2006-09-12}}</ref> (US$595.3 billion),<ref name="PPP">At real exchange rates, not at ]</ref> the Paris Area has one of the the highest GDPs in Europe, making it an engine of the global economy: if it were a country, it would rank as the sixteenth largest economy in the world.<ref name="gdp_rank">{{en icon}} {{cite web| url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf| title="Total GDP 2005"|first=World Bank|format=PDF| accessdate=2006-09-12}}</ref> The Paris Region is thus France's premier centre of economic activity: while its population accounted for 18.7% of the total population of ] in 2005,<ref name="idf_pop_2005">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifcle_fiche.asp?ref_id=CMRSOS02138&tab_id=471| title="Estimations de la population des régions au 1er janvier "| first=Government of France| last=INSEE|accessdate=2006-09-12}}</ref> its GDP was about 28.5% that of metropolitan France.<ref name="idf_gdp">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docs_ffc/PIB_reg.xls| title="Produits intérieurs bruts régionaux en valeur de 1990 à 2005"|first=Government of France| last=INSEE| format=XLS| accessdate=2006-09-12}}</ref> Activity in the Paris metropolitan area, though diverse, has not found a specialization such as Los Angeles with entertainment industries or London and New York with financial industries. In recent decades, however, the Paris economy has been shifting towards high value-added service industries (finance, IT services, etc.) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics, optics, aerospace, etc.). | |||
| The Paris Region's most intense economic activity through the central ] ] and suburban ] business district places Paris' economic centre to the west of the city, in a triangle between the ], ] and the ]. Paris' administrative borders have little consequences on the limits of its economic activity: although most workers commute from the suburbs to work in the city, many commute from the city to work in the suburbs. At the 1999 census, 47.5% of the 5,089,170 people in employment in the ] (including commuter belt) worked in the city of Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine ''département'', while only 31.5% worked exclusively in Paris{{Fact|date=January 2007}}. <!-- hard to define the purpose of this last phrase - selective, and of little informative value - only these regions matter? If so, why? Few will know where Hauts-de-Seine is offhand. To fix --> | |||
| Although the Paris economy is largely dominated by ]s, it remains an important manufacturing powerhouse of Europe, especially in industrial sectors such as automobiles, aeronautics, and electronics. Over recent decades, the local economy has moved towards high value-added activities, in particular business services. | |||
| The 1999 census indicated that of the 5,089,170 persons employed in the Paris ], 16.5% worked in business services, 13.0% in commerce (] and wholesale trade), 12.3% in manufacturing, 10.0% in ]s and ], 8.7% in ] services, 8.2% in ] and ]s, 6.6% in ], and the remaining 24.7% in many other economic sectors. Among the ] sector, the largest employers were the ] and ] industry (17.9% of the total manufacturing workforce in 1999) and the ] and ] industry (14.0% of the total manufacturing workforce), with the remaining 68.1% of the manufacturing workforce distributed among many other industries. ] and tourist related services employ 6.2% of Paris' workforce, and 3.6% of all workers within the ].<ref name="workforce">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/insee_regions/idf/rfc/docs/alapage234.pdf| title="Les emplois dans les activités liées au tourisme: un sur quatre en Ile-de-France"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-04-10| format=PDF}}</ref> | |||
| == Demography == | |||
| {| border="0" style="border: 1px solid #999; background-color:#ffffff;width:310px;clear:right;font-size:90%;line-height:130%;margin-left:8px;" align="right" | |||
| |+ '''Demographics within the Paris Region'''<br /><small>''(according to the INSEE 2005 estimates)''</small> | |||
| |- bgcolor=#fbfbfb | |||
| | colspan="5"|] | |||
| |- bgcolor=#cccccc | |||
| | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;font-size:105%;"| Ile-de-France ''départements'' | |||
| |- bgcolor=#BDBBD7 style="color:#000080;text-align:center;font-size:105%;" | |||
| |style="padding:3px;"| '''Areas'''||style="padding:3px;"|'''Population'''</br><small>2005 est.</small> ||style="padding:3px;"|'''Area'''<br /><small>(km²)</small>||style="padding:3px;"|'''Density'''<br /><small>(/km²)</small>||style="padding:5px;white-space:nowrap;"|'''1999-2005'''</br>'''pop. growth''' | |||
| |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | '''City of Paris'''<br /><small> (] '''75''')</small>|| align=right | 2,153,600 || align=right | 105|| align=right | 20,433|| align=right | +1.33% | |||
| |- bgcolor=#fbfbfb | |||
| | style="white-space:nowrap;"|'''Inner ring''' <br /><small>''(Petite Couronne)'' <br />(''Depts.'' ], ], ])</small>|| align=right | 4,254,600 || align=right | 657 || align=right | 6,477 || align=right | +5.34% | |||
| |- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | style="white-space:nowrap;"|'''Outer ring''' <br /><small>''(Grande Couronne)'' <br />(''Depts.'' ], ], ], ])</small>|| align=right | 4,991,100 || align=right | 11,249 || align=right | 426 || align=right | +4.25% | |||
| |- bgcolor=#fbfbfb | |||
| | ''']'''<br /><small>''(entire ])''</small>|| align=right | 11,399,300 || align=right | 12,011 || align=right | 949 || align=right | +4.08% | |||
| |- bgcolor=#cccccc | |||
| | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;font-size:105%;"| Statistical Growth (INSEE 1999 census) | |||
| |- bgcolor=#BDBBD7 style="color:#000080;text-align:center;font-size:105%;" | |||
| |style="padding:3px;"| '''Areas'''||style="padding:3px;"|'''Population'''</br><small>1999 census</small> ||style="padding:3px;"|'''Area'''<br /><small>(km²)</small>||style="padding:3px;"|'''Density'''<br /><small>(/km²)</small>||style="padding:5px;white-space:nowrap;"|'''1990-1999'''</br>'''pop. growth''' | |||
| |-bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | |||
| | ''']'''<br /><small>''(Paris ])'' </small>|| align=right | 9,644,507 || align=right | 2,723|| align=right | 3,542|| align=right | +1.85% | |||
| |- bgcolor=#fbfbfb | |||
| | ''']'''<br /><small>''(Paris ])''</small> || align=right | 11,174,743 || align=right | 14,518|| align=right | 770|| align=right | +2.90% | |||
| |} | |||
| {{main|Demographics of Paris}} | |||
| The population of the city of Paris was 2,125,246 at the 1999 ], lower than its historical peak of 2.9 million in 1921{{Fact|date=January 2007}}. The city's population loss mirrors the experience of most other core cities in the developed world that have not expanded their boundaries. The principal factors in the loss were a significant decline in household size, and a dramatic outmigration of residents to the suburbs between 1962 and 1975. Factors in the outmigration included de-industrialisation, high rent, the ] of many inner quarters, the transformation of living space into offices and improved affluence among working families. The city's population loss was one of the most severe among international municipalities and the largest for any that had achieved more than 2,000,000 residents. These losses are generally seen as a negative for the city; the city administration is trying to reverse them with some success, as the population estimate of July 2004 shows a population increase for the first time since 1954 reaching a total of 2,144,700 inhabitants. | |||
| ===Density=== | |||
| Paris is the most densely populated city of more than 1,000,000 population in the ]{{Fact|date=May 2007}}. Its density, excluding the outlying woodland parks of ] and ], was 24,448 inh. per km² (63,321 inh. per sq. mile) in 1999 official census. | |||
| Paris' most sparsely populated quarters are its western and central office and administration-charged '']s''. The city's population is at its densest in its north and east arrondissements; its ] had a density of 40,672/km² (105,339/sq. mile) in 1999, and some of the same arrondissement's eastern quarters showed densities close to 100,000/km² (260,000/sq. mile) the same year. | |||
| ''See the article ]''. | |||
| ===The Paris agglomeration=== | |||
| The city of Paris is much smaller than its urban area and metropolitan area. At present, the city's ] (agglomeration) fills a ring of Paris' three neighbouring '']'' - also known as ''petite couronne'' ("small ring") - and extends into an "outer ring" of four ''grande couronne'' '']'' beyond. These eight ] together complete the ] '']''. | |||
| The Paris agglomeration or ] ('']'') covers 2,723 km² (1,051.4 mi²),<ref name="UU_superficie">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/insee_regions/idf/zoom/chif_cles/uu99/fuu9900851.htm| title="Chiffres-Clefs - Unité Urbaine - Paris"| accessdate=2006-05-28| format=HTML}}</ref> or about 26 times larger than the city of Paris. Beyond this, the ''couronne peri-urbaine'' commuter belt region reaches well beyond the limits of the ] '']'', and combined with the Paris agglomeration, completes a ] ('']'') covering 14,518 km² (5,605.5 mi²) {{Fact|date=January 2007}}, or an area about 138 times that of Paris itself. | |||
| ]s of the ] at right.]] | |||
| The Paris agglomeration has shown a steady rate of growth since the end of the late 16th-century ], save brief setbacks during the ] and ]{{Fact|date=January 2007}}. Suburban development has accelerated in recent years, as with an estimated total of 11.4 million inhabitants for 2005, the ] '']'' shows a rate of growth double that of the 1990s.<ref name="99_05">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docs_ffc/IP061058.pdf| title="Enquêtes annuelles de recensement 2004 et 2005"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-04-10| format=PDF}}</ref><ref name="90_99">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docs_ffc/IP1000.pdf| title="Enquêtes annuelles de recensement: premiers résultats de la collecte 2004"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-04-10| format=PDF}}</ref> | |||
| ===Immigration=== | |||
| <!-- ] --> | |||
| French censuses, by law, ask no questions regarding ethnicity or religion, but do gather information concerning country of birth. From this it is still possible to determine that the Paris metropolitan area is one of the most multi-cultural in Europe: at the 1999 census, 19.4% of its total population was born outside of ].<ref name="foreign born">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/wr_page.affiche?p_id_nivgeo=M&p_id_loca=001&p_id_princ=MIG3&p_theme=ALL&p_typeprod=ALL&p_langue=FR| title="Aire urbaine 99 : Paris - Migrations (caractère socio-économique selon le lieu de naissance)"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-07-06}}</ref> At the same census, 4.2% of the Paris metropolitan area's population were recent immigrants (i.e people who migrated to France between the 1990 and 1999 censuses),<ref name="recent migrants">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/wr_page.affiche?p_id_nivgeo=M&p_id_loca=001&p_id_princ=MIG2&p_theme=ALL&p_typeprod=ALL&p_langue=FR| title="Aire urbaine 99 : Paris - Migrations (caractère démographique selon le lieu de résidence au 01/01/90)"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-07-06}}</ref> in their majority from ] and ].<ref name="current immigration">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifcle_fiche.asp?tab_id=498| title="Flux d'immigration permanente par motif en 2003"| first=Government of France| last=INSEE| accessdate=2006-06-25}}</ref> | |||
| The first wave of international migration to Paris started as early as in 1820 with the arrivals of German peasants fleeing the agricultural crisis in Germany. Several waves of immigration followed continuously until today: Italians and central European Jews during the 19th century; Russians after the ]; colonial citizens during ] and later; Poles between the two world wars; Spaniards, Portuguese and North Africans from the 1950s to the 1970s; North African Jews after the independence of those countries; Africans and Asians since then.<ref name="past immigration">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.histoire-immigration.fr/index.php?lg=fr&nav=14&flash=0| title="Histoire de l'immigration en France"| first=Cité Nationale de l'Histoire de l'Immigration| accessdate=2006-06-25}}</ref> The majority of these today are naturalised French without any distinction, in the name of the French Republic principle of equality among its citizens. | |||
| == Administration == | |||
| ===Capital of France=== | |||
| Paris is the capital of France, and therefore is the seat of France's national government. | |||
| For the executive, the two chief officers each have their own official residences, which also serve as their offices. ] resides at the ] in the '']'', while the ]'s seat is at the ] in the '']''. Government ministries are located in various parts of the city - many are located in the '']'', near the Matignon. | |||
| The two houses of the French Parliament are also located on the ]. The upper house, the ], meets in the ] in the '']'', while the more important lower house, the '']'', meets in the ] in the ''VIIe''. The ], the second highest public official in France after the President of the Republic, resides in the "Petit Luxembourg", a smaller palace annex to the ]. | |||
| France's highest courts are located in Paris. The ], the highest court in the judicial order, which tries most criminal and civil cases, is located in the ] on the '']'', while the ], which provides legal advice to the executive and acts as the highest court in the administrative order, judging litigation against public bodies, is located in the ] in the '']''. | |||
| The ], which is an advisory body which is the ultimate authority on the constitutionality of laws and government decrees, also meets in the ]. | |||
| ===City government=== | |||
| ] | |||
| {{main|Paris mayors|Arrondissements of Paris}} | |||
| Paris has been a '']'' (municipality) since ] (and also briefly between 1790 and ]). At the 1790 division (during the ]) of France into communes, and again in 1834, Paris was a city only half its modern size, but in 1860 it annexed bordering communes, some entirely, to create the new administrative map of twenty '']'' the city still has today. These municipal subdivisions describe a clockwise spiral outward from its most central ]. | |||
| In 1790, Paris became the '']'' (seat) of the ] '']'', which covered much of the Paris region. In ], it was split into four smaller ones: the city of Paris became a distinct ''département'' of its own, retaining the Seine's departmental number of 75 (originating from the Seine ''département'''s position in France's alphabetical list), while three new ''départements'' of ], ] and ] were created and given the numbers 92, 93 and 94 respectively. The result of this division is that today Paris's limits as a ''département'' are exactly those of its limits as a ''commune'', a situation unique in France. | |||
| ===Municipal offices=== | |||
| Each of Paris's 20 arrondissements has a directly-elected council (''conseil d'arrondissement''), which in turn elects an arrondissement mayor. A selection of members from each arrondissement council form the ] (''conseil de Paris''), which in turn elects the ]. | |||
| ].]]In ] times Paris was governed by a merchant-elected municipality whose head was the ]: in addition to regulating city commerce, the provost of the merchants was responsible for some civic duties such as the guarding of city walls and the cleanliness of city streets. The creation of the ] from the 13th century diminished the merchant Provost's responsibilities and powers considerably: a direct representative of the king, in a role resembling somewhat the ''préfet'' of later years, the Provost of Paris oversaw the application and execution of law and order in the city and its surrounding ''prévôté'' (county). Many functions from both provost offices were transferred to the office of the crown-appointed ] upon its creation in ]. | |||
| Paris' last '']'' was assassinated the afternoon of the ] ] uprising that was the ] ]. Paris became an official "commune" from the creation of the administrative division on December 14 the same year, and its provisional "Paris commune" revolutionary municipality was replaced with the city's first municipal constitution and government from October 9, 1790.<ref name="1790_municipality">{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762%28190501%2910%3A2%3C280%3AIAGIPI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V&size=LARGE| title="Improvising a Government in Paris in July 1789"| accessdate=2006-09-14| format=HTML}}</ref> Through the turmoil of the ] ], it became apparent that revolutionary Paris's political independence was a threat to any governing power: the office of mayor was abolished the same year, and its municipal council one year later. | |||
| Although the municipal council was recreated in ], Paris spent most of the 19th and 20th centuries, along with the larger ] '']'' of which it was a centre, under the direct control of the State-appointed '']'' of the Seine, in charge of general affairs there; the state-appointed ] was in charge of police in the same jurisdiction. Paris, save for a few brief occasions, would have no mayor until ], and the Paris Prefecture of Police is still under state control today. | |||
| Despite its double existence as ''commune'' and ''département'', Paris has a unique council to governing both; the Council of Paris, presided by the mayor of Paris, meets either as a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') or as a departmental council (''conseil général'') depending on the issue to be debated. | |||
| Paris' modern administrative organisation still retains some traces of the former Seine ''département'' jurisdiction. The '']'' (also directing Paris' fire brigades), for example, has still a jurisdiction extending to Paris' ''petite couronne'' of bordering three ''départements'' for some operations such as fire protection or rescue operations, and is still directed by France's national government. Paris has no municipal police force, although it does have its own brigade of traffic wardens. | |||
| ] | |||
| ===Capital of the Île-de-France ''région''=== | |||
| As part of a 1961 nation-wide administrative effort to consolidate regional economies, Paris as a '']'' became the capital of the new '']'' of the District of Paris, renamed the ] '']'' in 1976. It encompasses the Paris ''département'' and its seven closest ''départements''. Its regional council members, since 1986, have been chosen by direct elections. The prefect of the Paris ''département'' (who served as the prefect of the Seine ''département'' before 1968) is also prefect of the Île-de-France ''région'', although the office lost much of its power following the creation of the office of mayor of Paris in 1977. | |||
| ===Intercommunality=== | |||
| Few of the above changes have taken into account Paris's existence as an ]. Unlike in most of France's major urban areas such as ] and ], there is no ] entity in the Paris urban area, no intercommunal council treating the problems of the region's dense urban core as a whole; Paris's alienation of its suburbs is indeed a problem today, and considered by many to be the main causes of civil unrest such as suburban riots in 2005. A direct result of these unfortunate events were propositions for a more efficient metropolitan structure to cover the city of Paris and some of the suburbs, ranging from a socialist idea of a loose "metropolitan conference" (''conférence métropolitaine'') to the right-wing idea of a more integrated ''Grand Paris'' ("Greater Paris"). | |||
| ==Education== | |||
| Emperor ] from the early ] mandated all churches to give lessons in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to their parishes, and cathedrals a higher education in the finer arts of language, physics, ] and ]. It was from then that Paris, already one of France's major cathedral towns, began its rise to fame as a scholastic centre. By the early 13th century the ] ] cathedral school had many famous teachers, and the controversial teachings of some of these was behind the creation of a separate Left-Bank ] University that would be the centre of Paris' scholastic ] best represented by the ] university. | |||
| Twelve centuries later, education in Paris and the Paris region (] '']'') employs approximately 330,000 persons, 170,000 of whom are teachers and professors teaching approximately 2.9 million children and students in around 9,000 primary, secondary, and higher education schools and institutions.<ref name="idf_education">{{fr icon}} {{cite web | author=la Préfecture de l'Île-de-France|url=http://www.idf.pref.gouv.fr/donnees/enseignement.htm| title=l'enseignement | format=] | accessdate=2006-07-16}}</ref> | |||
| ===Primary and secondary education=== | |||
| {{Expand-section|date=January 2007}} | |||
| Paris is home to several of France's most prestigious high-schools such as ] and ]. | |||
| Other high-schools of international renown in the Paris area include the ] and the ] | |||
| ===Higher education=== | |||
| As of the academic year 2004-2005, the ]'s 17 public universities, with its 359,749 registered students,<ref name=StudentNumbers>{{en icon}} {{cite web | author=| last=Paris – Île-de-France Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, IAURIF, ] Île-de-France| year=2006 | url=http://www.paris-iledefrance.cci.fr/pdf/eco_regionale/chiffres_cles/2006/anglais/cc_2006_en_15-21.pdf| title=Paris Region : key figures 2006 | format=] | accessdate=2006-07-04}}</ref> is the largest concentration of university students in Europe.<ref name=EuropeanStudents>{{fr icon}} {{cite web | author=Céline Rozenblat, Patricia Cicille| last=Delegation for Spatial Planning and Regional Action (Datar)| year=2006 | url=http://www.diact.gouv.fr/Datar_Site/DATAR_Metropoles.nsf/76f84e7666af90b6c125655a0046b83c/30207c6b28edd873c1256e59003d0619/$FILE/Villes%20europ%C3%A9ennes.pdf | title=Les villes européennes – Analyse comparative (page 42)| format=] | accessdate=2006-07-04}}</ref> The Paris Region's prestigious '']'' and scores of university-independent private and public schools have an additional 240,778 registered students, that together with the university population creates a grand total of 600,527 students in higher education that year.<ref name=StudentNumbers>{{en icon}} {{cite web | author=| last=Paris – Île-de-France Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, IAURIF, ] Île-de-France| year=2006 | url=http://www.paris-iledefrance.cci.fr/pdf/eco_regionale/chiffres_cles/2006/anglais/cc_2006_en_15-21.pdf| title=Paris Region : key figures 2006 | format=] | accessdate=2006-07-04}}</ref> | |||
| ====Universities==== | |||
| ''Historical article: ]'' | |||
| Paris ] was the first center of higher education before the creation of the University of Paris. The ''universitas'', a corporation status granting teachers (and their students) the right to rule themselves independently from crown law and taxes, was chartered by King ] in 1200. Many classes then were held in open air. Non-Parisian students and teachers would stay in hostels, or "colleges", created for the ''boursiers'' coming from afar. Already famous by the 13th century, the University of Paris had students from all of Europe. Paris's ] ] centre, or "]" as classes were taught in Latin then, would eventually regroup around the college created by ] from ], the ]. The University of Paris in the 19th century had six faculties: law, science, medicine, pharmaceutical studies, literature and theology. | |||
| The ] in Paris, in an effort to disperse the centralised student body, resulted in a near total reform of the University of Paris. The following year, the formerly unique University of Paris was split between thirteen autonomous universities ("Paris I" to "Paris XIII") located throughout the City of Paris and its suburbs. Each of these universities inherited only some of the departments of the old University of Paris, and are not generalist universities. Paris I, II, V and X, inherited the Law School; Paris V inherited the School of Medicine as well; Paris VI and VII inherited the scientific departments; etc. | |||
| In 1991, four more universities were created in the suburbs of Paris, reaching a total of seventeen public universities for the Paris (]) '']''. These new universities were given names (based on the name of the suburb in which they are located) and not numbers like the previous thirteen: ], ], ] and ]. | |||
| In Paris there is also the ]-speaking ], department of ]'s ], as well as the ], a private higher education institution; and the ]. | |||
| ====Grandes écoles==== | |||
| The Paris region hosts France's highest concentration of '']'', or prestigious centres of higher specialised education outside the public university structure. Note that the prestigious public universities are usually considered '']''. Most of the ''grandes écoles'' were relocated to the suburbs of Paris in the 1960s and 1970s, in new campuses much larger than the old campuses within the crowded City of Paris, though the ] has remained on rue d'Ulm in the ]. The Paris area has a high number of engineering schools, led by the prestigious Paris Institute of Technology (]) which is composed of several colleges such as the famous '']'', '']'', and '']'', forming future actors of France's engineering and industry. Business schools are also many, including world-famous ], ], ], and ]. Although Paris' former elite administrative school ] was relocated to ], the famous political science school ] is still located in Paris' ] ]. | |||
| ''See also: ]'' | |||
| ==Infrastructure== | |||
| ] trains with service to ], ] and ]]] | |||
| ], ]]] | |||
| ===Transport=== | |||
| {{main|Transport in Paris|Transport in France}} | |||
| {{seealso|List of railway stations in Paris}} | |||
| Paris's role as a centre of international trade and tourism has brought its transportation system many embellishments over the past centuries, and its development is still progressing at a rapid pace today. Only in the past few decades Paris has become the center of an autoroute system, high-speed train network and, through its two major airports, a hub of international air travel. | |||
| The public transit networks of the Paris region are coordinated by the Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France<ref name="stif>{{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.stif-idf.fr| title="Le web des voyageurs franciliens"| first=(STIF)| last=Syndicat des Transports d'Ile-de-France| accessdate=2006-04-10}}</ref> (STIF), formerly ''Syndicat des transports parisiens'' (STP). Members of the syndicate include the ], which operates the Parisian and some suburban buses, the Métro, and sections of the RER; the ], which operates the suburban rail lines and the other sections of the RER ; and other private operators managing some suburban bus lines. | |||
| The ] is one of Paris' most important methods of transportation. The system comprises 16 lines, identified by numbers from 1 to 14, with two minor lines, 3bis and 7bis, numbered thus because they used to be branches of their respective original lines and only later became independent. In October 1998, the new ] was inaugurated after a 70-year hiatus in inaugurating fully new métro lines. | |||
| There are two tangential ] lines in the suburbs: Line T1 runs from ] to ], line T2 runs from ] to ]. A third line, in the city proper, T-3, between Pont du Garigliano and Porte d'Ivry, along the southern inner orbital road opened for use on ], ]. | |||
| Paris is served by two principal airports: ], which is south of Paris, and the ] in nearby ], one of the busiest in Europe. A third and much smaller airport, at the town of ], 70 km (45 mi) to the north of the city, is used by charter and low-cost airlines. ] nowadays only hosts business jets, air trade shows and the aerospace museum. | |||
| Paris is a central hub of the national rail network of high-speed (]) and normal (]) trains. Six major railway stations, ], ], ], ], ], and ] connect this train network to the world famous and highly efficient ] network, with 380 stations connected by 221.6km of rails. Because of the short distance between stations on the Métro network, lines were too slow to be extended further in the suburbs as is the case in most other cities. As such, an additional express network, known as the ], has been created since the ] to connect more distant parts of the conurbation. | |||
| The city is also the hub of France's ] network, and is surrounded by three orbital freeways: the ] which follows the approximate path of 19th-century fortifications around Paris, the ] motorway in the inner suburbs, and finally the '']'' motorway, also known as the ] (north) and N104 (south) (and N184), in the outer suburbs. Paris has an extensive road network with over 2000 kilometres of major roads and highways. By road Brussels can be reached in three hours, Frankfurt in 6 hours and Barcelona in 12 hours. | |||
| ===Water and sanitation=== | |||
| ]]] | |||
| Paris in its early history had only the Seine and Bièvre rivers for water. Later forms of irrigation were: a first-century Roman aqueduct from southerly Wissous (later left to ruin); sources from the Right bank hills from the late 11th century; from the 15th-century an aqueduct built roughly along the path of the first; finally, from 1809, the ] began providing Paris with water from less polluted rivers away from the Capital. Paris would only have its first constant and plentiful source of drinkable water from the late 19th-century: from 1857, under ]'s ] ], the civil engineer ] oversaw the construction of a series of new aqueducts that would bring sources from distant locations to reservoirs built in the highest points of the Capital. The new sources became Paris' principal source of drinking water, and the remains of the old system, pumped into lower levels of the same reservoirs, were from then dedicated to the cleaning of Paris' streets. This system is still a major part of Paris' modern water supply network. | |||
| Paris has over 2,400 km of underground passageways<ref name="sewers"> {{fr icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.fr/portail/Environnement/Portal.lut?page_id=1313&document_type_id=5&document_id=2158&portlet_id=3139|title="Les égouts parisiens"|accessdate=2006-05-15}} </ref> dedicated to the evacuation of Paris' liquid wastes. Most of these even today date from the late 19th century, a result of the combined plans of the ] ] and the civil engineer ] to improve the then very unsanitary conditions in the Capital. Maintained by a round-the-clock service since their construction, only a small percentage of Paris' sewer ''réseau'' has needed complete renovation. The entire Paris network of sewers and collectors has been managed since the late 20th century by a computerised network system, known under the acronym "G.A.AS.PAR", that controls all of Paris' water distribution, even the flow of the river Seine through the capital. | |||
| ==International Relations== | |||
| {{Infobox World Heritage Site | |||
| | WHS = Paris, Banks of the Seine | |||
| | Image = | |||
| | State Party = {{FRA}} | |||
| | Type = Cultural | |||
| | Criteria = i, ii, iv | |||
| | ID = 600 | |||
| | Region = ] | |||
| | Year = 1991 | |||
| | Session = 15th | |||
| | Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/600 | |||
| }} | |||
| The following places are ] to Paris:<ref name="official_Special_partners_of_Paris">{{en icon}} {{cite web| url=http://www.paris.fr/en/city_government/international/special_partners.asp | author=www.paris.fr |title=International relations : special partners| accessdate=2006-10-25| format=HTML}}</ref> | |||
| '''Twin city''': | |||
| * {{flagicon|Italy}} ], ], ] | |||
| '''Partner cities''' | |||
| {| | |||
| | valign="top" | | |||
| * {{flagicon|Algeria}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Jordan}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Greece}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|China}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Lebanon}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Germany}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Egypt}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|USA}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Switzerland}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Indonesia}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Japan}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Portugal}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|UK}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Spain}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Mexico}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Canada}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Russia}} ], ], ] | |||
| | valign="top" | | |||
| * {{flagicon|Czech Republic}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Pakistan}} ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Canada}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Saudi Arabia}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Russia}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Yemen}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Brazil}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|USA}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Chile}} ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|South Korea}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Bulgaria}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Australia}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Georgia}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Japan}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Poland}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|USA}} ], ], ] | |||
| * {{flagicon|Armenia}} ], ], ] | |||
| |} | |||
| '''Other''': | |||
| * {{flagicon|UK}} ], ] claims to be twinned with Paris. | |||
| == See also == | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist|2}} | |||
| ==Bibliography== | |||
| '''History'''<br /> | |||
| * {{fr icon}} {{cite book| last=Favier| first=Jean| title=Paris| publisher=Fayard | year=April 23, 1997| id=ISBN 2-213-59874-6}} | |||
| * {{fr icon}} {{cite book| last=Hillairet| first=Jacques| title=Connaissance du Vieux Paris| publisher=Rivages| year=April 22, 2005| id=ISBN 2-86930-648-2}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| <!-- links to official and standard-reference sites only please. --> | |||
| {{sisterlinks|Paris}} | |||
| * {{en icon}} | |||
| * {{en icon}} | |||
| * {{en icon}} | |||
| * {{en icon}} | |||
| * {{wikitravel}} | |||
| * | |||
| <!-- links to official and standard-reference sites only please. --> | |||
| {{Geolinks-cityscale|48.8667|2.3331}} | |||
| <!-- start of navigation templates, do not insert blank lines --> | |||
| {{Paris Metropolitan Area}} | |||
| {{Préfectures of departments of France}} | |||
| {{Prefectures of regions of France}} | |||
| {{Departments of France}} | |||
| {{World Heritage Sites in France}} | |||
| {{European Capital of Culture}} | |||
| {{Capital cities of the European Union}} | |||
| {{Olympic Summer Games Host Cities}} | |||
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