PARIS (FRANCE)

PARIS — The City of Light







"Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris."— Thomas Appleton (1812-84), U.S. author.
Introduction
Paris, the capital of France, is located in northern France on both banks of the Seine River, 145 km (90 mi) from the river's mouth on the English Channel. A total of 2,135,300 (2002) inhabitants live in Paris proper, and almost 11 million persons (1999) live in greater Paris (the Ile-de-France region), which is one of Europe's largest metropolitan areas. A city of world importance and the business, historic, intellectual, diplomatic, religious, educational, artistic, and tourist center of France, Paris owes its prosperity in large part to its favorable position on the Seine, which has been a major commercial artery since the Roman period.
Economy

Paris coat of arms,bearing the city's motto:Fluctuat nec mergitur("She is tossed by thewaves, but is not sunk.")© Vector-Images.com

Paris has been one of the major cities of Europe since the Middle Ages, but the development of the city as it exists today occurred in the second half of the 19th century. Its greatest growth came during a 40-year period after 1850, when the population doubled in size to more than 2 million; it reached a peak in 1921 (2,906,500), after which people began migrating away from the city. Since then, as homes have been replaced by offices in Paris proper, most of the growth has occurred in the suburbs, where a large portion of the blue-collar work force lives. Of a total of 2 million commuters, about half travel daily from the outlying areas to the city center, and half travel from central Paris to the suburbs.
The economic activities of Paris overshadow those of any other part of France in importance and complexity. About 65 percent of the nation's bank and corporate headquarters are in the city. Much of the industry in central Paris is of the small-scale craft type, based on skill and most often family owned. Many of these industries make luxury items such as perfumes, furs, gloves, jewelry, toys, clothing, wooden articles, and other high-value goods.
Book printing and publishing are major activities in central Paris. Heavier industries are situated in the suburbs. These include the manufacture of automobiles, machine tools, railroad rolling stock, electric and electronic products, chemicals, and processed foods. Construction and the production of building materials are also important. Tourism, however, is by far the city's largest source of income; it is one of Europe's leading tourist attractions.

Paris is divided into 20 unequally sized arrondissements, or districts, each with its own mayor. Each of these is again divided into four sections. Two prefects and a mayor administer the city as a whole with the assistance of a general council.
"Paris is the greatest temple ever built tomaterial joys and the lust of the eyes."— Henry James (1843-1916), U.S. novelist.
Transportation
Paris is the head of barge and ship navigation on the Seine and is the fourth most important port in France (after Marseille, Le Havre, and Dunkerque). The Loire, Rhine, Rhône, Meuse, and Scheldt rivers can be reached by canals connecting with the Seine, and a large amount of the imports and exports of the city are transported via water. Total freight carried to and from the port annually amounts to 43 million U.S. tons. Paris is also a major rail, highway, and air transportation hub. Two international airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle, as well as Le Bourget (for domestic flights), serve the city. De Gaulle ranks as the fifth busiest international airport in the world and Orly as the seventh.
The city's subway system, the Métro, was opened on July 19, 1900, its first line being from Porte de Vincennes to Porte Maillot. Engineer Fulgence Bienvenüe oversaw the construction phase, while architect Hector Guimard designed the decorative Art Nouveau entrances. The system boasts 199 km (124 miles) of track and 15 lines. There are 368 stations (not including RER stations), 87 of these being interchanges between lines. A total of 3500 cars transport roughly 6 million people per day, while the system itself employs 15,000 employees (1989 statistics). Every building in Paris is within 500 meters (3/10 mile) of a métro station. The Réseau Express Régional (RER), inaugurated in the 1960s, connects the city with its outlying suburbs.

HISTORY of 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.
Known as Lutetia (Lutece) in ancient times, 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 CAPETIANS, the city's position as the nation's capital became established. Often characterized as spirited and rebellious, the people of Paris first declared themselves an independent commune under the leadership of Etienne Marcel in 1355-58. 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 1871, during the FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR , the city was besieged for four months until France surrendered. After German troops withdrew, French radicals briefly established the COMMUNE OF 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.
Paris today maintains its importance, character, and charm, though its appearance is being transformed by structures such as the BEAUBOURG and by the ambitious grands projets building program carried out under the presidency of François Mitterrand. In addition to the La Défense arch and the Bastille Opéra, Mitterrand's projects have included the renovation of the Louvre by architect I. M. Pei, the La Villette complex on the northeastern edge of the city, and, in the southeast, the Bibliothèque de France, a great computer-age library.
Planning for Paris and the Paris Basin region includes consideration of large land areas in the Seine River valley all the way to the mouth of the river. New towns, parks, industrial locations, and expanded functions of existing towns are contemplated for this corridor on both sides of the Seine.