Paris (city)

Paris (city) (pop. 2,175,200), capital and largest city of France, in the north-central part of the country. World-famous for its beauty, historic importance, and social, intellectual, and cultural life, Paris is a major transportation center and France's chief industrial hub. In the city itself, tourism, fashion, and service industries predominate. Heavier industry (chiefly automobile manufacturing) is based farther out in the metropolitan area. The city, made up of 20 arrondissements (boroughs), is divided by the Seine River, which flows 110 mi (177 km) northwest to the English Channel; 30 city bridges span the river. Its left (southern) bank is home to government offices and much of the intellectual community. Landmarks here include the Sorbonne, the Panthéon, the Luxembourg Palace, and the well-known Latin Quarter. The right bank, with its fashionable streets and shops, is the site of the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Sacré Coeur, and Place de la Concorde. In the middle of the Seine, on the Île de la Cité, is the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and the Palais de Justice. The island was inhabited by Gauls when Caesar set up a colony at this important crossroads in 52 B.C. In the early 6th century, the Frankish King Clovis I made Paris his capital. It became a national capital in 987 when Huge Capet, count of Paris, became king of France. The city flourished during medieval times as a center of commerce and scholasticism, but suffered greatly during the Hundred Years War. Following the French Revolution (1789) much of Paris was rebuilt, most characteristically during Napoleon III's reign (1852–70), when Georges Haussmann constructed the parks, wide avenues, and tree-lined boulevards. Growth was interrupted (1870–1) by the Franco-Prussian War and the conflict over the Paris Commune. German occupation during World War II (1940–44) inflicted little damage.