History of Paris

Roman Republic 52–27 BC
Roman Empire 27 BC–AD 395
Western Roman Empire 395–476
Kingdom of Soissons 476–486
Francia 486–843
West Francia 843–987
Kingdom of France 987–1792
French First Republic 1792–1804
First French Empire 1804–1814
Kingdom of France 1814–1815
First French Empire 1815
Kingdom of France 1815–1830
July Monarchy 1830–1848
French Second Republic 1848–1852
Second French Empire 1852–1870
French Third Republic 1870–1871
Paris Commune 1871
French Third Republic 1871-1940
Military Administration in France 1940–1944
∟ part of German-occupied Europe from 1940 to 1944
Provisional Government of the French Republic 1944–1946
French Fourth Republic 1946–1958
French Fifth Republic 1958–present

The oldest traces of human occupation in Paris date from about 8000 BC, during the Mesolithic period. Between 250 and 225 BC, the Parisii settled on the banks of the Seine, built bridges and a fort, minted coins, and began to trade with other river settlements in Europe. In 52 BC, a Roman army led by Titus Labienus defeated the Parisii and established a Gallo-Roman garrison town called Lutetia. The town was Christianised in the 3rd century AD, and after the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was occupied by Clovis I, the King of the Franks, who made it his capital in 508.

During the Middle Ages, Paris was the largest city in Europe, an important religious and commercial centre, and the birthplace of the Gothic style of architecture. The University of Paris on the Left Bank, organised in the mid-13th century, was one of the first in Europe. It suffered from the Bubonic Plague in the 14th century and the Hundred Years' War in the 15th century, with recurrence of the plague. Between 1418 and 1436, the city was occupied by the Burgundians and English. In the 16th century, Paris became the book-publishing capital of Europe, though it was shaken by the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants. In the 18th century, Paris was the centre of the intellectual ferment known as the Enlightenment, and the main stage of the French Revolution from 1789. In the 19th century, Napoleon embellished the city with monuments to military glory. It became the European capital of fashion and the scene of two more revolutions (in 1830 and 1848). The centre of Paris was rebuilt between 1852 and 1870 with wide new avenues, squares and new parks, and the city was expanded to its present limits in 1860. In the latter part of the century, millions of tourists came to see the Paris International Expositions and the new Eiffel Tower.

In the 20th century, Paris suffered bombardment in World War I and German occupation from 1940 until 1944 in World War II. Between the two wars, Paris was the capital of modern art and a magnet for intellectuals, writers and artists from around the world. The population reached its historic high of 2.1 million in 1921, but declined for the rest of the century. New museums (The Centre Pompidou, Musée Marmottan Monet and Musée d'Orsay) were opened, and the Louvre given its glass pyramid. In the 21st century, Paris added new museums and a new concert hall, but in 2005 it also experienced violent unrest in the housing projects in the surrounding banlieues (suburbs), inhabited largely by immigrants from France's former colonies in the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015, two deadly terrorist attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists. The population of the city declined steadily from 1921 until 2004, due to a decrease in family size and an exodus of the middle class to the suburbs; but it is increasing slowly once again, as young people and immigrants move into the city.

In 2008, archaeologists of the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) digging in the 15th arrondissement, not far from the Left Bank of the Seine, discovered the oldest human remains and traces of a hunter-gatherer settlement in Paris, dating to about 8000 BC, during the Mesolithic period.

Other more recent traces of temporary settlements had been found at Bercy in 1991, dating from around 4500–4200 BC. The excavations at Bercy found the fragments of three wooden canoes used by fishermen on the Seine, the oldest dating to 4800–4300 BC. They are now on display at the Carnavalet Museum. Excavations at the 15th arrondissement site found traces of settlements from the middle Neolithic period (4200–3500 BC); the early Bronze Age (3500–1500 BC); and the first Iron Age (800–500 BC). Hatchets made in eastern Europe were found at the Neolithic site in Bercy, showing that first Parisians were already trading with other parts of Europe.

Between 250 and 225 BC, during the Iron Age, the Parisii settled on the banks of the Seine. At the beginning of the 2nd century BC, they built an oppidum, a walled fort, whose location is disputed. It may have been on the Île de la Cité, where bridges of an important trading route crossed the Seine. In his account of the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar recorded meeting with the leaders of the Parisii on an island in the Seine. Other historians cite an absence of traces of an early Gallic settlement on the island, and believe the oppidum was actually in Nanterre, in the Paris suburbs, where vestiges of a large settlement were discovered during construction of a highway in the 1980s.

The settlement was called "Lucotocia" (according to the ancient Greek geographer Strabo) or "Leucotecia" (according to Roman geographer Ptolemy), and may have taken its name from the Celtic word lugo or luco, for a marsh or swamp. It had a strategic position on the main trade route, via the Seine and Rhône rivers, between Britain and to the Roman colony of Provence and the Mediterranean Sea. The location and the fees for crossing the bridge and passing along the river made the town prosperous, so much so that it was able to mint its own gold coins.