The History of Paris

Paris was founded towards the end of the 3rd century BC on what is now the Ile de la Cite by a tribe of Celtic Gauls known as the Parisii. Centuries of conflict between the Gauls and Romans ended in 52 BC, when Julius Caesar's legions took control of the territory. Christianity was introduced in the 2nd century AD, and Roman rule finally ended in the 5th century with the arrival of the Franks. In 508 AD, Frankish king Clovis I united Gaul as a kingdom and made Paris the capital, naming it after the original Parisii tribe.

Clovis I, King of the Franks

Paris prospered during the Middle Ages: In the 12th century, construction began on the cathedral of Notre Dame (work continued for nearly 200 years), while the Marais area north of the Seine was drained and settled to become what's known today as the Right Bank. The Sorbonne (university) opened its doors in 1253, the beautiful Sainte Chapelle was consecrated in 1248 and the Louvre got its start as a riverside fortress around 1200.

Scandinavian Vikings (also known as Norsemen, or Normans) began raiding France's western coast in the 9th century; after three centuries of conflict, they started to push toward Paris. These conflicts gave birth to the Hundred Years War between Norman England and Paris' Capetian dynasty, eventually resulting in the French defeat at Agincourt in 1415 and English control of Paris in 1420. In 1429, a 17-year-old girl named Jeanne d'Arc re-rallied the French troops to defeat the English at Orleans, and, with the exception of the Calais area, the English were expelled from France in 1453.

The Renaissance moved Paris forward at the end of the 1400's, and many of the city's signature buildings and monuments sprang up during this period. By the late 16th century Paris was again up in arms, this time in the name of religion. Clashes between the Huguenot Protestants and the Catholics sank to their darkest levels in 1572 with the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 3,000 Huguenots who were in in town to celebrate the wedding of Henri of Navarre (King Henri IV).

Portrait of Louis XIV as a young man.

Louis XIV (the Sun King), ascended to the throne in 1643 at the tender age of five and held the crown until 1715. During his reign, the national treasury was almost bankrupted due to aggressive wars abroad and ever more colossal spending at home. His most tangible legacy is the palace at Versailles, 23km (15 miles) south-west of Paris. The excesses of his great grandson Louis XVI and his capricious queen, Marie-Antoinette, led to an uprising of Parisians on July 14th, 1789. Parisians stormed the Bastille prison, kick-starting the French Revolution. Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded at what is now known Place De La Concorde four years later at the height of the revolution.

The populist ideals of the revolution's early stages quickly gave way to what became known as the Reign of Terror, wherein even a few of the original "patriots" got uncomfortably cosy with Madame la Guillotine. The unstable post-revolution government was consolidated in 1799 under a young Corsican general, Napoleon Bonaparte, who adopted the title First Consul. In 1804, the Pope crowned him Emperor of the French, and Napoleon proceeded to sweep most of Europe under his thumb. Napoleon's hunger for conquest led to his eventual defeat, first in Russia in 1812 and later at Waterloo, Belgium in 1815. Napoleon's legacy however was not one of defeat as the modern French legal system is based on his approach to government and many monuments such as the massive Arc de Triomphe were built as a result of his leadership.

Following Napoleon's exile after his final defeat at Waterloo, France faltered under a string of mostly inept rulers until a coup d'etat in 1851 brought a new emperor to power, Napoleon's nephew, Napoleon III. During the 17 years of his rule, he oversaw the construction of a flashy new Paris, with wide boulevards, sculptured parks and - not insignificantly - a modern sewer system. Like his namesake uncle, however, this Napoleon and his penchant for pugnacity led to a costly and eventually unsuccessful war, this time with the Prussians in 1870. When news of their emperor's capture by the enemy reached Paris the masses took to the streets, demanding that a republic be created. Despite its bloody beginnings, the Third Republic ushered in the glittering halcyon years of the belle epoque.

The belle epoque was famed for its Art Nouveau architecture and a barrage of advances in the arts and sciences. By the 1930's, Paris had become a worldwide center for the artistic avant-garde and in a way became the world capital for freethinking intellectuals. This era was cut short by the Nazi occupation of 1940, and Paris remained under Germany's rule until August 25,1944. (The Allied forces that retook the city were spearheaded by Free French units in order to give the French the honor of liberating their capital.) After the war, Paris regained its position as a creative hotbed and nurtured a revitalized liberalism that reached a crescendo in the student-led 'Spring Uprising' of 1968. The Sorbonne (university) was occupied, barricades were erected in the Latin Quarter, and some 9 million people nationwide were inspired to join in a paralyzing general strike, drawing attention to their increasing dissatisfaction with the rigidity of French institutions.

Charles De Gaulle returns to Paris after the allied liberation of France

During the 1980s, President Francois Mitterand initiated the futuristic grands projets, a series of ambitious building projects that garnered widespread approval even when the results were sometimes popular failures. Responses to the flashier examples, like the Centre Pompidou and the glass pyramids in the Louvre, have ranged from appalled 'mon Dieux' to absolute doting rapture; if nothing else, the projets invigorated dialogue about the Parisian aesthetic that contiune to this day.

In the late 1990s, the city seized the international spotlight with two front-page events: the rumour-plagued auto-accident death of Princess Di in 1997 and France's first-ever World Cup victory in July 1998.

In 2001 Paris elected its first openly gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoe. He was stabbed in October 2002, but recovered successfully. He continues to enjoy widespread popularity, particularly for his efforts to make Paris more livable by promoting bicycles and buses and to create a more approachable and responsible city administration.

Paris is still the city of light and love, and a fine place to visit.

Read the history behind the Eiffel Tower