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all photos are from flickr, for more information about them, click the *
|region = Île-de-France The earliest archaeological signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 BC. The ''Parisii'', a sub-tribe of the date=November 2007}}, inhabited the area near the river Seine from around 250 BC. The Romans conquered the Paris basin in 52 BC, with a permanent settlement by the end of the same century on the Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill and the [[Île de la Cité island. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia, but later Gallicised to ''Lutèce''. It expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with a forum, palaces, baths, temples, theatres and an amphitheatre. The collapse of the Roman empire and the third-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline. By 400 AD ''Lutèce'', by then largely abandoned by its inhabitants, was little more than a garrison town entrenched into the hastily fortified central island. The city reclaimed its original appellation of "Paris" towards the end of the Roman occupation. Middle agesParis lost its position as seat of the French realm during occupation of the English-allied Burgundians during the Charles VII reclaimed the city in 1437. Although Paris was capital once again, the Crown preferred to remain in its date=November 2007}}. During the [[French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic party, culminating in the Henry IV re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594 after he converted to Roman Catholicism (with this historic sentence: ''Paris is well worth a Mass''). During the Louis XIV then moved the royal court permanently to overthrow of the monarchy in 1792.Nineteenth centuryThe Napoleon III and his ''Haussmann, who levelled entire districts of narrow, winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical façades of modern Paris. This programme of "Haussmannization" was designed to make the city both more beautiful and more sanitary for its inhabitants, although it did have the added benefit that in case of future revolts or revolutions, cavalry charges and rifle fire could be used to deal with the insurrection while the rebel tactic of barricading so often used during the Revolution would become obsolete.Jones, Colin (2005) ''Paris: The Biography of a City'' (New York, NY: Penguin Viking), pp. 318–319.url=http://www.amicale-genealogie.org/Histoires_temps-passe/Epidemies/chol01.htm |title="Le Cholera" |author=Amicale Genealogie, La Petite Gazette Généalogique |accessdate=2006-04-10 |language=French}} Paris also suffered greatly from the Siege of Paris|siege which ended the [[Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871): in the chaos caused by the fall of Napoleon III's government, the Commune of Paris (1871) sent many of Paris' administrative centres (and city archives) up in flames while 20,000 Parisians were killed by fighting between Commune and Government forces in what became known as the ''semaine sanglante'' (Bloody Week).Jones, Colin (2005) ''Paris: The Biography of a City'' (New York, NY: Penguin Viking), pp. 324–325.Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of the late nineteenth century.Jones, Colin (2005) ''Paris: The Biography of a City'' (New York, NY: Penguin Viking), p. 334. The 1889 Universal Exposition, 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, while the 1900 Universal Exposition saw the opening of the first Paris Métro line. Paris' World's Fairs also consolidated its position in the tourist industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.Twentieth centuryIn order to address social tensions in the inner suburbs and revitalise the metropolitan Secretary of State for the Development of the Capital Region was created in March 2008 within the French government. Its office holder, Christian Blanc, is in charge of overseeing President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans for the creation of an integrated ''Grand Paris'' ("Greater Paris") metropolitan authority (see Administration section below), as well as the extension of the subway network to cope with the renewed growth of population in Paris and its suburbs, and various economic development projects to boost the metropolitan economy such as the creation of a world-class technology and scientific cluster and university campus on the Saclay plateau in the southern suburbs.In parallel, President Sarkozy also launched in 2008 an international urban and architectural competition for the future development of metropolitan Paris. Ten teams gathering architects, urban planners, geographers, landscape architects will offer their vision for building a Paris metropolis of the 21st century in the post-Kyoto era and make a prospective diagnosis for Paris and its suburbs that will define future developments in Greater Paris for the next 40 years. The goal is not only to build an environmentally sustainable metropolis but also to integrate the inner suburbs with the central City of Paris through large scale urban planning operations and iconic architectural projects.Meanwhile, in an effort to boost the image of metropolitan Paris in the global competition, several supertall skyscrapers ( and higher) have been approved since 2006 in the business district of La Défense, to the west of the city proper, and are scheduled to be completed by the early 2010s. The City of Paris authorities also made public they are planning to authorize the construction of skyscrapers within the city proper by relaxing the cap on building height for the first time since the construction of the Tour Montparnasse in the early 1970s.GeographyParis has an heat wave of 2003 and the cold wave of 2006).Paris has warm summers with average high temperatures of and lows of . Winters are chilly, but rarely below freezing with temperatures around - . Spring and fall have mild days and cool evenings. Rainfall could occur at any time of the year, and although not a very rainy city, Paris is known for its sudden showers. The yearly annual precipation is with light rainfall fairly distributed throughout the year. Snowfall is a rare occurrence, but the city could see light snow or flurries without accumulation in some winters. The highest record temperature ever in Paris was on -23.9|°C|°F|0|abbr=on}} on 10 December [[1879.CityscapeParis' main cemetery was located to its outskirts on its date=August 2008}}, but this changed with the rise of [[Catholicism and the construction of churches towards the city centre, many of them having adjoining burial grounds for use by their parishes. Generations of a growing city population soon filled these cemeteries to overflowing, creating sometimes very unsanitary conditions: condemned from 1786, the contents of all Paris' parish cemeteries were transferred to a renovated section of Paris' then suburban stone mines outside the 14th arrondissement's place Denfert-Rochereau). After a tentative creation of several smaller suburban cemeteries, Napoleon Bonaparte provided a more definitive solution in the creation of three massive Parisian cemeteries to the outside of the ''Fermiers-Généraux'' city tax walls; Open from 1804, these were the cemeteries of Père Lachaise, Montmartre, Montparnasse, and later Passy.When Paris annexed all communes to the inside of its much larger ring of suburban fortifications in 1860, its cemeteries were once again within its city walls. New suburban cemeteries were created in the early 20th century: the largest of these are the ''Cimetière Parisien de Saint-Ouen'', the ''Cimetière Parisien de Bobigny-Pantin'', the ''Cimetière Parisien d'Ivry'' and the ''Cimetière Parisien de Bagneux.''CultureOpera & theatreParis is the most densely populated city in the date=May 2007}}. Its density, excluding the outlying woodland parks of [[Bois de Boulogne|Boulogne and Vincennes, was 24,448 inhabitants per square kilometre (63,320/sq mi) in the 1999 official census, which could be compared only with some arrondissements''. The city's population is densest in the northern and eastern arrondissements; the 11th arrondissement had a density of 40,672 inhabitants per square kilometre (105,340/sq mi) in 1999, and some of the same arrondissement's eastern quarters had densities close to 100,000/km² (260,000/sq mi) in the same year.Paris agglomerationThe City of Paris covers an area much smaller than the urban area of which it is the core. At present, Paris' real urbanisation, defined by the 2723|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}, or an area about 26 times larger than the city itself. The administration of Paris' urban growth is divided between itself and its surrounding départements: Paris' closest ring of three adjoining departments, or petite couronne ("small ring") are fully saturated with urban growth, and the ring of four departments outside of these, the grande couronne [[département in France|départements, are only covered in their inner regions by Paris' urbanisation. These eight départements form the larger administrative Île-de-France région; most of this region is filled, and overextended in places, by the Paris aire urbaine.The Paris agglomeration has shown a steady rate of growth since the end of the late 16th century date=January 2007}}. Suburban development has accelerated in recent years: with an estimated total of 11.4 million inhabitants for 2005, the [[Île-de-France (region)|Île-de-France région shows a rate of growth double that of the 1990s.ImmigrationBy law, French censuses do not ask questions regarding ethnicity or religion, but do gather information concerning country of birth. From this it is still possible to determine that the Paris and its aire urbaine (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 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)" |author=Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques |accessdate=2006-07-06 |language=French}} At the same census, 4.2% of the Paris ''aire urbaine'''s population were recent immigrants (i.e people who migrated to France between the 1990 and 1999 censuses), in their majority from mainland China and [[Africa.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 revolution of 1917 and Armenians escaping from the genocide; colonial citizens during World War I 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.AdministrationParis, its administrative limits unchanged since 1860, is one of few cities that has not evolved politically with its real demographic growth; this issue is at present being discussed in plans for a "Grand Paris" (Greater Paris) that will extend Paris' administrative limits to embrace much more of its urban tissue.Capital of FranceParis 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. The 8th arrondissement, while the Prime Minister's seat is at the 7th arrondissement. Government ministries are located in various parts of the city – many are located in the 7th arrondissement, near the Matignon.The two houses of the French Parliament are also located on the Left Bank. The upper house, the Senate, meets in the 6th arrondissement, while the more important lower house, the 7th. The President of the Senate, the second highest public official in France after the President of the Republic, resides in the "Petit Luxembourg", a smaller palace annex to the Palais du Luxembourg.France's highest courts are located in Paris. The Court of Cassation, the highest court in the judicial order, which tries most criminal and civil cases, is located in the Palais de Justice on the ''1st arrondissement.The Constitutional Council, which is an advisory body which is the ultimate authority on the constitutionality of laws and government decrees, also meets in the Palais Royal.City governmentAs part of a 1961 nation-wide administrative effort to consolidate regional economies, Paris as a ''département'' became the capital of the new ''région'' of the District of Paris, renamed the Île-de-France ''région'' 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.IntercommunalityFew of the above changes have taken into account Paris' existence as an intercommunal entity in the Paris urban area, no intercommunal council treating the problems of the region's dense urban core as a whole; Paris' alienation of its suburbs is indeed a problem today, and considered by many to be the main causes of civil unrest such as the 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").EducationIn the early ninth century, the emperor Notre-Dame cathedral school had many famous teachers, and the controversial teachings of some of these led to the creation of a separate Left-Bank Sainte-Genevieve University that would become the centre of Paris' scholastic Latin quarter best represented by the Sorbonne university.Twelve centuries later, education in Paris and the Paris region (Île-de-France ''région'') 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.=Primary and secondary education= Paris is home to several of France's most prestigious high-schools such as Lycée Louis-le-Grand and Lycée Henri-IV. Other high-schools of international renown in the Paris area include the Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye and the École Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel.=Higher education= As of the academic year 2004-2005, the Paris Region's 17 public universities, with its 359,749 registered students, is the largest concentration of university students in Europe. The Paris Region's prestigious ''grandes écoles'' 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.=Universities= The cathedral of Notre-Dame was the first centre of higher education before the creation of the Philip Augustus in 1200, as a corporation granting teachers (and their students) the right to rule themselves independently from crown law and taxes. At the time, many classes 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' scholastic centre, dubbed "Latin Quarter" as classes were taught in Latin then, would eventually regroup around the college created by Robert de Sorbon from 1257, the Collège de Sorbonne. The University of Paris in the 19th century had six faculties: law, science, medicine, pharmaceutical studies, literature and theology.Following the 1968 student riots, there was an extensive reform of the University of Paris, in an effort to disperse the centralised student body. 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 (Île-de-France) ''région''. 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: Centre for International Studies, the American University of Paris, and the American Business School of Paris.There is also a University of London Institute in Paris(ULIP) which offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in French Studies ratified by the University of London.=''Grandes écoles''= The Paris region hosts France's highest concentration of the prestigious ''5th arrondissement. The Paris area has a high number of engineering schools, led by the prestigious Paris Institute of Technology (École des Mines'', ''Arts et Métiers'', ''Télécom Paris'', and ''École des Ponts et Chaussées''. There are also many business schools, including , HEC, ESSEC, ENA has been relocated to Sciences-Po is still located in Paris' Left bank 7th arrondissement.The ''grandes écoles'' system is supported by a number of preparatory schools which offer courses of two to three years duration called Classes Préparatoires, also known as ''classes prépas'' or simply ''prépas''. These courses provide entry to the grandes écoles. Many of the best prépas are located in Paris, including Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Lycée Henri-IV, Lycée Saint-Louis, Lycée Janson de Sailly and Lycée Carnot. Two other top-ranking ''prépas'' (Lycée Hoche and Lycée Privé Sainte-Geneviève) are located in Versailles, near Paris. Student selection is based on school grades and teacher remarks. ''Prépas'' attract most of the best students in France and are known to be very demanding in terms of work load and psychological stress.TransportationParis has one sister city and a number of partner cities.Sister city
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