Paris France

Description: Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. With an official estimated population of 2,102,650 residents as of 1 January 2023 in an area of more than 105 km2 (41 sq mi), Paris is the fourth-most populated city in the European Union and the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since 17th century, Paris has been one of the world’s most important cenres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, fashion. For its leading role in the arts and sciences, as well as its early and extensive system of street lighting, in the 19th century, it became known as the City of Light.

Population: 2,102,650

Demographics: The Paris metropolitan region or “aire urbaine” is estimated to be home to some 1.7 million Muslims, making up between 10–15 per cent of the area’s population. However, without official data, the margin of error of these estimates is extremely high as it is based on one’s country of birth (someone born in a Muslim country or born to a parent from a Muslim country is considered as a “potential Muslim”). According to the North American Jewish Data Bank, an estimated 310,000 Jews also live in Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region, an area with a population of 11.7 million inhabitants. Paris has historically been a magnet for immigrants, hosting one of the largest concentrations of immigrants in Europe today.

History: The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the area’s major north–south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, which gradually became an important trading centre. The Parisii traded with many river towns (some as far away as the Iberian Peninsula) and minted their own coins. The Romans conquered the Paris Basin in 52 BC and began their settlement on Paris’s Left Bank. The Roman town was originally called Lutetia (more fully, Lutetia Parisiorum, “Lutetia of the Parisii”, modern French Lutèce). It became a prosperous city with a forum, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre. By the end of the 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious, and cultural capital of France. With 200,000 inhabitants in 1328, Paris, then already the capital of France, was the most populous city of Europe. By comparison, London in 1300 had 80,000 inhabitants. By the early fourteenth century, so much filth had collected inside urban Europe that French and Italian cities were naming streets after human waste. In medieval Paris, several street names were inspired by merde, the French word for “shit”. During the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIII, was determined to make Paris the most beautiful city in Europe. He built five new bridges, a new chapel for the College of Sorbonne, and a palace for himself, the Palais-Cardinal. After Richelieu’s death in 1642, it was renamed the Palais-Royal. Paris was the centre of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity, known as the Age of Enlightenment. Diderot and d’Alembert published their Encyclopédie in 1751, and the Montgolfier Brothers launched the first manned flight in a hot air balloon on 21 November 1783. Paris was the financial capital of continental Europe, and the primary European centre of book publishing, fashion and the manufacture of fine furniture and luxury goods. By 1901, the population of Paris had grown to about 2,715,000. At the beginning of the century, artists from around the world including Pablo Picasso, Modigliani, and Henri Matisse made Paris their home. It was the birthplace of Fauvism, Cubism and abstract art, and authors such as Marcel Proust were exploring new approaches to literature. In 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy launched the Grand Paris project, to integrate Paris more closely with the towns in the region around it. After many modifications, the new area, named the Metropolis of Grand Paris, with a population of 6.7 million, was created on 1 January 2016.

Elevation: 35 m

Climate: Oceanic climate. Average annual temperature in Paris is 12 C (53 F), the average for July is 20 C (68 F), the average for January is 5 C (41 F).

Attractions: Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Cathedrale Notre-Dame De Paris, Luxembourg Gardens, Arc De Triomphe, Palais Garnier, Seine River

Airports: Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport CDG, Aeroport De Paris Orly ORY

Distance To City Centre: 35 km

Commute Length: 45 min

Average Cost: 65 EUR

Traffic Hours: 6:30 am – 9:30 am, 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm