DiscoverFrance! home page

Recommend Us! Guest Book Advertising Web Hosting Site Map Help! E-mail

.

Culture, history,
language, travel,
and more!

.
.
GO!
Pull down window to select topic, then click GO!

Vote for this website!
Enter your e-mail address to receive updates about
DiscoverFrance.net!

visiteur numéro

Counter image

Bonjour!
E-stat
Search this site

Click above to
search this site
or the Internet.

Music while you browse

Click above for
optional background
music while you browse!

Random quote generator

Click above to see
random quotations!

Subscribe to France Magazine today!
PUBLISHED BY THE FRENCH AMERICAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.


HISTORY of PARIS

France logo

Paris is more than 2,000 years old. Gauls of the Parisii tribe settled there between 250 and 200 BC and founded a fishing village on an island in the river that is the present-day Ile de la Cité -- the center around which Paris developed.

Drawing of ancient BastilleKnown as Lutetia (Lutece) in ancient times, Paris was conquered by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, and existed as a regional center under the Romans and in the early Middle Ages. In 987, HUGH CAPET, Count of Paris, became king of France, and under his successors, the CAPETIANS, the city's position as the nation's capital became established. Often characterized as spirited and rebellious, the people of Paris first declared themselves an independent commune under the leadership of Etienne Marcel in 1355-58. The storming of the Bastille in 1789 was the first of a series of key actions by the Parisian people during the FRENCH REVOLUTION. Paris also played a major role in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. In 1871, during the FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR , the city was besieged for four months until France surrendered. 7 Ponts - Seine RiverAfter German troops withdrew, French radicals briefly established the COMMUNE OF PARIS. During World War I the Germans were prevented from reaching Paris, but they occupied the city during World War II from 1940 to 1944. Paris was again the scene of violence during the student riots of 1968.

Paris today maintains its importance, character, and charm, though its appearance is being transformed by structures such as the BEAUBOURG and by the ambitious grands projets building program carried out under the presidency of François Mitterrand. In addition to the La Défense arch and the Bastille Opéra, Mitterrand's projects have included the renovation of the Louvre by architect I. M. Pei, the La Villette complex on the northeastern edge of the city, and, in the southeast, the Bibliothèque de France, a great computer-age library.

Planning for Paris and the Paris Basin region includes consideration of large land areas in the Seine River valley all the way to the mouth of the river. New towns, parks, industrial locations, and expanded functions of existing towns are contemplated for this corridor on both sides of the Seine.


Lawrence M. Sommers
Source: The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Release #8, ©1996
Bibliography: Chelminski, Rudolph, Paris (1977); Couperie, Pierre, Paris through the Ages, trans. by Marilyn Low (1971); Evenson, Norma, Paris (1979); Flanner, Janet, Paris Journal, 2 vols. (1966-71) and Paris Was Yesterday, 1925-39 (1972); Roche, Daniel, The People of Paris (1987); Seigel, Jerrold, Bohemian Paris (1987); Thomson, David, Renaissance Paris (1984).

CLICK HERE FOR A
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PARIS

RECOMMENDED BOOKS


Paris, Capital of Europe:
From the Revolution
to the Belle Epoque


"An absorbing and intimate history of the City of Lights. Carefully tracing the evolution of the metropolis, Willms demonstrates how political, economic, and cultural currents converged to make Paris the "capital of Europe."

-- KIRKUS REVIEWS

Paris - Capital of Europe

by Johannes Willms, Eveline L. Kanes (Translator)

List: $40.00
Our Price:
$40.00 (this title is not discounted)
Availability: On order; usually ships within 1-2 weeks.
Hardcover
Published by Holmes & Meier, Publishers, Inc.
Publication date: March 1997
ISBN: 0841912459

DiscoverFrance.net

More recommended reading:

A History of Europe
by J.M. Roberts, 1998, The Penguin Press, New York.

A History of Modern France
Volume 1, 1715-1799
by Alfred Cobban, 1990, Penguin Books, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland.

A History of Modern France
Volume 2, 1799-1871
by Alfred Cobban, 1965, Penguin Books, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland (out-of-stock).

Festivals and the French Revolution
by Mona Ozouf, translated by Alan Sheridan, 1991, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Great Cat Massacre
and Other Episodes in French Cultural History
by Robert Darnton, 1984, Basic Books, Inc., published by Random House, Inc., New York.

Napoleon and Paris
30 Years of History
by Maurice Guerrini, translated by Mardery Weiner, 1970, Cassell & Co. Ltd., London, printed by Ebenezer Baylis & Son, Ltd., The Trinity Press, Worcester and London, England (out-of-print).

The National Geographic Traveler - France
by Rosemary Bailey, 1999, National Geographic Society, printed by R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Willard, Ohio.
Exploding with National Geographic's signature photography, this book is one in a lush new series of guides from the folks whose magazines have instilled wanderlust in multiple generations of travelers. The France guide features insightful essays on history, culture, and contemporary life in France, as well as walking and driving tours. For serious explorers, there are detailed floor-plan sketches of important sites such as Notre Dame and Versailles. Other user-friendly touches range from color-coded regional sections to quick-reference visitor information (hours, fees, telephone, etc.) listed in side columns with keys to associated maps.
-- Kathryn True

Paris In the Terror:
June 1793 - July 1794
by Stanley Loomis, 1964, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York (out-of-print).

Paris In the Third Reich
A History of the German Occupation, 1940-1944
by David Pryce-Jones, 1981, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (out-of-print).

Paris Was Yesterday
1925-1939
by Janet Flanner, edited by Irving Drutman, 1972, The Viking Press, Inc., New York (out-of-print).

Passport's Illustrated Travel Guide to Paris
3rd Edition, by Elizabeth Morris, 1996, Passport Books, division of NTC Publishing Group, Chicago.

Pleasures of the Belle Epoque
Entertainment & Festivity in Turn of the Century France
by Charles Rearick, 1985, Yale University Press, printed by Murray Printing Co., Westford, Massachusetts.

The Women of Montparnasse
by Morrill Cody with Hugh Ford, ©1984, Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp., printed by Cornwall Books, Cranbury, New Jersey (out-of-print).

Discover France web ring

This ring site owned by DiscoverFrance.net

Features

Books & Videos

Revisit the era of the "Lost Generation" in Hemingway's Paris.

Explore the fascinating history of the prophet from Provence, Nostradamus.

Read the reviews of our carefully selected travel guides and recommended reading, then click to save 20-40% on books you purchase, with the convenience of home delivery.

Can't find your favorite French movies at the video store or library? Check out our selection of videotapes and DVDs featuring French movie icons like Depardieu, Deneuve, Montand, and many more. Then click to save 10-30% on your own personal copy delivered to your door!

Submissions

Host your web page with us!

DiscoverFrance.net actively encourages topical submissions from students of French language & culture, educators, seasoned travelers, American expatriates, and natives of France.

If you would like to share your experiences, knowledge or research with thousands of our visitors and friends, please send a note to the webmaster!

Are you an individual or business with a web page on any topic related to France -- arts, culture, entertainment, history, language, tourism, etc. -- in English or French? Your site can have an address of "www. discoverfrance. net/your_site" for less than $10 per month! Get more hits by affiliating with other francophile sites.

Tired of the Java commercial advertising windows and banners imposed by the so-called "free" web page hosting services? At DiscoverFrance.net, you can customize your page as you wish, without any commercial requirements or programming inserted into your HTML. Our web servers and Internet connections are fast, too.

For more information, please contact our sales staff!


Design and layout © 1997-1999

All Rights Reserved

Comments, suggestions,
broken links?

Made with Macintosh

The Wharton Group
and
Ian C. Mills

e-mail

The Y29K - compliant computer
preferred by designers everywhere.

This site
recycled

recycled

uses
electrons.

Please notify:
Webmaster

Text copyrights are attributed to their respective sources throughout this site.