A Brief History of the City of Paris

Podcast Transcript

Situated on the banks of the River Seine lies town of Paris.

Paris has an extended historical past courting again over 2000 years. Throughout its lengthy historical past, it has seen wars, plagues, and kings and emperors.

In the present day it’s the most visited metropolis on Earth, house to a number of the world’s best artworks, and one of many largest and most essential cities in Europe.

Study extra in regards to the historical past of Paris and the way a small river settlement grew to one of many main cities on the planet on this episode of Every thing In every single place Each day.

The historical past of Paris dates again over two thousand years. The primary identified settlement within the present location of Paris was the Gaullic city of Lutetia.

The settlement was established someday within the third century BC by the Gallic tribe referred to as the Parisii. Paris is called after the Parisii and never Paris, the son of King Priam, the chief of town of Troy.

There might have been a neolithic settlement on the identical spot, however little is thought about it. It may have been based as early as 8000 BC.

There may be additionally quite a lot of doubt as to the precise location of Lutetia on the river. Julius Caesar, in his Gallic Commentaries, remembers a visit to Lutetia to satisfy with the leaders of the Gallic tribes.

When the Romans conquered Gaul, they turned Lutetia right into a Roman metropolis full with public baths, temples, an amphitheater, and a discussion board. It was the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis.

By the top of the Western Roman Empire, town turned referred to as Parisus in Latin, which might then later turn out to be Paris in French.

With the decline of Rome, a Germanic tribe referred to as the Franks arose. They have been united beneath King Clovis, who established Paris as his capital in 508.

With the wealth of town, it turned a primary goal for the Vikings, which sacked town in 845. They returned in 856 and 861 however have been repelled by the Franks, who have been ready.

They got here again as soon as extra in 885 and laid siege to town for a number of months however have been in the end defeated by Odo, Rely of Paris. Odo, largely on account of his protection of town, was later elected king of West Francia, which was the precursor of the dominion of France.

By the twelfth century, Paris had turn out to be the dominant metropolis in France. It had turn out to be the political, financial, cultural, and non secular middle of the nation.

It was throughout this era that Paris started most of the building tasks which might come to outline town. Notre Dame started building in 1163, and the Louvre started its first building as a fortress and a fortress in 1190.

Additionally, in 1190, the College of Paris was established.

By the early 14th century, Paris had a inhabitants of 200,000 individuals and had turn out to be the biggest metropolis in Europe.

As with most cities right now, it was an especially filthy place. It was so dangerous in Paris that have been actually streets named after fecal matter and urine.

In 1370 building started on the Paris sewers. The sewers have been in operation ever since and have been consistently maintained and upgraded during the last 700 years.

The inhabitants peak within the early 14th century was short-lived, because the plague killed 1 / 4 of the inhabitants within the metropolis between 1348 and 1349. There have been 36 separate plagues that broke out within the metropolis over the subsequent 30 years for quite a lot of illnesses.

On prime of the illness, Paris was additionally topic to invasion. Edward III pillaged the countryside round Paris in 1346, and town of looted by the English ten years later.

Between 1420 and 1436, Paris was dominated by the English. The French king had retreated to the Loire Valley, and Henry VI of England was truly topped King of France in Paris in 1431.

By the point the English left in 1436, Paris was not town it was earlier than. The inhabitants was half its dimension, and town was in poor form. Whereas nonetheless technically the capital of France, the French kings would dwell within the Lorie Valley for nearly 100 years till 1528, when King Francis I moved his residence again to Paris.

Issues have been a lot better for Paris within the sixteenth century. The inhabitants by 1500 had rebounded again to 250,000. There was a constructing growth beneath King Francis I. He turned the primary king to dwell within the Louvre. He started building of the Lodge de Ville, the Paris metropolis corridor.

The printing business in Paris exploded, with the variety of printing homes second solely to Venice.

Francis’s son Henry II continued to construct in Paris, additionally including his personal wing to the Louvre.

Maybe the defining occasion of the sixteenth century was spiritual battle. In August 1572, Protestant officers have been focused for assassination, which unfold to a common slaughter of Protestants in Paris by Catholic mobs. This turned referred to as the St. Bartholomew’s Day bloodbath, which would be the topic of a future episode.

The Seventeenth century noticed continued building. Henry IV accomplished the Pont Neuf, which is the oldest bridge in Paris at the moment. Oddly sufficient, Pont Neuf interprets to “new bridge’.

His widow Marie de Medicis constructed the Luxembourg Palace and the Luxembourg Gardens, which stay one of many highlights of town.

Louis XIII constructed the sq. courtyard of the Louvre, and his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, carried out a number of main building tasks of his personal, together with the Palais-Royal.

Within the late Seventeenth Century, Louis XIV eliminated many of the metropolis partitions and had them changed with grand boulevards.

He additionally constructed the Palace of Versailles outdoors of Paris and moved his court docket there from Paris.

By the mid-Seventeenth century, the inhabitants of Paris had reached 400,000.

The 18th century noticed Paris turn out to be the middle of the Enlightenment and was dominated by King Louis XV, who reigned for 70 years, beginning in 1715.

Cafe tradition exploded throughout this era. From 1723 to 1790, the variety of cafes in Paris went from 323 to 1800. Cafes turned the middle of debate, dialogue, and information dissemination.

The Montgolfier Brothers carried out the world’s first hot-air balloon flight.

Louix XV constructed the Champs-Élysées as a part of an growth of town.

By 1780, town had grown to a inhabitants of 600,000 and was the second-largest metropolis in Europe after London.

The French Revolution introduced radical adjustments to town. There have been beheadings in public squares, together with that of the king, church buildings have been nationalized, and a reign of terror hung over Paris.

The inhabitants of town truly dropped significantly in the course of the years of the revolution. From 1789 to 1801, over 100,000 individuals left Paris.

In 1795, one of many main parts of Paris was established by the revolutionary authorities. They divided town into 12 sections referred to as arrondissements. The arrondissements begin with the arrondissements one at Louvre after which sequentially spiral outward.

In the present day, there are 20 arrondissements, and they’re the first technique of navigating town.

For those who have been to return in time and visited Paris in the beginning of the nineteenth century, you’d actually acknowledge most of the main landmarks. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t fairly really feel just like the Paris of at the moment.

It was the nineteenth century when Paris turned town that we consider as Paris. This transformation began with Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon wished to make Paris into an imperial capital on par with historic Rome. He ordered the development of most of the bridges throughout the Seine, together with the primary steel bridge in Paris, the Pont des Arts.

In 1806 he started building of the Arc de Triomphe, which wasn’t truly accomplished till 30 years later when he was not in energy.

He constructed a brand new canal to carry recent water into town, in addition to a reservoir to carry it and a collection of fountains all through town to distribute the water.

Had Napoleon not been disposed, he most likely would have additional modified town. He had plans for the development of the world’s largest palace in what’s at the moment the sixteenth arrondissement.

Even with out Napoleon, Paris continued to develop quickly within the nineteenth century.

In 1815, Paris had 660,000 inhabitants. At first of the reign of Louis-Philippe in 1831, it had a inhabitants of 785,000, and by the top of his reign in 1848, it surpassed 1,000,000 individuals.

Underneath the reign of King Louis-Philippe, building started on Les Halles, the large central meals market which was finally demolished within the Seventies.

The primary prepare stations have been constructed additionally constructed. Nonetheless, with the large development of town, there was additionally excessive poverty. That is the Paris of Les Misérables.

Underneath Napoleon III, the borders of Paris have been formally expanded, absorbing a number of bordering communities. He added eight new arrondissements, bringing the entire to twenty, which is the trendy dimension of town.

He created a big public works program to make use of out-of-work Parisians, in addition to to rejuvenate town.

Paris’ main prepare stations, Gare de Lyon and Gare du Nord, have been constructed. The Paris Opera home was constructed, which turned a showpiece of town.

Parks have been additionally constructed such that everybody within the metropolis was not more than a 10-minute stroll from a park.

Maybe most significantly, beneath Napoleon III, most of the previous, dilapidated neighborhoods have been demolished and changed with vast boulevards. New constructing codes specifying how buildings alongside the boulevards needed to look. All of them needed to be the identical peak and look roughly the identical.

For those who discover a definite architectural fashion in Paris to all of the buildings, this was on account of Napoleon III.

Paris additionally turned the primary main metropolis to undertake outside gasoline lighting alongside the most important boulevards. Close to the top of his reign, Paris had 56,000 gasoline lamps, which earned it the nickname “The Metropolis of Mild.”

The 12 months 1870 noticed the elimination of Napoleon III and the siege of Paris in the course of the Franco-Prussian Struggle.

In 1871, a revolutionary authorities took management of Paris and established the Paris Commune from March 18 to Might 28, which once more would be the topic of a future episode.

The top of the reign of Napoleon III and the Paris Commune ushered in what is called the La Belle Époque, or the Stunning Period, which lasted till the beginning of the primary world conflict.

The latter a part of the nineteenth century noticed Paris host a number of world gala’s, which I’ve touched on in lots of earlier episodes.

The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur started building in 1873 and was accomplished in 1914.

The Eiffel Tower was accomplished in 1889. It was meant to be a short lived construction constructed for the 1889 world’s truthful, but it surely shortly turned the enduring picture of town because it was by no means taken down.

In 1897, the primary of the Paris Metro subway traces have been constructed.

Paris of 1900 would have seemed very completely different from the Paris of 1800 and far nearer to the Paris of at the moment.

Through the first world conflict, Paris got here near being occupied by the Germans, but it surely was saved as a result of Battle of the Marne, the place 600 Parisian taxis shuttled 6,000 troopers to the entrance traces.

After the conflict, the demographic make-up of town started to alter. Folks from French possessions all over the world started to return to Paris, together with such distant locations as Vietnam, Senegal, and Algeria.

Paris reached its peak inhabitants in 1921, with 2.9 million individuals residing within the 20 arrondissements.

In June 1940, Paris was occupied by Nazi Germany. It had been declared an open metropolis, and it was occupied with no battle.

In 1945 when the Germans left Paris, Hitler gave the order to destroy many of the metropolis and its landmarks. The order was ignored by the navy commander of Paris, Dietrich von Choltitz.

Put up-war Paris noticed adjustments in demographics. Immigrants from round Europe and from French colonies arrived in bigger numbers. Many individuals started to maneuver to Paris suburbs, which noticed giant will increase in inhabitants.

Paris had been run by an administrator appointed by the nationwide authorities since Napoleon Bonaparte. Nonetheless, in 1977, Parisians have been in a position to democratically elect their very own mayor for the primary time in virtually 200 years. The primary mayor was Jacques Chirac, who went on to turn out to be the President of France.

Whereas there have been public works in Paris because the finish of the conflict, there has by no means been something just like the widespread adjustments which occurred within the metropolis within the nineteenth century. Nice pains have been taken to ensure that Paris retains its appear and feel.

Many trendy workplace buildings and industrial buildings have been constructed on the outskirts of Paris, leaving the character of the central metropolis comparatively untouched.

Most of the newer buildings in Paris have been smaller in scale, such because the glass pyramid outdoors the Louvre designed by the architect I.M. Pei, which was in-built 1988.

Maybe the largest occasion in Paris of the final a number of years was the fireplace that gutted the Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019. Building is underway to revive the cathedral to its former glory.

In the present day, Paris is among the most visited cities on the planet, with an estimated 18 million individuals who visited yearly earlier than the pandemic.

The present inhabitants of Paris correct is 2.1 million individuals. Nonetheless, the better Paris city space has a inhabitants of 13 million individuals, making it the second largest city space in Europe, behind solely London.

Paris has additionally turn out to be a really various metropolis with individuals settling there from North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Center East, in addition to individuals from throughout Europe.

A 2009 examine discovered Paris to be the third most economically highly effective metropolis on the planet after New York and London. It’s thought of to be the world’s middle for vogue and luxurious items.

Paris is certainly one of many nice cities of the world.

There may be solely a lot data you may cram right into a each day podcast a few 2000-year-old metropolis. Every thing I’ve talked about on this episode might be an episode of its personal.

The one manner you may actually perceive Paris is to go and go to it your self.

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