The first inhabitants of Paris occupied the island of the city (probably 200 BC.). They had access to the island via two wooden bridges, and Paris was then a fishing village. Only after six centuries of expansion by the Romans (construction of roads, bridges, buildings), did Paris become the capital of France.
Clovis, after demolishing the last of the Roman authority, decided to establish his capital in Paris in 508. But the air of the great kings begins with the crowning of Eudes in the ninth century.
First demarcated by a stone wall along the left bank of the ninth century, the city had to adapt to the growing population. Indeed, thanks to the commercial activity of the boatmen of the Seine, the city took off.
In 1307 Charles V built a new enclosure whose line corresponds to that of our "Grands Boulevards" that connect today the Bastille to the Madeleine.
Henry IV connected the Louvre to the Tuileries Palace, finished the Pont Neuf, outlined the plans for the Place Royale (now Place des Vosges), and developed the Marais. Under Louis XIV, the first major royal squares appeared: the Place des Victoires, Place Vendôme and Place Louis XV, now Place de la Concorde ...
Finally, Napoleon, some time later, brought the triumphal arches to the capital, the column in the Place Vendome, the Madeleine and some additional bridges over the Seine.
The Baron Haussmann clean up projects transformed the city. Not only did he create new gardens but also he also set up sewers and the reservoir for the water supply of the capital. It was also responsible for the demolition of the old narrow streets (too favorable to the growth of the revolutionary). What emerged was the boulevards Saint-Michel, Saint-Germain, Sebastopol, Voltaire, Diderot and Malesherbes, Strasbourg....
From the Revolution to the Second Empire (in 60 years) the population of Paris tripled and rose to 1.5 million inhabitants: Paris became the city of lights. It acquired its status as capital of the arts in the 1860s, when most of the music halls and theaters were built.
At the initiative of Thiers, new fortified walls were built, similar to the the present limits of the city, partially protecting Paris during its siege in 1871. The walls are destroyed at the end of the First World War to make way for the outer boulevards, also known boulevards of the Marshals.
Following the First World War, social classes began mixing, and this Parisian way of life becomes unique in the world. "Paname" rhymes with accordions and musette balls.
The period between the wars, was also marked by the expansion of the suburbs and the social housing on the outskirts of the capital. This was also the time of the metro network development.
