GEOGRAPHY

Paris is situated in the troth of France and covers an area of some 105 km' (intra-muros). The city has been built on both sides of the river Seine and its twenty "arrondissements" are encircled by the parisian ring road. "le périphé¬rique". At a height of only 28 ms. Paris is watched over by the Butte Montmartre, a hill which reaches 130 ms.

CLIMATE
France, astride the 45" parallel. is exactly half-way between the North Pole and the Equator: The country enjoys a climate which has been moderated by the oceanic currents of the Gulf-Stream, you can easily imagine the outcome of this situation if you remember that France is on the same latitude as Quebec.
In the interior of the country. the parisian valley creates a climatic zone somew¬here between the semi-continental climate of the eastern provices and the oceanic climate of Brittany and Normandy in the West. January is the coldest month with an average temperature of 4° while during the finest days of My this ave¬rage might reach 20°. With 288 days of rain a yen; Paris is one of the rai¬niest French cities although in terms of quantity Nice (764mm) and Marseille (901 mm) are wetter than the capital city (740mm).

HISTORY
[-100] When France was known as Gaul, eeltic fishermen called the Parisi were gathe¬red together on the largest island of the Seine. the present clay Ile de la Cite.
In 52 after the defeat of Vercingeto•ix- chief of the Gauls- by Caesar; the city was besieged by the Legion of the Roman Empire and took the name Lutaecia (Lutèce). The city grew up on the left bank around what is now the Panthéon hill. Today, you can still see sonne traces of the Roman civilization in the capi¬tal by visiting Les Arènes de Lutèce or Les Thermes de Cluny. You will also remember that Julien, also known as the Apostate, was proclaimed Empoter at Lutèce in 360.
Towards the Writ/dle of the 5" century the city was threatened by invasions from the East. First of all it was the Huns who came to invade Gaul but who in the end presented the city thanks to the fervor,• of the prayers of Saint Genevieve. or so they say. But it was only thanks to the alliance of the legions of the Emparer Valentine III. the armies of Theodore I, king of the Visigoths and Merovingus, king of the Franks, that the hordes of the infamous Attila were deterred. Thcrt culminated in the victory of the "Champs Catalauniques" in the Troyes region in 451.
[500] Bit by bit the Salien Franks. small tribes of Germanic origin settled in Flanders, penetrated and occupied the territory. After the victory of Clovis I over the roman legions at Soisscnis in 486 they settled permanently. In the sanie year the king of the Franks made Lutèce the centre of his kingdom. The city was then named, for the first rime, Paris. The recent conversion of Clovis to Catholicism marked the beginning of a huge phase of construction of religious buildings : basilicas and monasteries sprang up all over the place.
[800] Later on the Emporer Charlemagne moved the centre of political power to the East. He strategically abandoned Paris in favour of Aix-la-Chapelle. The city then had to cope with various attempted invasions by the Normans who com¬pletely devastated it during the siege of 885-6. It was only with the arriva! of the Capetian Dynasty that Hugues I brought the royal court back to Paris just before the year 1000.
[1000] In the XIII" century. in the reign of Phillipe Auguste, the beauty of Paris was enhanced with the addition of the first Louvre. Then. to frustrate any potential invasion by the "Angloys". the city was surrounded by a fortified wall. 'Phis was 9 ms high and defended by 67 towers, one of which being the famous Toni c/c Nesle. The nave of Notre-Dante was in the early stages of construction u hile the University was granted its status. This all marks the start of the capital's renown for intellectual prestige and economic prosperity. A little later the first markets were built on the same spot where they would remain for 8 centuries until they were destroyed in 1970.
Between two crusades Louis 1X (Saint Louis) ordered the consulc'tion of the Sainte-Chapelle and the Hospice des Quinze-Vingt and authorised the Canon Robert de Sorbon to found the first university of theology. This would become La Sorbonne. He also had the main roads paved. Another of his legacies was the crea tion of the first parliament.
Philip IV the Fait: although less mystic was just as concerned with royal prestige and enlarged his palace (the /n•esent Palais de la Justice) as well as building up the right bank of the Seine. Charles V reinforced the fortifications anal Guilt the Bastille.
While still engaged in the never-ending war with the English. France was torn apart by a civil war between the Armagnacs and the Bourguignons (1407). This did not finish until defeat at the hands of the English at Agincourt (1415). Under the Treaty of Troyes, Henry V of England was recognised as the heir to the French throne. In December 1420. as it froze hard and the wolves swam across the Seine. Henry V entered Paris to set up his court in the Louvre to the cheers of the people. In 1437 Charles VII fina/ly, reconquered the capital after difficult and heavy confrontations. On his death the French count once again left the capital to set up on the banks of the river Loire. Paris again found its peace and tranquility and the "water merchants", the owners of trading boats gave their famous motto to the city : Plactuat nec mergitur (She floats but she does not slip away). Francois I kept an eye on Paris from Chambond and founded the Collège de France as well as building the new Palais du Louvre. On his death there was a great teal of tension between the Catholics and the Protestants. The Parisians were hostile towards the Reform which sparked off the massacre of Saint Barthélemy on the night of the 23/24 August 1562. Later the city united against the Crottin and took part in the assassination of Henry III (1589).
[1500] When the Court returned to the capital the city had expanded greatly. nun-Gering 300000 inhabitants. During the XVI" cent?ny the Tuileries, the place Royale (now the Place des Vosges), the place Dauphine and the Pont Neuf were built.
[1600] Born in Béarn. Henry IV, "The Green-Gallant". conquered the hearts of the Parisians and the French as much through his emotional conquests as his mili¬tary ones. He became and remains the most popular of the kings of France.
However; tragically he was to end up stabbed by François Ravaillac on the 14'' May 1610 in the rue de la Ferronnerie.
In support of the Regency, Marie de iiiedicis built the Palais du Luxembourg. The accession to the throne by Louis XIII was marked by the development of the Ile Saint-Louis and the building of the Cardinal Richelieu's mansion (now the Palais-Royal). On his death the Regency was supported by Anne of Austria who constructed the Val de Grace.
Louis XIV, the Sun-King, only stayed at the Louvre for a few years before moving the seat of power to Versailles. Nonetheless Paris was not forgotten by the architects who completed many beautiful projects such as : Invalides, Gobelins, the Observatoire, the Place Vendome, the place des Victoires, the Palais de l'Institut and the great boulevards not to mention all the private houses in the Faubourgs Saint-Germain and Saint-Antoine.
[1700] This fertile period of "Great Projects" was continued during the reign of Louis XV with the building of the Place de la Concorde. the Ecole Militaire, the Champ de tllars and the Mint.
Louis XVI was the first to evolve some sort of urban plan for the city in its enti¬rety and to put sonie order to the chaos of the `faux-bongs". He constructed the first fountains to bring running water to the districts and even to private pro¬perties. At the saune time, in order to fill the royal coffers, all routes into Paris intra-muros were closed off by toll-booths. These extracted a heavy tax on all goods going into the city. The capital therefore found itself ensnared by customs. This new means of gathering taxes was at the roots of the Parisians' growing exasperation which led to the revolution of 1789. It was therefore no coincidence that two days before seizing the Bastille, the Parisians overwhelmed the toll¬booth at Gobelins. At the end of the XVIII''• century the capital wars inhabited by about 650000 people.
[1800] In the space of a few years the customs of the Parisians were to change quite radically. They moved on frais the terror of the revolution to the easy-going madness of the Directoire (1795-99) which paved the way for the Consulate (1799-1804) anal the Empire. In between two battles, Napolean wishing to make Paris the capital of Europe, regaled the city with further constructions : bridges, a sewer network, the canal of l'Ourcq, refurbishment of decrepit dis¬tricts and a network of drinking water He also decided upon the construction of the Arc de triomphe of Carrousel and the erection of the Vendome column macle from melted-down cannons taken from the enemy at Austerlitz. It was only after the death of the Emporer that the Arc de Triomphe on the Etoile and the church of the Madeleine were unveiled.
The reinstatement of Louis XVIII and Charles X established a new constitu¬tional monarchy at a time when the capital was rocked by considerable social change. Favoured by Napolean the liberal middle class had expanded ami beco¬me richer Until then it had always been sneered at by "High Society", and no longer wished to be outdone by the aristocracy. It was therefore during this per¬iod that the new social class began, gradually; to seize the reins of power, star¬ting with the election of Members of Parliament. The Stockmarket was built amid economic activities took offf preparing the way for the industrial revolution at the end of the century. However the people of Paris, backed by the middle class, once more showed their hostility to the autboritarianisnm of the king. Charles X, worried by the increasing opposition of liberaal members of parlia¬ment, he wanted to cancel the elections tend above all forbid the Freedom of the Press. Braving this prohibition, the daily papers jointly decided to go to press no punter what. They were seized. The revolt spread through the faubourgs like wildfire (Uprisings of the 27, 28, 29 July 1830). They were led by the prin¬ters, the workers in the printers and students rand culminated in the abdication of Charles X.
He was succeded by Louis-Philippe who had always shown his revolutionary leanings and support for the press. He was welcomed into the football by La Fayette to the cheers of the people and middle class.
The exercise of power; however; changed this, the last king of France. With Guizot at his side he undertook a policy to increase the wealth of the middle class by any means. During this time the working class suffered unbearable poverty and unemployment. 1-tearing ever louder gnu mblings, the President of the Council warmed to ban a banquet which united call the reformers. This unfor¬tunate decision immediately led to a huge revolutionary movement which set the whole city ablaze. After the hesitations and clumsy delays by those in power the revolution was finally, violently quashed during the dark days 23-26 Jante 1848. The advent of the second Empire marked the beginning of a new era of economic expansion which created great wealth for the middle classes but which once more left the working classes destitute and poverty stricken. To enhance Napolean's prestige, Haussmann undertook an almost total reconstruction of the centre of Paris. which was officially to get rid of unheal thy buildings. In reality it was intended to chase the working classes out towards the outlying districts to give way to the moneyed classes. Above al! it was also necessary to avoid revolutionary riots such as those in 1848 by creating wide,. straight avenues. These would allow swift action by the armed forces in case of riots. They say that Haussmann
wanted "to be ruble to comb Paris with his machine-guns".
[1850] The conflict with Prussia and the defeat of Sedan were fatal for Napoleon III who no longer enjoyed the support of the moneyed classes. Paris was besieged for 5 months and the Parisians were reduced to famine. The population never for¬gave the defeat of the French by the Prussians and the inability of those in power to solve a disastrous economic situation. Revolutionary forces formed up, followed by widespread insurrection and then the formation of a revolutionary proletarian government of the Commune of Paris (March 1871). By making use of a disagreement between the political leaders, those in power broke up the revolt in a week of real carnage. 22-28 May 1871. The third republic. with renewed economic prosperity, continued with the wave of construction in the city. These additions to the capital were the Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes, the main stations. the Eiffel Tower; the Trocadéro, the big anal small Palais, the Alexandre 111 bridge, the basilica of the Sacré-Ccern; the Garnier Opera and the Metro. The great exhibitions of 1878 and 1889 also added to Paris prestige.
[1900] outs¬kirts while artistic activities blossomed in the districts of Montparnasse and 11Iontnarte. Politically parties became more radical with demonstrations from the left and the right : the Croix de Feu procession in 1934 and the creation of the Front Populaire in 1936.
Throughout the second world war, from June 1940 onwards Paris wets occu¬pied by the Wehrmacht. The capital was only liberated with the arrival of the allies in Normandy and the entry of the city by the troops of Leclerc's division in August 1944. More recently. fin•ther. great feats of architecture have added to the beauty of the city, although they are often questioned For example we will mention the Centre Pompidou. the Montparnasse tower: the city of science, the Louvre's pyramid, the Institute of the Arab World. the Arche de la Defense, the Bastille Opéra and the recent opening of the city of music and the completion of the Great Library.

EC0N0MY
Since the turn of the century heavy industries have gradual!)• moved away front the centre to set up on the outskirts of the capital. The city of Paris only retains light industries such as : textiles, printing, electronics and cinema or tertiary sector activities: banks, insu/rance. advertising, publishing etc... Various attempts to decentralise the economy have ended in failure. Thus. nearly, 75
of French businesses' headquarters are to be found in Paris. At the setme time Parisians have gradually left the city, which naturally raises the daily tzdvel problem( faced by commuters.
For administrationsl purposes the city of Paris is divided into 20 "arrondisse¬ments" which cur/ out from the centre in the form of a snail shell. Economic ac ti¬vities are grouped together geographically; therefore the business centre is in the 1", 11"i, VIII'' and IX" arrondissements where you wil! find : the stockmarket, banks, insurance, head offices of large businesses, luxury goods, the great clothes designers, department stores, advertising agencies and film studios. On the left bank. in the VI' and VII`' arrondissements yon will find most of the ministries and state buildings. The Latin Quarter is world-fc(mo((s for its artistic and intellectual activities. It is there that yon will find most of the publishing houses.


WORLD CAPITAL OF BUSINESS TOURISM
For the 16‘" consecutive year Paris is at the head of world convention cities with more than 1200 conferences a year, of which over a third are international. Paris is the capital of tide shows and exhibitions with a total covered exhibi¬tion space of over 555 000 nr' including:
• 220 000 m' at the Parc de expositions de Paris 160 000 in" at Paris Nord Villepinte. • 82300 in= at the Parc des expositions du Bourget. • 20200 n/' at CNIT Paris la Défense . • 16000 in' at the Palais des Congrès de Paris. 14 000 nr' at the Grandie Halle de la Villette. • 12 000m2 at the Parc Floral de Paris Vincennes. • 10000 m2 at the Espace Champerret. • 7500m2 at the Carroussel du Louvre.
These host • 170 fairs and exhibitions. • 5500 exhibitors (including 15 000 foreign exhibitors). • 7 000 000 (including 8% foreign visitors).
Penis is cr world leader in terms of its capacity, for conference-goers anal seats 110000 people in : the reception hall of the Palais des Congrès with 3700.
• 13 halls with more than 1 500 seats. • 8 halls with more than 1000 to 1500 seats. • 21 halls with 500 to 1000 seats. • 20 halls with 250 to 500 seats.


POPULATION
The city of Paris has just over two million inhabitants, the urban centre as a whole houses more than 8.5 million in 280 surrounding communes, which places the city amongst the largest metropolis in the world after Tokyo, New-York, London, Shanghai and Mexico. The residential districts of the priviled¬ged classes are mostly to be found in the West of Paris while the more working classes tend to live in the North or East. The Parisian is traditionally very attached to his or her arrondissement.

RELIGION
France is by tradition Christian and catholicism is the most practised religion.
However, due to the melting pot of cultures, particularly in the last thirty years, Islam has now taken second place. In Paris it is possible to find as many different religious buildings as types of religion. Other than the numerous churches we will mention : the American cathe¬dral, the Quaker's society, the Mormon temple, the great Parisian M osque, various synagogues, the reformist chur¬ch, evangelist, pentecostal, adventist, lutherian or angli¬can, the Danish or Swedish church, the Greek or Russian Orthodox church, the Ar¬menian or Maronite churches or even the Buddhist temple and the temple of Nipponzan Myohoji.

LANGUAGE
Obviously the official language is French, but as Paris is a magnet for tourists from all over the world, you will have no difficulty in making yourself rntders¬tood in any standard foreign language.

TOURISM
PARIS TOURIST OFFICE : Paris 75008 - 178 Champs Elysées-M° George V. 'Lél.: 49 52 53 54.
In this centre you can find advice, city maps, guides and road maps, a carren¬t), exchange, a point of sale for tickets for trips and cabarets as well as a gift shop. You will also find other offices open in the main stations, at the Eiffel Tower RER station and at the Mairie de Paris.
There are recorded messages about various activities :
• In French : Tel. : 47 20 94 94. • In English : Tel. : 47 20 88 98. • Auf Deutsch : Tel.: 43 22 19 19.
Maison de la France : Paris 75001- 8 avenue de l'Opera Tel. : 42 96 10 23.