Colegio Continental

Social Studies Project

Name:
Nathalia Negrin Vargas

10th grade

Teacher:
Ms. Jael Pérez
Due Date: Thursday 26th, 2020
 
 PARIS
The history of Paris dates back to
approximately 259 BC, with
the Parisii, a Celtic tribe settled on
the banks of the Seine. In 52 BC,
the fishermen village
was conquered by the Romans,
founding a Gallo-Roman town
called Lutetia.
The city changed its name to Paris
during the fourth century. During
this period, the city was
threatened by Attila the Hun and
his army, and according to the
legend, the inhabitants of Paris
resisted the attacks thanks to the
providential intervention of Saint
Geneviève (patron saint of the
city).
In 508 the first king of the Franks,
Clovis I, made Paris the capital of
his empire. In 987, the Capetian
dynasty came to power until 1328.
During the eleventh century, Paris
gradually became more
prosper thanks to its trade in silver
and because it was a strategic
route for pilgrims and traders.
 At the beginning of the twelfth century, the first university in France was
founded thanks to the uprisings of students and professors. Louis IX appointed
the chaplain, Robert de Sorbon, to establish the College, which was later named
after him, the Sorbonne.
Three insurrections took place during the fourteenth century in Paris: the first, in
1358, when Étienne Marcel led a merchant revolt. The second was a tax riot
known as the Maillot uprising in 1382, and the third was the Cabochien revolt in
1413. These riots were part of the Hundred Years’ War.
Additionally, the capital of France, which was the most populated city in Europe
in 1328, was struck by the Bubonic plague, killing thousands of Parisians.
Following the Hundred Years’ War, Paris was devastated and Joan of Arc was
unable to keep the British from taking Paris. In 1431, Henry VI of England was
crowned King of France and the English did not leave until 1436.
The city kept on growing during the following centuries, although monarchs
preferred to live in the Loire Valley. In 1528, King Francis I returned the royal
residence to Paris and the city became the largest in Western Europe.  
On 24 August, 1572, the royal council decided to assassinate the leaders of the
Protestants (Hugonotes), which lead to Catholic mobs butchering protestants in
Paris. Known as St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, it spread from Paris to the rest
of the country during the following months.
Margaret of Valois, sister of King Charles IX, married Henri of Navarre (Head of
the Huguenots dynasty) that same year, while Henry III tried to find a solution to
the conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants. However, in 1588, the
French Catholics forced Henry III to flee on the so-called Day of the
Barricades and killed him a year later. He was succeeded by Henry of Navarre,
becoming King Henry IV. A decade later, Henry IV decided to convert to
Catholicism and was crowned King of France in 1594.
In 1648, the second Day of the Barricades took place when the Parisians
opposed the King due to the deplorable level of poverty. This was the beginning
of a long uprising called the Fronde parlementaire, a serie of civil wars that took
place in France between 1648 and 1662. Fifteen years later, King Louis XVI
moved the royal residence to Versailles.
The decline of the Monarchy
As a consequence of the Fronde, poverty spread throughout Paris. During this period,
there was an explosion of the Enlightenment philosophical movement, whose principles
are based on reason, equality and freedom.
Philosophers and authors such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot and Montesquieu fostered
the Enlightenment, creating a need for a socio-economic equality that led to the
revolution and the decline of the divine right monarchy.
On the 14 July 1789, the Parisians stormed the Bastille, symbol of the royal authority
and on the 3 September 1791, the first written Constitution was created and approved
by King Louis XVI. The King and ministers made up the executive branch and the
Monarch was allowed a suspensive veto of the laws approved by the National Assembly.
On 10 August, 1792, the Parisians attacked the Tuileries Palace and the National
Assembly suspended the King’s constitutional rights. The new parliament abolished the
monarchy and proclaimed the Republic. As a consequence, on 17 August 1795, a new
constitution was approved giving the executive power to a Directory.
Paris during Napoleon

The new Constitution was not accepted by

monarchic groups and Jacobins. Several
uprisings took place in Paris, but were all
repressed by the army.
Nevertheless, on 9 November 1799, the army
was unable to crush the coup d’état led
by Napoleon Bonaparte, which overthrew the
Directory and replaced it by the
Consulate, Napoleon being First Consul.  
During the following fifteen years, Napoleon
enlarged the Place du Carrousel, built two Arcs
de Triomphe, a column, several markets, the
Paris bourse and a few slaughter houses.
The Napoleonic Wars – and with it the Empire of
Napoleon – ended on 20 November 1815, after
Napoleon had been defeated at the Battle of
Waterloo, and the second Treaty of Paris of
1815 was signed.
Urban development
Once Napoleon had been
defeated, France experienced great
political uncertainty until Napoleon’s
nephew organized a coup d’état in
1851 and became Emperor Napoleon
III. During the following seventeen
years, Napoleon III promoted the
city’s urban development.
During this period and with Baron
Haussmann as the prefect of
Paris, the city changed its urban
structure, rebuilding the center,
knocking down its fortification and
expanding the metropolitan territory.
On the 28 January 1871, Paris was
conquered by the Prussian
troops and a few years later (at the
end of 1800), the Third Republic was
proclaimed. With the new
government, an era of economic
growth began for the city, promoting
in 1889 the construction of the Eiffel
Tower, worldwide symbol of Paris.
 From the twentieth century on, Paris suffered
important changes with the reconstruction of
different neighborhoods, many damaged during
World War I and World War II.

During World War I, the city resisted the German

offensives. However, in 1940, Paris was occupied
by the Nazis, although the Parisians resisted and
freed the capital on 25 August 1944.

During the war against Algeria, several violent

manifestations took place in Paris against the war,
with numerous attacks by the OAS (Organisation
of the Secret Army).

During the months of May and June 1968, a series

of protests took place in the capital of France,
known as “May 68”. This was the largest student
protest in the history of France and, possibly, the
rest of Western Europe.
Paris is the capital of France and currently has a population close to 2,300,000 inhabitants.
According to studies, the city of Paris would have been founded between 250 BC. C. and 200 a. C,
taking the current name of Paris in the fourth century.
As the main city in the country, Paris is the seat of the central government and the French
administration, and hosts the main foreign diplomatic representations, being at the same time one of
the most prominent cities in the political sphere of the European Union (EU) .
The city is the most popular tourist destination in the world, with more than 42 million foreign visitors
per year.
It has many of the most famous and admired monuments in the world: the Eiffel Tower, the Notre
Dame Cathedral, the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Sacré Coeur Basilica,
among others. It is also home to world-renowned institutions: the Louvre, the Orsay Museum and the
National Museum of Natural History of France, as well as an extensive system of higher education of
international prestige.
The Avenue des Champs Elysees, which has been called "the most beautiful avenue in the world," is
one of the main shopping streets in Paris. It was originally a garden and has become a large avenue-
promenade that connects the Arc de Triomphe with the Place de la Concorde. In this square, on both
sides of the Rue Royale, there are two stone buildings: the eastern one houses the Hotel de la Marina
and the west the luxurious Hotel de Crillon.
THE HUMAN SYSTEMS THAT AFFECTED THE CITY'S GROWTH

Multiple human impacts of the city of Paris on fish communities in the Seine
river basin,the river modifications for navigational purposes, control of river flow
by storage reservoirs and degradation of water quality downstream of the City. At
the basin scale, river modifications to improve navigation greatly affect the
species composition of the fauna. Construction of weirs and locks along all the
wider reaches of the river and its major tributaries have progressively caused the
extinction of seven migratory species. Conversely, links with other catchments
through waterways have favoured a colonization of the Seine river basin by
several species. Locally, at the reach scale, channelling leads to homogenization
of habitat conditions, which results in a general decrease of specialized species.
Several storage reservoirs regulate the upper Seine basin to control floods and
maintain minimum low-water flow in the lower reaches.
Explain how
other cities in
the region might
learn from its
experience:

They have changed

strategies to save
watersheds and
the citizens
changed behavior
with the
environment.