Chronology

c. 4500 BC	Neolithic settlements on the Seine (on the site of modern Bercy).
c. 2nd century BC	The Celtic Parisii tribe settles on an island in the Seine.
52 BC	Defeat of the Parisii by Caesar’s second-in-command, Labienus.
1st century AD	Development of the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia on the left bank of the Seine: forum, aqueduct, baths (Cluny), theatres, amphitheatre (Arènes de Lutèce).
late 3rd century	Saint Denis brings Christianity to Lutetia.
360	Julian II proclaimed emperor in Lutetia.
451	Saint Geneviève saves the city, now known as Paris, from Attila the Hun.
508	Clovis, King of the Franks, makes Paris his capital.
543	Foundation of the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in fields outside the city.
639	The basilica at Saint-Denis becomes the royal necropolis.
885–86	Viking siege of Paris.
10th and 11th centuries	Decay of public buildings; shrinking of Paris and its population.
1108–37	Reign of Louis VI, who makes Paris the main royal residence.
c. 1140–1307	Temple fortress: headquarters of the Knights Templar.
1163–1345	Building of the cathedral of Notre-Dame-de-Paris on the site of the Saint-Étienne basilica.
1190–	Building of the Louvre and the Philippe-Auguste Wall. Land area of Paris: 2.53 km2.
1248	Consecration of the Sainte-Chapelle.
1257	Foundation of the Sorbonne.
1328	Population: 61,098 hearths (over 200,000 people). Paris the largest city in Europe.
1356–83	Charles V Rampart and Bastille. Land area of Paris: 4.39 km2.
1407	Assassination of Louis d’Orléans, brother of King Charles VI, in the Marais. Start of civil war.
1420	Paris occupied by English and Burgundians.
1429	September – Joan of Arc launches an attack on Paris.
1437	November – Charles VII recaptures Paris.
1515–47	Reign of François I: development of Louvre; new Hôtel de Ville on the Place de Grève.
1560–74	Regency of Catherine de Médicis. Building of Tuileries Palace.
1572	23–24 August – Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre of Protestants.
1588	12 May – Day of the Barricades (revolt against Henri III).
1589–1610	Henri IV King of France (crowned 1594). Completion of Pont Neuf, development of the Marais and the Faubourg Saint-Germain.
1635	Académie Française founded by Cardinal de Richelieu.
1648	26 August – Day of the Barricades (beginning of Fronde civil wars).
1658	February – Flooding of the Seine.
1661–1715	Reign of Louis XIV. Construction of Observatory (1667) and Les Invalides (1671); ramparts replaced by boulevards (1676).
1665–83	Ministry of Jean-Baptiste Colbert: development of road system centred on Paris; creation of Académie des Sciences (1666); creation of post of Lieutenant-Général de Police de Paris (1667), with responsibility for public safety, street-cleaning, etc.
1682	The royal court moves to Versailles.
1686	Opening of the first successful coffee-house, the Café Procope.
1700	Population: c. 515,000.
1702	12 December – Paris is divided into twenty quartiers.
1715–74	Reign of Louis XV.
1722–28	Palais Bourbon (Assemblée Nationale).
1740	December – Flooding of the Seine.
1751–88	École Militaire and Champ de Mars.
1755–75	Creation of the Place de la Concorde.
1775–91	First completely accurate map of Paris, by Edme Verniquet.
1779	First pavement (sidewalk) in Paris, Rue de l’Odéon.
1770s and 80s	Building boom: development of Chaussée-d’Antin and riverbanks, commercial development of Palais-Royal (1781–84), urbanization of outlying villages.
1782	Théâtre-Français (Odéon).
1783	21 November – First untethered balloon flight, by Pilâtre de Rozier, from Château de la Muette to the Butte-aux-Cailles.
1784–89	Tax wall of the Fermiers Généraux. Land area of Paris: 33.7 km2.
1786	Catacombs built by Charles-Axel Guillaumot.
1789	Population: c. 650,000. 14 July – Fall of the Bastille. 15 July – Appointment of first Mayor of Paris. 5–6 October – Louis XVI forced by popular demonstration to return to Paris from Versailles.
1790	Completion of Église Sainte-Geneviève (Panthéon). 15 January – France divided into eighty-three départements. Paris forms a département in its own right.
1791	21 June – Arrest of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Varennes.
1793	21 January – Execution of Louis XVI. 10 August – Opening of Louvre Museum. 16 October – Execution of Marie-Antoinette.
1794	17 July – Office of Mayor of Paris abolished (recreated briefly in 1848 and 1870–71). 28 July – Execution of Robespierre.
1795	11 October – Paris is divided into twelve arrondissements, each with its own mayor, and forty-eight quartiers.
1799	November (18 Brumaire) – Coup d’état: Napoleon Bonaparte First Consul.
1801	First official census – population (underestimated?): 547,000.
1802–26	Canal de l’Ourcq and Bassin de La Villette.
1804	Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I at Notre-Dame; creation of Père-Lachaise cemetery.
1804–14	Renovation and development of Paris, notably on nationalized Church property: first section of Rue de Rivoli, Place du Châtelet, Bourse (Palais Brongniart), continuation of La Madeleine, Arc de Triomphe (completed 1836); new bridges (Ponts des Arts, d’Austerlitz, d’Iéna); system of covered sewers.
1805	First consistent numbering and naming of Paris streets.
1811	Creation of Brigade de la Sûreté.
1814	31 March – Paris occupied by Allied armies. 11 April – First abdication of Napoleon. May – First Restoration.
1815	18 June – Battle of Waterloo. 9 July – Second Restoration.
1815–24	Reign of Louis XVIII.
1824	Accession of Charles X.
1828	First successful omnibus service in Paris.
1829	Rue de la Paix becomes the first gas-lit street in Paris.
1830	July Revolution; abdication of Charles X; coronation of Louis-Philippe.
1832	March–September – Cholera epidemic. June – Repression of popular revolt.
1833–48	C.-P. Barthelot de Rambuteau Prefect of the Seine département: renovation and completion of squares and monuments, provision of public fountains, the first tarmac-covered streets and the first street urinals (vespasiennes).
1834	14 April – Popular insurrection: massacre of men, women and children at 12, Rue Transnonain by the National Guard.
1837	First railway station in Paris: 124, Rue Saint-Lazare.
1841	Population: 935,000 (50% born in Paris; almost 3% of French citizens live in Paris).
1841–44	Adolphe Thiers’s ring of fortifications.
1843	Île Louviers joined to the Right Bank of the Seine.
1845–64	Renovation of Notre-Dame by Viollet-le-Duc (inaugurated on Christmas Day, 1862).
1848	February Revolution. June – Repression of popular revolt.
1851	2 December – Coup d’état of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Emperor Napoleon III, 1852–70).
1853–70	Georges-Eugène Haussmann Prefect of the Seine département: 20,000 houses demolished; 44,000 houses and apartment blocks built; roads widened and network extended by 106 km (including four new bridges and 664 km of trottoirs); 21,000 more street-lights; drainage system increased from 107 to 561 km; three new parks and eight ‘squares’ thirteen new churches and two synagogues; five new theatres.
1854–57	Landscaping of Champs-Élysées and Bois de Boulogne.
1855	21 September – Haussmann’s circular on the harmonization of Paris: all buildings in the same block to have the same continuous balconies, cornices and roofs.
1855–59	Creation of a north–south axis from the Gare de l’Est to the Observatoire. (Inauguration of Boulevard de Sébastopol: 5 April 1858.)
1859	November – Annexation of suburban communes and reorganization of Paris into twenty arrondissements. Population before annexation: 1,174,000; after: 1,696,000 (4.6% of French population). Land area: 78.02 km2.
1850s and 60s	Grands magasins (department stores): Bon Marché (1852), Grands Magasins du Louvre (1855), Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (1860), Printemps (1865), Belle Jardinière (1866), Samaritaine (1869).
1860–68	Bibliothèque Nationale, by Henri Labrouste.
1865–66	Demolitions on the Île de la Cité, whose resident population falls from 20,000 to 5,000.
1866	Pneumatic post network (until 1984).
1870	September – Defeat of France by Prussia at Sedan; Siege of Paris; proclamation of Third Republic.
1871	March – Election of Paris Commune; National Government at Versailles. May – Destruction of Hôtel de Ville (rebuilt 1874–82) and Tuileries Palace (not rebuilt); defeat of Commune by government troops.
1875	Inauguration of Opéra designed by Charles Garnier (Avenue de l’Opéra completed 1878).
1875–1914	Building of Sacré-Cœur basilica at Montmartre.
1879	National Government returns from Versailles to Paris.
1889	Universal Exhibition and inauguration of Eiffel Tower.
1891	15 March – Paris time imposed on the rest of France.
1895	December – First public screening of motion pictures, by the Lumière brothers, at the Grand Café, Boulevard des Capucines.
1898	13 January – Zola’s letter on the Dreyfus Affair.
1900	April–November – Universal Exhibition; inauguration of Gare d’Orsay, Grand and Petit Palais, Pont Alexandre III. 19 July – Opening of first Métro line in Paris.
1903	July – The first Tour de France bicycle race begins and ends in Paris suburbs.
1906 and 1919	Îlots insalubres identified for slum clearance.
1910	January – Worst flooding since 1658. 4 November – Opening of first Nord–Sud underground railway line.
1911	Population: 2,888,000 (7.3% of French population; 18%, including suburbs).
1914	31 July – Assassination of Jean Jaurès at Café du Croissant. 1 August – France orders general mobilization. 30 August – First aerial bombardment of Paris (Gare de l’Est).
1915	20–21 March and 29 January 1916 – Zeppelin raids on Paris.
1918	January–September: Occasional bombardment by Gothas and long-range cannon. 11 November – Armistice.
1919	Opening of Le Bourget airport. Demolition of Thiers’s fortifications begins.
1921	Population: 2,906,000 (7.4% of French population; 15%, including suburbs).
1925	Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
1930	Land area (now including Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes): 105.4 km2.
1937	International Exhibition and inauguration of Palais de Chaillot.
1939	3 September – Declaration of war.
1940	June – German army enters Paris; French government leaves for Tours, then Bordeaux. July – Establishment of Vichy régime. Paris, in the Occupied Zone, remains the capital of France.
1942	July – ‘Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv’ (biggest round-up of Jews in Paris).
1944	August – Liberation of Paris.
1946	Population: 2,725,000 (6.8% of French population); of Seine département: 4,776,000.
1950	Creation of HLMs (rent-controlled public housing) and the first ‘dormitory towns’ opening of new Port of Paris at Gennevilliers.
1952	Orly replaces Le Bourget as the main civil airport for Paris.
1958–	Development of business quarter, La Défense.
1959–69	Presidency of Charles de Gaulle.
1961	Creation of ‘District de la Région Parisienne’ (renamed ‘Île-de-France’, after the former province, in 1976). 17 October – Massacre of Algerians by Paris police.
1962	July – Algeria granted independence. 4 August – Loi Malraux creates conservation areas in central Paris. 22 August – Attempted assassination of President de Gaulle at Petit-Clamart.
1964	July – Seine département divided into Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Hauts-de-Seine.
1965	‘Schéma Directeur de la Région Parisienne’: creation of five satellite ‘villes nouvelles’ – Cergy-Pontoise, Évry, Marne-la-Vallée, Melun-Sénart and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
1968	May–June – Student protests and general strike.
1969	Work begins on Tour Montparnasse (completed 1972) and a regional express train network (RER); the central markets, Les Halles, moved out to Rungis.
1969–74	Presidency of Georges Pompidou.
1973	Completion of Boulevard Périphérique.
1974	Opening of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.
1974–81	Presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
1975	Population of Paris: 2,317,000; of metropolitan area: 9,879,000 (4.4% and 18.7% of French population). 1 July – Launch of flat-rate ticket for entire Paris transport network (Carte orange).
1977	31 January – Centre Georges-Pompidou (‘le Beaubourg’). 28 February – Height limit of twenty-five metres imposed on all new buildings in central Paris. March – Jacques Chirac first Mayor of Paris since 1871.
1979	Demolition of wine warehouses at Bercy. September – Forum des Halles.
1981–95	Presidency of François Mitterrand.
1981	September – First TGV rail service: Paris–Lyon.
1984–87	Parc de la Villette.
1986	December – Musée d’Orsay.
1989	March – Grand Louvre and Pyramid. July – Opéra Bastille.
1991	Discovery of neolithic tools and dugouts at Bercy.
1992	April – Opening of Disneyland Paris.
1994	14 November – The first Eurostar train leaves the Gare du Nord for London Waterloo.
1995–2007	Presidency of Jacques Chirac.
1996	December – Opening of Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
1998	12 July – French national football team wins the World Cup in the Stade de France at Saint-Denis.
1999	Population: 2,125,000; of metropolitan area (Île-de-France): 10,947,000 (18.7% of French population; 6.9% born outside European Community).
2001–	Bertrand Delanoë Mayor of Paris.
2002	July–August – ‘Paris-Plage’: creation of temporary ‘beaches’ on the banks of the Seine.
2005	October–November – Popular revolt in the banlieue and in towns and cities throughout France.
2006	March – The Sorbonne occupied by students; evacuated by CRS. 2007– Presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.
2007	July – Introduction of Vélib bike rental scheme.
2008	1 January – Smoking banned in cafés and restaurants.
2010	Projected completion of Périphérique de l’Île-de-France.