With an estimated population of 2,, residents in January [ 3 ] in an area of more than km 2 41 sq mi , [ 4 ] Paris is the fourth-most populous city in the European Union , the ninth-most populous city in Europe and the 30th most densely populated city in the world in Because of its leading role in the arts and sciences and its early adaptation of extensive street lighting, it became known as the City of Light in the 19th century.
Paris is a major railway, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Charles de Gaulle Airport , the third-busiest airport in Europe , and Orly Airport. Gare du Nord is the 24th-busiest railway station in the world and the busiest outside Japan, with million passengers in Paris is known for its museums and architectural landmarks: the Louvre received 8.
Paris hosted the , the , and the Summer Olympics. The ancient oppidum that corresponds to the modern city of Paris was first mentioned in the mid-1st century BC by Julius Caesar as Luteciam Parisiorum ' Lutetia of the Parisii ' and is later attested as Parision in the 5th century AD, then as Paris in The name Paris is derived from its early inhabitants, the Parisii , a Gallic tribe from the Iron Age and the Roman period.
According to Xavier Delamarre , it may derive from the Celtic root pario- 'cauldron'. The Parisii , a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones , inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. It became a prosperous city with a forum, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre. Clovis the Frank , the first king of the Merovingian dynasty , made the city his capital from By the end of the 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious, and cultural capital of France.
After the marshland between the river Seine and its slower 'dead arm' to its north was filled in from around the 10th century, [ 36 ] Paris's cultural centre began to move to the Right Bank. In the late 12th century, Philip Augustus extended the Louvre fortress to defend the city against river invasions from the west, gave the city its first walls between and , rebuilt its bridges to either side of its central island, and paved its main thoroughfares. With , inhabitants in , Paris, then already the capital of France, was the most populous city of Europe.
