The Gallic Parisii tribe settles in Ile de la Cite.
Julius Caesar’s troops seize the city, which becomes Gallo-Roman territory and takes the name Lutetia.
Lutetia becomes Paris.
Clovis makes Paris the capital of the Frankish kingdom.
Construction begins on the cathedral, which is completed 182 years later, in 1345.
The Sorbonne University opens its doors. Paris becomes a hub of European culture.
The important guild of boatmen adopts the motto “Fluctuat nec mergitur” (“She is tossed by the waves but does not sink”), which later becomes the motto of Paris.
King François I launches the Louvre Palace.
King Louis XIV, the court, and the government leave the Louvre and Saint-Germain en Laye, and relocate to the Palace of Versailles.
The storming of Bastille, on 14 July, marks the beginning of the French Revolution and the decline of the divine right of kings in France. 1792: Proclamation of the Republic. 1793: Execution of Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette at the Place de la Concorde.
Napoleon is crowned emperor at Notre-Dame de Paris by Pope Pius VII.
The Second Empire transforms the capital. Haussmann, the prefect, modernises and beautifies the city with major renovations.
Launch of the Eiffel Tower for the Universal Exposition.
Launch of the first Metro line.
The Germans occupy Paris. The Liberation of Paris takes place in 1944, on 25 August.