The three main parts of historical Paris are defined by the Seine. At its centre is the Île de la Cité, which is the seat of religious and temporal authority (the word cité connotes the nucleus of the ancient city).

Stretching back into the centuries, from the Celtic Gauls and Romans to the Revolutions and World Wars, Paris has seen its fair share of bloodshed. From the good times to the bad, here are the major events in Paris’s history that have shaped the city that it is today.

The history of Paris starts with a humble settlement by a tribe of Celtic fishermen in around 259 BC. Since then it has enjoyed a long and illustrious history to become the thriving metropolis that it is today. Here is a brief roundup of some of the key events in the history of Paris.

The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the area's major north–south trade routes crossed the Seine on the Île de la Cité, which gradually became an important trading centre.

The original settlement from which Paris evolved, Lutetia, was in existence by the late 3rd century bce on an island in the Seine. Lutetia was captured and fortified by the Romans in 52 bce. During the 1st century ce the city spread to the left bank of the Seine. By the early 4th century it was known as Paris.

Jonathan Glancey describes how the city of today was born. Paris remains one of the world’s most visited cities, and of those tens of millions drawn to its remarkably compact centre each year, the Marais district exerts a magnetic pull.

The major events of the Revolution took place in Paris, including the storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789); the conveying of the King and the National Constituent Assembly from Versailles to Paris (October 1789); the establishment of the numerous clubs in the convents of the old religious orders, Jacobins, Cordeliers, and Feuillants; the insurrection that heralded the abolition of the monarchy (August 10, 1792); the execution of the King (January 21, 1793) in the Place de la Révolution, not yet named Place de la Concorde; the most prolonged manifestation of the Terror (1793–94); and the series of coups d’état, from that of 9 Thermidor, year II (1794), to that of 18 Brumaire, year VIII (1799), which preceded the ascendancy of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Paris was occupied by the English for 15 years from 1420, but they lost control of the city in 1435. Paris had endured a tough time, with an economic depression and, in 1348, the Black Death, which wiped out perhaps half of the population.

Here are a few of the key events that have shaped the city’s history, making Paris what it is today. Where does the name Paris come from? The Parisii were a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, and they established themselves on the Île de la Cité, one of the remaining natural islands along the Seine, in the years between 250 and 225 BC.