The oldest traces of human occupation in Paris are human bones and evidence of an encampment of hunter-gatherers dating from about BC, during the Mesolithic period. During the Middle Ages, Paris was the largest city in Europe, an important religious and commercial centre, and the birthplace of the Gothic style of architecture. The University of Paris on the Left Bank , organised in the midth century, was one of the first in Europe. It suffered from the Bubonic Plague in the 14th century and the Hundred Years' War in the 15th century, with recurrence of the plague.
Between and , the city was occupied by the Burgundians and English soldiers. In the 16th century, Paris became the book-publishing capital of Europe, though it was shaken by the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants. In the 18th century, Paris was the centre of the intellectual ferment known as the Enlightenment , and the main stage of the French Revolution from , which is remembered every year on the 14th of July with a military parade.
In the 19th century, Napoleon embellished the city with monuments to military glory. It became the European capital of fashion and the scene of two more revolutions in and In the latter part of the century, millions of tourists came to see the Paris International Expositions and the new Eiffel Tower.
Between the two wars, Paris was the capital of modern art and a magnet for intellectuals, writers and artists from around the world. The population reached its historic high of 2. In the 21st century, Paris added new museums and a new concert hall, but in it also experienced violent unrest in the housing projects in the surrounding banlieues suburbs , inhabited largely by first and second generation immigrants from France's former colonies in the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa.
In , the city and the nation were shocked by two deadly terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic extremists. The population of the city declined steadily from until , due to a decrease in family size and an exodus of the middle class to the suburbs; but it is increasing slowly once again, as young people and immigrants move into the city.
