# Paris

By [Artur](https://paragraph.com/@artur-5) · 2024-01-17

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**Paris** is the [capital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_city) and [most populous city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_communes_in_France_with_over_20,000_inhabitants) of [France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France). With an official estimated [population](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population) of 2,102,650 residents as of 1 January 2023[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris#cite_note-pop2023-2) in an area of more than 105 km2 (41 sq mi), Paris is the [fourth-most populated city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_European_Union_by_population_within_city_limits) in the [European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union) and the [30th most densely populated city in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_population_density) in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of [finance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finance), [diplomacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy), [commerce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce), [culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture), [fashion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_capital), and [gastronomy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastronomy). For its leading role in the [arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_art) and [sciences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_France), as well as its early and extensive system of street lighting, in the 19th century, it became known as the City of Light.

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*Originally published on [Artur](https://paragraph.com/@artur-5/paris)*