ABSTRACT

Paris is situated in the centre of the Department of Seine, the whole of which is part of the urban agglomeration of the city. The Department has an area of 480 sq. km. or about 192 sq. miles (almost the same as Chicago), while Paris proper covers only 78 sq. km. or about 31.5 sq. miles (104 sq. km. if the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes and the military zone are included). The Department was created in 1795 in order to embrace both Paris and its potential sub-urban zone, and it is surrounded on all sides by the Department of Seine-et-Oise. The extent of the built-up area is shown on Fig. 54. The population of the Department of Seine was nearly five millions in 1936, with a density of 10,300 persons to the square kilometre or about 4,100 per square mile. Of this total, Paris had 2,830,000.