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Cartography of Paris, part 3: The 20 Districts

20 districts, 20 nodes:

           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
          11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

In 1860, baron Haussmann, who was directing the renovation of Paris with the support of Emperor Napoleon III, decided the enlargement of Paris. Most of the surrounding villages disappeared then: Belleville (now in the 20th district), Grenelle (15th), Vaugirard(14th), La Villette (19th) became quarters of Paris, while Auteuil (16th), Les Batignolles-Monceau (17th), Bercy (12th), La Chapelle-Saint-Denis (18th), Charonne (20th), Montmartre (18th) and Passy (16th) were divided between Paris and other towns. Gentilly (14th, 13th), Ivry (13th), Montrouge (14th), Neuilly-sur-Seine (17th) and Saint-Mandé (12th) lost a part of their territory but kept the remaining part and still exist today.

The new Paris was divided into 20 districts (arrondissements). They were numbered from the center (Châtelet) to the outskirts like a snail shell. In the map below, the large curve is the Seine, and the total distance from North to South is approximately 10 kilometers.


                                    18
                                                      19
               17                                          
                      

                             9             10                                
                                                         
                                                        20
                  8               2        3    
                                                 11
                  ___,--.___     1
              ,-''          ````----..____4      
      16     /       7                    `--__        
            /                 6                -_
           /                            5        -_   12
          /                                        \             
         /                                          \
        /                                            \
       /         15            14                     \
      /                                   13           \

The boulevard rings described in Paris streets often mark the boundaries between the districts. For example, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th districts are located inside the 1st ring. The 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th districts are located more or less between the 1st and 2nd rings. All of them are located inside the 3rd ring. However, Bois de Vincennes and Bois de Boulogne are located outside the 3rd ring although they belong respectively to the 12th and 16th districts.

You will find a list of the most important things to see in each district in Paris buildings and sites.

This is the population and land area of each district in 1990 (excludes Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes):

              Population   Land area           Population   Land area
                 (1990)      (km2)                 (1990)   (km2)
        
          I      16,888      1.83            XI     149,102      3.67
         II      19,585      0.99           XII     136,591      6.38
        III      34,248      1.17          XIII     171,533      7.15
         IV      30,675      1.60           XIV     132,844      5.62
          V      58,849      2.54            XV     225,362      8.50
         VI      44,919      2.15           XVI     161,773      7.85
        VII      56,985      4.09          XVII     160,860      5.67
       VIII      39,314      3.88         XVIII     184,586      6.01
         IX      55,838      2.18           XIX     172,730      6.79
          X      89,612      2.89            XX     182,952      5.98

                     ---------------------------
                     Paris   2,125,246     86.92

Source for the numbers: http://www.demographia.com/db-parisarron.htm

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