Nanterre

Nanterre
La Défense vue de Nanterre (de la Résidence "Liberté").jpg
Nanterre map.svg
Paris and inner ring departements
Administration
Country France
Region ÃŽle-de-France
Department Hauts-de-Seine
Arrondissement Nanterre
Mayor Patrick Jarry
(2004–2008)
Statistics
Elevation 22–127 m (72–417 ft)
(avg. 30 m/98 ft)
Land area1 12.19 km2 (4.71 sq mi)
Population2 90,903  (2006)
 - Density 7,457 /km2 (19,310 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 92050/ 92000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Nanterre is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 11.1 km (6.9 mi) west from the center of Paris.

Nanterre is the capital of the Hauts-de-Seine department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Nanterre.

The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering the communes of Courbevoie and Puteaux, contains a small part of the La Defense business district of Paris and some of the tallest buildings in the Paris region. Because the headquarters of many major corporations are located in La Défense, the court of Nanterre is well-known in the media for the number of high-profile lawsuits and trials that take place in it. The city of Nanterre also includes the University Paris X – Nanterre, one of the largest universities in the Paris region.

Contents

Name

The name of Nanterre originated before the Roman conquest of Gaul. The Romans recorded the name as Nemetodorum. It is composed of the Celtic word nemeto meaning "shrine" or "sacred place" and the Celtic word duros (cognate of English door and German Tür) meaning "door or gate", or "fortress". The sacred place referred to is supposed to have been a famous shrine that existed in antiquity on the top of the hill known as Mont-Valérien.

Inhabitants of Nanterre are called Nanterriennes (feminine) and Nanterriens (masculine).

History

Sainte Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, was born in Nanterre ca. 419-422.[1]

On March 26, 2002, Richard Durn, a disgruntled local activist, shot and killed eight town councilors and 14 others were wounded in what the French press dubbed the Nanterre massacre. On March 28, the murderer killed himself by jumping from the 4th floor of the « Quai des orfèvres Â», in Paris, while he was questioned by two policemen about the reason for his killing in the Nanterre City Hall.

Demographics

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Nanterre in 1999
Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France
75.7% 24.3%
Born in
Overseas France		 Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants
2.7% 2.8% 3.9% 14.9%
¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Administration

Nanterre is divided into three cantons:

Transport

Nanterre is served by three stations on RER line A: Nanterre – Préfecture, Nanterre – Université, and Nanterre – Ville.

Nanterre - Université station is also an interchange station on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line.

Economy

Groupe du Louvre and subsidiary Louvre Hôtels have their head office in Village 5 in La Défense and Nanterre.[2][3][4]

See also


Twin towns

References

  1. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia St. Genevieve
  2. ↑ "Contact." Groupe du Louvre. Retrieved on 27 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Plan interactif." Nanterre. Retrieved on 27 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "Legal notice." Louvre Hôtels. Retrieved on 27 June 2010.

External links

Paris-metropolitan-area-symbol.pngCommunes in the metropolitan area of Paris
Population over 2 million
Population over 100,000
Population over 75,000
Asnières-sur-Seine Â· Aulnay-sous-Bois Â· Colombes Â· Courbevoie Â· Créteil Â· Nanterre Â· Rueil-Malmaison Â· Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Â· Versailles Â· Vitry-sur-Seine
Population over 50,000
Antony Â· Aubervilliers Â· Le Blanc-Mesnil Â· Bondy Â· Cergy Â· Champigny-sur-Marne Â· Clamart Â· Clichy Â· Drancy Â· Épinay-sur-Seine Â· Évry Â· Fontenay-sous-Bois Â· Issy-les-Moulineaux Â· Ivry-sur-Seine Â· Levallois-Perret Â· Maisons-Alfort Â· Neuilly-sur-Seine Â· Noisy-le-Grand Â· Pantin Â· Sarcelles Â· Sartrouville Â· Sevran Â· Villejuif
Population under 25,000
1,459 other communes