Paris



"Paris is the home of the Eiffel Tower, and is a city of lights. The home of romance and fine dining also. But now look at it, it's being invaded by these Spanish bastards out there."

--Su Ji-Hoon, The Spanish Invasion

Paris (French pronunciation: ​[paʁi]) is the capital and most populous city in France, with an administrative-limits area of 105 square kilometers (41 square miles) and an official population of 2,206,488 (2015). The city is a commune and department, and the heart of the 12,012-square-kilometer (4,638-square-mile) Île-de-France region (colloquially known as the 'Paris Region'), whose 2016 population of 12,142,802 represented roughly 18 percent of the population of France. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centers of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts. The Paris Region had a GDP of €649.6 billion (US $763.4 billion) in 2014, accounting for 30.4 percent of the GDP of France. According to official estimates, in 2013-14 the Paris Region had the third-highest GDP in the world and the largest regional GDP in the EU.