The site of the modern Paris has been inhabited since the Stone Age, the period between around 4000 and 3000 BC. In the third century before our era various tribes – in particular the Parisii – settled in a place called Lutetia. Conquered by Julius Caesar, it then became an important base for the maintenance of the Roman Empire. In the fourth century Lutetia was declared a bishopric and renamed Paris. Historians estimate the population of Paris at around 10,000 at this time.

Paris would gradually go on to become the capital of the kingdom. In the sixth century Clovis, king of the Franks, settled there and made it his royal seat. He was followed by the Capetians, who proclaimed themselves dukes of France and kings of Paris. At the end of the eleventh century Philippe Auguste developed his capital and built the first fortified wall. By then Paris had between 25,000 and 50,000 inhabitants.

The term “Île-de-France” appeared in the tenth century, in reference to the royal domain. Its primary meaning remains uncertain. Sometimes it referred to the piece of land between the rivers Marne, Oise and Seine. At other times it was used in reference to Liddle France, “Little France” in the Frankish language; in other words, the area where the Franks had their roots in Gaul.

In the Middle Ages Paris enjoyed significant cultural and intellectual renown, notably in the fields of theology and the arts and in particular through the University of Paris, whose most prestigious college – the Sorbonne – was built in 1253. A few centuries later François I added the humanities and the exact sciences and created the Collège de France. Breaking with his Capetian predecessors, who had established their domains in the Val de Loire, François I settled in Paris in 1528, thereby restoring the city's status as capital of the kingdom of France. Some 150 years later, however, King Louis XIV quit Paris in the aftermath of the Fronde, establishing himself in his new palace in Versailles, which would remain the seat of national political power until the French Revolution, a century later.