Coordinates: 48°53′29″N, 2°12′16″E
Nanterre is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 11.1 km. (6.9 miles) from the center of Paris.
Nanterre is the préfecture (capital) of the Hauts-de-Seine département, as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Nanterre.
Eastern Nanterre, bordering communes of Courbevoie and Puteaux, contains a small part of the La Défense 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 took place in it. The city of Nanterre also includes the University Paris X – Nanterre, one of the largest universities in the Paris region.
Name
The name Nanterre has a long history going back to before the Roman conquest of Gaul. The Romans recorded the name as Nemetodorum. This name is made of the Celtic word nemeto meaning "shrine", "sacred place", and of the Celtic word duros (cognate of English door and German Tür) meaning "door, gate", "fortress". The sacred place referred to in the name is supposed to be the famous shrine that existed in Antiquity on top of Mont-Valérien hill.
Inhabitants of Nanterre are called Nanterriennes (feminine) and Nanterriens (masculine).
History
Sainte Geneviève, patron of Paris, was born in Nanterre ca 419/422. [1]
In 2002, a disgruntled local activist shot and killed eight town councillors in what the French press dubbed the Nanterre massacre.
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.
² An 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. |
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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 - Préfecture station is also an interchange station on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line.
See also
Twin towns
External links
References
 Communes in the metropolitan area of Paris |
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| Population over 2 million |
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| Population over 75,000 |
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| Population over 50,000 |
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| Population over 25,000 |
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| Population under 25,000 |
1,460 other communes
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Coordinates: 48°53′29″N, 2°12′16″E
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