Boulogne-Billancourt

Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne streets.JPG
Boulogne-Billancourt map.svg
Paris and inner ring départements
Administration
Country France
Region Île-de-France
Department Hauts-de-Seine
Arrondissement Boulogne-Billancourt
Intercommunality Val de Seine
Mayor Pierre-Christophe Baguet
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 28–40 m (92–130 ft)
Land area1 6.17 km2 (2.38 sq mi)
Population2 112,043  (2006)
 - Density 18,159 /km2 (47,030 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 92012/ 92100
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.

Boulogne-Billancourt (often colloquially called simply Boulogne or Boulbi) is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.2 km (5.1 mi) from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt.

Boulogne-Billancourt is the most populous suburb of Paris and one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. Formerly an important industrial site, it has successfully reconverted into business services and is now home to major communication companies headquartered in the Val de Seine business district.

Contents

Name

The original name of the commune was Boulogne-sur-Seine (meaning "Boulogne upon Seine").

Before the 14th century, Boulogne was a small village called Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud (meaning "Menuls near Saint-Cloud"). In the beginning of the 14th century, King Philip IV of France ordered the building in Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud of a church dedicated to the virgin of the sanctuary of Boulogne-sur-Mer, then a famous pilgrimage center in northern France. The church, meant to become a pilgrimage centre closer to Paris than the distant city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, was named Notre-Dame de Boulogne la Petite ("Our Lady of Boulogne the Minor"). Gradually, the village of Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud became known as Boulogne-la-Petite, and later as Boulogne-sur-Seine.

In 1924, Boulogne-sur-Seine was officially renamed Boulogne-Billancourt, to reflect the development of the industrial neighbourhood of Billancourt annexed in 1860 (see history section below).

As for the name Billancourt, it was recorded for the first time in 1150 as Bullencort, sometimes also spelled Bollencort. It comes from Medieval Latin cortem, accusative of cors, meaning "enclosure", "estate", suffixed to the Germanic patronym Buolo (meaning "friend, brother, kinsman"), thus having the meaning of "estate of Buolo".

History

On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighbouring communes. On that occasion, the communes of Auteuil and Passy were disbanded and divided between Boulogne-Billancourt (then called Boulogne-sur-Seine) and the city of Paris. Boulogne-sur-Seine received a small part of the territory of Passy, and about half of the territory of Auteuil (including the area of Billancourt, which belonged to the disbanded commune of Auteuil).

Some of the shooting events took place at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne, which was hitherto divided between the communes of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine, was annexed in its entirety by the city of Paris. On that occasion, Boulogne-Billancourt, to which most of the Bois de Boulogne belonged, lost about half of its territory

Boulogne-Billancourt is famous for being the birthplace of three major industries: cinema, automobile, aircraft industries.

Demographics

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Boulogne-Billancourt in 1999
Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France
79.8% 20.2%
Born in
Overseas France		 Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants
0.8% 4.5% 4.1% 10.8%
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.

Population changes

Historical population of Boulogne-Billancourt
1936 1954 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006
97,379 93,998 109,008 103,578 102,582 101,743 106,367 112,043

Administration

With the city of Sèvres, Boulogne-Billancourt is part of the communauté d'agglomération Val de Seine.

Transport

Boulogne-Billancourt is served by two stations on Paris Métro Line 10: Boulogne - Jean Jaurès and Boulogne - Pont de Saint-Cloud

It is also served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 9: Marcel Sembat, Billancourt, and Pont de Sèvres.

Economy

Boulogne-Billancourt hosts the global headquarters of several multinational companies, including:

Prior to 2000 Schneider Electric's head office was in Boulogne-Billancourt.[2]

Miscellaneous

Personalities

Boulogne-Billancourt was the birthplace of:

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with:

In popular culture

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Boulogne-Billancourt - RSAS." Renault. Retrieved on 22 September 2009.
  2. ↑ "Schneider-Electric s'est installé chez une filiale." Schneider Electric. Retrieved on 8 July 2010.
  3. ↑ "Ra'anana: Twin towns & Sister cities - Friends around the World". raanana.muni.il. http://www.raanana.muni.il/English/Topics/My+City/Sister+Cities/. Retrieved 24 March 2010. 

External links

Paris-metropolitan-area-symbol.pngCommunes in the metropolitan area of Paris
Population over 2 million
Population over 100,000
Argenteuil · Boulogne-Billancourt · Montreuil · Saint-Denis
Population over 75,000
Population over 50,000
Antony · Aubervilliers · Le Blanc-Mesnil · Bondy · Cergy · Champigny-sur-Marne · Clamart · Clichy · Drancy · Épinay-sur-Seine · Évry · Fontenay-sous-Bois · Issy-les-Moulineaux · Ivry-sur-Seine · Levallois-Perret · Maisons-Alfort · Neuilly-sur-Seine · Noisy-le-Grand · Pantin · Sarcelles · Sartrouville · Sevran · Villejuif
Population under 25,000
1,459 other communes
Venues of the 1900 Summer Olympics
7th arrondissement of Paris · Bois de Boulogne · Bois de Vincennes · Boulogne-Billancourt · Compiègne · Croix-Catelan Stadium · Le Havre · Meulan-en-Yvelines  · Neuilly-sur-Seine · Puteaux · Satory · Seine · Tuileries Garden · Vélodrome de Vincennes