Paris was settled around 300 B.C., so there have been people living in this part of France for a very long time. For 2,000 years now, locals have had to learn to live with the Seine River, which runs through the middle of Paris. The Seine is a really important part of Paris and was even more important before the city got built up. In addition to its benefits, the Seine can also bring challenges to the area, especially to people living in the city of Paris today.
The Seine River makes the environment of Paris quite special. Before it was a gigantic, sprawling city, Paris was a place with a lot of woods, fields and marshes. The Seine River winds its way through the middle of it all. It used to be a bountiful river, providing much fish and freshwater to early inhabitants. In the middle of the Seine is an island called Île de la Cité, which today is considered the heart of Paris. Île de la Cité was a pretty ideal place for people to live because it was surrounded by water and therefore more protected from invaders. The land around the Seine River was also very fertile, so people could grow lots of crops. All of these are reasons why people moved to this area and why Paris eventually developed as a populous and important city in France. And as Paris grew, people actually modified the river to better suit their needs.
