Quelques capitales européennes: origines

AMSTERDAM

Although modern historians do not exclude the possibility that during the Roman period some form of settlement existed at the mouth of the Amstel River, evidence of such has never been found. So far as is known, Amsterdam originated as a small fishing village in the 13th century AD. To protect themselves from floods, the early inhabitants had to build dikes on both sides of the river, and about 1270 they built a dam between these dikes.

BERLIN

The name Berlin appears for the first time in recorded history in 1244, seven years after that of its sister town, Kölln, with which it later merged. Both were founded near the beginning of the 13th century. In 1987 both East and West Berlin celebrated the city's 750th anniversary. Whatever the date of foundation, it is certain that the two towns were established for geographic and mercantile reasons, as they commanded a natural east-west trade route over the Spree River.
The way for their founding was opened by a Germanic resurgence in the area, which had been abandoned to the Slavs by the original Germanic tribes as they had migrated westward. The Slavs were subdued by Albert I the Bear, a Saxon who crossed the Elbe River from the west. His successors took the title margrave of the mark (border territory) of Brandenburg. Berlin still retains as its symbol a defiant black bear standing on its hind legs.
The settlements of Spandau and Köpenick, now metropolitan districts, preceded the establishment of Berlin-Kölln; fortified settlements at both sites date to the 8th century. The Ascanians, followers of Albert I the Bear, established their fortress in 1160 at Spandau in the north where the Spree flows into the Havel River; by 1232 the fortress had earned the privileges of a town. Berlin-Kölln emerged between Spandau to the northwest and Köpenick to the southeast. By 1250 Berlin-Kölln dominated the mark of Brandenburg east to the Oder River, where a fort had been built in 1214, and in the 14th century it became the centre of the city league of the mark of Brandenburg (founded in 1308) and joined the Hanseatic League of northern German towns.

The oldest known reference to Brussels dates to the 7th century and has the form Bruocsella, which means "settlement in the marshes." The name reflects the fact that the city owes its origin to the establishment, in the 6th century, of a fortified castle on a small island in the Senne River, which flows from south to north, and to an east-west economic route linking Rhenish towns such as Cologne with Brugge (Bruges), Ypres (Ieper), and other towns in the county of Flanders. At the point where road and river crossed, a market and bartering place developed under the protection of the dukes of Brabant. By the 12th century the settlement was surrounded by defensive ramparts with towers and fortified gateways

The valley in which the heart of Lisbon now lies was, in prehistoric times, the bed of a forked branch of the Tagus. (The subway now forks at the same spot.) No evidence has been uncovered to show who were the first residents on the hills surrounding the valley. Although it seems likely that the city was founded c. 1200 BC as a trading station by the far-ranging Phoenicians, there is no unassailable proof of the story. The city's ancient name, Olisipo, may be derived from the Phoenician alis ubbo ("delightful little port") or from the legend that the city's founder was Ulysses. 
Whatever the city's origins, it is known that the area was under Roman domination from 205 BC to c. AD 409 and that Julius Caesar raised the settlement to the dignity of a municipium and named it Felicitas Julia. A few inscribed stones remain as evidence of the Roman presence. The Romans lost the city to the migratory peoples known as the Alani, who were driven out by the Suebi, who in turn were conquered by the Visigoths. The base plan of the original fortifications is thought to be Visigothic and, if so, is the sole vestige of their reign. 

Although excavations west of London have revealed the remains of circular huts dating from before 2000 BC, the history of the city begins effectively with the Romans. Beginning their occupation of Britain under Emperor Claudius in AD 43, the Roman armies soon gained control of much of the southeast of Britain. At a point just north of the marshy valley of the Thames, where two low hills were sited, they established Londinium, with a bridge giving access from land to the south. The first definite mention of London refers to the year AD 60 and occurs in the work of the Roman historian Tacitus, who wrote of a celebrated centre of commerce filled with traders. 

 

The Arab town, or medina, grew around the alcazar (castle) on a promontory overlooking the Manzanares River. The name Majerit first appears in AD 932, when the Christian king Ramiro II of León razed the town's walls, but there are traces of earlier (even prehistoric) habitation. The Christian king Alfonso VI of Castile and León captured the town from the Muslims in 1083, and thereafter a number of kings of Castile spent time there. The parliament (Cortes) was called there as early as 1309. The alcazar was damaged in an earthquake in 1466 and the subsequent medieval palace was extended by various monarchs, notably Charles I and Philip II. In this period the town grew to the east up both sides of what are now the Calle Mayor and the Calle de Segovia, with the Moors (who continued to live there until after the Christian reconquest of Spain was completed in 1492) jammed into the southwest corner, which is still called the Moreria. The whole of the city at this time was only 500 by 900 yards in area. Some of the street patterns of the pre-16th century city remain, but few buildings; one that still stands is the much-restored Casa de los Lujanes, where it is believed the French king Francis I was once held prisoner. Charles I enjoyed hunting near Madrid, and it is said that the widening of the city gates to 

Paris was in existence by the end of the 3rd century BC as a settlement on an island, the modern Île de la Cité, in the Seine River and was inhabited by a Gallic tribe known as the Parisii. The first recorded name for the settlement was Lutetia (Latin: "Midwater-Dwelling"). When the Romans arrived, the Parisii were sufficiently organized and wealthy to have their own gold coinage. Julius Caesar wrote in his Commentaries (52 BC) that the inhabitants burned their town rather than surrender it to the Romans. In the 1st century AD Lutetia grew as a Roman town and spread to the left bank of the Seine. The straight streets and the public buildings in this locale were characteristically Roman, including a forum, several baths, and an amphitheatre.

Traces of human occupation of the site of Vienna have been found dating as far back as the Paleolithic period. The area was subsequently inhabited by the Illyrians and then the Celts. In 16-15 BC the Romans, under the future emperor Tiberius, occupied the foothills of the Alps, and in the next century the Celtic town of Vindobona (Celtic: "White Field"; later to become Vienna) became a strategic Roman garrison town. (The Roman camp is believed to have covered the area around the present Hoher Market.) Vindobona grew to about 15,000 inhabitants and became part of a widespread network of trade and communications. Emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have died in Vindobona in 180 AD

Conçue par Fabienne Gérard