Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
War in Algeria is brought to an end after claiming the lives of more than 12,000
people; three-quarters of a million Algerian-born French citizens arrive in France.
1968
Paris is rocked by student-led riots that bring the nation and the city to the brink of
civil war; as a result de Gaulle is forced to resign the following year.
1977
Jacques Chirac, the first Paris mayor to be elected with real power, assumes office.
1978
The Centre Pompidou, the first of a string of grands projets,huge public edifices
through which French leaders seek to immortalise themselves, opens to great contro-
versy.
1989
President Mitterrand's grand projet,Opéra de Paris Bastille, opens to mark the bicen-
tennial of the French Revolution; IM Pei's Grande Pyramide is unveiled at the Louvre.
1998
France beats Brazil to win the World Cup at the spanking-new Stade de France (Stadi-
um of France) in St-Denis north of central Paris.
2001
Socialist Bertrand Delanoë becomes the first openly gay mayor of Paris (and of any
European capital); he is wounded in a knife attack by a homophobic assailant the fol-
lowing year.
2002
The French franc is thrown onto the scrap heap of history as the country adopts the
euro as its official currency, along with 14 other EU member-states.
2004
France bans the wearing of crucifixes, the Islamic headscarf and other overtly reli-
gious symbols in state schools.
2005
