3 ms·

I'm going to guess Paris had more actual Frenchmen in it one or two centuries ago.

• rsynnott 3y ago
  That would be a definitional matter. About 15% of Paris’s population are non-nationals. This isn’t unusual for a European capital; Dublin is 17% and Berlin is 22%, say. This would have been lower two centuries ago, though what it meant to be a national was arguably a bit different. However, what’s a ‘Frenchman’? Two centuries ago, most of France did not speak French fluently (and perhaps did not speak it at all). Even in World War I, 20% of the Metropolitan French army didn’t speak French functionally. Fluent French would certainly have been more common in Paris than elsewhere, but really you’re looking at a very weak national identity versus today.
  • polski-g 3y ago
    > About 15% of Paris’s population are non-nationals. How would you possibly know this as France doesn't record ethnic data for births?
    • rsynnott 3y ago
      Non-nationals are, approximately, non-citizens. Outside of edge-cases, anyone born in a country may be presumed to be a national of that country.