Boulogne-Billancourt

Sister cities

• Irving
• Anderlecht
• Neukölln
• Guang'an
• Ra'anana
• Hammersmith
• Marino
• Zaandam
• Pančevo
• Sousse

History

In 1860, the city of Paris absorbed the territory of the former communes that were located inside the Thiers fortifications. 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 competitive shooting events of the 1900 Summer Olympics took place in Boulogne-Billancourt. 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. Since then, Boulogne-Billancourt has been surrounded to the west, south and east by the Seine and to the north and north-east by the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is known for being the birthplace of three major French industries. It was the location, in 1906 for the very first aircraft factory, that of Appareils d'Aviation Les Frères Voisin, which was then followed by those of many other aviation pioneers, and the tradition continues with several aviation related companies still operating in the area. In the mid 20th century, the company SNCAC had a manufacturing facility in Boulogne-Billancourt that was damaged by Allied bombing on 3 March 1942. The automobile industry had a large presence with Renault on Île Seguin, as well as Salmson building both cars and aircraft engines. Finally, the French film industry started here and, from 1922 to 1992 it was the home of the…

Most-observed species

• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  21,253
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  20,428
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  20,311
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,424
• Rose-ringed Parakeet

  Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  16,932
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  16,297
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  16,170
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,678

Most recent

• M 3.1 — 2005-06-01
  3 km N of Grandvilliers, France