Coordinates: 48°56′55″N 2°14′54″E / 48.94861, 2.24833
Argenteuil is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.3 km (7.6 miles) from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Argenteuil.
Argenteuil is the second most populated commune in the suburbs of Paris (after Boulogne-Billancourt) and by far the most populated commune in the Val-d'Oise department, although it is not its capital, which is shared between the communes of Cergy and Pontoise.
Name
The name Argenteuil is recorded for the first time in a royal charter of 697 as Argentoialum, from a Latin/Gaulish radical argento meaning "silver", "silvery", "shiny", perhaps in reference to the gleaming surface of the river Seine, on the banks of which Argenteuil is located, and from a Celtic suffix -ialo meaning "clearing, glade", "place of".
History
Argenteuil was founded as a convent in the 7th century (→ Pierre Abélard, Convent of Argenteuil). The monastery that arose from the convent was destroyed during the French Revolution.
Argenteuil was known for the white asparagus and grapes grown there. The word Argenteuil is synonymous with white asparagus on menus. Once a rural escape for Parisians, it is now a suburb of Paris. Painters made Argenteuil famous, including Claude Monet, Jean-Étienne Delacroix, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Georges Braque.
Famous people born in Argenteuil
Famous pieces of Artwork
Transport
Argenteuil is served by two stations on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line: Argenteuil and Val d'Argenteuil.
Demographics
Immigration
Place of birth of residents of Argenteuil in 1999
| Born in Metropolitan France |
Born outside Metropolitan France |
| 77.5% |
22.5% |
Born in
Overseas France |
Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ |
EU-15 immigrants² |
Non-EU-15 immigrants |
| 2.1% |
2.1% |
4.3% |
14.0% |
¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
² An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants. |
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Gallery
External links
 Communes in the metropolitan area of Paris |
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| Population over 2 million |
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| Population over 75,000 |
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| Population over 50,000 |
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| Population over 25,000 |
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| Population under 25,000 |
1,460 other communes
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