Paris ia a city, river port, capital of France. It is now located on both banks of the Seine River. The original settlement from which Paris evolved, Lutetia, was in existence by the late 3rd century BC on an island in the Seine. Lutetia was captured and fortified by the Romans in 52 BC. During the 1st century AD the city spread to the left bank of the Seine. By the early 4th century it was known as Paris. It withstood several Viking sieges (885–87) and became the capital of France in 987, when Hugh Capet, the count of Paris, became king. In the 17th–18th centuries it was improved and beautified. Leading events of the French Revolution took place in Paris (1789–99).