Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris.

History

Toponymy

The name Drancy comes from

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

''Derenciacum'', and before that ''Terentiacum'', meaning "estate of Terentius", a Gallo-Roman landowner.

Origins to 20th century

In the 17th century, Drancy was divided into two distinct villages: Drancy le Grand and le Petit Drancy. The quarter "Village Parisien" is built on the old location of the hamlet of Groslay which was surrounded by the forest of Bondy—hence the name of rue des Bois de Groslay. The end of nineteenth century was marked by the industrialisation and by the development of rail transports. During the Franco-Prussian war, Le Bourget was the site of an important battle and the castle of Ladoucette in Drancy was destroyed.

20th and 21st centuries

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Drancy was the site of the Drancy internment camp where Jews, Gypsies, and others were held before being shipped to the

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...

. In 1976, the Memorial to the Deportation at Drancy was created by sculptor Shlomo Selinger to commemorate the French Jews imprisoned in the camp.

Population

Immigration

Heraldry

Geography and cityscape

Climate

Data climate for Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis) 1971-2000

Architecture

Drancy's buildings are too diverse to be characterised by any particular architectural style. Some of them with a style Art Nouveau are typical of the 19th and 20th centuries. There are

housing estates A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

and a garden city.

Park and Castle of Ladoucette

The parc de Ladoucette is the only park of Drancy. It contains a pond, a small educational farm and the castle of Ladoucette. The castle was built in 1533 by Pierre Séguier. In the 19th century, the castle was the property of the senator Charles-Loetitia de Ladoucette. In 1874 his wife, la Baronne de Ladoucette, died and her body was placed in the Mausoleum de la Baronne de Ladoucette. Today she is buried in the Parisian cemetery.

Administration

Part of the commune forms the canton of Drancy. The other part belongs to the canton of Le Blanc-Mesnil.

Transport

Railways and buses

Drancy is in Zone 3 of the

Carte orange The carte orange (Orange Card) was a pass for the public transportation system in Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region. A holder of the pass was entitled to unlimited use of the public transit system within a given period of time, w ...

. The city is served by Le Bourget station and by Drancy station on Paris RER line B. Le Bourget station is situated near Drancy as well as the métro station La Courneuve–8 mai 1945 on the Line 7. The RER B is one of the five lines in the RER

Rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

system serving

and its suburbs. Drancy is also served by the Paris Tramway Line 1 with five stops and by twelve buse lines. By the RER B, Drancy is near many Parisian railway stations, Gare du Nord is now just 10 minutes away, Gare Saint-Lazare and Gare de Lyon can be reached in 30 minutes.

Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest inter ...

can be reached in 30 minutes too.

Roads

Drancy is served by the A3 motorway and the A86 motorway.

Education

Schools:Education
" Drancy. Retrieved on September 6, 2016. *17 public preschools (''écoles maternelles'') *19 public elementary schools *Six public junior high schools (''collèges''): Paul Bert, Anatole France, Jorissen, Paul Langevin, Liberte, Pierre Samard *One private junior high school, Collège Saint-Germain *Two public senior high schools/sixth-form colleges: Lycée Eugène Delacroix and Lycée Paul le Rolland