Nanterre is the préfecture (capital) of the Hauts-de-Seine département, as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Nanterre.
The name Nanterre has a long history going back to before the Roman conquest of Gaul. The Romans recorded the name as Nemetodorum. This name is made of the Celtic word nemeto meaning "shrine", "sacred place", and of the Celtic word duros (cognate of English door and German Tür) meaning "door, gate", "fortress". The sacred place referred to in the name is supposed to be the famous shrine that existed in Antiquity on top of Mont-Valérien hill.
Eastern Nanterre, bordering communes of Courbevoie and Puteaux, contains a small part of the La Défense business district of Paris and some of the tallest buildings in the Paris region. Because the headquarters of many major corporations are located in La Défense, the court of Nanterre is well-known in the media for the number of high-profile lawsuits and trials that took place in it. The city of Nanterre also includes the University Paris X – Nanterre, one of the largest universities in the Paris region.
Inhabitants of Nanterre are called Nanterriennes (feminine) and Nanterriens (masculine).
Sainte Geneviève, patron of Paris, was born in Nanterre ca 419/422.
On March 26th, 2002, Richard Durn, a disgruntled local activist, shot and killed eight town councilors and 14 others were wounded in what the French press dubbed the Nanterre massacre. On March 28th, the murderer killed himself by jumping from the 4th floor of the "Quai des orfèvres", in Paris, while he was questioned by two policemen about the reason of his killing in the Nanterre's City Hall.
