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The city of Berne or Bern ( , , , Romansh: Berna , Bernese German
Bernese German

Bernese German is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions....
: Bärn ) is the Bundesstadt (federal city
Federal City

The term Federal City is a title for certain cities in Germany, Switzerland and Russia, and a historic term in the United States.In Germany, Bonn has been designated as a Federal City....
, de facto capital) of Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 and, with 128,041 people (agglomeration: 344,000 / metropolitan area: 660,000), the fifth most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich
Zürich

Z?rich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne....
, Geneva
Geneva

Geneva is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie . Situated where the Rh?ne River exits Lake Geneva , it is the capital of the Canton of Geneva....
, Basel
Basel

Basel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 731,000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's third-largest urban area....
 and Lausanne
Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French language-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing ?vian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west....
).

The official language of Berne is German. The local Swiss German
Swiss German

Swiss German is any of the Alemannic Germans spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are called Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg which are closely associated to Switzerland's....
 dialect is Bernese German
Bernese German

Bernese German is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions....
, spoken by most of the inhabitants.






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The city of Berne or Bern ( , , , Romansh: Berna , Bernese German
Bernese German

Bernese German is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions....
: Bärn ) is the Bundesstadt (federal city
Federal City

The term Federal City is a title for certain cities in Germany, Switzerland and Russia, and a historic term in the United States.In Germany, Bonn has been designated as a Federal City....
, de facto capital) of Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 and, with 128,041 people (agglomeration: 344,000 / metropolitan area: 660,000), the fifth most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich
Zürich

Z?rich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne....
, Geneva
Geneva

Geneva is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie . Situated where the Rh?ne River exits Lake Geneva , it is the capital of the Canton of Geneva....
, Basel
Basel

Basel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 731,000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's third-largest urban area....
 and Lausanne
Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French language-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing ?vian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west....
).

The official language of Berne is German. The local Swiss German
Swiss German

Swiss German is any of the Alemannic Germans spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are called Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg which are closely associated to Switzerland's....
 dialect is Bernese German
Bernese German

Bernese German is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions....
, spoken by most of the inhabitants. Due to the presence of a large part of the federal administration, several embassies and a fair number of immigrants, the other national languages and many others may be heard in the streets.

Berne also functions as the capital of the Canton of Berne
Canton of Berne

The canton of Berne is the second largest of all Switzerland Cantons of Switzerland. It borders the Canton of Jura and the Canton of Solothurn to the north....
, the second most populous of Switzerland's cantons.

The German-born physicist Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a Germany-born theoretical physics. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass?energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2....
 worked out his theory of relativity
Theory of relativity

File:spacetime curvature.pngThe theory of relativity, or simply relativity, generally refers specifically to two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity....
 while employed as a clerk at the Berne patent office.

History

Merianbern
Duke
Duke

A duke is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy or a dukedom. The title comes from the Latin language Dux Bellorum, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed by both the Germanic peoples themselves and by the Ancient Rome authors covering them to r...
 Berchtold V of Zähringen founded the city on the River Aar
Aar

The Aar , a tributary of the Rhine, is the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 km , during which distance it descends 1,565 m , draining an area of 17,779 km? ....
e in 1191 and allegedly named it after a bear
Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
 (Bär in German) he had killed. It was made an Imperial Free City by the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor

Image:HRR 14Jh.jpgThe Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the translatio imperii principle that regarded the Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of Julius Nepos in 480....
 Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II , of the House of Hohenstaufen dynasty, was an Kingdom of Italy pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215....
 in 1218 after Berthold died without an heir. In 1353 Berne joined the young Swiss Confederation, becoming a leading member of the new state. It invaded and conquered Aargau
Aargau

Aargau is one of the more northerly Cantons of Switzerland of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aargau ....
 in 1415 and Vaud
Vaud

The cantons of Switzerland of Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne....
 in 1536, as well as other smaller territories, thereby becoming the largest city-state
City-state

A city-state is an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. Examples include the city-states of ancient Greece , the Phoenician cities of Canaan , the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia , the Mayans of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , the central Asian cities along the Silk Roa...
 north of the Alps
Alps

The Alps is the name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west....
. It was occupied by French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 troops in 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states....
, when it was stripped of most of its territories. In 1831 the city became the capital of the Canton of Berne and in 1848 it additionally became the Swiss capital.

The city grew out towards the west of the boundaries of the peninsula formed by the river Aar
Aar

The Aar , a tributary of the Rhine, is the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 km , during which distance it descends 1,565 m , draining an area of 17,779 km? ....
. Initially, the Zytglogge
Zytglogge

The Zytglogge tower is a landmark medieval tower in Berne, Switzerland. Built in the early 13th century, it has served the city as Defensive wall, prison, clock tower, center of urban life and civic memorial....
 tower marked the western boundary of the city from 1191 until 1256, when the Käfigturm took over this role until 1345, which, in turn, was then succeeded by the Christoffelturm (located close to today's train station) until 1622. During the time of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe....
 two new fortifications, the so-called big and small Schanze (entrenchment), were built to protect the whole area of the peninsula. The protection by these edifices was sufficient for the prosperous growth of the city of Berne up to the 19th century.

A number of congresses of the socialist First and Second International
Second International

The Second International was an organization of workers' movement formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated....
s were held in Berne, particularly during World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 when Switzerland was neutral. (See Berne International
Berne International

The term Berne International refers to the skeleton continuation, formally called the International Socialist Commission , of the socialist Second International after the latter's break-up due to World War I....
.)

Geography

Berne lies in the Swiss plateau
Swiss plateau

The Swiss plateau constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of the Swiss surface....
 within the Canton of Berne
Canton of Berne

The canton of Berne is the second largest of all Switzerland Cantons of Switzerland. It borders the Canton of Jura and the Canton of Solothurn to the north....
, somewhat west of the center of Switzerland and 20 km north of the Bernese
Bernese Alps

The Bernese Alps are a group of mountain ranges in the western part of the Alps, in Switzerland. Although the name suggests they are in the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are located in the adjacent cantons of Valais, Canton of Lucerne, Obwalden, Canton of Fribourg and Vaud....
 Alps
Swiss Alps

The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position with the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
. The landscape around Berne was formed by glaciers in the last Ice Age
Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
. The two mountains closest to Berne are the Gurten
Gurten

Gurten is a municipality in the district of Ried im Innkreis in Upper Austria, Austria....
 with a height of 858 meters and the Bantiger with a height of 947 meters. The site of the old observatory in Berne is the point of origin of the CH1903 coordinate system
Swiss coordinate system

The Swiss coordinate system is a geographic coordinate system used in Switzerland for maps and surveying by the Swiss Federal Office of Topography ....
 at .

The city was originally built on a hilly peninsully surrounded by the river Aar
Aar

The Aar , a tributary of the Rhine, is the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 km , during which distance it descends 1,565 m , draining an area of 17,779 km? ....
 but outgrew these natural boundaries in the 19th century. A number of bridges
List of Aar bridges in Berne

This is a list of the 18 bridges spanning the river Aar on the territory of the city of Berne, Switzerland.With the Old City of Berne situated on a steeply-flanked peninsula formed by the river, the Aar is a defining part of Berne's cityscape and features prominently in the city's 800-year history....
 were built to allow the city to grow beyond the Aar.

Berne is built on very uneven ground. There are several dozens of meters in height difference from the quarters on the Aar (Matte, Marzili) to the higher ones (Kirchenfeld, Länggasse).

Subdivisions

The municipality is administratively subdivided into six districts (Stadtteile), each of which consists of several quarters (Quartiere).

Politics