Switzerland ( , , ), officially the
Swiss Confederation (
Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its
ISOThe International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international-standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial...
country codes CH and CHE), is a
federal republicA federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. A federation is the central government. The states in a federation also maintain the federation...
consisting of
26 statesThe 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in
Central EuropeCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
where it is bordered by
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
to the north,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
to the west,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
to the south, and
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
and
LiechtensteinThe Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 km² and it has an estimated population of 35,000...
to the east.
Switzerland is a landlocked country whose territory is geographically divided between the
JuraThe Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each. The mountain range sensu Johann Gottfried Ebel is located in France, Switzerland, and Germany...
, the
Central PlateauThe Swiss Plateau or Central 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...
and the
AlpsThe Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position with the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
; adding together an area of . The Swiss population of approximately 7.8 million people concentrates mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them the two
global citiesA global city is a city deemed to be an important node point in the global economic system. The concept comes from geography and urban studies and rests on the idea that globalization can be understood as largely created, facilitated and enacted in strategic geographic locales according to a...
and economic centres of
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. 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...
and
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world by
per capitaPer capita is a term adapted from Latin phrase pro capite meaning "per head" with pro meaning "per" or "for each", and capite meaning "head." Both words together equate to the phrase "for each head."...
gross domestic productThe gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
, with a nominal per capita GDP of $67,384. Zürich and Geneva have respectively been ranked as having the second and third highest quality of life in the world.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of
neutralityA neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and was one of the last countries to join the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
. Switzerland is home to many international organisations, including the
World Economic ForumThe World Economic Forum is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world...
, the
Red CrossThe International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
, the
World Trade OrganizationThe World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international capital trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade , which...
and the
second largest UN officeThe United Nations Office at Geneva is the second-biggest of the four major office sites of the United Nations...
. On the European level it was a founder of the
European Free Trade AssociationThe European Free Trade Association was established on 3 May 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then-European Economic Community .The EFTA Convention was signed on 4 January 1960 in...
and is part of the
Schengen AgreementThe Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed between five of the ten member states of the European Community in 1985. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement some five years later...
.
Switzerland comprises three main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian, to which are added the Romansh-speaking valleys. The
SwissThe Swiss are citizens of the Swiss Confederation, natives of Switzerland. The demonym derives from the toponym of Schwyz and has been in widespread use to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 16th century....
therefore do not form a
nationA nation is a body of people who share a real or imagined common history, culture, language or ethnic origin. The development and conceptualization of the nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries,...
in the sense of a common ethnic or linguistic identity. The strong sense of belonging to the country is founded on the common historical background, shared values (
federalismFederalism is political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent...
,
direct democracyDirect democracy, classically termed pure democracy, comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate...
,
neutralityA neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
) and
AlpineThe Alps are 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....
symbolism. The establishment of the Swiss Confederation is traditionally dated to 1 August 1291;
Swiss National DayThe Swiss National Day is 1 August. It is inspired by the mention of "early August" in the Federal Charter of 1291. It was first celebrated in Berne in 1891, marking the 600th anniversary of the charter. It displaced the formerly more prominent traditional date of the Rütlischwur, 8 November 1307...
is celebrated on the anniversary.
Etymology
The English name
Switzerland is a compound containing
Switzer, an obsolete term for the Swiss, in use during the
16thAs a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century lasted from 1501 through 1600.During the 16th century, Spain and Portugal explored and conquered the world seas. Latin America became a Spanish colony, while Portugal became the master of the Indian Ocean.In Europe, the Protestant...
to
19thThe 19th century was a period in history marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Ottoman, Holy Roman and Mughal empires...
centuries. The English adjective
Swiss is a loan from French
, also in use since the 16th century. The name
Switzer is from the
AlemannicAlemannic German is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. It is spoken by approximately ten million people in six countries, including southern Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Italy...
, in origin an inhabitant of
SchwyzThe town of is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.The Bundesbrief can be seen at the Bundesbriefmuseum.-History of the toponym:...
and its
associated territorySchwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
, one of the Waldstätten cantons which formed the nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The toponym itself is first attested in
972-Europe:* The city of Satu Mare, Romania is founded.* Otto II marries Theophanu, Byzantine princess.* Battle of Cedynia: Polish duke Mieszko I defeats the Germans.* Boleslaus II the Pious succeeds Boleslav I in Bohemia....
, as
Old High GermanThe term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
, ultimately perhaps related to
"to burn", referring to the area of forest that was burned and cleared to build. The name was extended to the area dominated by the canton, and after the
Swabian WarThe Swabian War of 1499 was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg...
of 1499 gradually came to be used
pars pro toto for the entire Confederation.
The
Swiss GermanSwiss German is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy...
name of the country,
, is homophonous to that of the canton and the settlement, but distinguished by the use of the definite article (
for the Confederation, but simple
for the canton and the town).
The Neo-Latin name
Confoederatio Helvetica was introduced at the
formation of the federal stateThe rise of Switzerland as a federal state began on September 12, 1848, with the creation of a federal constitution, which was created in response to a 27-day civil war in Switzerland, the Sonderbundskrieg...
in 1848, harking back to the Napoleonic
Helvetic RepublicIn Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...
.
It is derived from the name of the
HelvetiiThe Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or, probably more accurately, a confederation of Celtic tribes. Although originating in what is now Germany, they occupied most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...
, a Celtic tribe living on the
Swiss plateauThe Swiss Plateau or Central 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...
before the
Roman eraThe history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...
. The name of the
Helvetii is attested epigraphically, in
EtruscanThe Etruscan language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna , in Italy...
form, on a vessel dated to ca. 300 BC. They first appear in historiography in the 2nd century BC, in
PosidoniusPosidonius "of Apameia" or "of Rhodes" , was a Greek Stoic philosopher, politician, astronomer, geographer, historian and teacher native to Apamea, Syria. He was acclaimed as the greatest polymath of his age...
.
HelvetiaHelvetia is the female personification of Switzerland. Sometimes called the mother of the Swiss nation, she is typically pictured in a flowing gown, with a spear and a shield emblazoned with the Swiss flag, and commonly with braided hair, commonly with a wreath as a symbol of Confederation.The term...
appears as a
national personificationA national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda.Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations of the majestic wisdom and war goddess Minerva/Athena, and often took the...
of the Swiss confederacy in the 17th century, with a 1672 play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach.
History
Switzerland has existed as a state in its present form since the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848. The precursors of modern Switzerland established a protective alliance at the end of the 13th century, forming a loose confederation of states which persisted for centuries.
Early history
The oldest traces of human existence in Switzerland date back about 150,000 years. The oldest known farming settlements in Switzerland, which were found at
GächlingenGächlingen is a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland....
, have been dated to around 5300 BC.
The earliest known cultural tribes of the area were members of the
HallstattThe Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Halstatt culture extended for some 1000 km,...
and
La Tène cultureThe La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
s, named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of
Lake NeuchâtelLake Neuchâtel is a lake in Western Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
. La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late
Iron AgeIn archaeology, the Iron Age is the prehistoric period in any area during which cutting tools and weapons were mainly made of iron or steel. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles.The...
from around
450 BC-Greece:* Athenian general Cimon sails to Cyprus with two hundred triremes of the Delian League. From there, he sends sixty ships to Egypt to help the Egyptians under Amyrtaeus, who is fighting the Persians in the Nile Delta. Cimon uses the remaining ships to aid an uprising of the Cypriot Greek...
, possibly under some influence from the
GreekAncient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
and
EtruscanEtruscan civilization is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy and Corsica, residing between the Apennines and the River Tiber, whom the ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci...
civilisations. One of the most important tribal groups in the Swiss region was the
HelvetiiThe Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or, probably more accurately, a confederation of Celtic tribes. Although originating in what is now Germany, they occupied most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...
. In 58 BC, at the
Battle of BibracteThe Battle of Bibracte was fought between the Helvetii and six Roman legions, under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar. It was the first major battle of the Gallic Wars....
,
Julius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar , , was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
's armies defeated the Helvetii. In 15 BC,
TiberiusTiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla...
I, who was destined to be the second Roman emperor and his brother,
DrususNero Claudius Drusus Germanicus , born Decimus Claudius Drusus also called Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman politician and military commander...
, conquered the Alps, integrating them into the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
. The area occupied by the
HelvetiiThe Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or, probably more accurately, a confederation of Celtic tribes. Although originating in what is now Germany, they occupied most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...
—the namesakes of the later
Confoederatio Helvetica—first became part of Rome's
Gallia BelgicaGallia Belgica was a Roman province located in what is now the southern part of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northeastern France, and western Germany. The indigenous population of southern Gallia Belgica consisted of a mixture of Celtic and Germanic tribes, often described as the Belgae...
province and then of its
Germania SuperiorGermania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised the area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions and south-western Germany...
province, while the eastern portion of modern Switzerland was integrated into the
Roman provinceIn Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italian peninsula...
of
RaetiaRaetia was a province of the Roman Empire, bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, and on the south by Cisalpine Gaul...
.
In the
Early Middle AgesThe Early Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, is a period in the history of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It lasted from about AD 500 to 1000. The period featured raiding, migration, and conquest by Huns, Germanic peoples, Arabs, Vikings, Hungarians and others. There was frequent...
, from the
4th centuryAs a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400.- Overview :...
, the western extent of modern-day Switzerland was part of the territory of the
Kings of the BurgundiansBurgundy is a region of Western Europe which has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy, and a third Kingdom of Burgundy was very nearly created....
. The Alemanni settled the
Swiss plateauThe Swiss Plateau or Central 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...
in the
5th centuryThe 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini/Common Era.-Overview:This century is noted for being a time of repeated disaster and instability both internally and externally for the Western Roman Empire, which finally unravelled, and came to an...
and the
valleys of the Alps-Rhine basin :Rhine*Aare**Limmat***Linth ****Lake Walen*****Seez****Klöntal****Sernftal**Reuss River***Lake Lucerne****Sarner Aa ****Muotathal***Schächen, Klausen Pass connects to Glarus...
in the
8th centuryThe 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era.-Overview:During this century, the Middle East, the coast of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula rapidly come under Islamic Arab domination...
, forming Alemannia. Modern-day Switzerland was therefore then divided between the kingdoms of Alemannia and Burgundy. The entire region became part of the expanding
Frankish EmpireFrancia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...
in the
6th centuryThe 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era. In the West this century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages.- Overview :...
, following
Clovis IClovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one king. He also introduced Christianity. He was the son of Childeric I and Basina. At age 16, he succeeded his father, in the year 481...
's victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504 AD, and later Frankish domination of the Burgundians.
Throughout the rest of the
6thThe 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era. In the West this century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages.- Overview :...
,
7thThe 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era.-Overview:The Muslim conquests began after the death of Muhammad in 632. Islam expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula under the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate...
and
8thThe 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era.-Overview:During this century, the Middle East, the coast of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula rapidly come under Islamic Arab domination...
centuries the Swiss regions continued under Frankish hegemony (Merovingian and
CarolingianCarolingian Empire is a historiographical term sometimes used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany...
dynasties). But after its extension under
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe...
, the Frankish empire was divided by the
Treaty of VerdunIn the Treaty of Verdun was a treaty by the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the territories of the Frankish Empire into three kingdoms....
in 843. The territories of nowadays Switzerland became divided into
Middle FranciaMiddle Francia designates the short-lived realm created for Emperor Lothair I wedged between East Francia and West Francia, and encompassing territory including parts of modern Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and the Low Countries...
and East Francia until they were reunified under the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
around 1000 AD.
By 1200, the Swiss plateau comprised the dominions of the houses of
SavoyThe House of Savoy was formed in the early eleventh century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy until the end of the Second World War...
, Zähringer,
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
and Kyburg. Some regions (
UriUri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss River between Lake Lucerne and the St. Gotthard Pass. German is the primary language spoken in Uri. Uri was the only cantons where the children in school had to...
,
SchwyzSchwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
,
UnterwaldenUnterwalden is the old name for what is now two cantons in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne. It consists of two half-cantons, an upper part, Obwalden, and a lower part, Nidwalden....
, later known as
Waldstätten) were accorded the Imperial immediacy to grant the empire direct control over the mountain passes. When the Kyburg dynasty fell in 1264 AD, the Habsburgs under King Rudolph I (Holy Roman Emperor in 1273) extended their territory to the eastern Swiss plateau.
Old Swiss Confederacy
The
Old Swiss ConfederacyThe Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland. The Swiss Eidgenossenschaft, as the Confederacy was called, was a loose federation of largely independent small states called cantons that existed from the late 13th century until 1798, when it was invaded by the French...
was an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps. The Confederacy facilitated management of common interests (
free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
) and ensured peace on the important mountain trade routes. The
Federal Charter of 1291The Federal Charter or Letter of Alliance documents the Eternal Alliance or League Of The Three Forest Cantons , the union of three cantons in what is now central Switzerland, traditionally dated in early August, 1291 and associated with the current August 1 national holiday...
agreed between the
rural communesCommunes in Europe during the Middle Ages were sworn allegiances of mutual defense among the citizens of a town or city. They took many forms, and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread...
of
UriUri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss River between Lake Lucerne and the St. Gotthard Pass. German is the primary language spoken in Uri. Uri was the only cantons where the children in school had to...
,
SchwyzSchwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
, and
NidwaldenNidwalden is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 40,287 of which 4,046 are foreigners. The capital is Stans.-History:...
is considered the confederacy's founding document; even though similar alliances are likely to have existed decades earlier.
By 1353 the three original
cantonsThe 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
had joined with the cantons of
GlarusThe Canton of Glarus is a canton in east central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. There are 25 municipalities in the canton . The population is German speaking and typically either Protestant or Catholic. There are 38,237 people living in the canton of which 7,314 are foreigners.-History:The...
and
ZugThe Canton of Zug is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in central Switzerland and its capital is Zug. With 239 km² the canton is one of the smallest of the cantons in terms of area. It is not subdivided into districts....
and the
LucerneLucerne is a city in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and seat of the district with the same name. With a population of 57,890, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland and a focal point of the region...
,
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. 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...
and Bern city states to form the "Old Confederacy" of eight states that existed until the end of the
15th centuryAs a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was the century which lasted from 1401 to 1500.Spanish and Portuguese explorations led to discovery of the Americas and the sea passage along Cape of Good Hope to India for the European civilization...
. The expansion led to increased power and wealth for the federation. By 1460, the confederates controlled most of the territory south and west of the Rhine to the Alps and the Jura mountains. particularly after victories against the Habsburgs (
Battle of SempachThe Battle of Sempach was fought on July 9, 1386 between Leopold III, Duke of Austria, and the Old Swiss Confederacy.Duke Leopold III, after he unsuccessfully tried to establish a cheap peace, decided to assemble his forces in order to save possessions and honor of his house...
,
Battle of NäfelsThe Battle of Näfels was fought on 9 April 1388 between Glarus with their allies, the Old Swiss Confederation, and the Habsburgs. It was a decisive Glarner victory despite being outnumbered ten to one.-History:...
), over Charles the Bold of
BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...
during the 1470s, and the success of the
Swiss mercenariesSwiss mercenaries were soldiers notable for their service in foreign armies, especially the armies of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European history, from the Later Middle Ages into the Age of the European Enlightenment...
. The Swiss victory in the
Swabian WarThe Swabian War of 1499 was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg...
against the
Swabian LeagueThe Swabian League was an association of German cities, principalities and knights principally in the territory which had formed the old duchy of Swabia. The name is not applicable to several earlier leagues , since those leagues were City Leagues only. Their intention being a defensive league...
of
EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
Maximilian IMaximilian I of Habsburg was King of the Romans from 1493 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death, but had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from circa 1483...
in 1499 amounted to
de facto independence within the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
.
The Old Swiss Confederacy had acquired a reputation of invincibility during these earlier wars, but
expansion of the federationThe growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy began as an alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains...
suffered a setback in 1515 with the Swiss defeat in the
Battle of MarignanoThe Battle of Marignano was a battle fought during the phase of the Italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai, that took place on 13 and 14 September, 1515, near the town today called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan...
. This ended the so-called "heroic" epoch of Swiss history. The success of Zwingli's
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate and population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss...
in some cantons led to inter-cantonal wars in 1529 and 1531 (
Kappeler Kriege). It was not until more than one hundred years after these internal wars that, in 1648, under the Treaty of Westphalia, European countries recognised Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire and its
neutralityA neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
.
During the
Early ModernThe early modern period of Swiss history, lasting from formal independence in 1648 to the French invasion of 1798 came to be referred as Ancien Régime retrospectively, in post-Napoleonic Switzerland. The early modern period was characterized by an increasingly aristrocratic and oligarchic...
period of Swiss history, the growing
authoritarianismAuthoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by an emphasis on the authority of state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by typically non-elected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom....
of the patriciate families combined with a financial crisis in the wake of the
Thirty Years' WarThe 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...
led to the
Swiss peasant war of 1653The Swiss peasant war of 1653 was a popular revolt in the Old Swiss Confederacy at the time of the Ancien Régime. A devaluation of Bernese money caused a tax revolt that spread from the Entlebuch valley in the Canton of Lucerne to the Emmental valley in the Canton of Berne and then to the cantons...
. In the background to this struggle, the conflict between
CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
and
ProtestantProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
cantons persisted, erupting in further violence at the
Battles of VillmergenThe Battles of Villmergen were two battles between Reformed and Catholic Swiss cantons. They occurred on January 24 1656 and July 24 1712 at Villmergen, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland ....
in 1656 and 1712.
Napoleonic era
In 1798 the armies of the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
conquered Switzerland and imposed a new unified constitution. This centralised the government of the country and effectively abolished the cantons and
MülhausenMulhouse is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With 271,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2007 it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin department, and the second largest in the Alsace region after Strasbourg...
and
ValtellinaValtellina or the Valtelline valley ; is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its skiing, its hot spring spas, its cheeses and its wines...
valley separated from Switzerland. The new
regimeThe word regime refers to a set of conditions, most often of a political nature. It may also be used synonymously with "regimen", for example in the phrases "exercise regime" or "medical regime".-Politics:In politics, a regime is the form of government: the set of rules, cultural or social norms,...
, known as the
Helvetic RepublicIn Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...
, was highly unpopular. It had been imposed by a foreign invading army and destroyed centuries of tradition, making Switzerland nothing more than a French satellite state. The fierce French suppression of the
Nidwalden RevoltNidwalden is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 40,287 of which 4,046 are foreigners. The capital is Stans.-History:...
in September of 1798 was an example of the oppressive presence of the
French ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
and the local population's resistance to the occupation.
When war broke out between France and its rivals,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n and
AustrianThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
forces invaded Switzerland. The Swiss refused to fight alongside the French in the name of the Helvetic Republic. In 1803
NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
organised a meeting of the leading Swiss politicians from both sides in Paris. The result was the
Act of MediationThe Act of Mediation was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte on 19 February, 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Switzerland by French troops in 1798. After the withdrawal of French troops in July 1802,...
which largely restored Swiss autonomy and introduced a Confederation of 19 cantons. Henceforth much of Swiss politics would concern balancing the cantons' tradition of self-rule with the need for a central government.
In 1815 the
Congress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November, 1814 to June, 1815. Its objective was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
fully re-established Swiss independence and the European powers agreed to permanently recognise Swiss neutrality. Swiss troops still served foreign governments until 1860 when they fought in the
Siege of GaetaThe Siege of Gaeta was the concluding event of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It started on November 5, 1860 and ended February 13, 1861, and took place in Gaeta, in today's Southern Lazio .-Background:...
. The treaty also allowed Switzerland to increase its territory, with the admission of the cantons of
ValaisThe Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
,
NeuchâtelNeuchâtel is a canton of western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782 of which 39,654 are foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel.-History:...
and
GenevaThe Canton of Geneva is the westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. The official name of this canton in French is République et Canton de Genève...
. Switzerland's borders have not changed since.
Federal state
The canton of Bern was one of the three cantons presiding over the
TagsatzungThe Swiss Tagsatzung was the legislative and executive council of the Swiss confederacy from the approximately 1291 until the formation of the Swiss federal state in 1848. It was a meeting of delegates of the individual cantons...
(former legislative and executive council) with Lucerne and Zürich. Its cantonal capital was then chosen as the federal capital in 1848, mainly because of its closeness to the French speaking area.
The
restorationThe periods of Restoration and Regeneration in Swiss history last from 1814 to 1847. "Restoration" refers to the period of 1814 to 1830, the restoration of the Ancien Régime , reverting the changes imposed by Napoleon Bonaparte with the centralist Helvetic Republic from 1798 and the partial...
of the power to the patriciate was only temporary. After a period of unrest with repeated violent clashes such as the
ZüriputschThe Züriputsch of 6 September 1839 was a putsch of the rural conservative population against the liberal rule of the city of Zürich on the eve of the formation of the Swiss federal state. The reason for the putsch was the appointment of the controversial German theologian David Strauss to the...
of 1839, civil war broke out in 1847 when some of the Catholic cantons tried to set up a separate alliance (the
Sonderbundskrieg). The war lasted for less than a month, causing fewer than 100 casualties, most of which were through
friendly fireFriendly fire is an expression meaning fire from one's own side or allied forces, as opposed to fire coming from enemy forces, and was a tactic originally adopted by the United States military....
. However minor the Sonderbundskrieg seems to be when compared with other European riots and wars in the 19th century, it nevertheless had a major impact on both the psychology and the society of the Swiss and of Switzerland.
The war made all Swiss understand the need for unity and strength towards its European neighbours. Swiss people from all strata of society, whether Catholic, Protestant, or from the liberal or conservative current, realised that the cantons would profit more if their economic and religious interests were merged.
Thus, while the rest of Europe was
plagued by revolutionary uprisingsThe European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout the European continent...
, the Swiss drew up an actual constitution which provided for a
federal layoutThe Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of 26 cantons , contains a catalogue of individual and popular rights , delineates the responsibilities of...
, much of it inspired by the
American exampleThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
. This constitution provided for a central authority while leaving the cantons the right to self-government on local issues. Giving credit to those who favoured the power of the cantons (the Sonderbund Kantone), the national assembly was divided between an
upper houseAn upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.- Possible specific characteristics :An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of the following respects:...
(the
Swiss Council of StatesThe Council of States of Switzerland is the smaller chamber of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, and is considered the Assembly's upper house. There are 46 Councillors....
, 2 representatives per canton) and a
lower houseA lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its theoretical position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
(the
National Council of SwitzerlandThe National Council of Switzerland is the larger Chamber of the parliament, with 200 seats. Each canton is a constituency. The number of deputies of each constituency depends on the population of the canton. Zürich, which is the largest canton of Switzerland, has 34 seats...
, representatives elected from across the country). Referenda were made mandatory for any amendment of this constitution.
A system of single weights and measures was introduced and in 1850 the
Swiss francThe franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is widely used on a day-to-day basis...
became the Swiss single currency. Article 11 of the constitution forbid sending troops to serve abroad, though the Swiss were still obliged to serve
Francis II of the Two SiciliesFrancis II , was King of the Two Sicilies from 1859 to 1861. He was the last King of the Two Sicilies, as successive invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia ultimately brought an end to his rule, and marked the first major event of Italian unification...
with Swiss Guards present at the
Siege of Gaeta in 1860The Siege of Gaeta was the concluding event of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It started on November 5, 1860 and ended February 13, 1861, and took place in Gaeta, in today's Southern Lazio .-Background:...
, marking the end of foreign service.
An important clause of the constitution was that it could be re-written completely if this was deemed necessary, thus enabling it to evolve as a whole rather than being modified one amendment at a time.
This need soon proved itself when the rise in population and the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
that followed led to calls to modify the constitution accordingly. An early draft was rejected by the population in 1872 but modifications led to its acceptance in 1874. It introduced the facultative referendum for laws at the federal level. It also established federal responsibility for defence, trade, and legal matters.
In 1891, the constitution was revised with unusually strong elements of
direct democracyDirect democracy, classically termed pure democracy, comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate...
, which remain unique even today.
Modern history
Switzerland was not invaded during either of the
world warA world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span several continents, and last for multiple years...
s. During
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, Switzerland was home to Vladimir Illych Ulyanov (Lenin) and he remained there until 1917. Swiss neutrality was seriously questioned by the
Grimm-Hoffmann AffairThe Grimm-Hoffmann Affair was a short-lived scandal that seriously brought into question Switzerland's neutrality during World War I. Robert Grimm, a socialist politician, traveled to Russia as an activist to negotiate a separate peace between Russia and Germany, in order to end the war on the...
in 1917, but it was short-lived. In 1920, Switzerland joined the
League of NationsThe League of Nations was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members...
, which was based in Geneva, on the condition that it was exempt from any military requirements.
During World War II, detailed invasion plans were drawn up by the Germans, but Switzerland was never attacked. Switzerland was able to remain independent through a combination of military deterrence, concessions to Germany, and good fortune as larger events during the war delayed an invasion. Attempts by Switzerland's small Nazi Party to cause annexation by Germany failed miserably. The Swiss press vigorously criticised the Third Reich, often infuriating its leadership. Under General
Henri GuisanHenri Guisan was Commander in Chief of the Swiss Army during World War II. He was the fourth and the most recent man to be appointed to the rarely-used Swiss rank of General, and was possibly Switzerland's most famous soldier...
, a massive mobilisation of militia forces was ordered. The Swiss military strategy was changed from one of static defence at the borders to protect the economic heartland, to one of organised long-term attrition and withdrawal to strong, well-stockpiled positions high in the Alps known as the
RéduitCommonly, the réduit is a fortified defence structure which is used in order that the defending troops can survive and hold out an attack.- Classical fortifications :A réduit is a fortification which provides protection during a persistent attack...
. Switzerland was an important base for espionage by both sides in the conflict and often mediated communications between the Axis and Allied powers. The International Red Cross, based in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
, played an important part during this and other conflicts.
Switzerland's trade was blockaded by both the
AlliesThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
and by the
AxisThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
. Economic cooperation and extension of credit to the Third Reich varied according to the perceived likelihood of invasion and the availability of other trading partners. Concessions reached a peak after a crucial rail link through
Vichy FranceVichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944. This government, which succeeded the Third Republic, officially called itself the French State , in contrast with the previous designation, "French Republic." Marshal...
was severed in 1942, leaving Switzerland completely surrounded by the Axis. Over the course of the war, Switzerland interned over 300,000 refugees, 104,000 of whom were foreign troops, interned according to the
Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers outlined in the
Hague ConventionsThe Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of...
. 60,000 of the refugees were civilians escaping persecution by the Nazis. Of these, 26,000 to 27,000 were Jews. However, strict immigration and asylum policies as well as the financial relationships with Nazi Germany raised controversy. During the war, the Swiss Air Force engaged aircraft of both sides, shooting down 11 intruding
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
planes in May and June 1940, then forcing down other intruders after a change of policy following threats from Germany. The fact that the Swiss Air Force consistently beat the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
was a recurring embarrassment for Hitler in World War Two. The Allies acknowledged this, but the Allied Air Forces also many times intruded Swiss Air Space and made raids on several cities during the War. Over 100 Allied bombers and their crews were interned during the war. During 1944-45, Allied bombers mistakenly bombed the Swiss towns of
SchaffhausenSchaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 33,693 ....
(killing 40 people),
Stein am RheinStein am Rhein is a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland.The town has a well-preserved medieval centre, retaining the ancient street plan. The site of the city wall, and the city gates are preserved, though the former city wall now consists of houses. The mediæval part of the...
,
ValsVals is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.Located in the Valsertal, it is known for its thermal baths...
,
RafzRafz is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the northwest of the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.-Geography:Rafz has an area of . Of this area, 52% is used for agricultural purposes, while 33.1% is forested...
(18 killed), and notoriously on 4 March, 1945 both
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
and
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. 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...
were bombed.
Women were granted the
right to voteSuffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. It is also called political franchise or simply the franchise. Suffrage may apply to elections, but also extends to initiatives and referendums...
in the first Swiss cantons in 1959, at the federal level in 1971 and, after resistance, in the last canton
Appenzell InnerrhodenAppenzell Innerrhoden is the smallest canton of Switzerland by population and the second smallest by area, Basel-City having less area.-History:...
in 1990. After
suffrageSuffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. It is also called political franchise or simply the franchise. Suffrage may apply to elections, but also extends to initiatives and referendums...
at the federal level women quickly rose in political significance, with the first woman on the seven member
Federal CouncilThe Swiss Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....
executive being
Elisabeth KoppElisabeth Kopp is a Swiss politician and the first woman elected to the Swiss Federal Council .Elisabeth Kopp grew up in Bern. After finishing her law studies in 1960 she married Hans W. Kopp...
who served from 1984–1989. The first female president was
Ruth DreifussRuth Dreifuss is a Swiss politician affiliated with the Social Democratic Party. She was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1993 to 2002, representing the Canton of Geneva)....
, elected in 1998 to become president during 1999.
(The Swiss president is elected every year from those among the seven member high council and cannot serve two consecutive terms). The second female president is
Micheline Calmy-ReyMicheline Anne-Marie Calmy-Rey is a Swiss politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2002. She is head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and was President of the Confederation in 2007....
who held the 2007 Swiss high office. She is originally from the western area of the French-speaking canton Geneve (Genf in German, Ginevra in Italian). She is presently joined on the seven member cabinet/high council by two other women,
Doris LeuthardDoris Leuthard is a Swiss politician and lawyer. Since 1 August 2006, she has been a member of the Swiss Federal Council and head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs...
, from the canton of
AargauAargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...
and
Eveline Widmer-SchlumpfEveline Widmer-Schlumpf is a Swiss lawyer, politician, and member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2008. She is currently the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police ....
, from the canton of
GraubündenGraubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland adjoining Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
.
Switzerland joined the
Council of EuropeThe Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
in 1963. In 1979 areas from the canton of Bern attained independence from the Bernese, forming the new
canton of JuraThe Republic and Canton of the Jura , also known as the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland. It is the newest of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital is Delémont...
. On 18 April 1999 the Swiss population and the cantons voted in favour of a completely revised
federal constitutionThe Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of 26 cantons , contains a catalogue of individual and popular rights , delineates the responsibilities of...
.
In 2002 Switzerland became a full member of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, leaving the
VaticanThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic...
as the last widely recognised state without full UN membership. Switzerland is a founding member of the
EFTAThe European Free Trade Association was established on 3 May 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then-European Economic Community .The EFTA Convention was signed on 4 January 1960 in...
, but is not a member of the
European Economic AreaThe European Economic Area was established on 1 January 1994 following an agreement between member states of the European Free Trade Association ,the European Community , and all member states of the European Union...
. An application for membership in the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
was sent in May 1992, but not advanced since the EEA was rejected in December 1992 when Switzerland was the only country to launch a referendum on the EEA. There have since been several referenda on the EU issue; due to a mixed reaction from the population the membership application has been frozen. Nonetheless, Swiss law is gradually being adjusted to conform with that of the EU and the government has signed a number of
bilateral agreementsBilateralism comprises the political and cultural relations between two states.Most international diplomacy is done bilaterally. Examples of this include treaties between two countries, exchanges of ambassadors, and state visits...
with the European Union. Switzerland, together with
LiechtensteinThe Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 km² and it has an estimated population of 35,000...
, has been completely surrounded by the EU since Austria's membership in 1995. On 5 June 2005, Swiss voters agreed by a 55% majority to join the Schengen treaty, a result that was regarded by EU commentators as a sign of support by Switzerland, a country that is traditionally perceived as independent, or
isolationistIsolationism is a foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy and a political policy of economic nationalism...
.
Politics
The Federal Constitution adopted in 1848 is the legal foundation of the modern federal state, the second oldest in the world. A new Constitution was adopted in 1999, but did not introduce notable changes to the federal structure. It outlines basic and political rights of individuals and citizen participation in public affairs, divides the powers between the Confederation and the cantons and defines federal jurisdiction and authority. There are three main governing bodies on the federal level: the
bicameralIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
parliament (legislative), the
Federal CouncilThe Swiss Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....
(executive) and the
Federal CourtThe Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland is the supreme court of Switzerland. It is located in Lausanne.According to the Constitution of Switzerland, the court has jurisdiction over violations of:*federal law;*public international law;...
(judicial).
The Swiss Parliament consists of two houses: the
Council of StatesThe Council of States of Switzerland is the smaller chamber of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, and is considered the Assembly's upper house. There are 46 Councillors....
which has 46 representatives (two from each canton and one from each half-canton) who are elected under a system determined by each canton, and the
National CouncilThe National Council of Switzerland is the larger Chamber of the parliament, with 200 seats. Each canton is a constituency. The number of deputies of each constituency depends on the population of the canton. Zürich, which is the largest canton of Switzerland, has 34 seats...
, which consists of 200 members who are elected under a system of
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
, depending on the population of each canton. Members of both houses serve for 4 years. When both houses are in joint session, they are known collectively as the
Federal AssemblyThe Federal Assembly , is Switzerland's federal parliament. It meets in Bern in the Bundeshaus....
. Through
referendumA referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal...
s, citizens may challenge any law passed by parliament and through
initiativeIn political science, the initiative provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance, or, in its minimal form, to simply oblige the executive or...
s, introduce amendments to the federal constitution, thus making Switzerland a
direct democracyDirect democracy, classically termed pure democracy, comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate...
.
The
Federal CouncilThe Swiss Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....
constitutes the federal
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
, directs the
federal administrationThe federal administration of Switzerland is the ensemble of agencies that constitute, together with the Swiss Federal Council, the executive branch of the Swiss federal authorities...
and serves as collective
Head of StateHead of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state...
. It is a collegial body of seven members, elected for a four-year mandate by the Federal Assembly which also exercises
oversightOversight may refer to:*Regulation – rulemaking*Separation of powers - the concept of separate branches of government or agencies exercising authority over one another*Congressional oversight exercised by the United States Congress...
over the Council. The
President of the ConfederationThe President of the Confederation is the presiding member of the Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland's seven-member executive. Elected by the Federal Assembly for one year, the President of the Confederation chairs the meetings of the Federal Council and undertakes special representational duties...
is elected by the Assembly from among the seven members, traditionally in rotation and for a one-year term; the President chairs the government and assumes representative functions. However, the president is a
primus inter paresPrimus inter pares , the first among equals, or first among peers is a phrase which indicates that a person is the most senior of a group of people sharing the same rank or office....
with no additional powers, and remains the head of a department within the administration.
The Swiss government has been a coalition of the four major political parties since 1959, each party having a number of seats that roughly reflects its share of electorate and representation in the federal parliament.
The classic distribution of 2 CVP/PDC, 2 SPS/PSS, 2 FDP/PRD and 1 SVP/UDC as it stood from 1959 to 2003 was known as the "magic formula".
In the
2007 Federal Council electionsOn December 12, 2007, all seven members of the Federal Council, the government of Switzerland, were elected by the joint chambers of the Federal Assembly for the 2008–2012 term of office. Councillors are elected individually by an absolute majority of votes, with the incumbent councillors defending...
the seven seats in the Federal Council were distributed as follows:
- 2 Social Democrats (SPS/PSS)
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is a political party in Switzerland.It was founded on October 21, 1888, and is currently the second largest of the four leading coalition political parties in Switzerland. It is the left-most party with representatives in the Swiss Federal Council...
,
- 2 Liberal Democrats (FDP/PRD)
The Free Democratic Party of Switzerland, with official name FDP.The Liberals , is a political party in Switzerland that was formed on February 28, 2009, after two parties, the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland , and the Liberal Party of Switzerland united. Its youth organisation is Young...
,
- 2 Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC)
The Swiss People's Party also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre is a populist, national conservative political party in Switzerland....
,
- 1 Christian Democrats (CVP/PDC)
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a centrist political party in Switzerland and the smallest member of the four-party coalition government...
.
The function of the
Federal Supreme CourtThe Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland is the supreme court of Switzerland. It is located in Lausanne.According to the Constitution of Switzerland, the court has jurisdiction over violations of:*federal law;*public international law;...
is to hear appeals against rulings of cantonal or federal courts. The judges are elected by the Federal Assembly for six-year terms.
Direct democracy
Swiss citizens are subject to three legal jurisdictions: the commune, canton and federal levels. The 1848 federal constitution defines a system of
direct democracyDirect democracy, classically termed pure democracy, comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate...
(sometimes called
half-direct or representative direct democracy since it is aided by the more commonplace institutions of a parliamentary democracy). The instruments of Swiss direct democracy at the federal level, known as civic rights (
Volksrechte,
droits civiques), include the right to submit a
constitutional initiative and a
referendum, both of which may overturn parliamentary decisions.
By calling a federal
referendum a group of citizens may challenge a law that has been passed by Parliament, if they can gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. If so, a national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a
simple majoritySimple majority may refer to:In American and Canadian usage:* Majority, a voting requirement of more than half of all ballots castUsage elsewhere:* Plurality, a voting requirement of more ballots cast for a proposition than for any other option...
whether to accept or reject the law. Eight cantons together can also call a referendum on a federal law.
Similarly, the federal
constitutional initiative allows citizens to put a
constitutional amendmentA constitutional amendment is a change to the constitution of a nation or a state. In jurisdictions with "rigid" or "entrenched" constitutions, amendments require a special procedure different from that used for enacting ordinary laws.-Referendum:...
to a national vote, if they can get 100,000 voters to sign the proposed amendment within 18 months. Parliament can supplement the proposed amendment with a counter-proposal, with voters having to indicate a preference on the ballot in case both proposals are accepted. Constitutional amendments, whether introduced by initiative or in Parliament, must be accepted by a
double majorityA double majority is the name given to a vote which requires a majority of votes according to two separate criteria. The mechanism is usually used to require strong support for any measure considered to be of great importance...
of both the national popular vote and a majority of the cantonal popular votes.
Cantons
The Swiss Confederation consists of 26 cantons:
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AargauAargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...
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AarauAarau is the capital of the northern Swiss canton of Aargau. The city is also the capital of the district of Aarau. It is German-speaking and predominantly Protestant. Aarau is situated on the Swiss plateau, in the valley of the Aar, on the river's right bank, and at the southern foot of the Jura...
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*NidwaldenNidwalden is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 40,287 of which 4,046 are foreigners. The capital is Stans.-History:...
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Stans Stans is the capital of the canton of Nidwalden in Switzerland.-History:Stans is one of the oldest settlements in the entire Nidwalden valley. The first traces of human settlement date to the 2nd Century BC...
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*Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Ausserrhoden is a canton of Switzerland. The seat of the government and parliament is Herisau, judicial authorities are in Trogen. Appenzell Ausserrhoden is located in the north east of Switzerland, bordering the cantons of St...
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Herisau Herisau is a municipality of the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. It is the seat of the canton's government and parliament; the judicial authorities are situated in Trogen....
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*ObwaldenObwalden is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 33,997 of which 4,043 are foreigners. Its capital is Sarnen. The canton contains the geographical centre of Switzerland.-History:...
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SarnenSarnen is the capital of the canton of Obwalden situated on the shores of Lake Sarnen , Switzerland. It has a population of just under 10,000 and is surrounded by countryside and mountains. Sarnen is located 20 km south of Lucerne.- History :...
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*Appenzell Innerrhoden Appenzell Innerrhoden is the smallest canton of Switzerland by population and the second smallest by area, Basel-City having less area.-History:...
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Appenzell Appenzell is the capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. Appenzell has no municipal government of its own; rather, the different parts of Appenzell belong to the districts Appenzell, Schwende and Rüte...
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SchaffhausenThe Canton of is a canton of Switzerland. The principal city and capital of the canton is Schaffhausen.- History:Schaffhausen was a city-state in the Middle Ages, documented to have struck its own coins starting in 1045. It was then known as Villa Scafhusun. Around 1049 Count Eberhard von...
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SchaffhausenSchaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 33,693 ....
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*Basel-CityBasel-Stadt is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. The city of Basel and the municipalities of Bettingen and Riehen form its territory.-History:...
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BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
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SchwyzSchwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
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SchwyzThe town of is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.The Bundesbrief can be seen at the Bundesbriefmuseum.-History of the toponym:...
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*Basel-Country Basel-Country is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. The capital is Liestal. It shares borders with the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Solothurn, Jura and Aargau, and with the French région of Alsace and the German state of Baden-Württemberg.-History:Basel-Landschaft, together with Basel-Stadt, formed...
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LiestalLiestal is the capital of the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland, 17 km south of Basel.It is an industrial town with a cobble-street Old Town.-History:...
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Solothurn Solothurn is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn.-History:The territory of the canton comprises land acquired by the capital...
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SolothurnThe city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-History:...
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Bern |
Bern |
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St. GallenThe Canton of St. Gallen is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population of 465,937 of which 97,461 are foreigners. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling variations include: St...
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St. GallenSt. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on services for its economic base.The...
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FribourgThe Canton of Fribourg is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the west of the country. The capital of the canton is Fribourg. The name Fribourg is French, whereas is the German name for both the canton and the town.-History:...
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FribourgFribourg , is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
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ThurgauThurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population is 238,316 of which 47,390 are foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...
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FrauenfeldFrauenfeld is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:The city is first documented in 1246. It grew up around the Frauenfeld castle on the land of the Reichenau convent....
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Geneva The Canton of Geneva is the westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. The official name of this canton in French is République et Canton de Genève...
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GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
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TicinoCanton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
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BellinzonaBellinzona is the capital city of the canton Ticino in Switzerland. The city is famous for its three castles that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000.-Geography:...
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GlarusThe Canton of Glarus is a canton in east central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. There are 25 municipalities in the canton . The population is German speaking and typically either Protestant or Catholic. There are 38,237 people living in the canton of which 7,314 are foreigners.-History:The...
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Glarus Glarus is the capital of the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland.Glarus lies on the Linth River at the foot of the Glärnisch foothills in the Glarus Alps. The municipality has about 5800 inhabitants. Very few buildings built before the fire of 1861 remain. Wood, textile, and plastics, as well as...
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UriUri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss River between Lake Lucerne and the St. Gotthard Pass. German is the primary language spoken in Uri. Uri was the only cantons where the children in school had to...
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Altdorf Altdorf is the capital of the Swiss canton of Uri. The municipality covers an area of . It is built at a height of above sea-level, a little above the right bank of the Reuss, not far above the point where this river is joined on the right by the Schächen torrent.The name is sometimes written as...
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GraubündenGraubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland adjoining Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
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Chur Chur ; ; , and ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.-History:...
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ValaisThe Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
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SionSion is the capital of the Swiss canton of Valais. In 2007, its population was around 28,800.Landmarks include the Basilique de Valère and Château de Tourbillon....
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JuraThe Republic and Canton of the Jura , also known as the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland. It is the newest of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital is Delémont...
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Delémont Delémont is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 11,000 inhabitants as of 2007.-Geography:Delémont lies southwest of Basel, about halfway between Basel and Bienne...
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VaudVaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes, Vaud was inhabited in...
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LausanneLausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing Évian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located some northeast of Geneva. It is the capital of the canton of Vaud and of the district of...
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Lucerne Lucerne is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 363,475 of which 57,268 are foreigners. The cantonal capital is Lucerne.-History:...
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LucerneLucerne is a city in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and seat of the district with the same name. With a population of 57,890, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland and a focal point of the region...
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Zug The Canton of Zug is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in central Switzerland and its capital is Zug. With 239 km² the canton is one of the smallest of the cantons in terms of area. It is not subdivided into districts....
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Zug Zug is the capital of the canton of Zug in Switzerland. It is situated at the northeastern corner of Lake Zug, at the foot of the Zugerberg , which rises gradually, its lower slopes thickly covered with fruit trees...
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NeuchâtelNeuchâtel is a canton of western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782 of which 39,654 are foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel.-History:...
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Neuchâtel Neuchâtel is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel.The city has approximately 32,600 inhabitants , by and large French-speaking, although the city is sometimes referred to historically by the German name , which has the same meaning, since Prussia ruled the area until...
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Zürich The Canton of Zürich has a population of about 1.3 million. The canton is located in the northeast of Switzerland and the city of Zürich is its capital. The official language is German, but people speak the local Swiss German dialect called Züritüütsch...
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*These half cantonA half canton is a term designating 6 of the 26 Swiss cantons. Today, this term is no longer used officially or administratively.The half cantons are:#Nidwalden#Obwalden#Outer Rhodes#Inner Rhodes#Basel-City#Basel-Land- Unterwalden :...
s are represented by one councillor (instead of two) in the Council of StatesThe Council of States of Switzerland is the smaller chamber of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, and is considered the Assembly's upper house. There are 46 Councillors....
(see traditional half-cantons).
Their populations vary between 15,000 (Appenzell Innerrhoden) and 1,253,500 (Zürich), and their area between (Basel-Stadt) and (Graubünden). The Cantons comprise a total of 2,889
municipalitiesCommunes are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,636 as of 2009. While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
. Within Switzerland there are two enclaves:
BüsingenBüsingen am Hochrhein is a German town entirely surrounded by the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen and, south across the Rhine, by the cantons of Zürich and Thurgau. It has a population of about 1,450 inhabitants...
belongs to Germany,
Campione d'ItaliaCampione d'Italia is an Italian comune of the Province of Como in the Lombardy region, occupying an enclave within the Swiss canton of Ticino, separated from the rest of Italy by Lake Lugano and mountains...
belongs to Italy.
In a referendum held in the
Austrian stateAustria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a sovereign state, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms...
of
VorarlbergVorarlberg is the westernmost and wealthiest state of Austria. Though it is the second smallest in terms of area it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The only Austrian federal state that shares a border with Vorarlberg is Tyrol to the east...
on 11 May 1919 over 80% of those voting supported a proposal that the state should join the Swiss Confederation. However, this was prevented by the opposition of the Austrian Government, the
AlliesThe Entente powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The key members of the Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire. New Zealand, Belgium, Serbia, Canada, Australia, Italy, Romania and the United States were also drawn into the war...
,
Swiss liberalsThis article gives an overview of liberalism and radicalism in Switzerland. It is limited to liberal and radical parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme...
, the Swiss-Italians (persons of Swiss nationality who live in Italian Switzerland, see map) and the Romands (Swiss nationals living in the French-speaking regions of Switzerland, see map).
Foreign relations and international institutions
Traditionally, Switzerland avoids alliances that might entail military, political, or direct economic action and had been neutral since the end of its
expansionThe growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy began as an alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains...
in 1515. Only in 2002 Switzerland became a full member of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
but was the first state to join it by referendum. Switzerland maintains diplomatic relations with almost all countries and historically has served as an intermediary between other states. Switzerland is not a member of the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
; the Swiss people consistently rejected membership since the
early 1990sThe 1990s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 1999, the last decade of the 20th century. It was the first decade following the effective end of the Cold War...
.
An unusual number of international institutions have their seats in Switzerland, in part because of its policy of neutrality. The Red Cross was founded there in 1863 and still has its institutional centre in the country.
European Broadcasting UnionThe European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 75 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 43 associate broadcasters from a further 25. It is unrelated to the European Union. Members are radio and television companies, most of which are government-owned public service broadcasters...
has the official headquarters in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
. Even though Switzerland is one of the most recent countries to have joined the United Nations, Geneva is the second biggest centre for the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
after New York, and Switzerland was a founding member of the
League of NationsThe League of Nations was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members...
. Apart from the United Nations headquarter, Geneva is host to many UN agencies, like the World Health Organization (
WHO*Who is an English language interrogative pronoun.-In fiction:*Who? , a 1958 novel by science fiction author Algis Budrys, turned into a film with the same title in 1973*Doctor Who, a British science fiction television series...
), the International Telecommunication Union (
ITUItu is an old and historic municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 is 149,758 and the area is 641.68 km². The elevation is 583 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language. Itu is linked with the highway numbered the SP-75 and are flowed with two rivers, Tietê...
) and about 200 other international organizations.
Furthermore, many sport federations and organizations are located throughout the country, such as the
International Ice Hockey FederationThe International Ice Hockey Federation is the worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 68 members...
. The most important ones are probably the
International Olympic CommitteeThe International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on 23 June 1894. Its membership consists of the 205 National Olympic Committees....
, in
LausanneLausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing Évian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located some northeast of Geneva. It is the capital of the canton of Vaud and of the district of...
, the
FIFAThe International Federation of Association Football, commonly known by its French acronym, FIFA , is the international governing body of association football. Its headquarters are in Zürich, Switzerland, and its current president is Sepp Blatter...
(International Federation of Association Football), in Zurich, and the
UEFAThe Union of European Football Associations is the administrative and controlling body for European football. It is almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA ....
(Union of European Football Association), in Nyon.
The
World Economic ForumThe World Economic Forum is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world...
foundation is based in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
. It is best known for its annual meeting in
DavosDavos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.It is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
which brings together top international business and political leaders to discuss important issues facing the world, including health and the environment.
Swiss Armed Forces
The
Swiss Armed ForcesThe Swiss Armed Forces perform the roles of Switzerland's militia and regular army: under the country's militia system professional soldiers constitute only about 5 percent of the military personnel; all the rest are conscript citizens aged from 18 to 34 years...
, including the Land Forces and the
Air ForceThe Swiss Air Force is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces. It was established on July 31, 1914 but did not become a separate service until 1936, and an independent service separate from the Army until 1 January 1996....
, are
composed of conscriptsSwitzerland has mandatory military service for all able-bodied male citizens, who are conscripted when they reach the age of majority, though women may volunteer for any position....
: professional soldiers constitute only about 5 percent of the military personnel, and all the rest are conscript citizens aged from 20 to 34 (in special cases up to 50) years. Being a
landlockedA landlocked country is commonly defined as one enclosed or nearly enclosed by land. As of 2008, there are 44 landlocked countries in the world. Of the major landmasses that have more than one country, only North America does not have a landlocked country....
country, Switzerland has no navy, however on lakes bordering neighbouring countries armed military patrol boats are used. Swiss citizens are prohibited from serving in foreign armies, with the exception of the
Swiss GuardSwiss Guards is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. In contemporary usage it refers to the Pontifical Swiss Guard of Vatican City. They have generally had a high reputation...
s of the Vatican.
The structure of the Swiss militia system stipulates that the soldiers keep their own personal equipment, including all personal weapons, at home. Some organisations and political parties find this practice controversial and dangerous.
Compulsory military serviceConscription is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by an established authority. It is most often used in the specific sense of requiring citizens to serve in the armed forces...
concerns all male Swiss citizens; women can serve voluntarily. They usually receive the marching order at the age of 19 for military conscription. About two thirds of the young Swiss are found suited for service; for those found unsuited, an alternative service exists. Annually, approximately 20,000 persons are trained in boot camp for a duration from 18 to 21 weeks. The reform "Army XXI" was adopted by popular vote in 2003, it replaced the previous model "Army 95", reducing the effectives from 400,000 to about 200,000. Of those 120,000 are active and 80,000 are reserve units.
Overall, three general mobilisations have been declared to ensure the integrity and neutrality of Switzerland. The first one was held on the occasion of the
Franco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between France and Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria...
of 1870-71. The second one was decided in response to the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. The third mobilisation of the army took place on September 1939 in response to the German attack on Poland;
Henri GuisanHenri Guisan was Commander in Chief of the Swiss Army during World War II. He was the fourth and the most recent man to be appointed to the rarely-used Swiss rank of General, and was possibly Switzerland's most famous soldier...
was elected as the General-in-Chief.
Because of neutrality, the army can not take part in armed conflicts in other countries, but is part of some peacekeeping missions around the world. Since 2000 the armed forces department also maintains the
OnyxOnyx is a Swiss intelligence gathering system maintained by the Swiss Army. The costs of the system are not public, but the amount of 100 million Swiss francs has been mentioned several times, in particular in 2000 by Werner Marti, SP deputy to the National Council of Switzerland...
intelligence gathering system, to monitor satellite communications.
Following the end of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
there have been a number of attempts to curb military activity or even abolish the armed forces altogether (see
Group for a Switzerland without an ArmyThe Group for a Switzerland without an Army, is a group working to reduce the military activities of Switzerland. The Group was created in Solothurn on 12 September 1982 by 120 people...
). A notable referendum on the subject was held on the 26 November 1989 and, although defeated, did see a high percentage of the people of favour of such an initiative. A similar referendum, called for before, but held shortly after the 9/11 Attacks, was defeated by over 77% of voters.
Geography
Extending across the north and south side of the
AlpsThe Alps are 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....
, Switzerland comprises a great diversity of landscapes and climates on a limited area of . The population is about 7.6 million, resulting in an average
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
of around 240 people per square kilometre (622/sq mi). However, the more mountainous southern half of the country is far more sparsely populated than this average, while the northern half and extreme south have a somewhat greater density, as they comprise more hospitable hilly terrain, partly forested and partly cleared, as well as several large lakes.
Switzerland comprises three basic topographical areas: the
Swiss AlpsThe Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position with the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
on the south, the
Swiss plateauThe Swiss Plateau or Central 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...
or "middleland", and the
Jura mountainsThe Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each. The mountain range sensu Johann Gottfried Ebel is located in France, Switzerland, and Germany...
on the north. The Alps are a high mountain range running across the central-south of the country, comprising about 60% of the country's total area. Among the high peaks of the Swiss Alps, the highest of which is the
DufourspitzeDufourspitze , Pointe Dufour , Punta Dufour , or Monte Rosa is the second highest mountain in the Alps and western Europe
[If the Caucasus Mountains are considered to be only in Asia, Monte Rosa is the second highest mountain of the European continent] and the highest of...
at , countless valleys are found, many with waterfalls and
glacierA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
s. From these the headwaters of several major European rivers such as the
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
,
RhôneThe Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, originating in Switzerland and running from there through the south-eastern corner of France...
,
InnThe Inn is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube and is approximately 500km long. The highest point of its drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernina, at 4,049 metres....
, Aare, and
TicinoThe river Ticino is a left-bank tributary of the Po River. It rises in the Val Bedretto in Switzerland and flows through Lake Maggiore, entering Italy. The Ticino joins the Po a few kilometres downstream from Pavia. It is about long. The highest point of the drainage basin is the summit of...
flow finally into the largest Swiss lakes such as
Lake GenevaLake Geneva or Lake Léman is the largest natural freshwater lake in western Europe . In addition it is the largest body of freshwater in continental Europe in term of volume . 60% of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40% under France...
(Lac Léman),
Lake ZürichLake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the town of Zürich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates ....
,
Lake NeuchâtelLake Neuchâtel is a lake in Western Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
, and
Lake ConstanceLake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
.
The most famous mountain is the
MatterhornThe Matterhorn , Cervino or Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps. With its high summit, lying on the border between Switzerland and Italy, it is one of the highest peaks in the Alps and its north face is one of the Great north faces of the Alps...
in
ValaisThe Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
and the
Pennine AlpsThe Pennine Alps are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Switzerland and Italy...
bordering Italy. Even higher mountains are located in the area: the
DufourspitzeDufourspitze , Pointe Dufour , Punta Dufour , or Monte Rosa is the second highest mountain in the Alps and western Europe
[If the Caucasus Mountains are considered to be only in Asia, Monte Rosa is the second highest mountain of the European continent] and the highest of...
, the Dom and thirdly, the
WeisshornThe Weisshorn is a mountain in the Pennine Alps, in Switzerland. With its summit, it is one of the major peaks in the Alps and overtops the Matterhorn by some 30 metres....
. The section of the
Bernese AlpsThe Bernese Alps are a group of mountain ranges in the western part of the Alps, in Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Valais, Lucerne, Obwalden, Fribourg and...
above the deep glacial
LauterbrunnenLauterbrunnen is a municipality in the district of Interlaken in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.The municipality lies in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and comprises the villages Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Mürren, Gimmelwald, Stechelberg and Isenfluh...
valley, containing 72 waterfalls, is also well known for the
JungfrauThe Jungfrau is one of the main summits in the Bernese Alps, situated between the cantons of Valais and Bern in Switzerland...
and
EigerThe Eiger is a notable mountain in the Bernese Alps, rising to an elevation of 3,970 m It is the easternmost peak of a ridge-crest that extends to the Mönch at 4,107 m , and across the Jungfraujoch pass to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m...
, and the many picturesque valleys in the region. In the southeast the long
EngadinThe Engadin or Engadine is a long valley in the Swiss Alps located in the canton of Graubünden in southeast Switzerland. It follows the route of the Inn River from its headwaters at Maloja Pass running northeast until the Inn flows into Austria one hundred kilometers downstream...
Valley, encompassing the
St. MoritzSt. Moritz is an exclusive resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...
area in canton
GraubündenGraubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland adjoining Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
, is also well known; the highest peak in the neighbouring Bernina Alps is
Piz BerninaPiz Bernina is the highest mountain of the Eastern Alps and the highest point of the Bernina Range. It is also the furthest easterly mountain higher than 4,000 m in the Alps, the highest point of the Swiss canton of Graubünden, and the fifth-most prominent peak in the Alps. Piz Bernina is located...
.
The more populous northern part of the country, comprising about 30% of the country's total area, is called the Middle Land. It has greater open and hilly landscapes, partly forested, partly open pastures, usually with grazing herds, or vegetables and fruit fields, but it is still hilly. There are large lakes found here and the biggest Swiss cities are in this area of the country. The largest lake is
Lake GenevaLake Geneva or Lake Léman is the largest natural freshwater lake in western Europe . In addition it is the largest body of freshwater in continental Europe in term of volume . 60% of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40% under France...
(also called Lac Léman in French), in western Switzerland. The
Rhone RiverThe Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, originating in Switzerland and running from there through the south-eastern corner of France...
is both the main input and output of Lake Geneva.
The Swiss
climateClimate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time...
is generally temperate, but can vary greatly between the localities, from glacial conditions on the mountaintops to the often pleasant near
Mediterranean climateA hi Mediterranean climate resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes most of the area with this climate type worldwide...
at Switzerland's southern tip. Summers tend to be warm and humid at times with periodic rainfall so they are ideal for pastures and grazing. The winters in the mountains alternate with sun and
snowSnow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure. Snowflakes...
, while the lower lands tend to be more cloudy and foggy in winter. A weather phenomenon known as the föhn can occur at all times of the year, even in winter, and is characterized by a wind with warm Mediterranean air crossing the Alps from Italy. The driest conditions persist in the southern valleys of the
ValaisThe Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
above which valuable
saffronSaffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus , a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. A C. sativus flower bears three stigmas, each the distal end of a carpel. Together with their styles—stalks connecting stigmas to their host plant—stigmas are dried and used in cooking...
is harvested and many wine grapes are grown, Graubünden also tends to be drier in climate and slightly colder, yet with plentiful snow in winter. The wettest conditions persist in the high Alps and in the
TicinoCanton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
canton which has much sun yet heavy bursts of rain from time to time. The eastern part tends to be colder than western Switzerland, yet anywhere up high in the mountains can experience a cold spell at any time of the year. Precipitation tends to be spread moderately throughout the year, with minor variations across the seasons depending on locale. Autumn frequently tends to be the driest season, yet the weather patterns in Switzerland can be highly variable from year to year, and difficult to predict.
Switzerland's eco-systems can be particularly vulnerable, because of the many delicate valleys separated by high mountains, often forming unique ecologies. The mountainous regions themselves are also vulnerable, with a rich range of plants not found at other altitudes, and experience some pressure from visitors and grazing. The tree line in the mountains of Switzerland has advanced down over the years, largely because of the increasing absence of herding and grazing pressures.
Economy
Switzerland has a stable, modern and one of the most
capitalistCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
economies in the world. It has the 2nd highest European rating after
IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
in the
Index of Economic FreedomThe Index of Economic Freedom is a series of 10 economic measurements created by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations.- History :...
2008, while also providing large coverage through public services. The nominal per capita
GDPThe gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
is higher than those of the larger western European economies and Japan, ranking 6th behind Luxembourg, Norway, Qatar, Iceland and Ireland.
If adjusted for
purchasing power parityThe purchasing power parity theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power...
, Switzerland ranks 15th in the world for GDP per capita. The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report currently ranks Switzerland's economy as the most competitive in the world. For much of the
20th centuryThe 20th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.The British Empire, the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved in the first half of the century, with all but the...
, Switzerland was the wealthiest country in Europe by a considerable margin. In 2005 the
median household incomeThe median household income is commonly used to provide data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...
in Switzerland was an estimated 95,000
CHFCHF can mean:*The Swiss franc's currency code*Canadian Hunger Foundation*Centre half-forward*Charles Harding Firth *Chicago Humanities Festival*Children's Hunger Fund...
, the equivalent of roughly 81,000 USD (as of Nov. 2008) in
purchasing power parityThe purchasing power parity theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power...
, which is similar to wealthy
American statesA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
like
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.
Switzerland is home to several large multinational corporations. The largest Swiss companies by revenue are
GlencoreGlencore International AG is one of the world's largest suppliers of commodities and raw materials, and is also among the world's largest privately held companies....
,
NestléNestlé S.A. is a multinational packaged food company founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, and listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange with a turnover of over 87 billion Swiss francs...
,
NovartisNovartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number one in revenues, which accounted over $53 billion in 2008, and number three in sales, which accounted 36.172 billon in 2008. Novartis is one of the largest healthcare companies in the...
,
Hoffmann-La RocheF. Hoffmann–La Roche Ltd. is a Swiss global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange ....
, ABB and
AdeccoAdecco S.A. is the largest human resources company in the world, based in Glattbrugg, Switzerland. Adecco employs 700,000 temporary workers and contractors who are supplied to business clients, and has 36,500 employees and 6,700 offices in 60 countries and territories around the world...
. Also notable are
UBS AGUBS AG is a diversified global financial services company, with its main headquarters in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. It is the world's largest manager of private wealth assets, "the world's biggest manager of other people's money" and is also the second-largest bank in Europe, by both market...
,
Zurich Financial ServicesZurich Financial Services AG is a major financial services group based in Zürich, Switzerland.-History:The Company was founded in 1872 as subsidiary of the Schweiz Marine Insurance Company under the name Versicherung Verein...
,
Credit SuisseThe Credit Suisse Group is a financial services company, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Credit Suisse was founded by Alfred Escher in 1856 under the name Schweizerische Kreditanstalt . The bank is organized into three divisions, Investment Banking, Private Banking, and Asset Management...
,
Swiss ReSwiss Re is the world’s second-largest reinsurer, after having acquired GE Insurance Solutions . Founded in 1863, Swiss Re operates through offices in more than 25 countries...
, and The Swatch Group. Switzerland is ranked as having one of the most powerful economies in the world.
ChemicalsThe chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. It is central to modern world economy, converting raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
, health and pharmaceutical,
measuring instrumentIn the physical sciences, quality assurance, and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the measurement results in a given number for the relationship...
s,
musical instrumentA musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making the sounds of music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture...
s,
real estateReal estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, specifically property that is fixed in location.
"Real estate" The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin...
, banking and
insuranceInsurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed and known...
,
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
, and
international organizationAn intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization comprised primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organization...
s are important industries in Switzerland. The largest exported goods are chemicals (34% of exported goods), machines/electronics (20.9%), and precision instruments/watches (16.9%). Exported services amount to a third of exported goods.
Around 3.8 million people work in Switzerland. Switzerland has a more flexible job market than neighboring countries and the
unemploymentUnemployment occurs when a person is available to work and seeking work but currently without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed...
rate is very low.
UnemploymentUnemployment occurs when a person is available to work and seeking work but currently without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed...
rate increased from a low of 1.7% in June 2000 to a peak of 3.9% in September 2004. Partly because of the economic upturn which started in mid-2003, the unemployment rate is currently 3.4% as of April 2009. Population growth from net immigration is quite high, at 0.52% of population in 2004.
Foreign citizen population is 21.8% as of 2004, about the same as in Australia. GDP per hour worked is the world's 17th highest, at 27.44 international dollars in 2006.
Switzerland has an overwhelmingly private sector economy and low tax rates by Western standards;
overall taxation is one of the smallest of
developed countriesThe term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and there is fierce debate about this. Economic criteria have tended to dominate...
. Switzerland is an easy place to do business; Switzerland ranks 16th of 178 countries in the
Ease of Doing Business IndexThe Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank. Higher rankings indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights...
. The slow growth Switzerland experienced in the 1990s and the early 2000s has brought greater support for economic reforms and harmonization with the European Union. According to
Credit SuisseThe Credit Suisse Group is a financial services company, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Credit Suisse was founded by Alfred Escher in 1856 under the name Schweizerische Kreditanstalt . The bank is organized into three divisions, Investment Banking, Private Banking, and Asset Management...
, only about 37% of residents own their own homes, one of the lowest rates of home ownership in Europe. Housing and food price levels were 171% and 145% of the EU-25 index in 2007, compared to 113% and 104% in Germany. Agricultural protectionism—a rare exception to Switzerland's free trade policies—has contributed to high food prices. Product market liberalization is lagging behind many EU countries according to the OECD. Nevertheless, domestic
purchasing powerPurchasing power is the number of goods/services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if you had taken one dollar to a store in the 1950s, you would have been able to buy a greater number of items than you would today, indicating that you would have had a greater purchasing...
is one of the best in the world. Apart from agriculture, economic and trade barriers between the European Union and Switzerland are minimal and Switzerland has free trade agreements worldwide. Switzerland is a member of the
European Free Trade AssociationThe European Free Trade Association was established on 3 May 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then-European Economic Community .The EFTA Convention was signed on 4 January 1960 in...
(EFTA).
Education, science and technology
Education in Switzerland is very diverse because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons. There are both public and private schools, including many private international schools. The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school. Traditionally, the first foreign language in school was always one of the other national languages, although recently (2000) English was introduced first in a few cantons. At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The fastest learners are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the
maturaMatura is the word commonly used in Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine for the final exams young adults take at the end of...
, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs.
There are
12 Universities in Switzerland, ten of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. The
first university in SwitzerlandThe University of Basel is located at Basel, Switzerland.-History:Founded in 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university....
was founded in 1460 in
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
(with a faculty of medicine) and has a tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. The biggest university in Switzerland is the
University of ZurichThe University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 24,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy...
with nearly 25,000 students. The two institutes sponsored by the federal government are the ETHZ in
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. 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...
(founded 1855) and the EPFL in
LausanneLausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing Évian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located some northeast of Geneva. It is the capital of the canton of Vaud and of the district of...
(founded 1969 as such, formerly an institute associated with the University of Lausanne) which both have an excellent international reputation. In 2008, the ETH Zurich was ranked 15th in the field
Natural Sciences and Mathematics by the
Shanghai Academic Ranking of World UniversitiesThe Academic Ranking of World Universities is compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The ranking compared 1200 higher education institutions worldwide according to a formula that took into account alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals , staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals ,...
and the EPFL in Lausanne was ranked 18th in the field
Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences by the same ranking.
In addition there are various Universities of Applied Sciences. In business and management studies, University of St. Gallen (HSG) and Institute of Management Development (IMD) are the leaders. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.
Many
Nobel prizeThe Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901...
s were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist
Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a theoretical physicist. His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of...
in the field of physics who developed his
theory of relativitySpecial relativity is the physical theory of measurement in inertial frames of reference proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein in the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"...
while working in Bern. More recently
Vladimir PrelogVladimir Prelog was a renowned Swiss-Croatian chemist and Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. Prelog lived and worked in Prague, Zagreb and Zürich during his lifetime.-Biography:...
,
Heinrich RohrerHeinrich Rohrer is a Swiss physicist who shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gerd Binnig for the design of the scanning tunneling microscope .-Biography:...
,
Richard ErnstRichard Robert Ernst is a Swiss physical chemist and Nobel Laureate.Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Ernst was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991 for his contributions towards the development of Fourier Transform nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy while at Varian Associates, Palo...
,
Edmond FischerDr Edmond H. Fischer is a Swiss-American biochemist. He and his collaborator Edwin G. Krebs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for describing how reversible phosphorylation works as a switch to activate proteins and regulate various cellular processes.Fischer was born...
, Rolf Zinkernagel and
Kurt WüthrichKurt Wüthrich is a Swiss chemist and Nobel Chemistry laureate.-Biography:Born in Aarberg, Switzerland, Wüthrich was educated in chemistry, physics, and mathematics at the University of Berne before pursuing his Ph.D. under the direction of Silvio Fallab at the University of Basel, awarded in 1964...
received Nobel prizes in the sciences. In total, 113 Nobel Prize winners stand in relation to Switzerland and the
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
was awarded 9 times to organizations residing in Switzerland.
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
host the world's largest
laboratoryA laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
, the
CERNThe European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , , is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border, established in 1954...
, dedicated to
particle physicsParticle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them. It is also called high energy physics, because many elementary particles do not occur under normal circumstances in nature, but can be created and detected...
research. Another important research center is the
Paul Scherrer InstituteThe Paul Scherrer Institute is a multi-disciplinary research institute which belongs to the Swiss ETH-Komplex covering also the ETH Zurich and EPFL...
. Notable inventions include the Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the
Scanning tunneling microscopeA scanning tunneling microscope is a powerful instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer , the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. For an STM, good resolution is considered to be 0.1 nm lateral resolution and...
(Nobel prize) or the very popular
VelcroVelcro is a brand name of fabric hook-and-loop fasteners. It consists of two layers: a "hook" side, which is a piece of fabric covered with tiny hooks, and a "loop" side, which is covered with even smaller and "hairier" loops. When the two sides are pressed together, the hooks catch in the loops...
. Some technologies enabled the exploration of
new worlds- In publishing :* New Worlds , a science fiction magazine which published over 200 issues.* New Worlds , a X-Men storyline written by Grant Morrison.* New Worlds, an imprint of Caliber Comics.- In music, film and television :...
such as the pressurized balloon of
Auguste PiccardAuguste Antoine Piccard was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer.Piccard and his twin brother Jean Felix were born in Basel, Switzerland...
and the
BathyscapheA bathyscaphe is a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea diving submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere, but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic bathysphere design....
which permitted
Jacques PiccardJacques Piccard was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater vehicles for studying ocean currents. He is one of only two people, along with Lt...
to reach the deepest point of the world's oceans.
Switzerland Space Agency, the
Swiss Space OfficeSwiss Space Office is the national space program of the Switzerland. It was roughly the 16th highest funded public space agency with a budget of about 110 million USD in the early 2000s. According to Jane's, the SSO is "the administrative unit charged with planning and implementing Swiss space...
, has been involved in various space technologies and programs. In addition it was one of the 10 founders of
the European Space Agency|owner = |headquarters = Paris|spaceport = Guiana Space Centre|image = ESA LOGO.svg|size = 240px|acronym = ESA|established = 1975|administrator = Jean-Jacques Dordain...
in 1975 and is the seventh largest contributor to the ESA budget. In the private sector, several companies are implicated in the space industry such as Oerlikon Space or Maxon Motors who provide spacecraft structures.
Switzerland and the European Union
Switzerland voted against membership in the
European Economic AreaThe European Economic Area was established on 1 January 1994 following an agreement between member states of the European Free Trade Association ,the European Community , and all member states of the European Union...
in December 1992 and has since maintained and developed its relationships with the European Union (EU) and European countries through bilateral agreements. In March 2001, the Swiss people refused in a popular vote to start accession negotiations with the EU. In recent years, the Swiss have brought their economic practices largely into conformity with those of the EU in many ways, in an effort to enhance their international competitiveness. The economy has been growing most recently at around 3% per year. Full EU membership is a long-term objective of some in the Swiss government, but there is considerable popular sentiment against this supported by the conservative
SVPThe Swiss People's Party also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre is a populist, national conservative political party in Switzerland....
party. The western French-speaking areas and the urban regions of the rest of the country tend to be more pro-EU, however with far from any significant share of the population.
The government has established an Integration Office under the
Department of Foreign AffairsThe Federal Department of Foreign Affairs is a department of the federal administration of Switzerland. It is charged with maintaining the foreign relations of Switzerland and serves as Switzerland's ministry of foreign affairs...
and the
Department of Economic AffairsThe Federal Department of Economic Affairs is one of the seven departments of the federal government of Switzerland, headed by a member of the Swiss Federal Council.-Organisation:The Department is composed of the following offices:...
. To minimise the negative consequences of Switzerland's isolation from the rest of Europe, Bern and Brussels signed seven bilateral agreements to further liberalise trade ties. These agreements were signed in 1999 and took effect in 2001. This first series of bilateral agreements included the free movement of persons. A second series covering nine areas was signed in 2004 and has since been ratified. The second series includes the Schengen Treaty and the
Dublin ConventionThe Dublin Regulation is a European Union law that determines the EU Member State responsible to examine an application for asylum seekers seeking international protection under the Geneva Convention and the EU Qualification Directive, within the European Union...
. They continue to discuss further areas for cooperation. In 2006, Switzerland approved a billion francs supportive investment in the poorer
eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an countries in support of cooperation and positive ties to the EU as a whole. A further referendum will be needed to approve 300 million francs to support Romania and Bulgaria and their recent admission. The Swiss have also been under EU and sometimes international pressure to reduce banking secrecy and to raise tax rates to parity with the EU. Preparatory discussions are being opened in four new areas: opening up the electricity market, participation in the European GNSS project
GalileoGalileo is a global navigation satellite system currently being built by the European Union and European Space Agency . The €3.4 billion project is an alternative and complementary to the U.S. Global Positioning System and the Russian GLONASS...
, cooperating with the European centre for disease prevention and recognising certificates of origin for food products.
On 27 November 2008 the interior and justice ministers of European Union in
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
announced Switzerland's accession to the Schengen passport-free zone from 12 December 2008. The land border checkpoints will remain in place only for goods movements, but should not run controls on people, though people entering the country had their passports checked until 29 March 2009 if they originated from a Schengen nation.
Infrastructure and environment
ElectricityElectricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge...
generated in Switzerland is 56% from
hydroelectricityHydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
and 39% from
nuclear powerNuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Commercial plants in use to date use nuclear fission reactions....
, with 5% of the electricity generated from conventional power sources resulting in a nearly CO
2-free electricity-generating network.
On 18 May 2003, two
anti-nuclearThe anti-nuclear movement is a loosely-linked international social movement that people opposed to the use of nuclear technologies follow. The chief focus of the movement is opposition to nuclear power , but also includes other issues such as:* Pursuing nuclear disarmament* Opposing the use of...
initiatives were turned down:
Moratorium Plus, aimed at forbidding the building of new nuclear power plants (41.6% supported and 58.4% opposed), and Electricity Without Nuclear (33.7% supported and 66.3% opposed). The former ten-year moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants was the result of a
citizens' initiativeIn political science, the initiative provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance, or, in its minimal form, to simply oblige the executive or...
voted on in 1990 which had passed with 54.5% Yes vs. 45.5% No votes. A new nuclear plant in the Canton of Bern is presently planned. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) is the office responsible for all questions relating to energy supply and energy use within the
Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and CommunicationsThe Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications is one of the seven departments of the Swiss federal government, headed by a member of the Swiss Federal Council.-Organisation:...
(DETEC). The agency is supporting the
2000-watt societyThe 2000-watt society is a vision, originated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich at the end of 1998, in which each person in the developed world would cut their over-all rate of energy use to an average of no more than 2,000 watts The 2000-watt society (2,000-Watt Society) is a...
initiative to cut the nation's energy use by more than half by the year 2050.
Swiss private-public managed road network is funded by
road tollRoad toll is the term used in some countries for the number of deaths caused annually by road accidents.The term is in common and official use in Australia and New Zealand.-Australia:In Australia the road toll is reported at a state level...
s and vehicle taxes. The Swiss autobahn/autoroute system requires the purchase of a
vignetteVignette is a word used in several non-English speaking European countries for toll stickers. It is ultimately of French origin, but was disseminated throughout Central Europe through German....
(toll sticker)—which costs 40
Swiss francThe franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is widely used on a day-to-day basis...
s—for one calendar year in order to use its roadways, for both passenger cars and trucks. The Swiss autobahn/autoroute network has a total length of (as of 2000) and has, by an area of , also the one of the highest
motorwayThe OECD has defined a motorway as:Motorways are identical to freeways as a road type, and comparable to the United States's Interstate Highways as a classification....
densities in the world. Zürich Airport is Switzerland's largest international flight gateway, which handled 20.7 million passengers in 2007. The second largest
Geneva Cointrin International AirportGeneva International Airport is an airport near Geneva, Switzerland. It is located northwest of the city centre and has direct connections to expressways, bus lines and railways . Its northern limit runs along the Swiss-French border and the airport can be accessed from both countries...
handled 10.8 million passengers and the third largest
EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-FreiburgEuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is an international airport northwest of Basel , southeast of Mulhouse , and near Freiburg . It is located in France, on the administrative territory of the commune of Saint-Louis near the Swiss and German borders...
4.3 million passengers, both airports being shared with France.
The rail network of in Switzerland carries over 350 million passengers annually. In 2007, each Swiss citizen ran on average by rail, which makes them the keenest rail users. The network is administered mainly by the
Federal RailwaysSwiss Federal Railways is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Berne...
, except in Graubünden, where the
narrow gauge railwayA narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of or less.- Overview :...
is operated by the Rhaetian Railways and includes some World Heritage lines. The building of new railway base tunnels through the Alps is under way to reduce the time of travel between north and south.
Switzerland is heavily active in recycling and anti-littering regulations and is one of the top recyclers in the world, with 66% to 96% of recyclable materials being recycled. In many places in Switzerland, household garbage disposal is charged for. Garbage (except dangerous items, batteries etc.) is only collected if it is in bags which either have a payment sticker attached, or in official bags with the surcharge paid at the time of purchase. This gives a financial incentive to recycle as much as possible, since recycling is free. Swiss health officials and police often open up garbage for which the disposal charge has not been paid and search for evidence such as old bills which connect the bag to the household/person they originated from. Fines for not paying the disposal fee range from CHF 200–500.
Demographics
Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several major European cultures that have heavily influenced the country's languages and culture. Switzerland has four
official languageAn official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
s: German (63.7% total population share, with foreign residents; 72.5% of residents with
Swiss citizenshipSwiss citizenship is the status of being a citizen of Switzerland and it can be obtained by birth, marriage or naturalisation.The Swiss Citizenship Law is based on the following principles:* Triple citizenship level...
, in 2000) in the north, east and center of the country; French (20.4%; 21.0%) to the west; Italian (6.5%; 4.3%) in the south. Romansh, a
Romance languageThe Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
spoken locally by a small minority (0.5%; 0.6%) in the southeastern canton of
GraubündenGraubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland adjoining Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
, is designated by the Federal Constitution as a national language along with German, French and Italian (Article 4 of the Constitution), and as official language if the authorities communicate with persons of Romansh language (Article 70), but federal laws and other official acts do not need to be decreed in this language. The federal government is obliged to communicate in the official languages, and in the federal parliament simultaneous translation is provided from and into German, French and Italian.
The German spoken in Switzerland is predominantly a group of Alemannic dialects collectively known as Swiss German, but written communication typically use
Swiss Standard GermanSwiss Standard German, referred to by the Swiss as Schriftdeutsch, or Hochdeutsch, is one of four official languages in Switzerland, besides French, Italian and Romansh...
, whilst the majority of radio and TV broadcast is (nowadays) in Swiss German as well. Similarly, there are some dialects of
Franco-ProvençalFranco-Provençal or Arpitan or Romand is a Romance language with several distinct dialects that form a linguistic sub-group separate from Langue d'Oïl and Langue d'Oc. The name Franco-Provençal was given to the language by G.I...
in rural communities in the French speaking part, known as "Suisse romande", called Vaudois, Gruérien, Jurassien, Empro, Fribourgeois, Neuchâtelois, and in the Italian speaking area,
TicineseTicinese is a comprehensive denomination for the varieties of Western Lombard language spoken in Canton Ticino .The term Ticinesi refers to the citizens of Ticino or speakers of the language....
(a dialect of Lombard). Also the official languages (German, French and Italian) borrow some terms not understood outside of Switzerland, i.e. terms from other languages (German
Billette from French), from similar term in another language (Italian
azione used not as
act but as
discount from German
Aktion). Learning one of the other national languages at school is obligatory for all Swiss, so most Swiss are supposed to be at least
bilingualMultilingualism is the use of two or more languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population.-Multilingual individuals:...
.
Resident foreigners and temporary foreign workers make up about 22% of the population. Most of these (60%) are from European Union or
EFTAEFTA may refer to:* European Family Therapy Association, an NGO.* European Fair Trade Association, an association of eleven Fair Trade importers in nine European countries....
countries. Italians are the largest single group of foreigners with 17.3% of total foreign population. They are followed by
GermansThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
(13.2%), immigrants from
Serbia and MontenegroThe State Union of Serbia and Montenegro , was a union of Serbia and Montenegro, which existed between 2003 and 2006. The two republics, both of which are former republics of the SFR Yugoslavia, initially formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992...
(11.5%) and Portugal (11.3%). Immigrants from
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
, most of them former Tamil refugees, are the largest group among people of Asian origin. In the 2000s, domestic and international institutions have expressed concern about what they perceive as an increase of
xenophobiaXenophobia is a dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or different from oneself. It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from...
, particularly in some political campaignings. However, the high proportion of foreign citizens in the country, as well as the generally unproblematic integration of foreigners, underlines Switzerland's openness.
Health
In 2006 life expectancy at birth was 79 years for men and 84 years for women. It is among the highest in the world.
The Swiss citizens are covered by a compulsory universal health-insurance coverage, permitting access to a broad range of modern medical services. The healthcare system compares well with other European countries and patients are largely satisfied with it. However, spending on health is particularly high, with 11.5% of
GDPThe gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
(2003) and, from 1990, a steady increase is observed, reflecting the high prices of the services provided With ageing populations and new healthcare technologies, health spending will likely continue to rise.
Urbanisation
Between two thirds and three quarters of the population live in urban areas. Switzerland has gone from a largely rural country to an urban one in just 70 years. Since 1935 urban development has claimed as much of the Swiss landscape as it did during the previous 2,000 years. This
urban sprawlUrban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs over rural land and to its outskirts. The problem of urban sprawl is that it is costly to initiate the development of new infrastructure adequate enough to support its residents...
does not only affect the plateau but also the Jura and the Alpine foothills and there are growing concerns about land use. However, from the beginning of the 21st century, the population growth in urban areas is higher than in the countryside.
Switzerland has a dense network of cities, where large, medium and small cities are complementary. The
plateauThe Swiss Plateau or Central 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...
is very densely populated with about 450 people per km
2 and the landscape continually shows signs of man's presence. The weight of the largest metropolitan areas, which are
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. 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...
,
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
-
LausanneLausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing Évian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located some northeast of Geneva. It is the capital of the canton of Vaud and of the district of...
,
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
and Bern tend to increase. In international comparison the importance of these urban areas is stronger than their number of inhabitants suggests. In addition the two main centers of Zürich and Geneva are recognized for their particular great quality of life.
Religion
Switzerland has no official
state religionA state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. Practically, a state without a state religion is called a secular state. The term state church is associated with Christianity, and is sometimes used to denote a specific national branch of Christianity...
, though most of the
cantonsThe 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
(except
GenevaThe Canton of Geneva is the westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. The official name of this canton in French is République et Canton de Genève...
and
NeuchâtelNeuchâtel is a canton of western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782 of which 39,654 are foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel.-History:...
) recognize official churches, which are either the Catholic Church or the
Swiss Reformed ChurchThe Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Berne , St...
. These churches, and in some cantons also the
Old Catholic ChurchThe Old Catholic Church is a Christian denomination originating with mainly German-speaking groups that split from the Holy See in the 1870s because they disagreed with the solemn declaration of the doctrine of papal infallibility promulgated by the First Vatican Council . The Old Catholic Church...
and Jewish congregations, are financed by official taxation of adherents.
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
is the predominant religion of Switzerland, divided between the Catholic Church (41.8% of the population) and various Protestant denominations (35.3%). Immigration has brought
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
(4.3%, predominantly
KosovarsKosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
,
BosniaksThe Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller autochthonous population also present in the Sandžak, Croatia, and the Republic of Macedonia. Bosniaks are typically characterized by their tie to the Bosnian historical region,...
and
TurksTurks in Switzerland are Swiss citizens of Turkish origin. Over the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in the diversity of culture, language and customs in the Swiss population...
) and Eastern Orthodoxy (1.8%) as sizeable minority religions. The 2005 Eurobarometer poll found 48% to be theist, 39% expressing belief in "a spirit or life force", 9% atheist and 4% agnostic. Greeley (2003) found that 27% of the population does not believe in God.
The country is historically about evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant, with a complex patchwork of majorities over most of the country. One canton, Appenzell, was officially divided into Catholic and Protestant sections in 1597. The larger cities (Bern, Zürich and Basel) are predominantly Protestant.
Central SwitzerlandCentral Switzerland is the region of the Alpine foothills geographically the heart and historically the origin of Switzerland, with the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Lucerne and Zug.Central Switzerland is one of the NUTS 2 Statistical Regions...
, as well as the Ticino, is traditionally Catholic. The Swiss Constitution of 1848, under the recent impression of the clashes of Catholic vs. Protestant cantons that culminated in the Sonderbundskrieg, consciously defines a consociational state, allowing the peaceful co-existence of Catholics and Protestants. A 1980 initiative calling for the complete
separation of church and stateSeparation of church and state is a political and legal doctrine that government and religious institutions are to be kept separate and independent from each other...
was resoundingly rejected, with only 21.1% voting in support.
Culture
The culture of Switzerland is influenced by its neighbours but over the years a distinctive culture with some regional differences and an independent streak has developed. In particular, French-speaking regions have tended to orient themselves slightly more on
French cultureThe culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture and of decorative arts since the seventeenth...
and tend to be more pro EU. In general, the Swiss are known for their long standing humanitarian tradition as Switzerland is the birth place of the Red Cross Movement and hosts the
United Nations Human Rights CouncilThe United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
.
Swiss GermanSwiss German is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy...
speaking areas may perhaps be seen more oriented on
German cultureGerman culture may refer to:* used more narrowly, the Culture of Germany, including**culture of Bavaria, see Bavaria#Culture**culture of Saxony, see Saxony#Culture* used more widely Culture of German-speaking Europe, including**German language literature...
, although German-speaking Swiss people identify strictly as Swiss because of the difference between High German, and the
Swiss GermanSwiss German is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy...
dialects. Italian-speaking areas can have more of an
Italian cultureItaly did not exist as a state until the country's unification in 1861. Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian Peninsula, many traditions and customs that are now recognized as distinctly Italian can be identified by their...
. A region may be in some ways strongly culturally connected to the neighbouring country that shares its language.
The linguistically isolated Romansh culture in the eastern mountains of Switzerland is also robust and strives to maintain its rare linguistic tradition.
Many mountain areas have a strong highly energetic
ski resortA ski area is a developed recreational facility, usually on a mountain or large hill, containing ski trails and vital supporting services. It is common for a ski area to have food, rental equipment, parking facilities and a ski lift system catering to the sports of skiing and snowboarding...
culture in winter, and a
hikingHiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking have been confirmed in studies...
(wandering) culture in summer. Some areas throughout the year have a recreational culture that caters to tourism, yet the quieter seasons are spring and autumn when there are fewer visitors and a higher ratio of Swiss. A traditional farmer and herder culture also predominates in many areas and small farms are omnipresent outside the cities.
In film, American productions constitute most of the programme, although several Swiss movies have enjoyed commercial successes in recent years. Folk art is kept alive in organizations all over the country. In Switzerland it is mostly expressed in music,dance, poetry, wood carving and embroidery. The
alphornthumb|Eliana Burki playing the alphorn at the Bardentreffen festival in [[Nuremberg]] 2009The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a natural wooden horn of conical bore, having a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece, used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland and elsewhere...
, a trumpet- like musical instrument made of wood, has become alongside yodeling and the accordion an epitome of traditional
Swiss musicSwitzerland has long had a distinct cultural identity, despite its diversity of German, French and other ethnicities. Religious and folk music dominated the country until the 17th century, with growth in production of other kinds of music occurring slowly. The first music conservatory in the...
.
Literature
As the Confederation, from its foundation in 1291, was almost exclusively composed of German-speaking regions, the earliest forms of literature are in German. In the 18th century French became the fashionable language in Bern and elsewhere, while the influence of the French-speaking allies and subject lands was more marked than before.
Among the classics of Swiss German literature are
Jeremias GotthelfAlbert Bitzius , Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf, was born at Murten, where his father was pastor.In 1804 the home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmental...
(1797-1854) and
Gottfried KellerGottfried Keller , a Swiss writer of German literature, was best known for his novel Green Henry .- Life and work :...
(1819-1890). The undisputed giants of 20th century Swiss literature are
Max FrischMax Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss architect, playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and...
(1911-91) and
Friedrich DürrenmattFriedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theater whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
(1921-90), whose repertoire includes Die Physiker (The Physicists) and Das Versprechen (The Pledge), released in 2001 as a Hollywood film.
Prominent French-speaking writers were
Jean-Jacques RousseauJean Jacques Rousseau was a major philosopher, writer, and composer of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of modern political and educational thought.His novel, Emile: or, On Education, which he considered his most...
(1712-1778) and Germaine de Stael (1766-1817). More recent authors include
Charles Ferdinand RamuzCharles Ferdinand Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer.He was born in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud and educated at the University of Lausanne. He taught briefly in nearby Aubonne, and then in Weimar, Germany. In 1903, he left for Paris and remained there until World War I, with frequent...
(1878-1947), whose novels describe the lives of peasants and mountain dwellers, set in a harsh environment and
Blaise CendrarsFrédéric Louis Sauser , better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized French in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement.-Early years:...
(born Frédéric Sauser, 1887-1961). Also Italian and Romansh-speaking authors contributed but in more modest way given their small number.
The probably most famous Swiss literary creation,
HeidiHeidi's Years of Wandering and Learning , usually abbreviated Heidi, is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book "for children and those who love children" as quoted from its subtitle in 1880 by Swiss author Johanna...
, the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Alps, was one of the most popular children's books ever and has come to be a symbol of Switzerland. Her creator,
Johanna SpyriJohanna Spyri was an author of children's stories, and is best known for Heidi. Born Johanna Louise Heusser in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.-Biography:In 1852,...
(1827-1901), wrote a number of other books around similar themes.
Media
The freedom of the press and the right to free expression is guaranteed in the federal constitution of Switzerland. The
Swiss News AgencySchweizerische Depeschenagentur AG ist the national press agency of Switzerland, founded in 1894. The SDA works not for profit, but is owned privately....
(SNA) broadcasts information around-the-clock in the three national languages—on politics, economics, society and culture. The SNA supplies almost all Swiss media and a couple dozen foreign media services with its news.
Switzerland has historically boasted the greatest number of newspaper titles published in proportion to its population and size. The most influential newspapers are the German-language
Tages-AnzeigerTages-Anzeiger, also abbreviated Tagi or TA, is a German language Swiss national daily newspaper based in Zürich. Among newspapers in Switzerland, it has one of the largest readerships, reaching around 550,000 readers. The Tages-Anzeiger was first published in 1893...
and
Neue Zürcher ZeitungThe Neue Zürcher Zeitung is a major German language Swiss daily newspaper based in Zürich.It is one of the oldest newspapers still published, appearing as Zürcher Zeitung, edited by Salomon Gessner, from January 12 1780, and renamed to Neue Zürcher Zeitung in 1821...
NZZ, and the French-language
Le TempsLe Temps is one of Switzerland's leading daily newspapers. The French language newspaper is published in Geneva and has editorial offices in Geneva, Lausanne, Berne and Zurich...
, but almost every city have at least one local newspaper. The cultural diversity accounts for a large number of newspapers.
In contrast to the print media, the broadcast media has always been under greater control of the government. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, whose name was recently changed to
SRG SSR idée suisseThe Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, marketed as SRG SSR idée suisse , is the Swiss public broadcasting organisation, founded in 1931 as SRG-SSR...
, is charged with the production and broadcast of radio and television programs. SRG SSR studios are distributed throughout the various language regions. Radio content is produced in six central and four regional studios while the television programs are produced in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
,
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. 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...
and
LuganoLugano is a town in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
. An extensive cable network also allows most Swiss to access the programs from neighboring countries.
Sports
SkiingSkiing is a group of sports using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
and
mountaineeringMountaineering is the sport, hobby or profession of walking, hiking, backpacking and climbing mountains. In Europe it is also referred to as alpinism, while in the Americas the term refers to a particular style of mountain climbing, that involves a mixture of ice climbing, rock climbing, mixed...
are much practiced by Swiss people and foreigners, the highest summits attract mountaineers from around the world. The
Haute RouteThe Haute Route, is the name given to a route undertaken on foot or by ski touring between Chamonix, France and Zermatt, Switzerland....
or the
Patrouille des GlaciersThe Patrouille des Glaciers is a ski mountaineering race organized every two years by the Swiss Army, competed by teams of military and civil people...
race have international reputation.
Like many other Europeans, many Swiss are fans of football and the national team or '
NatiThe Swiss national football team is the national football team of Switzerland and is controlled by the Swiss Football Association....
' is widely supported. Switzerland was also the joint venue with Austria in the Euro 2008 football tournament, although the Swiss team dropped out before the Quarter Finals.
The Swiss
Beach SoccerBeach Football is a variant of association football. The game itself is played on a beach, or some form of sand, and emphasises skill, agility and shooting at goal....
Team on the other hand became runner-up in 2008 and in 2005 they won the
Euro Beach Soccer CupThe Euro Beach Soccer Cup is an annual European competition in beach soccer. Started in 1998 as the European Pro Beach Soccer Cup. Assembles the cream of the crop from the previous year’s Euro League in a breathtaking eight-team knockout tournament...
.
Many Swiss also follow
ice hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
and support one of the 12 clubs in the League A.
In April 2009, Switzerland hosted the
2009 IIHF World ChampionshipThe 2009 IIHF World Championship took place in Switzerland from 24 April to 10 May. The games were played in the PostFinance Arena in Berne and Schluefweg in Kloten....
for the 10th time. The Swiss team's latest achievement in ice hockey is the
1953The 1953 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were held between March 7 and March 15, 1953 in Basel and Zurich, Switzerland.This was the first world championship tournament with only European teams.- Standings :- Games :...
bronze medal.
Switzerland is also the home of the sailing team
AlinghiAlinghi is a coined name of the syndicate set up by Ernesto Bertarelli to challenge for the America's Cup. Bertarelli had raced several smaller yachts named Alinghi previously, but 2003 was his first attempt at the America's Cup...
which won the
America's CupThe America’s Cup is the most prestigious regatta and match race in the sport of sailing, and the oldest active trophy in international sport, predating the Modern Olympics by 45 years. The sport attracts top sailors and yacht designers because of its long history and prestige...
in 2003 and defended the title in 2007.
CurlingCurling is a team game with similarities to bowls and shuffleboard, played by two teams of four players each on a rectangular sheet of carefully prepared ice. Teams take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones down the ice towards the target...
has been a very popular winter sport for more than 30 years. The Swiss teams have won 3 World Men's Curling Championships and 2 Women's titles. The Swiss men's team skipped by
Dominic AndresDominic Andres is a Swiss curler and Olympic champion. He received a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano....
won a gold medal at 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
GolfGolf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area...
is becoming increasingly popular, with already more than 35 courses available and more in planning.
Over the last few years several Swiss
tennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
players, like
Roger FedererRoger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player. As of October 2009, he is ranked world number 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals , having previously held the number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks...
and
Martina HingisMartina Hingis is a retired professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
, have been multiple Grand Slam singles champions. Roger Federer has won 15 Grand Slam Titles.
One of the world's best current ice skaters is Swiss
Stéphane LambielStéphane Lambiel is a Swiss figure skater. He is a two-time World Champion , the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Champion and an eight-time Swiss National Champion...
.
André BossertAndré Robert Bossert is a Swiss professional golfer.Bossert was born to Swiss parents in Johannesburg, South Africa, and played college golf at the University of Tulsa in the United States....
is successful Swiss professional
golfGolf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area...
er.
Other sports where the Swiss have been successful include fencing (
Marcel FischerMarcel Fischer is a Swiss fencer who competed in the Men's Épée Individual at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal. He finished 4th at the 2000 Olympics.His achievements earned him the 2004 Swiss Award in sports....
), cycling (
Fabian CancellaraFabian Cancellara is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour . A time trial specialist, he has been three time World Time Trial Champion and is the current Olympic gold medalist...
), whitewater slalom (Ronnie Dürrenmatt—canoe, Mathias Röthenmund—kayak), ice hockey (Swiss National League), beach volleyball (
Sascha HeyerSascha Heyer is a beach volleyball player from Switzerland, who won the silver medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Berlin, Germany, with partner Paul Laciga. As of 2008, his current partner is Patrick Heuscher.-References:* at the Beach...
,
Markus EggerMarkus Egger is a retired professional beach volleyball player from Switzerland. Partnering Sascha Heyer he claimed the gold medal at the 2001 European Championships in Jesolo, Italy.-References:...
,
PaulPaul Laciga is a beach volleyball player from Switzerland, who won the silver medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Berlin, Germany, partnering Sascha Heyer...
and
Martin LacigaMartin Laciga is a beach volleyball player from Switzerland, who won the silver medal in the men's beach team competition at the 1999 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Marseille, France, partnering his older brother Paul Laciga...
), and skiing, (Bernhard Russi,
Pirmin ZurbriggenPirmin Zurbriggen is a former champion alpine ski racer, one of the all-time best...
,
Didier CucheDidier Cuche is a Swiss alpine ski racer. He primarily competes in the speed disciplines of downhill and Super-G, and is the reigning World Cup downhill season champion...
).
MotorsportMotorsport is the collection of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles.Motorsport includes all forms of motor racing as well as non-racing motorized sports.-Motor racing:...
racecourses and events were banned in Switzerland following the
1955 Le Mans disasterThe 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans when a racing car involved in an accident flew into the crowd, killing the driver and 84 spectators. 100 people were injured in the accident...
with exception to events such as
HillclimbingHillclimbing is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course....
. However, this ban was overturned in June 2007. During this period, the country still produced successful racing drivers such as
Clay RegazzoniGianclaudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni was a Swiss racing car driver. He competed in Formula One races from 1970 to 1980, winning five Grands Prix. His first win was the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in his debut season, driving for Ferrari. He remained with the Italian team until...
,
Jo SiffertJoseph Siffert was a Swiss racing driver.Affectionately known as "Seppi" to his family and close friends, Jo Siffert was born in Fribourg, Switzerland, the son of a dairy owner...
and successful
World Touring Car ChampionshipThe World Touring Car Championship is an international Touring Car championship organised by the FIA.The first WTCC, which was open to Group A Touring Cars, was held in 1987 concurrent to the long-running European Touring Car Championship...
driver
Alain MenuAlain Menu is a Swiss racing driver. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice . He currently races for Chevrolet in the World Touring Car Championship.- BTCC :He is the son of a farmer...
.
SwitzerlandA1 Team Switzerland is the Swiss team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. The team were the A1 Grand Prix champions for the third season, 2007-08.- History :...
also won the
A1GP World Cup of MotorsportA1 Grand Prix is a 'single make' open-wheel auto racing series. It is unique in its field in that competitors represent their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most formula racing series. As such, it is often promoted as the "World Cup of Motorsport"...
in
2007-08The 2007-08 A1 Grand Prix season was the third in the relatively short history of the championship.- Teams :All teams used same A1 Grand Prix car including chassis , engine and tyre...
with driver
Neel JaniNeel Jani is a Swiss race car driver. He has achieved his greatest success driving for A1 Team Switzerland in A1GP, helping them win the 2007-2008 title...
. Swiss motorcycle racer
Thomas LüthiThomas Lüthi is a professional motorcycle road racer currently competing in the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship for the Czech Emmi - Caffè Latte Aprilia run by Swiss Daniel Epp....
won the 2005 MotoGP World Championship in the 125cc category.
High profile drivers from
Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1, and currently officially referred to as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants...
and
World Rally ChampionshipThe World Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver, co-driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system...
such as
Michael SchumacherMichael Schumacher is a German former Formula One driver and seven-time Formula One world drivers' champion, and current advisor for Ferrari. According to the official Formula One website, he is "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen"...
,
Nick HeidfeldNick Lars Heidfeld is a German Formula One racing driver, who is currently driving for the BMW Sauber team....
,
Kimi RäikkönenKimi-Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish Formula One race car driver, currently driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He was the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Champion....
,
Fernando AlonsoFernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, racing for the Renault team....
,
Lewis HamiltonLewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren Mercedes team and is the youngest ever Formula One World Champion...
and
Sébastien LoebSébastien Loeb, Légion d'honneur is a French rally driver currently driving for the Citroën Total World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship...
all have a residence in Switzerland, albeit sometimes for tax purposes.
Traditional sports include Swiss wrestling or "
SchwingenSwiss wrestling is the Swiss variant of folk wrestling.It is considered a Swiss national sport, even more prominent than Hornussen and Steinstossen.-History:...
". It is an old tradition from the rural central cantons and considered the national sport by some.
HornussenHornussen is an indigenous Swiss sport which can be described as a cross between baseball and golf. The sport gets its name from the puck which is known as a "Hornuss" or "Nouss". When hit, it can whizz through the air at up to 300 km/h and create a buzzing sound.- History :The sport probably...
is another indigenous Swiss sport, which is like a cross between baseball and golf.
SteinstossenSteinstossen is the Swiss variant of stone put, a competition in throwing a heavy stone. Practiced among the alpine population since prehistoric times, it is recorded to have taken place in Basel in the 13th century. During the 15th century, it is frequently recorded to have been practiced...
is the Swiss variant of
stone putThe stone put is one of the main Scottish heavy athletic events at modern-day Highland games gatherings. Similar to the shot put, the stone put more frequently uses an ordinary stone or rock instead of a steel ball...
, a competition in throwing a heavy stone. Practiced only among the alpine population since
prehistoric timesPrehistory is a term used to describe the period before recorded history. Paul Tournal originally coined the term Pré-historique in describing the finds he had made in the caves of southern France...
, it is recorded to have taken place in
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
in the 13th century. It is also central to the
UnspunnenfestUnspunnenfest is a festival held in the town of Interlaken, Switzerland, near the old ruin of Unspunnen Castle, in the Bernese Alps, approximately once every ten years...
, first held in 1805, with its symbol the 83.5 kg stone named
Unspunnenstein.
Food
The cuisine of Switzerland is multi-faceted. While some dishes such as
fondueFondue is a Swiss communal dish shared at the table in an earthenware pot over a small burner . The term is derived from the French verb fondre , in the past participle fondu ....
,
racletteRaclette is both a type of cheese and, informally, a dish featuring this cheese.-The cheese:Traditional Raclette is a semi-firm, salted cheese made from cow's milk. However, varieties exist made with white wine, pepper, herbs, or smoked...
or
röstiRösti is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes. It was originally a common breakfast eaten by farmers in the canton of Bern, but today is eaten all over Switzerland and also in many restaurants in the Western World. Many Swiss people consider rösti a national dish...
are omnipresent through the country, each region developed its own gastronomy according to the differences of climate and languages. Traditional Swiss cuisine uses ingredients similar to those in other European countries, as well as unique
dairy productDairy products are generally defined as foodstuffs produced from milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing generally comes from cows, but occasionally from other mammals such as...
s and cheeses such as
GruyèreGruyère is a hard yellow cheese made from cow's milk, named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland, and originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne. Before 2001, when Gruyère gained Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée status as a Swiss cheese, some controversy existed...
or
EmmentalEmmental or Emmentaler is a cheese from Switzerland. It is sometimes known as Swiss cheese in North America, Australia and New Zealand, although Swiss cheese does not always imply Emmentaler....
, produced in the valleys of
GruyèresGruyères is a town in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. Its German name is Greyerz.The medieval town is an important tourist location in the upper valley of the Saane river, and gives its name to the well-known cheese....
and
EmmentalFor the cheese made in the region, see Emmental .The Emmental is the valley of the Emme river in west central Switzerland in the canton of Bern, a region mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming...
.
ChocolateSwitzerland's chocolates have earned an international reputation for high quality.The famous Toblerone came from Switzerland; a man named Jean Tobler started the business in 1867.-History:The 17th century saw the start of chocolate processed dans la suisse...
had been made in Switzerland since the 18th century but it gained its reputation at the end of the 19th century with the invention of modern techniques such as conching and tempering which enabled its production on a high quality level. Also a breakthrough was the invention of milk chocolate in 1875 by
Daniel PeterDaniel Peter was a famous Swiss chocolatier. He was the first person to make a chocolate bar in 1875. He began his career as a candle maker, but soon demand fell due to the emergence of oil lamps. He invented the process of making milk chocolate in 1857...
.
Swiss wineThe Swiss wine region has nearly 15 000 hectares of vineyards, and the wines are mainly produced in the west and in the south of Switzerland, in the cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel, Ticino, Valais and Vaud....
is produced mainly in Valais,
VaudVaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes, Vaud was inhabited in...
(
LavauxThe Lavaux is a region in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, in the district of Lavaux. It was built mostly by monks about 800 years ago and consists of 830 hectares of terraced wineyards. It benefits from a temperate climate, but the southern aspect of the terraces with the reflection of the sun...
), Geneva and
TicinoThe wine region of Ticino started producing wine in the Roman era, but only after 1906, with the introduction of Merlot, did it begin to produce quality wine. Geographically the wine region is located in the south of Switzerland, and includes the canton Ticino and the district of Moesa in the...
, with a small majority of white wines. Vineyards have been cultivated in Switzerland since the Roman era, even though certain traces can be found of a more ancient origin. The most widespread varieties are the
ChasselasChasselas is a wine grape variety grown in Switzerland, France, Germany, Portugal and New Zealand.Theories of its origin vary. Some believe it originally comes from Egypt with a 5,000 year history of cultivation...
(called Fendant in Valais) and
Pinot NoirPinot noir is a red wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines produced predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
. The
MerlotMerlot is a red wine grape that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. Merlot-based wines usually have medium body with hints of berry, plum, and currant...
is the main variety produced in Ticino.
See also
- Index of Switzerland-related articles
- Outline of Switzerland
The Swiss Confederation, commonly known as Switzerland, is a landlocked sovereign country located in and around the Swiss Alps in Western Europe. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Switzerland has a population of about 7.5 million people and an area of...
External links
Government
Reference
- Switzerland entry at Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company. The articles in the Britannica are aimed at educated adult readers, and written by a staff of about 100 full-time editors and more than...
- Switzerland at UCB Libraries GovPubs
Geography
History
News media
Education
Science, Research and Technology