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 Switzerland| Facts & Figures |
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| President: Pascal Couchepin (2008) Land area: 15,355 sq mi (39,769 sq km);
total area: 15,942 sq mi (41,290 sq km) Population (2009 est.): 7,604,467 (growth
rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 9.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.2/1000;
life expectancy: 80.8; density per sq mi: 492
Capital (2003 est.):
Bern, 122,700 Largest cities: Zurich, 971,800 (metro.
area), 348,100 (city proper); Geneva, 178,900; Basel, 162,800;
Lausanne, 117,400 Monetary unit: Swiss
franc More Facts & Figures |
GeographySwitzerland, in central Europe, is the land of the Alps. Its tallest
peak is the Dufourspitze at 15,203 ft (4,634 m) on the Swiss side of the
Italian border, one of 10 summits of the Monte Rosa massif. The tallest
peak in all of the Alps, Mont Blanc (15,771 ft; 4,807 m), is actually in
France. Most of Switzerland is composed of a mountainous plateau bordered
by the great bulk of the Alps on the south and by the Jura Mountains on
the northwest. The country's largest lakes—Geneva, Constance (Bodensee),
and Maggiore—straddle the French, German-Austrian, and Italian borders,
respectively. The Rhine, navigable from Basel to the North Sea, is the
principal inland waterway.
GovernmentFederal republic.
HistoryCalled Helvetia in ancient times, Switzerland in 1291 was a league of
cantons in the Holy Roman Empire. Fashioned around the nucleus of three
German forest districts of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden, the Swiss
Confederation slowly added new cantons. In 1648 the Treaty of Westphalia
gave Switzerland its independence from the Holy Roman Empire.
French revolutionary troops occupied the country in 1798 and named it
the Helvetic Republic, but Napoléon in 1803 restored its federal
government. By 1815, the French- and Italian-speaking peoples of
Switzerland had been granted political equality.
In 1815, the Congress of Vienna guaranteed the neutrality and
recognized the independence of Switzerland. In the revolutionary period of
1847, the Catholic cantons seceded and organized a separate union called
the
Sonderbund
, but they were defeated and rejoined the
federation.
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