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Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Swiss Alps, Alps and the Jura Mountains, Jura; the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, whereas most of the country's Demographics of Switzerland, 9 million people are concentrated on the plateau, which hosts List of cities in Switzerland, its largest cities and economic centres, including Zurich, Geneva, and Lausanne. Switzerland is a federal republic composed of Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons, with federal authorities based in Bern. It has four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh language, Romansh. Although most Swiss are German-speaking, national identity is fairly cohesive, being rooted in a common historical background, shared ...
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Religion In Switzerland
Religion in Switzerland is predominantly Christianity. According to the national survey of the Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland), Swiss Federal Statistical Office, in 2023, Christians accounted for 56% of the demographics of Switzerland, resident population (aged fifteen years and older), of whom 30.7% were Catholic Church in Switzerland, Catholics, 19.5% were Protestant Church of Switzerland, Swiss Protestants, and 5.8% were followers of other Christian denomination, Christian denominations (about half Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox and half other Protestantism, Protestants). The proportion of Christians has declined significantly since 1980, when they constituted about 94% of the population; during the same timespan, irreligion, unaffiliated Swiss residents have grown from about 4% to 31% of the population, and people professing non-Christian religions have grown from about 1% to 7.2% of the population. In 2020, according to church registers, 35.2% of the resident population ...
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Zurich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The Urban agglomeration, urban area was home to 1.45 million people (2020), while the Zurich Metropolitan Area, Zurich metropolitan area had a total population of 2.1 million (2020). Zurich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Zurich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country. Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zurich was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans, who called it '. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zurich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519 ...
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Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has governmental institutions such as the Federal Assembly (Switzerland), Federal Assembly and Federal Council (Switzerland), Federal Council. However, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, Federal Supreme Court is in Lausanne, the Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland, Federal Criminal Court is in Bellinzona and the Federal Administrative Court (Switzerland), Federal Administrative Court and the Federal Patent Court (Switzerland), Federal Patent Court are in St. Gallen, exemplifying the federal nature of the Confederation. With a population of about 146,000 (), Bern is the List of cities in Switzerland, fifth-most populous city in Switzerland, behind Zürich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities ...
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Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and facing the French town of Évian-les-Bains across the lake. Lausanne is located (as the crow flies) northeast of Geneva, the nearest major city. The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland convenes in Lausanne, although it is not the ''de jure'' capital of the nation. The municipality of Lausanne has a population of about 140,000, making it the List of cities in Switzerland, fourth largest city in Switzerland after Basel, Geneva, and Zurich, with the entire agglomeration area having about 420,000 inhabitants (as of January 2019). The metropolitan area of Lausanne-Geneva (including Vevey-Montreux, Yverdon-les-Bains, Valais and foreign parts), commonly designated as ''Lake Geneva region, Arc lémanique ...
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Lucerne
Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), district of the same name. With a population of approximately 82,000 people, Lucerne is List of cities in Switzerland, the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and a nexus of economics, transport, culture, and media in the region. The city's urban area consists of 19 municipalities and towns with an overall population of about 220,000 people. Owing to its location on the shores of Lake Lucerne () and its outflow, the river Reuss (river), Reuss, within sight of the mounts Pilatus (mountain), Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps, Lucerne has long been a destination for tourists. One of the city's landmarks is the Chapel Bridge (), a wooden bridge first erected in the 14th century. The official language of Lucerne is German language, Germ ...
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Federal Council (Switzerland)
The Federal Council is the federal Cabinet (government), cabinet of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and Head of government, government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand coalition government composed of representatives of the List of political parties in Switzerland, country's major parties and Languages of Switzerland, language regions. While the entire Federal Council is responsible for leading the federal administration of Switzerland, each Councillor heads one of the seven federal executive departments. The president of the Swiss Confederation chairs the council, but exercises no particular authority; rather, the position is one of a Primus inter pares, first among equals and rotates among the seven Councillors annually. The Swiss Federal Council election, Federal Council is elected as a body by the 246 members of the Federal Assembly (Switzerland), Fe ...
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Swiss People
The Swiss people (, , , ) are the citizens of the multi-ethnic Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) regardless of ethno-cultural background or people of self-identified Swiss ancestry. The number of Swiss nationals has grown from 1.7 million in 1815 to 8.7 million in 2020. More than 1.5 million Swiss citizens hold multiple citizenship. About 11% of citizens live abroad (0.8 million, of whom 0.6 million hold multiple citizenship). About 60% of those living abroad reside in the European Union (0.46 million). The largest groups of Swiss descendants and nationals outside Europe are found in the United States, Brazil, and Canada. Although the modern state of Switzerland originated in 1848, the period of romantic nationalism, Switzerland is not a nation-state and the Swiss are not a single ethnic group. Rather, Switzerland is a confederacy (') or ' ("nation of will", "nation by choice", that is, a consociational state), a term coined in conscious contrast to "nation" in the conv ...
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Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, Neuchâtel, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has approximately 33,000 inhabitants (80,000 in the metropolitan area). The city is sometimes referred to historically by the German name ; both the French and German names mean "New Castle". The castle after which the city is named was built by Rudolph III of Burgundy and completed in 1011. Originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy, the city was absorbed into the Holy Roman Empire in 1033. The domain of the counts of Neuchatel was first referred to as a city in 1214. The city came under Prussian control from 1707 until 1848, with an interruption during the Napoleonic Wars from 1806 to 1814. In 1848, ...
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Romansh Language
Romansh ( ; sometimes also spelled Romansch and Rumantsch) is a Gallo-Romance languages, Gallo-Romance and/or Rhaeto-Romance languages, Rhaeto-Romance language spoken predominantly in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons (Graubünden). Romansh has been recognized as a national Languages of Switzerland, language of Switzerland since 1938, and as an official language in correspondence with Romansh-speaking citizens since 1996, along with Swiss Standard German, German, Swiss French, French, and Swiss Italian, Italian. It also has Official language, official status in the canton of the Grisons alongside German and Italian and is used as the medium of instruction in schools in Romansh-speaking areas. It is sometimes grouped by linguists with Ladin language, Ladin and Friulian language, Friulian as the Rhaeto-Romance languages, though this is disputed. Romansh is one of the descendant languages of the Vulgar Latin, spoken Latin language of the Roman Empi ...
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Bellinzona
Bellinzona ( , ; ; is a municipality, a List of towns in Switzerland, historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its Three Castles of Bellinzona, three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000. The town lies east of the river Ticino (river), Ticino, at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It stretches along the river valley, surrounded by the southern ranges of the Lepontine Alps to the east and west, and by the Lugano Prealps to the south. Name and coat of arms The toponym is first attested in 590 in Latin as ''Belitio'' or ''Bilitio'' (in the accusative, ''Bilitionem''), by Gregory of Tours. The name is Lepontic in origin, possibly from ''belitio'' ("juniper") or ''belitione'' ("juniper bushes"). During the medieval period, the name is found as ''Berinzona'' (721, 762, 803, 1002), ''Birrinzona'' (1004), ''Birizona'' (1168), ''Beliciona'' (901, 977) and ''Belin ...
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Islam In Switzerland
Islam in Switzerland has mostly arrived via immigration since the late second millennium. Numbering below 1% of total population in 1980, the fraction of Muslims in the population of permanent residents in Switzerland has quintupled in thirty years, estimated at just above 5% as of 2013. The Turks and those from The Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania) make up the largest group. There is also a large North African community (most of them are from Tunisia and Morocco) and a significant Middle Eastern community. This is because, in the 1960s and 1970s, Switzerland encouraged young men from Yugoslavia and Turkey to come as guest workers. Initially these young men were only planning on staying in Switzerland temporarily, however, revised Swiss immigration laws in the 1970s permitted family regrouping. Consequently, these men ended up staying in Switzerland as these new laws allowed the wives and children of these young men into the country. Since this time period, most of the M ...
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