Geneva

This article is about the city in Switzerland. For other articles subjects named Geneva, see Geneva (disambiguation).

Coat of arms of the City and Canton of Geneva

Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra, Spanish: Ginebra) is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac de Genève or Lac Léman) empties into the Rhône River. It is the capital of the Canton of Geneva.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Features 3 Statistics 4 External link

History

Geneva was the name of a settlement of the Celtic people of the Allobrogi. After the Roman conquest it became part of the Provincia Romana (Gallia Narbonensis). At Geneva Caesar hemmed in the Helvetii on their westward march. In the 9th century it became the capital of Burgundy. It became a canton in 1815.

Due to the work of reformers such as John Calvin, Geneva was sometimes dubbed the Protestant Rome. In the 16th century Geneva was the center of Calvinism; the old town St Peter's Cathedral (Temple St-Pierre) was John Calvin's own church.

Geneva is the seat of many international organizations, including the World Trade Organization, the Red Cross, CERN, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and several United Nations organizations (such as the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, etc.). It was also the seat of the League of Nations until its dissolution.

Notable sights in Geneva include its Clock Museum, Art & History Museum and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum.

Geneva's most visible landmark however is not a museum, church or tower, but a fountain: the Jet d'Eau, (water-jet), situated in Lake Geneva and visible throughout the city for its 140 metre high water column.

The city is served by the Geneva Cointrin International Airport.

Geneva: Mont Blanc bridge over the Rhone river and St Pierre Cathedral

Statistics

• Current population (2002) of the city of Geneva: 182,560, of which 43.8% foreign.
• Current population (2004) of the canton of Geneva: 424,100, of which 37.9% foreign.
• Current population (2000) of the agglomeration of Geneva: 640,000.

External link