City Highlights

About City

Switzerland is known for its neutrality. A country is neutral when it does not take sides among the countries that are at war. Switzerland has been neutral since 1815. Many international organizations are in Switzerland. The United Nations has a main office (but not its headquarters) in Geneva. Its predecessor organization, the League of Nations was headquartered in Geneva. There are four official languages in Switzerland. German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Some cantons and even towns have two languages spoken in them, and the largest canton by area, Graubünden, has three. About 2/3 of the population speaks German; French is spoken in the west of the country, while Italian is spoken in the canton of Ticino and Romansh in parts of Graubünden.

Romansh language is spoken less than by 1% of the population. The capital of Switzerland is Bern. The largest city of Switzerland is Zürich. The mountains are very tall in the center and south of Switzerland. About 60% of Switzerland is in the Alps area. Only a few people live here. The highest mountain is the Dufour Peak at4,634 many of the mountains have ice all year. This ice is called glaciers. The rivers Rhine, Rhône, and many other rivers starting the mountains of Switzerland. There are many lakes in Switzerland. The biggest lakes are all in the north and west: Lake Geneva (Lac Leman), Lake Zurich, Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Constance (Bodensee).Mountains in the north of Switzerland are fewer and smaller. That is why most Swiss people live in cities and towns in the north. The Juramountains are in the northwest of Switzerland.

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