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About Switzerland... |
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Switzerland Information - Brought to you by Swiss Private Bank.com Switzerland (German: die Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera, Romansh: Svizra), officially the Swiss Confederation (Confœderatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its ISO country code CH), is a landlocked nation of 7.5 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is divided administratively into 26 cantons, six of which are sometimes referred to as "half-cantons," since they stemmed from the split of three cantons and have as a consequence only a single representative in the Council of States. Its capital is Berne, while the largest city in Switzerland is Zürich (which was named the city with the best quality of life in the world in 2006 and 2007.) Switzerland is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and the tiny principality of Liechtenstein. Switzerland is multilingual, with four official languages: German, French, Italian and the lesser-known Romansh also called Rhaeto-Romanic, Romansch, Romancio or Rumantsch Grischun. Switzerland has had a long history of being neutral during war and peace-time (it has not been in a foreign war since 1815) and as such hosts various international organisations, such as the United Nations, which, though headquartered in New York City, has many departments in Switzerland. The titles commonly used to name Switzerland in French (Confédération suisse), Italian (Confederazione Svizzera) and Romansh (Confederaziun svizra) translate as "Swiss Confederation". Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft is the German term and appears on official documents. Its Latin name "Confœderatio Helvetica" (Helvetic Confederation) and its country code "ch" for internet and car-stickers are related to the Helvetii, an ancient Celtic people who inhabited the Alps. It dates its independence to 1st August 1291; historically it was a confederation, and it has been a federation since 1848. 1st August is a national holiday on which banks and Post Offices as well as the public administration offices are closed. Switzerland is also the homeland of the successful sailing team Alinghi. There are other type of sports where the Swiss sportsman are very strong and successful, such as Fencing (Marcel Fischer), Whitewater Slalom (Ronnie Dürrenmatt) - Canoe, Mathias Röthenmund - Kayak), Ice hockey (Swiss National League), Beach Volleyball (Heyer-Egger, the Lacigas brothers), Skiing (Bernhard Russi, Primin Zurbriggen, Didier Cuche) |
