The Swiss context: geography and languages

The Swiss Confederation (Confederaziun svizra), commonly called Switzerland (in German Die Schweiz, in French Suisse, in Romansch Svizra, in Italian Svizzera), and Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its abbreviation CH, is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons. The country is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Central Plateau and the Jura. Its area is 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). The Swiss population of approximately 7.8 million people concentrates mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found: Zurich, Geneva, Bern and Basil. The first two are international centers for finance and are often considered the cities with the highest level of quality of life in the world, while Bern, the capital, takes on the beaurocratic, political and interest of the nation, and the Swiss Parliament resides here (also called the Federal House, or in German, Bundeshaus). With a per capita income of 52,600 Swiss francs in 2004 (33,000 Euro), Switzerland is one of the most economically prosperous countries in the world. Three quarters of the labor force work in the service sector.

Switzerland comprises three main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, and Italian, to which the Romansch-speaking valleys of the Grigioni Canton are added. German, French, and Italian are the official and national languages. Romansch has also been a national language since 1938 and partially an official language since 1996. There is a religious division in addition to this linguistic one, there being protestant and catholic cantons.

The Swiss, therefore, do not form a nation in the sense of a common ethnic, linguistic and religious identity. The strong sense of identity of the country is based on a common historical path, with the sharing of national myths and institutional foundations (federalism, direct democracy, neutrality), geography (the Alps), its being a small area in the middle of the European giants, and, in part, with the pride of representing a special case in Europe.

Switzerland's foreign policy is marked by its traditional neutrality. Switzerland is part of the United Nations (since 2002), EFTA, the Council of Europe, and the World Trade Organization. It is home to numerous international organizations, particularly Geneva, where the headquarters of the Red Cross are located, as well as that of the UN in Europe. The federal capital of Switzerland is Bern, which is also the capital of its canton.

The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, an obsolete term for the Swiss, in use during the 16th to 19th centuries. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, one of the Waldstätten cantons which formed the nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The toponym itself is first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately perhaps related to suedan "to burn", referring to the area of forest that was burned and cleared to build. The name was extended to the area dominated by the canton, and after the Swabian War of 1499 gradually came to be used for the entire Confederation.

The old name, Helvetia, comes from the Helvetii, a celtic tribe living on the Swiss plateau before the Roman era. The name of the Helvetii is mentioned for the first time in the VI century B.C. The Neo-Latin name Confoederatio Helvetica is used when the use of one or all of the national languages is not convenient. For this reason it is the name that appears on stamps and coins.

 

The Swiss Alps
In Switzerland are over 74 peaks towering at over 4000 meters, of which 55 are completely in Swiss territory and 19 are on the border with Italy. The twelve highest peaks are all in the Alps. The highest point is at 4,634 m above sea level at the Dufour Point of the massif of Monte Rosa, a short distance from Italy; the highest mountain entirely in Swiss territory is the Dom, at 4,545 m above sea level, between Zermatt and Saas Fee. The Swiss mountain (shared with Italy) probably best known to the world is the Matterhorn, or the Cervino (4,478 m above sea level), to the south of Zermatt. Also, the group formed by Eiger (3970 m above sea level), Monch (4,107 m above sea level) and Jungfrau (4,158 m above sea level), in the Bernese Alps, is one of the most photographed sights in the country.

 

Rivers
The largest Swiss rivers, among which are the great European rivers the Rhine and the Rhone, begin in the massif of San Gottardo, which is also the source of the Ticino which flows towards the south, and the Reuss, which, to the north, forms the north of Lake Lucerne (the Lake of the Four Cantons). All of the Swiss rivers flor into the Rhine or the Rhone, except for the Ticino, which flors into the Po, and the Eno, which begins at the Maloja pass and flows into the Danube. The Swiss Alps, therefore, act as a watershed, creating streams that are directed towards the Atlantic Ocean, the western Mediterranean, the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
The longest river in Switzerland is the Rhine, at 375 km long, followed by its tributary, the River Aare, at 295 km, and the Rhone at 264 km.

 

Lakes
Lake Lucerne (in German: Vierwaldstättersee which means Lake of the Four Forest Cantons), also known as the Lake of the Four Cantons, is a lake in central Switzerland, the fourth in size in the nation.
The lake has a twisted shape, with bends and branches leading to the city of Lucerne and to the mountains. It has a total area of 114 km. sq., an elevation of 434 m above sea level, and a maximum depth of 214 m. Its volume is 14,500 million cubic meters. A large part of the coastline rises steeply up the mountains at 1500 meters above the lake, producing pictoresque sights.
Its shores touch the three original Swiss cantons of Uri, Svitto, and Untervaldo, as well as the Lucerne canton, from which it gets its name. Many of the oldest communities in Switzerland are situated along its banks, such as Küssnacht, Weggis, Vitznau, Gersau, Brunnen, Altdorf, Buochs, and Treib. In addition, the Grütli meadow, a place where tradition maintains that Switzerland was founded, is found on the southeastern bank of the lake.
The Reuss river enters the lake at Flüelen (Uri canton, in the part called Urnersee) and exits at Lucerne. The lake also receives the Muota (at Brunnen), the Engelberger Aa (at Buochs), and the Sarner Aa (at Stansstad).
It is possible to circumnavigate the lake by land, although the road is slow, winding and passes through tunnels for part of the way. Dozens of ferries go back and forth between the various cities of the lake. It is a popular tourist destination for both the Swiss and foreigners, and along its banks there are numerous hotels and several resorts.

 

Mountains
In Switzerland are over 74 peaks towering at over 4000 meters, of which 55 are completely in Swiss territory and 19 are on the border with Italy. The twelve highest peaks are all in the Alps. The highest point is at 4,634 m above sea level at the Dufour Point of the massif of Monte Rosa, a short distance from Italy; the highest mountain entirely in Swiss territory is the Dom, at 4,545 m above sea level, between Zermatt and Saas Fee. The Swiss mountain (shared with Italy) that is probably best known to the world is the Matterhorn, or the Cervino (4,478 m above sea level), to the south of Zermatt. Also, the group formed by Eiger (3970 m above sea level), Monch (4,107 m above sea level) and Jungfrau (4,158 m above sea level), in the Bernese Alps, is one of the most photographed sights in the country.

 

Climate
The three main regions into which Switzerland is divided have different climates. The alpine region has notably rigid temperatures in the winter, with heavy snowfall and cool summers. In the "Mittelland", a decidedly cold continental climate prevails.

 

Lanuages
There are four languages spoken in Switzerland: these are, in order by number of native speakers, German, French, Italian and Romansch. The first three are "national and official" languages on the federal level. Since 1938, Romansch as well is a "national language", and since 1999 it has been also an official language "in national relations with Romansch-speaking people". This means that all official documents must be published in German, French and Italian, with a Romansch version provided only on request.
The school system is federalist, and in each canton, instruction takes place in the language of that canton, it being mandatory to study at least one of the three national languages. Almost all school programs also include English as a foreign language. Every Swiss citizen has the right to appeal to national institutions in one of the three official languages and receive a reply in that language. This applies as well to Romansch. This multilingualism, however, does not apply at the level of cantons and municipalities, where each region decides independently on language issues at the local level.
In 2000, German was spoken by 63.7% of the Swiss (in 17 cantons), French by 20.4% (in 7 cantons), Italian by 6.5% (the only official language of the canton of Ticino and one of the three official languages, along with German and Romansh, in the Graubünden canton) and Romansh by 0.5%. 9.0% of the population speaks a language other than the national ones. These percentages include people without Swiss citizenship who live in Switzerland (20.5% of the population in 2005). Taking into account only the situation of Swiss citizens (2000 census), it is as follows: 72.5% German speakers, 21.0% French, 4.3% Italian, 0.6% Romansch, 1.6% other.
The German-speaking Swiss communicate with each other using, in the vast majority of cases, the local dialect, often referred to generally as "Swiss German", although it in fact comprises many different varieties. This is also due to the desire to differentiate themselves from the Germans of the Nazi period in Germany and thus oppose the pan-German ideology (before the First World War, standard German was also common in Switzerland), and consequently, the use of dialect, even in electronic media and by entertainment companies, has been common since the 1960s. With this development, Swiss German is now used almost automatically in all registers of the spoken language. It can not be called a single language, rather, it changes from canton to canton and even from country to country. The official language is still standard German (with minimal differences in writing compared to Austria and Germany), which is the form universally used in written communication even by most dialect-speakers.
In Ticino and the Italian Graubünden, some local dialects of the language of Lombardy are very common in everyday communication, which stands along with the local dialect; however, it is not federally recognized as a national language, because it is recognized as a "dialect", though it is supported by various initiatives including the Center for Cantonal Dialectology and Ethnography, which supports its legitimacy with a dictionary, a lexicon and a collection of oral documents.

 

(Main source: wikipedia)

 

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Useful information:

Lugano: history and development
Ticino: description of the region
The Swiss context: geography and languages

Buying property from abroad in Switzerland
Taxation in Switzerland: Practical information

 

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