1.
Palace of Nations
–
The Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, was built between 1929 and 1938 to serve as the headquarters of the League of Nations. In 2012 alone, the Palace of Nations hosted more than 10,000 intergovernmental meetings, a jury of architects was selected to choose a final design from among three-hundred and thirty-seven entries but was unable to decide on a winner. Donations from League members were used in the interior, the Palace constituted at the time of completion, volume wise, the second-largest building complex in Europe after Versailles. After its transfer to the United Nations, two extensions were added to the building, which increased the size of the usable area of the building. Between 1950-1952, three floors were added to the K building, and the D building was constructed to house temporarily the World Health Organization, the E building was added between 1968-1973 as a conference facility, with bringing the total of conference rooms to 34. The park also contains a 1668 chalet, a medal showing the Palace of Nations with the Jura Mountains in the background was struck in silvered bronze. The building overlooks Lake Geneva and has a view of the French Alps. List of United Nations organizations by location United Nations System Joëlle Kuntz, Geneva, a History, éditions Zoé,2011,96 pages. Jean-Claude Pallas, Histoire et architecture du Palais des Nations, Nations Unies,2001,431 pages United Nations Office at Geneva Palais des Nations
Palace of Nations
–
Building A of the Palace of Nations.
Palace of Nations
–
A conference room in the Palace of Nations
Palace of Nations
–
Ariana Park with the
Lake Geneva in the background.
Palace of Nations
–
The
armillary sphere presented to the United Nations by the
Woodrow Wilson Foundation.
2.
ATLAS experiment
–
ATLAS is one of the seven particle detector experiments constructed at the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator at CERN in Switzerland. It is hoped that it shed light on new theories of particle physics beyond the Standard Model. ATLAS is 46 metres long,25 metres in diameter, and weighs about 7,000 tonnes, the experiment is a collaboration involving roughly 3,000 physicists from over 175 institutions in 38 countries. The project was led for the first 15 years by Peter Jenni, since 2013 it has been headed by David Charlton. From March 2017 onwards it will be led by Karl Jakobs and it was one of the two LHC experiments involved in the discovery of the Higgs boson in July 2012. The design was a combination of the two experiments, and also benefitted from the detector research and development that had been done for the Superconducting Supercollider. The ATLAS experiment was proposed in its current form in 1994, additional countries, universities, and laboratories joined in subsequent years, and further institutions and physicists continue to join the collaboration even today. Construction work began at individual institutions, with detector components then being shipped to CERN, construction was completed in 2008 and the experiment detected its first single beam events on 10 September of that year. Data taking was then interrupted for over a year due to an LHC magnet quench incident, on 23 November 2009, the first proton-proton collisions occurred at the LHC, at a relatively low injection energy of 450 GeV per beam. These collisions were successfully registered in ATLAS, which has been logging data ever since. All the while LHC energy has been increasing,900 GeV per beam at the end of 2009,3,500 GeV for the whole of 2010 and 2011, after a Long Shutdown in 2013 and 2014, in 2015 ATLAS saw 6,500 GeV per beam. The first cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator, was built by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1931, with a radius of just a few centimetres. Since then, accelerators have grown enormously in the quest to produce new particles of greater and greater mass, as accelerators have grown, so too has the list of known particles that they might be used to investigate. The most comprehensive model of particle interactions available today is known as the Standard Model of Particle Physics, with the important exception of the Higgs boson, all of the particles predicted by the model have been observed by previous experiments. While the Standard Model predicts that quarks, electrons, and neutrinos should exist, most of the currently proposed theories predict new higher-mass particles, some of which are hoped to be light enough to be observed by ATLAS. ATLAS is designed to be a general-purpose detector, when the proton beams produced by the Large Hadron Collider interact in the center of the detector, a variety of different particles with a broad range of energies are produced. Rather than focusing on a physical process, ATLAS is designed to measure the broadest possible range of signals. This is intended to ensure that whatever form any new physical processes or particles might take, ATLAS will be able to detect them, experiments at earlier colliders, such as the Tevatron and Large Electron-Positron Collider, were designed based on a similar philosophy
ATLAS experiment
–
ATLAS logo
ATLAS experiment
–
Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
ATLAS experiment
–
Fabiola Gianotti, project leader 2009-13
ATLAS experiment
–
ATLAS experiment under construction in October 2004 in the experiment pit. Construction was completed in 2008 and the experiment has been successfully collecting data since November 2009, when colliding beam operation at the LHC started. Note the people in the background, for size comparison.
3.
CERN
–
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, the organization is based in a northwest suburb of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border, Israel is the only non-European country granted full membership. The main site at Meyrin hosts a large computing facility, which is used to store and analyse data from experiments. Researchers need remote access to facilities, so the lab has historically been a major wide area network hub. CERN is also the birthplace of the World Wide Web, the convention establishing CERN was ratified on 29 September 1954 by 12 countries in Western Europe. The acronym was retained for the new laboratory after the council was dissolved. CERNs first president was Sir Benjamin Lockspeiser, edoardo Amaldi was the general secretary of CERN at its early stages when operations were still provisional, while the first Director-General was Felix Bloch. The laboratory was originally devoted to study of nuclei, but was soon applied to higher-energy physics. Therefore, the laboratory operated by CERN is commonly referred to as the European laboratory for particle physics, several important achievements in particle physics have been made through experiments at CERN. The 1984 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Carlo Rubbia, the 1992 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to CERN staff researcher Georges Charpak for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber. The World Wide Web began as a CERN project named ENQUIRE, initiated by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, Berners-Lee and Cailliau were jointly honoured by the Association for Computing Machinery in 1995 for their contributions to the development of the World Wide Web. Based on the concept of hypertext, the project was intended to facilitate sharing of information among researchers, the first website was activated in 1991. On 30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to anyone, a copy of the original first webpage, created by Berners-Lee, is still published on the World Wide Web Consortiums website as a historical document. Prior to the Webs development, CERN had pioneered the introduction of Internet technology, a short history of this period can be found at CERN. ch. More recently, CERN has become a facility for the development of computing, hosting projects including the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE. It also hosts the CERN Internet Exchange Point, one of the two main internet exchange points in Switzerland. 48×10−5, a measurement with 6. 0-sigma significance. However, on 23 February, CERN stated in a release that the results were flawed due to an incorrectly connected GPS-synchronization cable. In March 2012, the ICARUS Collaboration reported that the measurement would be reproduced by both OPERA and ICARUS, further tests, after fixing the GPS connector, showed speed measurements consistent with the speed of light from four experiments at Gran Sasso, including OPERA
CERN
–
European Organization for Nuclear Research Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire
CERN
–
The 12 founding member states of CERN in 1954 (map borders from 1954-1990)
CERN
–
This
NeXT Computer used by British scientist
Sir Tim Berners-Lee at CERN became the first
Web server.
CERN
–
This
Cisco Systems router at CERN was one of the first
IP routers deployed in Europe.
4.
Lake Geneva
–
Lake Geneva is a lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône,59. 53% of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland, and 40. 47% under France. Lake Geneva has been explored by four submarines, the Auguste Piccard, forel, both built by Jacques Piccard, and the two Mir submersibles. Following the rise of Geneva it became Lac de Genève, in the 18th century, Lac Léman was revived in French and is the customary name in that language. In contemporary English, the name Lake Geneva is predominant, a note on pronunciation, English, Lake Geneva /ˌleɪk dʒᵻˈniːvə/ French, le lac Léman, le Léman or le lac de Genève German, Genfersee or Genfer See Italian, Lago Lemano, Lago di Ginevra. The Chablais Alps border is its southern shore, the western Bernese Alps lie over its eastern side, the high summits of Grand Combin and Mont Blanc are visible from some places. Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman operates boats on the lake, the lake lies on the course of the Rhône. Other tributaries are La Dranse, LAubonne, La Morges, La Venoge, La Vuachère, Lake Geneva is the largest body of water in Switzerland, and greatly exceeds in size all others that are connected with the main valleys of the Alps. It is in the shape of a crescent, with the horns pointing south, the northern shore being 95 km, the crescent form was more regular in a recent geological period, when the lake extended to Bex, about 18 km south of Villeneuve. The lakes surface is the lowest point of the cantons of Valais, the culminating point of the lakes drainage basin is Monte Rosa at 4,634 metres above sea level. The beauty of the shores of the lake and of the sites of many of the places near its banks has long been celebrated, however, it is only from the eastern end of the lake, between Vevey and Villeneuve, that the scenery assumes an Alpine character. The shore between Nyon and Lausanne is called La Côte because it is flatter, between Lausanne and Vevey it is called Lavaux and is famous for its hilly vineyards. The average surface elevation of 372 m above sea level is controlled by the Seujet Dam in Geneva, simulations indicate that the Tauredunum event was most likely caused by a massive landslide near the Rhône delta, which caused a wave eight meters high to reach Geneva within 70 minutes. In 888 the town was part of the new Kingdom of Burgundy, in the late 1960s, pollution made it dangerous to swim at some beaches of the lake, indeed, visibility under water was near zero. By the 1980s, intense environmental pollution had almost wiped out all the fish, today, pollution levels have been dramatically cut back, and it is again considered safe to swim in the lake. Major leisure activities practiced include sailing, wind surfing, boating, rowing, on a scientific footnote, in 1827, Lake Geneva was the site for the first measurement of the speed of sound in water. The loud airborne sound coupled into the lake, establishing an underwater sound that could be measured at a distance. The flash of the exploding gunpowder provided the starting cue for the timepiece
Lake Geneva
–
Satellite image
Lake Geneva
–
View of Lake Geneva about between
Vevey in front,
Lausanne in the back behind
Mont Pèlerin (CH) on the right and
Évians-les-Bains (F) on the left, shot from a place between
Caux and
Glion above
Montreux
Lake Geneva
–
View of the lake and the Chablais Alps from
Caux
Lake Geneva
–
CGN paddle steamer in 1926 near Vevey with the Dents du Midi in background
5.
Coat of arms of Geneva
–
Each of the 26 modern cantons of Switzerland has an official flag and a coat of arms. The history of development of these designs spans the 13th to the 20th centuries, nidwalden and Obwalden form traditional subdivisions of Unterwalden. Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, as well as Appenzell Inner- and Ausserrhoden, are half cantons, resulting from the division of Basel and Appenzell, with the exception of Lucerne, Schwyz and Ticino, the cantonal flags are simply transposed versions of the cantonal coats of arms. In case of Lucerne and Ticino, whose flags consist of fields of different colours divided per fess, the coat of arms of Schwyz has the cross moved from the canton to the sinister canton with respect to the flag. Of the 22 cantonal coats of arms as they stood with the creation of Switzerland as a state in 1848. Vaud also has a bicolor, but also an added inscription, gallen stars for Valais and Aargau, the latter with additional wavy lines representing rivers Distinctively, Swiss cantons use square flags. See the List below for the histories of the individual designs, the coats of arms of the Thirteen Cantons are based on medieval signs, originating as war flags and as emblems used on seals. For war flags, a distinction was made between Banner and Fähnlein, the former was the war flag used only in the case of a full levy of cantonal troops for a major operation. The latter was a flag used for minor military expeditions. The Banner was considered a sacred possession, usually kept in a church, losing the banner to an enemy force was a great shame and invited mockery from other cantons. Papal legate Matthias Schiner in addition gave to the Swiss cantons and their associates a total of 42 costly silk banners with augmentations, some of these banners survive, of the cantonal ones notably those of Zürich and Solothurn. The fashion of arranging cantonal insignia in shields as coats of arms arises in the late 15th century, the Tagsatzung in Baden was presented with stained glass representations of all cantons in ca. In these designs, two cantonal escutcheons were shown side by side, below a shield bearing the Imperial Eagle, based on these, there arose a tradition of representing cantonal arms in stained glass, alive throughout the early modern period and continued in the modern state. Flag of Switzerland Cantons of Switzerland Walter Angst, A Panoply of Colours, The Cantonal Banners of Switzerland and the Swiss National Flag,1992
Coat of arms of Geneva
–
The 22 cantonal coats of arms in the stained glass dome of the
Federal Palace of Switzerland (ca. 1900)
Coat of arms of Geneva
–
Ten cantonal war flags carried in the
Battle of Nancy (1477) in the depiction of the
Luzerner Chronik of 1513. All flags of the
Eight Cantons are shown, but the flags of Bern and Uri omit the heraldic animal, showing only the cantonal colours. In addition, the flags of Fribourg and Solothurn are shown, at the time not yet full members, who would join the confederacy in the aftermath of this battle. Each flag has the
confederate cross attached.
Coat of arms of Geneva
–
Depiction of the coat of arms of six of the Eight Cantons (omitting Zürich and Bern, but adding Solothurn and Appenzell) in a 1459 manuscript made for
Albert VI, Archduke of Austria. The text denounces "the Swiss" as "faithless vassals" who hold their territories illegally.
Coat of arms of Geneva
–
Standesscheibe of
Unterwalden (1564)
6.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
7.
Switzerland
–
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. 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, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
Switzerland
–
Founded in 44 BC by
Lucius Munatius Plancus,
Augusta Raurica was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.
Switzerland
–
Flag
Switzerland
–
The 1291 Bundesbrief (Federal charter)
Switzerland
–
The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colors are shown the subject territories.
8.
Cantons of Switzerland
–
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte, with the Napoleonic period of the Helvetic Republic the term canton/cantone/Kanton was fully established. From 1833, there were 25 cantons, which became 26 after the secession of the canton of Jura from Bern in 1979. The term canton, now used as English term for administrative subdivisions of other countries, originates in French usage in the late 15th century, from a word for edge. After 1490, canton was increasingly used in French and Italian documents to refer to the members of the Swiss Confederacy, English use of canton in reference to the Swiss Confederacy dates to the early 17th century. It was increasingly replaced by Stand after 1550, the French term canton was not adopted into German usage prior to 1648, and after that only in occasional use. The prominent usage of Ort and Stand only gradually disappeared in German-speaking Switzerland with the Helvetic Republic, only with the Act of Mediation of 1803 did German Kanton become an official designation, retained in the Swiss Constitution of 1848. The term Stand remains in usage and is reflected in the name of the upper chamber of the Swiss Parliament. Republic Some cantonal constitutions provide for a formal name of the state. Most of Romandys cantons and Ticino call themselves république/Repubblica officially, at least within their constitutions, for example, the canton of Geneva refers to itself formally as the République et canton de Genève. Though they were part of the Holy Roman Empire, they had become de facto independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximillian in 1499 in Dornach. The old system was abandoned with the formation of the Helvetic Republic following the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798, the cantons of the Helvetic Republic had merely the status of an administrative subdivision with no sovereignty. The Helvetic Republic collapsed within five years, and cantonal sovereignty was restored with the Act of Mediation of 1803, the status of Switzerland as a federation of states was restored, at the time including 19 cantons. Three additional western cantons, Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva, acceded in 1815, the process of Restoration, completed by 1830, returned most of the former feudal rights to the cantonal patriciates, leading to rebellions among the rural population. The Liberal Radical Party embodied these democratic forces calling for a new federal constitution and this tension, paired with religious issues escalated into armed conflict in the 1840s, with the brief Sonderbund War. The victory of the party resulted in the formation of Switzerland as a federal state in 1848. The cantons retained far-reaching sovereignty, but were no longer allowed to maintain standing armies or international relations. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts, most of the cantons legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between 58 and 200 seats
Cantons of Switzerland
–
The 22 cantonal coats of arms (all but Jura, with the half-cantons represented jointly) in
stained glass set in the dome of the
Federal Palace of Switzerland (ca. 1900)
Cantons of Switzerland
–
Valais
Cantons of Switzerland
–
Caricature of the division of Basel, 1833
9.
Canton of Geneva
–
The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French-speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. As is the case in several other Swiss cantons, this canton is referred to as a republic within the Swiss Confederation, the canton of Geneva is located in the southwestern corner of Switzerland, and is considered one of the most cosmopolitan areas of the country. As a center of the Calvinist Reformation, the city of Geneva has had a influence on the canton. The Republic of Geneva was proclaimed in 1541, under John Calvin, the Republic of Geneva reinforced its alliance to the Protestant cantons of the Swiss Confederacy, becoming an everlasting ally in 1584. The French Revolution reached Geneva in 1792, and in February 1794, after the death of Robespierre in July of the same year, there was a counter-revolution, which gained the upper hand by 1796. This prompted the French invasion of 1798, and the annexation of Geneva as part of the French département du Léman, Geneva finally joined the Swiss Confederation in 1815 as the 22nd canton, having been enlarged by French and Savoyard territories at the Vienna Congress. The area of the canton of Geneva is 282 square kilometers, the canton is surrounded on almost all sides by France and bordered by the Swiss canton of Vaud on northeast. The adjoining French départements are Ain and Haute-Savoie, the current boundaries of the canton were established in 1815. There are 45 municipalities in the canton, Geneva does not have any administrative districts. There are 10 cities with a population of over 10,000 as of 2007, Genève, Vernier, Lancy, Meyrin, Carouge, Onex, Thônex, Versoix, Grand-Saconnex, Chêne-Bougeries. The constitution of the canton was established in 1847, and has, the cantonal government has seven members who are elected for four years. The legislature, the Grand Council, has 100 seats, with deputies elected for four years at a time, the last elecation was held on 7 October 2013. In a similar way to what happens at the Federal level, in addition, any law can be subject to a referendum if it is demanded by 7,000 persons entitled to vote, and 10,000 persons may also propose a new law. The republique and canton of Geneva has 11 seats in the National Council, on 18 October 2015, in the federal election the most popular party was the The Liberals which received three seats with 20. 5% of the votes. In the federal election, a total of 106,852 votes were cast, and she is part of the Council of States since 2007. Councilor Robert Cramer, member of the Green Party, was re-elected in the round with a majority of 42,075 votes. He is part of the Council of States since 2007, ^a FDP before 2009, FDP. The Liberals after 2009 ^b * indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton. ^c Part of the FDP for this election ^d Part of the SD for this election The population of the canton is 484,736, as of 2013, the population included 194,623 foreigners from 187 different nations, or about 40. 1% of the total population
Canton of Geneva
–
View from beneath
Le Reculet towards Canton of Geneva, Annemasse, the Salève and the Mont-Blanc
Canton of Geneva
–
Map of Geneva
Canton of Geneva
–
Village square in
Meyrin
Canton of Geneva
–
Transports Publics Genevois tram
10.
Districts of Switzerland
–
In contrast to centrally organised states, in the federally constituted Switzerland each canton is completely free to decide its own internal organisation. Therefore, there exists a variety of structures and terminology for the subnational entities between canton and municipality, loosely termed districts, most cantons are divided into Bezirke. They are also termed Ämter, Amtsbezirke, district or distretto, the Bezirke generally provide only administration and court organization. However, for historical reasons districts in cantons Graubünden and Schwyz are their own legal entities with jurisdiction over tax, seven of the 26 cantons – Uri, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Basel-City and Geneva – have always existed without the district level of government. An eighth one, Appenzell Innerrhoden, uses no intermediate level either, bern in 2006 decided a reduction of its 26 districts to five administrative regions. Vaud decided a reduction from 19 to 10 districts, valais is planning a similar reduction and in Thurgau, a reduction of eight to four districts is under discussion. From 2005, districts only have a statistical meaning, the districts are functionally equivalent to municipalities elsewhere in Switzerland, and are generally shown as municipalities on maps etc. The Canton is divided into 6 districts, Appenzell Gonten Oberegg Rüte Schlatt-Haslen Schwende Municipalities of Switzerland
Districts of Switzerland
–
Map of Switzerland showing
cantonal, districts and
municipal boundaries (2015).
11.
Geneva
–
Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic, the municipality has a population of 198,072, and the canton has 484,736 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France, within Swiss territory, the commuter area named Métropole lémanique contains a population of 1.25 million. This area is essentially spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, Geneva is the city that hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, Geneva was ranked as the worlds ninth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Frankfurt, and third in Europe behind London and Zürich. A2009 survey by Mercer found that Geneva has the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world, the city has been referred to as the worlds most compact metropolis and the Peace Capital. In 2009 and 2011, Geneva was ranked as, respectively, the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava, probably from a Celtic toponym *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis, the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva /dʒᵻˈniːvə/ in English, French, Genève, German, Genf, Italian, Ginevra, and Romansh, Genevra. The city in origin shares its name, *genawa estuary, with the Italian port city of Genoa, Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC. It became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, and acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, around this time the House of Savoy came to dominate the city. In the 15th century, a republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In 1541, with Protestantism in the ascendancy, John Calvin, by the 18th century, however, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France also tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, in 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, in 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09 East, at the end of Lake Geneva. It is surrounded by two chains, the Alps and the Jura
Geneva
–
Top left:
Palace of Nations, Middle left:
ATLAS experiment at
CERN, Right:
Jet d'Eau, Bottom: View over Geneva and the
lake.
Geneva
–
L'Escalade, the failed surprise-attack (12 December 1602) made by troops sent by
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, to take Geneva
Geneva
–
Geneva seen from SPOT Satellite
Geneva
–
The Geneva area seen from the Salève in France. The Jura mountains can be seen on the horizon.
12.
Esther Alder
–
Esther Alder is a Swiss politician. She has served on the City Council of Geneva since 2011, as of 2015, she is the mayor of Geneva. She is a member of the Green Party
Esther Alder
–
Ester Alder in 2014
13.
Green Party of Switzerland
–
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council. The first Green party in Switzerland was founded as a party in 1971 in the town of Neuchâtel. In 1979, Daniel Brélaz was elected to the National Council as the first Green MP on the national level, local and regional Green parties and organisations were founded in many different towns and cantons in the following years. In 1990, an attempt to combine these organisations failed, afterwards, some of the member groups from the Green Alternative Party joined the Federation of Green Parties which has become the de facto national Green party. In 1993, the Federation of Green Parties changed its name to the Green Party of Switzerland, in 1986, the first two Green members of a cantonal government become members of the Regierungsrat of Bern. In 1987, the Green Party of Switzerland joined the European Federation of Green Parties, in the 1990s, members of the Green Party became town mayors, members of the high court and even president of a cantonal government. The traditional emphases of the partys policies lie in environmentalism and green means of transportation, in terms of foreign policy, the greens set out on the course of openness and pacifism. In economic policy, the greens are center-left, the majority of greens support an accession of Switzerland to the European Union. In immigration policy, the greens support further integration initiatives for immigrants, the greens support measures to increase energy efficiency, oppose nuclear power, and support raising energy and fuel prices. According to their policy, the revenues should be allocated to social security spending. On the national level, in 2003 the Green Party was not represented in the Council of States or Federal Council, in 2007, two Green Party members were elected to the Council of States. By 2005, the party held 3.8 percent of the seats in the Swiss cantonal executive governments and 6.9 percent in the Swiss cantonal parliaments. In 2007, the Green Party was represented in the governments of the cantons Bern, Basel-City, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Nidwalden, Vaud, Zug and Zurich. Percentage of the vote for the Green Party in Federal Elections 1971-20151. ^a * indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton. 2. ^b Part of the Canton of Bern until 1979
Green Party of Switzerland
–
The Green Party's positions in the Swiss political spectrum (2007).
14.
Parliament
–
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative, elected body of government. Generally a modern parliament has three functions, representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government, historically, parliaments included various kinds of deliberative, consultative, and judicial assemblies. The term is derived from Anglo-Norman parlement, from the verb parler talk, the meaning evolved over time, originally any discussion, conversation, or negotiation, through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups, often summoned by the monarch. By 1400, it had come to mean in Britain specifically the British supreme legislature, various parliaments are claimed to be the oldest in the world, under varying definitions. The Sicilian Parliament, whose first assembly was convened in 1097, the Icelandic Althing, year 930, but only including the main chiefs. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, some scholars suggest that in ancient Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council. The same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, however, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies. Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy, the Athenian assembly was the most important institution, and every citizen could take part in the discussions. However, Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, the Roman Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy. Some Muslim scholars argue that the Islamic shura is analogous to the parliament, however, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system. England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist, under the Anglo-Saxon kings, there was an advisory council, the Witenagemot. The name derives from the Old English ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, the first recorded act of a witenagemot was the law code issued by King Æthelberht of Kent ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose, however, the Witan, along with the folkmoots, is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament. As part of the Norman Conquest of England, the new king, William I, did away with the Witenagemot, membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the tenants in chief, the few nobles who rented great estates directly from the king, along with ecclesiastics. William brought to England the feudal system of his native Normandy and this is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the Privy Council and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament, only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court. Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power to which the throne had to defer no later than the rule of Edward I, like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially finance. A meeting in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments, in 1307, Edward I agreed not to collect certain taxes without the consent of the realm
Parliament
–
The chamber of the
House of Commons of the
British Parliament in the
City of Westminster,
London.
Parliament
–
The
Federal Assembly of
Switzerland.
Parliament
–
Session Hall of
Parliament of Finland.
Parliament
–
The
Israeli Knesset chamber.
15.
Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
16.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
–
The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
–
Regions where French is the main language
French language
–
Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
–
An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
17.
Carouge
–
Carouge is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Carouge is first mentioned in the Early Middle Ages as Quadruvium, in 1248 it was mentioned as Carrogium while in the 14th Century it was known as Quarrouiz or Quarroggi. In 1445 it was mentioned as Quaroggio, the current city was built from the ground up, by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy, starting on 31 January 1786. Carouge has an area, as of 2009, of 2.7 square kilometers, of this area,0.13 km2 or 4. 8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.23 km2 or 8. 5% is forested. Of the rest of the land,2.25 km2 or 83. 3% is settled,0.04 km2 or 1. 5% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 18. 5% of the area while housing and buildings made up 31. 9%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other developed areas made up 4. 1% of the area while parks. Out of the land,6. 3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2. 2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,3. 3% is used for growing crops and 1. 5% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located south of the Rhone and Arve rivers, Carouge has a population of 21,342. As of 2008,37. 7% of the population are resident foreign nationals, over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 21%. It has changed at a rate of 15. 6% due to migration, most of the population speaks French, with Portuguese being second most common and Italian being third. There are 567 people who speak German and 9 people who speak Romansh, as of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 47. 9% male and 52. 1% female. The population was made up of 5,775 Swiss men and 3,868 non-Swiss men, there were 6,887 Swiss women and 3,586 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 3,489 or about 19. 8% were born in Carouge and lived there in 2000. There were 3,845 or 21. 9% who were born in the canton, while 2,653 or 15. 1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 was an increase of 195 and this represents a population growth rate of 3. 3%. The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers make up 21. 4% of the population, while adults make up 65. 1%, as of 2000, there were 7,867 people who were single and never married in the municipality
Carouge
–
Carouge
Carouge
–
Bridge in Carouge
Carouge
–
Place de l'Octroi in Carouge
Carouge
–
Market in Carouge
18.
Cologny
–
Cologny is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Cologny is first mentioned in 1208 as Colognier, the oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a Neolithic lake side village which was discovered near the village of La Belotte. The Lake Geneva area was conquered by the Romans in the 2nd century and they built a road from Corsier through the Cologny area to Frontenex during their 2 centuries of residency. During the Middle Ages it was part of the lands of the Counts of Geneva, the village church of Saint Peter was placed under the parish of Vandœuvres in 1406, indicating that it was probably built before the 15th century. In 1536 Cologny, joined the new faith of the Protestant Reformation as nearby Geneva became a center of reform, two years later, in May 1538 a treaty between Bern and Geneva placed Cologny in the city of Geneva. The town council of Cologny met for the first time on 9 December 1800, in the late 16th century and into the 17th century a number of Geneva publishers moved to or set up offices in Cologny. By claiming Cologny or Colonia Allobrogum as the location, they were able to circumvent French laws which banned books from Geneva. Beginning in the 18th century elegant chalets sprung up along the shores of Lake Geneva in Cologny, one of the most famous in Villa Diodati in which Lord Byron, John Polidori, Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley spent part of the Year Without a Summer in 1816. Due to the weather, the guests spent days indoors telling each other horror stories. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and John Polidori’s The Vampyre, the first modern vampire story, the mathematicien Louis Necker, elder brother of the Statesman Jacques Necker, died in Cologny. In the 20th century, many individuals and organizations have moved to Cologny. Traditionally the municipality consisted of villages with many farms. However, by 1965 there were only eight working farms and by 1975 that number had decreased to two, today it is one of the richest municipalities in the Canton of Geneva. Cologny has an area, as of 2009, of 3.67 square kilometers, of this area,0.65 km2 or 17. 7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.15 km2 or 4. 1% is forested. Of the rest of the land,2.88 km2 or 78. 5% is settled,0.01 km2 or 0. 3% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 60. 5%, power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1. 1% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4. 4%. Out of the land,2. 2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1. 9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,8. 7% is used for growing crops and 5. 4% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is in lakes
Cologny
–
Cologny
Cologny
–
View from the Geneva Golf Club across Lake Geneva
Cologny
–
Porsche 1600 in front of "Le Manoir" or Manor House in Cologny
Cologny
–
Bodmer Library
19.
Lancy
–
Lancy is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Lancy is first mentioned in 1097 as Lanciaco meaning fearless, Lancy has an area, as of 2009, of 4.77 square kilometers. Of this area,0.25 km2 or 5. 2% is used for agricultural purposes, of the rest of the land,4.26 km2 or 89. 3% is settled,0.02 km2 or 0. 4% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 8. 2% of the area while housing and buildings made up 45. 7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other developed areas made up 2. 7% of the area while parks. Out of the land,5. 0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1. 5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,3. 4% is used for growing crops and 1. 5% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located on the bank of the Rhone river. It consists of the villages of Grand-Lancy and Petit-Lancy as well as the hamlets of Pesay, Saint-Georges, La Tour, La Vendée, Lancy has a population of 31,359. As of 2008,35. 0% of the population are resident foreign nationals, over the years 1999–2009 the population changed at a rate of 12%. It changed at a rate of 6. 2% due to migration, most of the population speaks French, with Portuguese being second most common and Italian being third. There are 883 people who speak German and 10 people who speak Romansh, as of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 48. 2% male and 51. 8% female. The population was made up of 8,568 Swiss men and 5,311 non-Swiss men, there were 9,994 Swiss women and 4,938 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 4,565 or about 17. 8% were born in Lancy and lived there in 2000. There were 6,166 or 24. 0% who were born in the canton, while 4,305 or 16. 8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland. In 2008 there were 200 live births to Swiss citizens and 119 births to non-Swiss citizens, in same time span there were 132 deaths of Swiss citizens and 31 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 68 while the population increased by 88. There were 93 Swiss men and 78 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland, at the same time, there were 263 non-Swiss men and 246 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland
Lancy
–
Lancy
Lancy
–
Bridge and river in Lancy
Lancy
–
Lancy Bridge
Lancy
–
Protestant Church in Lancy
20.
Grand-Saconnex
–
Le Grand-Saconnex is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Several international organizations and permanent missions to the United Nations are located in Grand Saconnex, consequently, the population of Grand Saconnex is quite cosmopolitan one of the most diverse in Switzerland, with nearly 40% of the population being born outside of Switzerland. Geneva International Airport is partially within the borders of Le Grand-Saconnex, Le Grand-Saconnex is first mentioned in 1128 as Saconai. Le Grand-Saconnex has an area, as of 2009, of 4.38 square kilometers, of this area,0.62 km2 or 14. 2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.09 km2 or 2. 1% is forested. Of the rest of the land,3.66 km2 or 83. 6% is settled. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1. 1% of the area while housing and buildings made up 32. 9%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other developed areas made up 2. 5% of the area while parks. Out of the land,0. 7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1. 4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,5. 9% is used for growing crops and 7. 1% is pastures, the municipality is located just to west of the city of Geneva and forms part of the greater Geneva area. It is on the bank of Lake Geneva. Le Grand-Saconnex has a population of 12,107, as of 2008,43. 6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 37. 4% and it has changed at a rate of 31. 8% due to migration and at a rate of 5. 9% due to births and deaths. Most of the population speaks French, with English being second most common, There are 293 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh. As of 2008, the distribution of the population was 47. 6% male and 52. 4% female. The population was made up of 3,058 Swiss men and 2,584 non-Swiss men, There were 3,526 Swiss women and 2,675 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 1,049 or about 12. 9% were born in Le Grand-Saconnex and lived there in 2000. There were 1,727 or 21. 3% who were born in the canton, while 1,166 or 14. 4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland. In 2008 there were 69 live births to Swiss citizens and 46 births to non-Swiss citizens, ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 17 while the foreign population increased by 24
Grand-Saconnex
–
Le Grand-Saconnex
21.
Vernier, Switzerland
–
Vernier is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It is divided into different sections, Vernier Village, Le Lignon, Aïre, Les Avanchets, Cointrin, the Mairie of Vernier is found in Vernier Village on Rue du Village 9. You can arrange for a wedding there and it is the oldest part of Vernier, some of the buildings have been around since the 18th century. It is considered to be the 2nd most important commune after Geneva, There is a train station in Cointrin and another further on. It is about 5 minutes from Geneva Airport,15 from the centre of Geneva, There are IMAX/3D cinemas at the shopping centre, Balexert which is a short 5 minutes drive from Vernier. In addition to cinemas, Balexert is a shopping mall for everyday needs too. Apart from Vernier Village, there is the Lignon, a 1 km long block of flats, Aïre, Les Avanchets is another block of flats right next to the shopping centre balexert. The SIG, or the Services Industriels de Genève, have a treatment plant on the banks of the Rhone in Aïre. Vernier has an area, as of 2009, of 7.68 square kilometers, of this area,1.01 km2 or 13. 2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.74 km2 or 9. 6% is forested. Of the rest of the land,5.57 km2 or 72. 5% is settled,0.33 km2 or 4. 3% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km2 or 0. 1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 10. 0% of the area while housing and buildings made up 32. 8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other developed areas made up 7. 6% of the area while parks. Out of the land,8. 5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1. 2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,6. 4% is used for growing crops and 5. 9% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. Vernier has a population of 34,655, as of 2008,43. 8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 13. 2% and it has changed at a rate of 6. 3% due to migration and at a rate of 7. 1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population speaks French, with Portuguese being second most common, There are 908 people who speak German and 23 people who speak Romansh. As of 2008, the distribution of the population was 49. 6% male and 50. 4% female
Vernier, Switzerland
–
Vernier
Vernier, Switzerland
–
Lignon Footbridge
Vernier, Switzerland
–
Aïre Castle in Vernier
Vernier, Switzerland
–
Lignon residential tower
22.
Veyrier
–
Veyrier is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Veyrier has an area, as of 2009, of 6.5 square kilometers, of this area,2.17 km2 or 33. 4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.9 km2 or 13. 8% is forested. Of the rest of the land,3.29 km2 or 50. 6% is settled,0.17 km2 or 2. 6% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 34. 6%, while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 6. 3%. Out of the land,12. 6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1. 2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,26. 9% is used for growing crops and 3. 4% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality includes the localities of Pinchat, Vessy and Sierne and it is bordered by Chêne-Bougeries, Thônex, Troinex, Plan-les-Ouates, Carouge, Geneva, and the French municipality of Étrembières in Haute-Savoie. Veyrier has a population of 11,273, as of 2008,24. 0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 10. 1% and it has changed at a rate of 12. 8% due to migration and at a rate of -3. 1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population speaks French, with German being second most common, There are 158 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh. As of 2008, the distribution of the population was 49. 0% male and 51. 0% female. The population was made up of 3,600 Swiss men and 1,307 non-Swiss men, There were 3,878 Swiss women and 1,233 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 1,488 or about 16. 7% were born in Veyrier and lived there in 2000. There were 2,931 or 33. 0% who were born in the canton, while 1,470 or 16. 5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland. In 2008 there were 54 live births to Swiss citizens and 31 births to non-Swiss citizens, ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 48 while the foreign population increased by 12. There were 24 Swiss men and 32 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland, at the same time, there were 41 non-Swiss men and 45 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 was an increase of 2 and this represents a population growth rate of 1. 3%. The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers make up 27% of the population, while adults make up 58. 6%, as of 2000, there were 3,605 people who were single and never married in the municipality
Veyrier
–
Veyrier
Veyrier
–
View from Le Salève down to Veyrier and surrounds communities around Lake Geneva
Veyrier
–
View of Veyrier from a cable car as it descends to the base station
Veyrier
–
Swiss border at Veyrier
23.
Arpitan language
–
Franco-Provençal, Arpitan or Romand is a Gallo-Romance language spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland, northwestern Italy, and in enclaves in the Province of Foggia in Apulia, Italy. Franco-Provençal has several dialects and is separate from but closely related to neighboring Romance languages, Oïl languages, Occitan, Gallo-Italian. The name Franco-Provençal was given to the language by G. I, Ascoli in the 19th century because it shared features with French and Provençal without belonging to either. Arpitan, a neologism, is becoming a name for the language. This name was popularized due to the lands where the Arpitan language is spoken or used to be the prevalent idiom, the name for the region comes from the term Arpes, meaning Alps in Arpitan. Today, the largest number of Franco-Provençal speakers reside in the Aosta Valley, the language is also spoken in alpine valleys in the province of Turin, two isolated towns in Foggia, and rural areas of the Romandie region of Switzerland. It is one of the three Gallo-Romance language families of France and is recognized as a regional language of France. Organizations are attempting to preserve it through cultural events, education, scholarly research, aside from regional French dialects, it is the most closely related language to French. The number of speakers of Franco-Provençal has been declining significantly, according to UNESCO, Franco-Provençal is a potentially endangered language in Italy and an endangered language in Switzerland and France. Franco-Provençal emerged as a Gallo-Romance variety of Latin, the linguistic region comprises east-central France, western portions of Switzerland, and the Aosta Valley of Italy with the adjacent alpine valleys of the Piedmont. This area covers territories once occupied by pre-Roman Celts, including the Allobroges, Sequani, Helvetii, Ceutrones, by the 5th century, the region was controlled by the Burgundians. Franco-Provençal is first attested in manuscripts from the 12th century, possibly diverging from the langues doïl as early as the 8th–9th centuries, one writer has detected the influence of Basque by analyzing fossil words from toponymy and the dialect in the Aosta Valley Valdôtain patois. However, Franco-Provençal is consistently typified by a strict, myopic comparison to French, and so is characterized as conservative. Thus, commentators, like Désormaux, consider medieval the terms for many nouns and verbs, including pâta rag, bayâ to give, moussâ to lie down, all of which are conservative only relative to French. As an example, Désormaux, writing on this point in the foreword of his Savoyard dialect dictionary, states, one can note it not only in phonetics and morphology, but also in the vocabulary, where one finds numerous words and directions that clearly disappeared from French. Franco-Provençal failed to garner the prestige of its three more widely spoken neighbors, French, Occitan, and Italian. Communities where speakers lived were generally mountainous and isolated from one another, the internal boundaries of the entire speech area were divided by wars and religious conflicts. France, Switzerland, the Franche-Comté, and the duchy, later kingdom, the edict explicitly replaced Latin with French as the language of law and the courts
Arpitan language
–
Graziadio Isaia Ascoli
Arpitan language
–
Map of the Franco-Provençal Language Area: Dark Blue: Protected. — Medium Blue: General regions. Light Blue: Historical transition zone.
Arpitan language
–
Title page of a Franco-Provençal dictionary from Saint-Étienne, France (1896): "The Key to the Gaga Dialect".
Arpitan language
–
Language area map with standard place names and modern political divisions.
24.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
German language
–
Old Frisian (Alt-Friesisch)
German language
–
The widespread popularity of the
Bible translated into German by
Martin Luther helped establish modern German
German language
–
Examples of German language in
Namibian everyday life
German language
–
German-language newspapers in the U.S. in 1922
25.
Italian language
–
By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
Italian language
–
Dante Alighieri (above) and
Petrarch (below) were influential in establishing their
Tuscan dialect as the most prominent literary language in all of
Italy in the
Late Middle Ages
Italian language
–
The geographic distribution of the Italian language in the world: large Italian-speaking communities are shown in green; light blue indicates areas where the Italian language was used officially during the Italian colonial period.
Italian language
Italian language
–
Pietro Bembo was an influential figure in the development of the Italian language from the Tuscan dialect, as a literary medium, codifying the language for standard modern usage
26.
Romansh language
–
Romansh has also been recognized as a national language of Switzerland since 1938 and as an official language along with German, French and Italian since 1996. It is sometimes grouped with Ladin and Friulian as a Rhaeto-Romance language, Romansh has also been heavily influenced by German in vocabulary and morphosyntax. The language gradually retreated to its current area over the centuries, being replaced by Alemannic, the earliest writing identified as Romansh dates from the 10th or 11th century, although major works do not appear until the 16th century when several regional written varieties began to develop. The 19th century saw a shrinkage of the language area but also a literary revival. In the 2000 Swiss census,35,095 people indicated Romansh as the language of best command, in 2010, Switzerland switched to a yearly system which uses a combination of municipal citizen records and a limited number of surveys. Based on this system, the number of people aged 15. The language area and number of speakers of Romansh have been continually shrinking, Romansh is divided into five different regional dialects, each with its own standardized written language. In addition, a variety called Rumantsch Grischun was introduced in 1982. Romansh is a Romance language descending from Vulgar Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. Within the Romance languages, Romansh stands out because of its peripheral location, another distinguishing feature is the centuries-long language contact with German, which is most noticeable in the vocabulary and to a lesser extent the syntax of Romansh. Romansh belongs to the Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages, which includes such as French, Occitan. The main feature placing Romansh within the Gallo-Romance languages is the fronting of Latin /u/ to or, as seen in Latin muru wall, which is mür or mir in Romansh. This sound change is partially absent in some varieties of Romansh, however, especially in Sursilvan, retention of word-final -s as in buns chavals good horses as opposed to Italian buoni cavalli. Retention of L following /p b k ɡ f/, Latin clavem key > clav as opposed to Italian chiave, another defining feature of the Romansh language is the use of unstressed vowels. Whether or not Romansh, Friulan and Ladin should compose a separate Rhaeto-Romance subgroup within Gallo-Romance is an unresolved issue, some linguists posit that these languages are descended from a common language, which was then fractured geographically through the spread of German and Italian. This position goes back to the Italian linguist Graziadio Ascoli, who first made the claim in 1873, linguists who take this position often point out that the similarities between the languages are comparatively few. This position was first introduced by the Italian dialectologist Carlo Battisti and this linguistic dispute became politically relevant for the Italian irredentist movement. Italian nationalists interpreted Battistis hypothesis as implying that Romansh, Friulan and Ladin were not separate languages and they used this as an argument to claim the territories where these languages were spoken for Italy
Romansh language
–
"La mort da Benedetg Fontana", a Romansh passage in a Latin chronicle by Durich Chiampel
Romansh language
–
From top left to bottom right: Sutsilvan inscription on a house in
Andeer, Sursilvan house inscription in
Trun, Rumantsch Grischun sign in the
Swiss National Park, Vallader
Sgraffito in
Guarda.
Romansh language
–
Front page of Ilg Vêr Sulaz da pievel giuvan
Romansh language
–
Cover page of Ortografia et ortoëpia del idiom romauntsch d'Engiadin'ota
27.
List of cities in Switzerland
–
These are lists of towns in Switzerland. Until 2014 municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants were considered to be towns, since 2014, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office uses a new algorithm to define whether a municipality can be called a town or not, it newly also depends on its character. Currently, FSO considers 162 municipalities as towns in Switzerland, further, some municipalities, which would fulfill such a definition, nevertheless prefer to understand themselves still as a village, or consequently refer to themselves just as municipalities. See Municipalities of Switzerland for a table of the largest and smallest, largest towns in Switzerland, Zürich Geneva Basel Lausanne Bern Winterthur Lucerne St. Places in bold print are towns because of FSOs definition and historic town/market rights. Places in italics are towns excluded by FSOs definition, but places with, either, historic town rights, or, Places in normal print are towns according FSOs definition. Places that had lost historic town rights previously are identified with -h, List of municipalities of Switzerland List of places in Switzerland List of postal codes of Switzerland
List of cities in Switzerland
–
Zurich
List of cities in Switzerland
–
Population of cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants
List of cities in Switzerland
–
Geneva
List of cities in Switzerland
–
Lugano
28.
Romandy
–
Romandy is the French-speaking part of western Switzerland. In 2010 about 1.9 million people, or 24. 4% of the Swiss population, the bulk of romand population lives in the Arc Lémanique region along Lake Geneva, connecting Geneva, Vaud and the Lower Valais. The adjective romand is a dialectal variant of roman, in Old French used as a term for the Gallo-Romance vernaculars. Suisse romande is used in contrast to Suisse alémanique, Alemannic Switzerland, formed by analogy is Suisse italienne, which is composed of Ticino and of a part of Graubünden. Simple Westschweiz western Switzerland may also be used as a loose synonym, in four Swiss cantons, French is the sole official language, Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Jura. There are three cantons where French and German have co-official status, Bern, Fribourg and Valais, the linguistic boundary between French and German is known as Röstigraben. The term is humorous in origin and refers both to the division and to perceived cultural differences between the Romandy and the German-speaking Swiss majority. The term can be traced to the WWI period, but it entered mainstream usage in the 1970s in the context of the Jurassic separatism virulent at the time. It then follows the border between Neuchâtel and Bern and turns south towards Morat, again traversing an areal of traditional bilinguism including the communities of Morat and Fribourg. Cutting across the High Alps at Les Diablerets, the boundary separates the French-speaking Lower Valais from the Alemannic-speaking Upper Valais. It then cuts southwards into the High Alps again, separating the Val dAnniviers from the Mattertal, traditionally speaking the Franco-Provençal or Patois dialects of Upper Burgundy, the romand population now speak a variety of Standard French. Today, the differences between Swiss French and Parisian French are minor and mostly lexical, although in rural speakers, in particular, some parts of the Swiss Jura participate in the Frainc-Comtou dialect spoken in the Franche-Comté region of France. Since the 1970s, there has been an amount of linguistic revivalism. In this context, the Franco-Provençal dialects are called Arpitan and their historical area Arpitania, the cultural identity of Romandy is supported by Télévision Suisse Romande, Radio Suisse Romande and the universities of Geneva, Fribourg, Lausanne and Neuchâtel. Historically, most of Romandy has been strongly Protestant, especially Calvinist, however, Roman Catholicism continued to predominate in Jura, Valais, and Fribourg. In recent decades, due to significant immigration from France and Southern European countries, languages of Switzerland Swiss French Röstigraben Jurassic separatism Bernese Jura Lake Geneva region Rhodanic Republic Arpitania Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
Romandy
–
A road sign in
Saint-Gingolph, Valais, spelling a dialectal greeting bondzo! alongside the Standard French bienvenue (2013 photograph).
Romandy
–
Language distribution in Switzerland (2000). Romandy shown in green
29.
Vevey
–
Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne. It was the seat of the district of the name until 2006. It is part of the French-speaking area of Switzerland, Vevey is noted for being the final home of comedy legend Charlie Chaplin and his family from 1952 to 1977. Vevey is home to the headquarters of the food giant Nestlé. Milk chocolate was invented in Vevey by Daniel Peter in 1875, a piloti settlement existed here as early as the 2nd millennium BC. Under Rome, it was known as Viviscus or Vibiscum and it was mentioned for the first time by the ancient Greek astronomer and philosopher Ptolemy, who gave it the name Ouikos. In the Middle Ages it was a station on the Via Francigena and it was then ruled by the bishopric of Lausanne, and later under the Blonay family. Vevey lived through a period of prosperity after the Vaud Revolution of 1798, in the 19th century industrial activities included mechanical engineering at the Ateliers de Constructions Mécaniques de Vevey, food and tobacco. Vevey has an area, as of 2009, of 2.4 square kilometers, of this area,0.07 km2 or 2. 9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.11 km2 or 4. 6% is forested. Of the rest of the land,2.13 km2 or 89. 5% is settled,0.04 km2 or 1. 7% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2. 9% of the area while housing and buildings made up 51. 3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other developed areas made up 1. 7% of the area while parks. Out of the land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land,0. 4% is used for growing crops and 1. 7% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality was the capital of the Vevey District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, the blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Or and Azure, two Letters V interlaced counterchanged. Vevey has a population of 19,453, as of 2008,43. 2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 16. 2% and it has changed at a rate of 14. 2% due to migration and at a rate of 3. 4% due to births and deaths. Most of the population speaks French as their first language, with Italian being second most common, There are 599 people who speak German and 7 people who speak Romansh
Vevey
–
Vevey
Vevey
–
Vevey during the Middle Ages
Vevey
–
Alimentarium
Vevey
–
Museum suisse de l’appareil photographique (Photography museum)
30.
Montreux
–
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-dEnhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located on Lake Geneva shoreline at the foot of the Alps and has a population, as of December 2015, of 26,433, the earliest settlement was a Late Bronze Age village at Baugy. This made it an important settlement in the Roman era, a Roman villa from the 2nd-4th centuries and a 6th–7th century cemetery have been discovered. In the 12th century, viticulture was introduced to the region, Montreux is first mentioned in 1215 as Mustruel. In 1295, the Bishop of Sion sold the parish of Montreux to Girard of Oron, in 1317, it was split between the Lords of Oron and the Counts of Savoy. A Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit administered estates and a hospital in Montreux starting in about 1309, the region was subject to various princes, most notably the princes of Savoy from the south side of the lake. They unified the territory comprises the present canton of Vaud and were generally popular sovereigns. After the Burgundian Wars in the 15th century, the Swiss in Bern occupied the region without resistance, under Bernese rule it belonged to the bailiwick of Chillon. The Reformation made the region around Montreux and Vevey an attractive haven for Huguenots from Italy, the abbey of Les Echarpes blanches was founded in 1626. In 1798, Napoleon liberated the region from the Bernese, in the 19th century, the tourist industry became a major commercial outlet, with the grand hotels of Montreux attracting the rich and cultured from Europe and America. Starting in the 19th Century there were three independent municipalities that shared a central authority and this county council was made up of four deputies from Le Châtelard, two from Les Planches and one from Veytaux. The church, the hall of La Rouvenaz, the secondary school. Each municipality had its own taxes and a mayor, in 1962, the municipalities of Le Châtelard and Les Planches merged, while Veytaux remained independent. Montreux has an area, as of 2009, of 33.4 square kilometers, of this area,8.47 km2 or 25. 4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 16.93 km2 or 50. 7% is forested. Of the rest of the land,6.37 km2 or 19. 1% is settled,0.08 km2 or 0. 2% is either rivers or lakes and 1.59 km2 or 4. 8% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 10. 9%, out of the forested land,47. 0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3. 1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,0. 4% is used for growing crops and 8. 8% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality was part of the Vevey District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, the municipality stretches from Lake Geneva to the foothills of the Swiss Alps
Montreux
–
Montreux
Montreux
–
Lake Geneva from Montreux
Montreux
–
Montreux and Lake Geneva
Montreux
–
High rise in Montreux
31.
Yverdon-les-Bains
–
Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district, the population of Yverdon-les-Bains, as of December 2015, was 29,700. Yverdon is located in the heart of a natural setting formed by the Jura mountains, the plains of the Orbe and it is the second most important town in the Canton of Vaud. It is famous for its springs and is an important regional centre for commerce. It was awarded the Wakker Prize in 2009 for the way the city handled and developed the public areas, the heights nearby Yverdon seem to have been settled at least since the Neolithic Age about 5000 BCE, as present archeological evidence shows. The town was at that time only a market place. People began to settle, at first in temporary huts at the water-front, for fishers and merchants, the Celtic Helvetii are said to have been the first permanent settlers of Eburodunum, from about the 2nd century BCE. The imposing Castrum, or stronghold, called Castrum Ebredunense was the second largest in Switzerland, the port served as naval base for the barges supplying the defensive positions along the Rhine, which marked the North-Eastern border of the Empire. Thus the Roman Vicus of Eburodunum developed into an urban centre. The sulphur springs were used for a thermal spa, as attested by excavations. It is even possible that the Helvetii appreciated the beneficial effects of these waters, about a century after the first invasions of the Alemanni, when the Vicus had been completely destroyed, the Romans built a large military stronghold. It covered about 5 acres and was protected by ramparts and 15 masonry towers. The Barbarians invaded Italy in the 5th century, and threatened to assault Rome, in a last desperate effort to save the city, all troops stationed North of the Alps were ordered back to Italy. The garrison and the Roman administration had to abandon the Yverdon camp, the inhabitants of Eburodunum, up to then assigned to live beyond the ramparts, immediately took possession of the Castrum, using it for their own safety. Like this, Eburodunum-Yverdon survived the times, until the 15th century. The Castrum was noted in the Notitia Dignitatum, with the lake receding, the ancient town confined to the Castrum had lost its strategic position, no more direct access to the port, or to the new trade routes alongshore. When Peter II of Savoy gradually extended his rule over the Pays de Vaud, he managed to impose road tolls as well as port and he founded the new town of Yverdon, defended by walls and a castle. Construction works were launched around 1259 and attracted many settlers, the imposing main walls and their four towers were erected within a few years
Yverdon-les-Bains
–
Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains
–
The temple of Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains
–
The
stone rows in Yverdon-les-Bains (3000 B.C.E.)
Yverdon-les-Bains
–
Yverdon Castle
32.
Vaud
–
The Canton of Vaud is the third largest of Swiss cantons by population and fourth by size. The capital and biggest city is Lausanne, officially designated Olympic Capital by the International Olympic Committee, the canton had 725,944 inhabitants as of 2011. Along the lakes, Vaud was inhabited in prehistoric times, later, the Celtic tribe of the Helvetii inhabited the area. The tribe was defeated by Caesars troops in 58 BC and as a consequence the Romans settled the area, the towns of Vevey and Lausanne are two of the many towns established by the Romans. In 27 BC the state of Civitas Helvetiorum was established around the capital of Avenches, there are still many Roman remains around the town today. Between the 2nd and the 4th century the area was invaded by Alemannic tribes. The Merovingian Franks later replaced the Burgundians and their occupancy did not last long either, and in 888 the area of the canton of Vaud was made part of the Carolingian Empire. In 1032 the Zähringens of Germany defeated the Burgundians, the Zähringens themselves were succeeded in 1218 by the counts of Savoy. It was only under the counts of Savoy that the area was given political unity, a part stretching from Attalens to the River Sarine, in the north, was absorbed by the canton of Fribourg. As the power of the Savoys declined at the beginning of the 15th century the land was occupied by troops from Bern, by 1536 the area was completely annexed. The Bernese occupiers were not popular amongst the population, later, inspired by the French Revolution, the Vaudois drove out the Bernese governor in 1798 and declared the Lemanic Republic. Under Napoleon I, it became the canton of Léman, in 1803, Vaud joined the re-installed Swiss confederation. In spite of Bernese attempts to reclaim Vaud, it has remained a sovereign canton ever since, separation was prevented at the cost of very few lives. The current constitution dates from 14 April 2003, replacing the one from 1885, in the Jura mountains in the west, the canton borders the French departments of Ain, Jura, and Doubs. In the east, it borders the cantons of Fribourg and Bern, the total area is 3,212 square kilometres. Along with the canton of Berne, Vaud is one of the two cantons whose territory extends from the Jura to the Alps, through the three geographic regions of Switzerland. The areas in the south east are mountainous, situated on the side of the Bernese Alps. This region is named the Vaud Alps
Vaud
–
Roman column in Nyon
Vaud
–
Map of Vaud
Vaud
–
Built by the Bishop of Lausanne during the 15th century,
Château Saint-Maire has been the seat of the cantonal government since 1803
Vaud
–
Vevey,
Lake Geneva and the
Swiss Alps
33.
Global city
–
A global city, also called world city or sometimes alpha city or world center, is a city generally considered to be an important node in the global economic system. The most complex of these entities is the city, whereby the linkages binding a city have a direct. Patrick Geddes also used the world city later in 1915. More recently, the term has been described as being synonymous with an influence and financial capital. Global city status is considered to be beneficial and desired, and because of this, many groups have tried to classify, although there is a consensus upon leading world cities, the criteria upon which a classification is made can affect which other cities are included. Smith and Peter J. Taylor established the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, the GaWC inventory identifies three levels of global cities and several sub-ranks. The 2004 rankings acknowledged several new indicators while continuing to rank city economics more heavily than political or cultural factors. The following is a list of the cities in the rankings, as they appear on the GaWC website, Alpha ++ cities are cities most integrated with the economy, London. Alpha + cities are advanced service niches for the economy, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, Sydney. The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo issued a study of global cities in 2016. The ranking is based on six categories, Economy, Research & Development, Cultural Interaction, Livability, Environment. This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as manager, researcher, artist, visitor, Global Power City top 10,1. Vienna In 2008, the American journal Foreign Policy, in conjunction with the Chicago-based consulting firm A. T, kearney and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, published a ranking of global cities, based on consultation with Saskia Sassen, Witold Rybczynski, and others. Foreign Policy noted that the world’s biggest, most interconnected cities help set global agendas, weather transnational dangers and they are the engines of growth for their countries and the gateways to the resources of their regions. The Wealth Report is made by the London-based estate agent Knight Frank LLP together with the Citi Private Bank, the report includes a Global Cities Survey, evaluating which cities are considered the most important to the world’s HNWIs. In 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranked the competitiveness of cities according to their demonstrated ability to attract capital, businesses, talent. The State of the World’s Cities
Global city
–
London
Global city
–
Globalization
Global city
–
New York
Global city
–
Tokyo
34.
Diplomacy
–
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of states. International treaties are negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians. The scholarly discipline of diplomatics, dealing with the study of old documents, derives its name from the same source, but its modern meaning is quite distinct from the activity of diplomacy. Some of the earliest known records are the Amarna letters written between the pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt and the Amurru rulers of Canaan during the 14th century BC. Following the Battle of Kadesh in c, Relations with the government of the Ottoman Empire were particularly important to Italian states. The maritime republics of Genoa and Venice depended less and less upon their nautical capabilities, interactions between various merchants, diplomats and clergy men hailing from the Italian and Ottoman empires helped inaugurate and create new forms of diplomacy and statecraft. Eventually the primary purpose of a diplomat, which was originally a negotiator and it became evident that all other sovereigns felt the need to accommodate themselves diplomatically, due to the emergence of the powerful political environment of the Ottoman Empire. One could come to the conclusion that the atmosphere of diplomacy within the modern period revolved around a foundation of conformity to Ottoman culture. One of the earliest realists in international relations theory was the 6th century BC military strategist Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War. However, a deal of diplomacy in establishing allies, bartering land, and signing peace treaties was necessary for each warring state. The treaty was renewed no less than nine times, but did not restrain some Xiongnu tuqi from raiding Han borders. The Koreans and Japanese during the Chinese Tang Dynasty looked to the Chinese capital of Changan as the hub of civilization, the Japanese sent frequent embassies to China in this period, although they halted these trips in 894 when the Tang seemed on the brink of collapse. After the devastating An Shi Rebellion from 755 to 763, the Tang Dynasty was in no position to reconquer Central Asia, after several conflicts with the Tibetan Empire spanning several different decades, the Tang finally made a truce and signed a peace treaty with them in 841. Both diplomats secured the borders of the Song Dynasty through knowledge of cartography. There was also a triad of warfare and diplomacy between these two states and the Tangut Western Xia Dynasty to the northwest of Song China. After warring with the Lý Dynasty of Vietnam from 1075 to 1077, Song, long before the Tang and Song dynasties, the Chinese had sent envoys into Central Asia, India, and Persia, starting with Zhang Qian in the 2nd century BC. Another notable event in Chinese diplomacy was the Chinese embassy mission of Zhou Daguan to the Khmer Empire of Cambodia in the 13th century, Chinese diplomacy was a necessity in the distinctive period of Chinese exploration. Since the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese also became heavily invested in sending diplomatic envoys abroad on missions into the Indian Ocean, to India, Persia, Arabia, East Africa
Diplomacy
–
The
United Nations, with its
headquarters in
New York City, is the largest international diplomatic organization.
Diplomacy
–
The
First Geneva Convention (1864).
Geneva (
Switzerland) is the city that hosts the highest number of
international organizations in the world.
Diplomacy
–
Portraits of Periodical Offering, a 6th-century Chinese painting portraying various emissaries; ambassadors depicted in the painting ranging from those of
Hephthalites,
Persia to
Langkasuka,
Baekje (part of the modern Korea),
Qiuci, and Wo (
Japan).
Diplomacy
–
Rama and Lakshmana Receive Envoys, Page from a Dispersed Ramayana Series, ca. 1634.
35.
International organization
–
An international organization is an organization with an international membership, scope, or presence. There are two types, International nongovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations that operate internationally. The UN has used the term intergovernmental organization instead of organization for clarity. The first and oldest intergovernmental organization is the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, International organizations also define the salient issues and decide which issues can be grouped together, thus help governmental priority determination or other governmental arrangements
International organization
–
The
headquarters of the
International Committee of the Red Cross.
Geneva (
Switzerland) is the city that hosts the highest number of international organizations in the
world.
International organization
36.
United Nations
–
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
United Nations
–
1943 sketch by Franklin Roosevelt of the United Nations' original three branches: The
Four Policemen, an executive branch, and an international assembly of forty UN member states.
United Nations
–
Flag
United Nations
–
The
Chilean delegation signing the
UN Charter in San Francisco, 1945
United Nations
–
Dag Hammarskjöld was a particularly active Secretary-General from 1953 until his death in 1961.
37.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
–
The movements parts are, The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, by Henry Dunant and Gustave Moynier. Its 25-member committee has a unique authority under international law to protect the life. The ICRC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on three occasions, on an international level, the Federation leads and organizes, in close cooperation with the National Societies, relief assistance missions responding to large-scale emergencies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1963, the Federation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the ICRC. National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies exist in every country in the world. Currently 190 National Societies are recognized by the ICRC and admitted as members of the Federation. Each entity works in its home country according to the principles of humanitarian law. In many countries, they are linked to the respective national health care system by providing emergency medical services. When he arrived in the town of Solferino on the evening of June 24, he toured the field of the Battle of Solferino. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were wounded on the field. Jean-Henri Dunant was shocked by the aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment. He succeeded in organizing an overwhelming level of assistance by motivating the local villagers to aid without discrimination. Back in his home in Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled A Memory of Solferino which he published using his own money in 1862. He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe, in addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the protection of neutral medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield. In 1863, Gustave Moynier, a Geneva lawyer and president of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, received a copy of Dunants book, eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded. In October 1863, the conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
–
The
Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, the symbols from which the movement derives its name.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
–
Jean-Henri Dunant, author of "A Memory of Solferino"
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
–
Original document of the
First Geneva Convention, 1864
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
–
After the
Battle of Gravelotte during the
Franco–Prussian War in 1870
38.
Geneva Conventions
–
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment in war. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in whole or with reservations, the Swiss businessman Henry Dunant went to visit wounded soldiers after the Battle of Solferino in 1859. He was shocked by the lack of facilities, personnel, as a result, he published his book, A Memory of Solferino, in 1862, on the horrors of war. The latter led to the 1864 Geneva Convention, the first codified international treaty that covered the sick, for both of these accomplishments, Henry Dunant became corecipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. The ten articles of this first treaty were initially adopted on 22 August 1864 by twelve nations, on 20 October 1868 the first, unsuccessful, attempt to expand the 1864 treaty was undertaken. With the Additional Articles relating to the Condition of the Wounded in War an attempt was undertaken to clarify some rules of the 1864 convention, the Articles were signed but never ratified by all parties. Only the Netherlands and the United States ratified the Articles, the Netherlands later withdrew their ratification. The protection of the victims of warfare would later be realized by the third Hague Convention of 1899. In 1906 thirty-five states attended a conference convened by the Swiss government and it remained into force until 1970 when Costa Rica acceded to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The 1929 conference yielded two conventions that were signed on July 27th 1929, one, the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field, was the third version to replace the original convention of 1864. The other was adopted after experiences in World War I had shown the deficiencies in the protection of prisoners of war under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. The Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was not to replace these earlier conventions signed at The Hague, the Second Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea replaced the Hague Convention of 1907. It was the first Geneva Convention on the protection of the victims of warfare and mimicked the structure. The Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War replaced the 1929 Geneva Convention that dealt with prisoners of war. In addition to these three conventions, the conference added a new elaborate Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. It was the first Geneva Convention not to deal with combatants, the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions had already contained some provisions on the protection of civilians and occupied territory. Article 154 specifically provides that the Fourth Geneva Convention is supplementary to these provisions in the Hague Conventions, despite the length of these documents, they were found over time to be incomplete. In light of developments, two Protocols were adopted in 1977 that extended the terms of the 1949 Conventions with additional protections
Geneva Conventions
–
The Geneva Convention: the signature-and-seals page of the
1864 Geneva Convention, that established humane rules of war.
Geneva Conventions
–
Original document, single pages as PDF, 1864
Geneva Conventions
–
Red Cross poster from the
First World War.
39.
Prisoners of war
–
A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
Prisoners of war
–
Austro-Hungarian POWs in Russia, 1915
Prisoners of war
–
An Iranian soldier watching Iraqi prisoners of war sitting in a pickup truck during
Iran-Iraq war.
Prisoners of war
–
American prisoners captured in
Ardennes in December 1944
Prisoners of war
–
Engraving of
Nubian prisoners,
Abu Simbel, Egypt, 13th century BC
40.
Financial centre
–
A financial centre is a location that is home to a cluster of nationally or internationally significant financial services providers such as banks, investment managers or stock exchanges. A prominent financial centre can be described as a financial centre or a global financial centre and is often also a global city. Regional and national financial centres interact with these leading centres and may act as business feeders or provide access to them. An offshore financial centre is typically a smaller, lower-tax, more lightly regulated jurisdiction that primarily serves non-residents. In a number of cities, the name International Financial Centre is given to skyscrapers located in business districts, for example the landmark. Financial centres are locations with an agglomeration of participants in financial markets, participants can include financial intermediaries, institutional investors, as well as central banks. Trading activity takes place on such as exchanges and involve clearing houses, although many transactions take place over-the-counter. Financial centres serve the business of their home country and may also serve international business. The term international financial centre or global financial centre is used to indicate a prominent financial centre where such international or cross-border business takes place. International financial centres started an early life in the 11th century in England at the annual fair of St. Giles. The first real international financial center was the City State of Venice which slowly emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century, tradable bonds as a commonly used type of security, was invented by the Italian city-states of the late medieval and early Renaissance periods. They, too, became important centres of financial innovation, as Richard Sylla noted, “In modern history, several nations had what some of us call financial revolutions. These can be thought of as creating in a period of time all the key components of a modern financial system. The first was the Dutch Republic four centuries ago, Amsterdam – unlike its predecessors such as Bruges, Antwerp, Genoa, and Venice – controlled crucial resources and markets directly, sending its fleets to all quarters of the world. As the first listed company, the VOC was the first company to issue stock. With its pioneering features, the VOC is generally considered a major institutional breakthrough, and it officially ushered in the era of the modern multinational/transnational corporations that now dominate the world economy. The second major innovation was the creation of the worlds first fully functioning financial market, while the Italian city-states produced the first transferable government bonds, they didnt develop the other ingredient necessary to produce a fully fledged capital market, corporate shareholders. The VOC was the first company in history to issue bonds
Financial centre
–
The
City of London is one of the oldest financial centres and today remains at the heart of
London 's financial services industry.
Financial centre
–
New York City 's
Financial District in
Lower Manhattan, which includes
Wall Street. Many financial firms have expanded northward to
Midtown Manhattan.
Financial centre
–
The
Central District of
Hong Kong, one of the main financial centres in Asia, seen from
the Peak.
Financial centre
–
Frankfurt 's
Bankenviertel (banking district), home of the
European Central Bank.
41.
Mercer (consulting firm)
–
Mercer is the worlds largest human resources consulting firm. Headquartered in New York City, Mercer has more than 20,500 employees, is based in more than 40 countries, Mercer is a subsidiary of global professional services firm Marsh & McLennan. In 1959, Mercer became a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, in 2002, its name was changed to Mercer Human Resource Consulting. In 2004, the company acquired Houston, TX-based Synhrgy HR Technologies, also in 2004, Mercer admitted giving the NYSE board a compensation report that contained omissions and inaccuracies that led to a $139.5 million pay package for former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso. Mercer had been brought in to advise the stock exchange on Grassos 2003 contract, the consultancy returned $440,000 in fees it collected from the NYSE and provided key documents in the lawsuit. In 2007, the company became simply Mercer, also in 2007, Mercer acquired Höfer Vorsorge-Management, a German actuarial and retirement consulting firm. At the time, the acquisition reportedly gave Mercer the top position in Germany. In 2008, Mercers Italian human capital consulting business merged with Tesi, the combined business, Mercer Tesi was noted at the time to be the largest HR consultancy in Italy. In 2010, Mercer acquired ORC Worldwide, an expert in international work assignments, also in 2010, Mercer acquired Brecksville, Ohio-based Innovative Process Administration LLC, a health benefits and technology provider. In 2011, Mercer acquired Fort Lauderdale, FL-based Mahoney & Associates, also in 2011, Mercer acquired Alicia Smith & Associates, a Washington DC-based Medicaid policy consulting firm. In 2013, Mercer acquired British Columbia-based Hall Consulting Limited, an HR consultant and salary surveyor focusing on the mining, also in 2013, Mercer acquired PricewaterhouseCoopers pension windup administration business in Canada. Also in 2013, Mercer acquired Global Remuneration Solutions, a South African compensation and benefits survey data, in 2014, Mercer acquired Norwell, MA-based Transition Assist, a private health care exchange specializing in coverage for Medicare-eligible retirees. Also in 2014, Mercer acquired Jeitosa Group International, a business and technology consultancy, in 2015, Mercer made two acquisitions. Since January 2013 Mercer has been organized into three regions, each with a regional president, North America, EuroPac and Growth Markets. Headquarters for the North American region are in New York City, for EuroPac in London, less than half of the organization’s employees are based in North America. List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees Official website Mercer Comptryx site http, //www. reuters. com/article/us-usa-insidertrading-allen-idUSKCN0WH2L3
Mercer (consulting firm)
–
Mercer, LLC
42.
Vienna
–
Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
Vienna
Vienna
Vienna
Vienna
43.
Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
44.
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
–
Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also simply Bellum Gallicum, is Julius Caesars firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting the Germanic peoples and Celtic peoples in Gaul that opposed Roman conquest. The Gaul that Caesar refers to is sometimes all of Gaul except for the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, encompassing the rest of modern France, Belgium and some of Switzerland. On other occasions, he refers only to that territory inhabited by the Celtic peoples known to the Romans as Gauls, the work has been a mainstay in Latin instruction because of its simple, direct prose. It begins with the quoted phrase Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres. The full work is split into eight sections, Book 1 to Book 8, Book 8 was written by Aulus Hirtius, after Caesars death. The boni intended to prosecute Caesar for abuse of his authority upon his return, such prosecution would not only see Caesar stripped of his wealth and citizenship, but also negate all of the laws he enacted during his term as Consul and his dispositions as pro-consul of Gaul. To defend himself against these threats, Caesar knew he needed the support of the plebeians, particularly the Tribunes of the Plebs, by winning the support of the people, Caesar sought to make himself unassailable from the boni. The work is a paradigm of proper reporting and stylistic clarity and it is often lauded for its polished, clear Latin. It contains many details and employs many stylistic devices to promote Caesars political interests, the books are valuable for the many geographical and historical claims that can be retrieved from the work. Notable chapters describe Gaulish custom, their religion, and a comparison between Gauls and Germanic peoples, since Caesar is one of the characters in the Astérix and Obélix albums, René Goscinny included gags for French schoolchildren who had the Commentarii as a textbook. One example is having Caesar talk about himself in the person as in the book. Some English editions state that Astérixs village of indomitable Gauls is the part of Gaul. In Book 5, Chapter 44 the Commentarii de Bello Gallico notably mentions Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, during World War I the French composer Vincent dIndy wrote his Third Symphony, which bears the title De Bello Gallico. DIndy was adapting Caesars title to the situation of the current struggle in France against the German army, in which he had a son and nephew fighting, and which the music illustrates to some extent. At Gutenberg Project, Caesars Commentaries, English translation by W. A. MACDEVITT, introduction by THOMAS DE QUINCEY De Bello Gallico, Latin text edition. The Gallic Wars By Julius Caesar, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, IVLI CAESARIS COMMENTARIORVM DE BELLO, TheLatinLibrary. com,2008. Dickinson College Commentaries Selections in Latin with notes, audio, Commentaries on the Gallic War public domain audiobook at LibriVox Wikisource, Commentaries on the Gallic War translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, Books 1–8
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
–
Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar after the battle of Alesia
45.
Continental Celtic
–
Continental Celtic is a geographic, not a linguistic, grouping of the ancient Celtic languages. The Continental Celtic languages were spoken by the known to Roman and Greek writers as Keltoi, Celtae, Galli. These languages were spoken in an arc stretching across from Iberia in the west to the Balkans, even though Breton is spoken in continental Europe, and has been since at least the 6th century AD, it is not considered one of the Continental Celtic languages. It is a Brittonic language closely related to Cornish and Welsh, whilst it has been suggested that there is a Gaulish substratum in the Vannetais dialect the historical and linguistic evidence shows otherwise. It is evidenced in a number of inscriptions as well as place names, Gaulish or Gallic was the main language spoken in greater Gaul. This is often considered to be divided into two dialects, Cisalpine and Transalpine and it is evidenced in a number of inscriptions as well as place names and tribal names in writings of classical authors. It may have been a substratum to Breton, as noted above, classical writers say that the language is similar to that of Gaul. There is also evidence of invasion and settlement of the Ankara area by Celts from Europe, noric, which is the name given sometimes to the Celtic dialects spoken in Central and Eastern Europe. It was spoken in Austria and Slovenia, only two texts are preserved but there are plenty of known personal names and toponyms. Celtiberian or Northeastern Hispano-Celtic is the given to the language in northeast Iberia. It is attested in some 200 inscriptions as well as place names and it is distinct from the Iberian language. Gallaecian also known as Gallaic or Northwestern Hispano-Celtic, attested in a corpus of Latin inscriptions containing isolated words. It was spoken in the north west of the Iberian Peninsula, the modern term Continental Celtic is used in contrast to Insular Celtic. Instead, the group called Continental Celtic is paraphyletic and the term refers simply to non-Insular Celtic languages, since little material has been preserved in any of the Continental Celtic languages, historical linguistic analysis based on the comparative method is difficult to perform. However, other researchers see the Brittonic languages and Gaulish as forming part of a sub-group of the Celtic languages known as P-Celtic, Continental languages are all P-Celtic except for Celtiberian, which is Q-Celtic, and have had a definite influence on all the Romance languages. Italo-Celtic Ball M and Fife J, the origins of the Insular Celtic conjunct and absolute verbal endings. Flexion und Wortbildung, Akten der V. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, the PIE stops and syllabic nasals in Celtic. In R. Beekes, A. Lubotsky, J. Weitenberg, rekonstruktion und relative Chronologie, Akten Der VIII
Continental Celtic
–
Celtic languages during the Iron Age and classical Antiquity
46.
Estuary
–
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
Estuary
–
Estuary of the
Klamath River in
Northern California
Estuary
–
River Exe estuary
Estuary
–
River Nith estuary
Estuary
–
Estuary mouth located in
Darwin,
Northern Territory,
Australia
47.
County of Geneva
–
The County of Geneva, largely corresponding to the later Genevois province, originated in the tenth century, in the Burgundian Kingdom of Arles which fell to the Holy Roman Empire in 1032. Several nobles had held the title of a Count of Geneva in Upper Burgundy from the 9th century, the progenitor of the Counts of Geneva was Conrad I, possible count palatine of Burgundy, in Vienne. Count Cono/Conrad died about 1003 in exile, during the Hermann IIs rebellion and their son, Robert, count of Geneva, was born about 970 and died about 1020. The county never played a part as a feudal entity. The city of Geneva and its environs were retained, but the approaches to the end of Lake Geneva. From 1219 on, the stronghold and capital was Annecy. Unexpectedly, with the death of his brother, he succeeded as count in 1392, as count, Robert was virtually dependent on the cooperative graces of the count of Savoy. With his death in 1394, the House of Geneva was extinguished, the year after Humberts death, his heir Odo sold the comté to Count Amadeus VIII of Savoy. The title Count of Geneva passed securely into the House of Savoy, medieval historians connected the literary figures of Reynier and Olivier from the late 12th-century Girart de Vienne to the Genevois, but this is pure fiction. 890, Manasses, may be count of Geneva,1012, Robert, his nephew, son of count Cono/Conrad I By Samuel Guichenon, in Histoire généalogique de la royale maison de Savoie 880, Ratbert 931, Albitius, his son, Conrad, his son c. 963–974, Robert, his son 974–1001, Albert 1004, Renaud 1016 and his heirs however contested this and the legal processes were not completed until 1424. From 1424 the County of Geneva was joined to the House of Savoy, duparc, Pierre, Le Comté de Genève, Ixe-XVe siècle 1955. Paul Guichonnet, Genève, de in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
County of Geneva
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Annecy Castle
County of Geneva
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Arelat (yellow) with Geneva, about 1200
48.
Middle Latin
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Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors, medieval Latin should not be confused with Ecclesiastical Latin. There is no consensus on the exact boundary where Late Latin ends. Medieval Latin had a vocabulary, which freely borrowed from other sources. Greek provided much of the vocabulary of Christianity. The various Germanic languages spoken by the Germanic tribes, who invaded southern Europe, were major sources of new words. Germanic leaders became the rulers of parts of the Roman Empire that they conquered, other more ordinary words were replaced by coinages from Vulgar Latin or Germanic sources because the classical words had fallen into disuse. Latin was also spread to such as Ireland and Germany. Works written in the lands, where Latin was a language with no relation to the local vernacular, also influenced the vocabulary. English words like abstract, subject, communicate, matter, probable, the high point of the development of medieval Latin as a literary language came with the Carolingian renaissance, a rebirth of learning kindled under the patronage of Charlemagne, king of the Franks. On the other hand, strictly speaking there was no form of medieval Latin. Every Latin author in the period spoke Latin as a second language, with varying degrees of fluency, and syntax, grammar. For instance, rather than following the classical Latin practice of placing the verb at the end. Unlike classical Latin, where esse was the auxiliary verb, medieval Latin writers might use habere as an auxiliary, similar to constructions in Germanic. The accusative and infinitive construction in classical Latin was often replaced by a clause introduced by quod or quia. This is almost identical, for example, to the use of que in similar constructions in French. In every age from the late 8th century onwards, there were learned writers who were familiar enough with classical syntax to be aware that these forms and usages were wrong, however the use of quod to introduce subordinate clauses was especially pervasive and is found at all levels. That resulted in two features of Medieval Latin compared with Classical Latin. First, many attempted to show off their knowledge of Classical Latin by using rare or archaic constructions
Middle Latin
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Carmina Cantabrigiensia, Medieval Latin manuscript
Middle Latin
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Europe, 1000 AD
Middle Latin
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An
illuminated manuscript of a
Book of Hours contains prayers in medieval Latin.
Middle Latin
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The
Prüfening dedicatory inscription of 1119, composed in medieval Latin.
49.
Savoy
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Savoy is a cultural region in Western Europe. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps between Lake Geneva in the north and Dauphiné in the south, the historical land of Savoy emerged as the feudal territory of the House of Savoy during the 11th to 14th centuries. The historical territory is shared between the countries of France, Italy, and Switzerland. Installed by Rudolph III, King of Burgundy, officially in 1003 and it ruled the County of Savoy to 1416 and then the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1860. The territory of Savoy was annexed to France in 1792 under the French First Republic, victor Emmanuels dynasty, the House of Savoy, retained its Italian lands of Piedmont and Liguria and became the ruling dynasty of Italy. In modern France, Savoy is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, following its annexation to France in 1860, the territory of Savoy was divided administratively into two separate departments, Savoie and Haute-Savoie. The traditional capital remains Chambéry, on the rivers Leysse and Albane, hosting the castle of the House of Savoy, the capital of the Duchy remained at the traditional Savoyard capital of Chambéry until 1563, when it was moved to Turin. The region was occupied by the Allobroges, a Celtic people that in 121 BC were subdued by the Roman Empire, the name Savoy stems from the Late Latin Sapaudia, referring to a fir forest. It is first recorded in Ammianus Marcellinus, to describe the part of Maxima Sequanorum. According to the Gallic Chronicle of 452, it was separated from the rest of Burgundian territories in 443 and this latter territory comprised what would become known as Savoy and Provence. From the 10th to 14th century, parts of what would ultimately become Savoy remained within the Kingdom of Arles. Beginning in the 11th century, the rise to power of the House of Savoy is reflected in the increasing territory of their County of Savoy between 1003 and 1416. The County of Savoy was detached de jure from the Kingdom of Arles by Emperor Charles IV in 1361, on February 19,1416, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, made the County of Savoy an independent duchy, with Amadeus VIII as the first duke. Straddling the Alps, Savoy lay within two competing spheres of influence, a French sphere and a North Italian one, at the time of the Renaissance, Savoy showed only modest development. Its towns were few and small, Savoy derived its subsistence from agriculture. The geographic location of Savoy was also of military importance, during the interminable wars between France and Spain over the control of northern Italy, Savoy was important to France because it provided access to Italy. Savoy was important to Spain because it served as a buffer between France and the Spanish held lands in Italy, in 1563 Emmanuel Philibert moved the capital from Chambéry to Turin, which was less vulnerable to French interference. Vaud was annexed by Bern in 1536, and Savoy officially ceded Vaud to Bern in the Treaty of Lausanne of 30 October 1564
Savoy
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Alpine landscape of
Les Saisies, as seen from
Mont Bisanne.
Savoy
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Flag
Savoy
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People of
Chambéry with
French flags celebrating the annexation in 1860.
Savoy
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The Château de Chambéry, seat of government, was given a grand new façade following annexation
50.
John Calvin
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John Calvin was an influential French theologian, pastor and reformer during the Protestant Reformation. Various Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches, which look to Calvin as the expositor of their beliefs, have spread throughout the world. Calvin was a polemic and apologetic writer who generated much controversy. He also exchanged cordial and supportive letters with many reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon, in addition to his seminal Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible, confessional documents, and various other theological treatises. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530, at the invitation of Martin Bucer, Calvin proceeded to Strasbourg, where he became the minister of a church of French refugees. He continued to support the movement in Geneva, and in 1541 he was invited back to lead the church of the city. Following his return, Calvin introduced new forms of government and liturgy. During this period, Michael Servetus, a Spaniard regarded by both Roman Catholics and Protestants as having a view of the Trinity, arrived in Geneva. He was denounced by Calvin and burned at the stake for heresy by the city council, following an influx of supportive refugees and new elections to the city council, Calvins opponents were forced out. Calvin spent his final years promoting the Reformation both in Geneva and throughout Europe, John Calvin was born as Jehan Cauvin on 10 July 1509, at Noyon, a town in Picardy, a province of the Kingdom of France. He was the first of four sons who survived infancy and his mother, Jeanne le Franc, was the daughter of an innkeeper from Cambrai. She died of a cause in Calvins childhood, after having borne four more children. Calvins father, Gérard Cauvin, had a career as the cathedral notary and registrar to the ecclesiastical court, he died in 1531. Gérard intended his three sons — Charles, Jean, and Antoine — for the priesthood, however, by age 12, he was employed by the bishop as a clerk and received the tonsure, cutting his hair to symbolise his dedication to the Church. He also won the patronage of a family, the Montmors. Through their assistance, Calvin was able to attend the Collège de la Marche, Paris, once he completed the course, he entered the Collège de Montaigu as a philosophy student. In 1525 or 1526, Gérard withdrew his son from the Collège de Montaigu, according to contemporary biographers Theodore Beza and Nicolas Colladon, Gérard believed that Calvin would earn more money as a lawyer than as a priest. After a few years of study, Calvin entered the University of Bourges in 1529
John Calvin
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Calvin was originally interested in the priesthood, but he changed course to study law in
Orléans and
Bourges. Painting titled Portrait of Young John Calvin from the collection of the Library of Geneva.
John Calvin
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Portrait attributed to
Hans Holbein the Younger
John Calvin
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William Farel was the reformer who convinced Calvin to stay in Geneva. 16th Century painting. In the
Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Geneva.
John Calvin
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Saint-Nicolas Church, Strasbourg, where Calvin preached in 1538. The building was architecturally modified in the 19th century.
listen), Italian: Ginevra [dʒiˈneːvra], and Romansh: Genevra.
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Lausanne and Geneva". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.
Geneva travel guide from Wikivoyage
