A Brief History of Switzerland

Switzerland (German: die Schweiz, [b] in French, la Suisse, in Italian, Svizzera, in Romansh, Svizra), officially known as the Swiss Confederation (Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its ISO codes are CH and CHE) , is a landlocked country located in Central Europe and has a population of 7,725,200 inhabitants (2009). [4] Switzerland is a federal republic of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, [a] while the country's financial centers are located in the cities of Zurich, Basel and Geneva. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world according to their GDP per capita, amounting to U.S. $ 67,384. [5] For its part, Zurich and Geneva are on the second and third place in the cities with better quality of life in world [7].

Switzerland Germany bordered to the north, the west by France, Italy to the south and east by Austria and Liechtenstein. The country is characterized by its neutral foreign policy, without having actively participated in any international conflict since 1815, and is home to several international organizations including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the two offices UN in Europe. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union but since 2005 is part of the Schengen area, is a multilingual nation and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. The date of establishment of Switzerland as a nation set the August 1, 1291 in accordance with tradition, each year there is held the same day a national holiday.

Currently, Switzerland is perceived as one of the world's most developed countries. For his policy of neutrality, the country produces a large number of immigrants from nations from several continents, so it is considered one of the European countries with greater cultural diversity. Finally, is internationally renowned for its mountains, watches, chocolates, banks, trains and cheeses. [8