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Switzerland (French Suisse; German Schweiz; Italian Svizzera), federal republic in west central Europe, bounded on the north by France and Germany, on the east by Austria and Liechtenstein, on the south by Italy, and on the west by France. The country has an area of 41,285 sq km (15,940 sq mi). Its largest city is Zürich, and the capital is Bern.

Switzerland is one of the most mountainous countries of Europe, with more than 70 percent of its area covered by the Alps, in the central and southern sections, and the Jura, in the northwest. The Swiss Alps are part of the largest mountain system in Europe, and are famous for their jagged peaks and steep gorges. There are several ranges within the Alps, including the Pennine range, which has Switzerland�s highest peak, the 4,634 m (15,203 ft) Dufourspitze of Monte Rosa. The Jura (Celtic for �forest�) are much lower and smaller than the Alps, and are popular for cross-country skiing. The renowned Swiss watchmaking industry began in the Jura Mountains.

Between these two mountain systems lies the Swiss plateau, about 400 m (about 1,300 ft) above sea level in average elevation and some 50 km (some 30 mi) wide; it extends from Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) in the extreme southwest to the Bodensee (Lake of Constance) in the extreme northeast. The plateau is thickly studded with hills. Between the ranges of the Alps and Jura also stretch long valleys connected by transverse gorges; one such valley is the Engadine along the Inn River in the southeast. Nearly every Swiss valley is traversed by streams, often interrupted by picturesque waterfalls, including the Staubbach Falls (about 290 m/950 ft) in the canton of Bern. The principal river system is formed by the Rhine and its tributaries. Other important rivers are the Rhône, Ticino, and Inn. However, the Swiss rivers are not navigable for any appreciable extent. Switzerland is famous for its many lakes, particularly those of the Alpine region, known for their scenic beauty. The most important include Lake Geneva, Bodensee, Lake Lugano, and Lake Maggiore (at which lies Switzerland�s lowest point, 194 m (636 ft) above sea level), which are not wholly within Swiss borders; and Lake of Neuchâtel, Lake of Lucerne (Vierwaldstätter See) and Zürichsee, Brienzersee, and Thunersee, which are entirely within Switzerland.

On the plateau and lower valleys of Switzerland a temperate climate prevails, with a mean annual temperature of about 10�C (about 50�F). The temperature decreases about 2�C (about 3�F) for every additional 300 m (about 1,000 ft) of elevation. Precipitation also varies considerably according to elevation. Precipitation on the plateau and in the lower valleys is about 910 mm (about 36 in) annually; the higher regions generally receive more precipitation. Much of the precipitation occurs during the winter in the form of snow; the peaks of most mountains about 2,700 m (about 9,000 ft) or higher are snow-covered throughout the year. Large glaciers are at higher elevations, especially in the Alps. The bise, a cold, northerly wind, predominates in the winter, and the foehn, a warm, dry southeasterly wind, predominates during the rest of the year.

Waterpower is the chief natural resource of Switzerland. Granite, limestone, and other building stones and salt are the only abundant mineral resources; small deposits of iron and manganese ores are found. Agricultural resources are limited, as most of the soil is leached and stony.

Mediterranean plants and trees such as the palm, magnolia, chestnut, walnut, apple, pear, cherry, and almond grow in the lowlands and on the Swiss plateau. Highly productive forests cover 30 percent of the total land area, primarily at elevations between about 550 and 2,000 m (about 1,800 and 6,500 ft). Deciduous forests of beech, maple, and oak are characteristic below about 1,400 m (about 4,500 ft), and coniferous forests, primarily of pine and fir, flourish above that height. At higher elevations, the flora consists of Alpine species such as edelweiss, anemone, lily, and mugho and Swiss pines.

Chamois and marmots inhabit the Alpine regions. The forests contain foxes and many species of birds, including woodpeckers and blue jays. Trout are common in the streams, and salmon are found in several rivers.

The environmental problems faced by Switzerland stem largely from the steady deterioration of natural systems, coupled with increased human impact due to tourism and rising standards of living. The most significant threats to the environment include damage to forests from acid rain, the destruction of river systems because of hydroelectric dams, pollution from agricultural chemicals such as nitrates, urban sprawl, and increased automobile traffic. Air quality improved in the late 20th century as a result of stringent vehicle emission standards and the banning of leaded gasoline. Municipal wastewater treatment has been successful, and more than 90 percent of the population is served by treatment plants.

About 28.6 percent (1995) of Switzerland is covered with forest, only a tiny part of which is virgin forest. Overall, protected land makes up about 18 percent (1997) of the country, and Swiss laws are strict regarding the violation of protected areas. Certain threatened wetland areas are especially well protected, including bogs, fens, mire landscapes, and reserves for migratory water birds.

Major Swiss environmental laws are made at the level of the federal government, although protected areas are usually managed by the individual cantons. Nongovernmental organizations, such as the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature, play an important part in conservation, environmental policymaking, and management of protected areas.

Internationally, Switzerland is bound by environmental agreements on air pollution, biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, environmental modification, hazardous wastes, the ozone layer, and tropical timber. Regionally, Switzerland participates with its neighbors in agreements to protect the delicate environments of the Alps.

The Swiss people as a whole are mainly of Alpine, Nordic, and Slavic or Dinaric descent. The ethnic composition of Switzerland is generally defined by the major language communities: German, French, Italian, and Romansch (Rhaeto-Romanic). Other ethnicities, such as Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish, make up 6 percent of the population.

The population of Switzerland (2002 estimate) is 7,301,994, yielding an overall population density of 176 persons per sq km (457 per sq mi). The population of Switzerland is unevenly distributed, with the principal concentrations occurring in the Swiss plateau. Some 68 percent of the population is classified as urban, but most live in small towns. Population growth is slow, and a surplus of jobs means that foreign laborers and their families make up nearly one-fifth of the population.

Switzerland is a confederation of 23 states, called cantons, three of which are subdivided into half-cantons for administrative purposes. The cantons and half-cantons are as follows: Aargau; Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden (half-canton); Appenzell Inner-Rhoden (half-canton); Basel-Land (half-canton); Basel-Stadt (half-canton); Bern; Fribourg; Geneva (Genève); Glarus; Graubünden (Grisons); Jura; Lucerne (Luzern); Neuchâtel; Nidwalden (half-canton); Obwalden (half-canton); Sankt Gallen; Schaffhausen; Schwyz; Solothurn (Soleure); Thurgau; Ticino; Uri; Valais; Vaud; Zug; and Zürich.

The capital of Switzerland is Bern, with a population (1998) of 123,254. Other major cities are Zürich (336,821), the largest city and financial center; Basel (168,735), a commercial center noted for textile and clothing manufacturing; Geneva (172,809), a cultural, financial, and manufacturing center noted for its watchmaking and jewelry; and Lausanne (114,161), a railroad junction and center for the manufacture of iron goods.

Roman Catholicism is the faith of about 46 percent of the population of Switzerland, and about 40 percent of the people are Protestant. Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Jews make up a small percentage of the population, while those with no religion are about 10 percent. Freedom of worship is guaranteed. In 1973 a referendum repealed articles of the constitution that were responsible for the banning of the Jesuit order and the founding of new religious houses. Several important developments of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century occurred in Switzerland; the French theologian John Calvin instituted some of his theories at Geneva.

The official languages of Switzerland are German (spoken by 65 percent of the population), French (18 percent), and Italian (10 percent). The fourth national language, Romansch, is spoken by less than 1 percent of the people. Other languages spoken include Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish. In a majority of the cantons the most commonly spoken language is Schwyzertütsch (Swiss German), an Allemanic dialect of German differing vastly from both written German and other German dialects. Newspapers and magazines are written in standard German, however, and German is the language of many theater, motion picture, and television productions. French is the most commonly spoken language in the cantons of Fribourg, Jura, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, and Geneva, and Italian is the predominant language in Ticino. Romansch, a Romance language, is spoken chiefly in the canton of Graubünden.

Switzerland has exerted a deep influence on European and international education for centuries. The academic excellence of Swiss universities, including those at Basel (founded in 1460), Lausanne (1537), Zürich (1833), and Geneva (1559), as well as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (1855) in Zürich, has attracted numerous foreign students. Education, particularly religious education, has been inspired in part by John Calvin, who settled in Switzerland in 1536. Modern education has been largely influenced by the 18th-century Geneva-born philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. The theories of Johann Pestalozzi, the 18th-century educational reformer who advocated that children should learn from their own experiences, have contributed to the development of education throughout the world. In recent times, the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget became widely recognized for his insights into the learning abilities and habits of children.

The Swiss constitution of 1848 provided for free and compulsory education. Under the constitution of 1874, as amended in 1902, the federal government confined its efforts to higher education; the cantons and half-cantons were required to establish free, compulsory elementary schools with subsidies, but without control, from the federal government. These schools are taught in the local official language, but students may also study the other national languages as well.

Most cantons provide secondary schools for youths aged 12 to 15, gymnasiums (college-preparatory schools), and teacher-training institutes, in addition to various institutions of higher learning and special schools. Illiteracy is negligible. In the 1995 school year primary schools in Switzerland had a total enrollment of 477,600 pupils; secondary, vocational, and teacher-training schools had a combined attendance of 559,900 students; and institutions of higher learning had an aggregate enrollment of approximately 148,000 students.

Swiss culture has contributed notably to literature, art, and music. It is an amalgam of the German, French, and Italian cultures embodied in the Swiss linguistic regions; however, it is separated from these parent cultures, for example, by Swiss dialects and cultural cross-pollination. From early times Switzerland has been exposed to many foreign influences, and as early as the Middle Ages the country had achieved a high cultural level. Carolingian culture, particularly painting and Romanesque architecture, flourished, and the Saint Gall monastery was a brilliant center of Western culture. Since then most European cultural trends, such as humanism and the Reformation, have been assimilated. Calvin and Huldreich Zwingli, another 16th-century Swiss religious leader, had an enormous impact on the culture of their country. By the 18th century, however, Swiss culture had become increasingly internationalized. In contemporary Switzerland theater and music flourish. The Stadttheater Basel, Stadttheater Bern, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Théâtre de la Comédie in Geneva, and Théâtre Municipal de Lausanne are the leading centers of drama; and in the world of music the Opernhaus Zürich, the municipal opera house, is particularly well known.

The library of Basel University, with about 2.8 million volumes, is among the largest in Switzerland. The Swiss National Library, in Bern, and the libraries of the United Nations (UN) and of the International Labor Organization, both in Geneva, are among the most important specialized libraries. Switzerland has many federal, cantonal, and municipal public libraries.

The National Museum, in Zürich, houses the most important of several large historical collections in Switzerland. Fine arts museums in Basel, Bern, and Zürich contain collections of 15th- and 16th-century German, 17th- and 18th-century Dutch and Flemish, 19th-century French impressionist, and contemporary European works.

Swiss literature comprises Latin-Swiss literature and the more important German-Swiss and French-Swiss literatures, which are closely linked to the literatures of the neighboring countries. Less significant are the Italian-Swiss, Romansch, and Swiss-dialect literatures. Latin-Swiss literature was important chiefly during the Middle Ages in religious and humanistic works. The most important Swiss literature is in German, beginning with the poetry of the minnesingers of the Middle Ages and including the popular ballads and chronicles dating from the 14th to the 18th century. The most outstanding German-Swiss authors include Gottfried Keller, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Hermann Hesse, Carl Spitteler, Jeremias Gotthelf (pseudonym of Albert Bitzius), Max Frisch, and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. One of the best-known French-Swiss authors is Charles Ferdinand Ramuz. A famous Swiss children�s book is Heidi (1880; translated 1884) by Johanna Spyri.

A number of Swiss artists have achieved international recognition over the centuries. Chief among them are the painters Konrad Witz, Henry Fuseli, Arnold Böcklin, Ferdinand Hodler, and Paul Klee. The sculptor Alberto Giacometti and the architect Le Corbusier are world renowned.

The Swiss composers Ludwig Senfl and Heinrich Loris, called Henricus Glareanus, made important contributions to European music during the Renaissance. Important Swiss composers in recent years have included Ernest Bloch, Othmar Schoeck, Frank Martin, Ernst Levy, and Conrad Beck. The Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet gained worldwide fame as conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, based in Geneva. The Swiss are also noted for developing the yodel, a kind of wordless singing with abrupt shifts in pitch.

Switzerland has a highly developed industrialized economy and one of the highest standards of living in the world. Gross domestic product in 1999 totaled $258.6 billion. Services is now the dominant sector of the Swiss economy, with trade, financial activities, government, and other services accounting for 69 percent of all employment. This area is followed by industry, including manufacturing, construction, and mining, at 26 percent; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 5 percent. The national budget in 1998 included $64.9 billion in revenues and $74.1 billion in expenditures.

Neither the soil nor the climate favors agriculture, and Switzerland must import much of the food it consumes and subsidize the farms that do exist. Nearly all the farms are family enterprises, and most are small in size. Agricultural products in 2001 (with production in metric tons) were cereals such as wheat and barley (1.1 million), root crops such as sugar beets and potatoes (526,000), and fruits such as apples and grapes (705,696). About 124 million liters (33 million gallons) of wine are produced annually. Dairy products make up a significant portion of Switzerland�s agricultural sector. Each year in the early 1990s some 3.8 million metric tons of cow�s milk and 134,600 metric tons of cheese were produced. Livestock included 1.6 million cattle, 1.6 million pigs, 460,000 sheep, 45,000 horses, and 7 million poultry.

Production of timber in Switzerland was 10.4 million cu m (368 million cu ft) in 2000. The industry has been hurt by air pollution, which has damaged more than 35 percent of the country�s forests. Most of the harvest was used to make either lumber or paper. Fishing is of minor importance, with catches of fish such as salmon and trout�primarily from Lakes Geneva and Neuchâtel and Bodensee and their tributary rivers�totaling about 3,009 metric tons in 1997.

The Swiss mining industry is not of major importance. Annual mineral production in the early 1990s included rock salt, about 250,000 metric tons, and cement, about 5.2 million tons.

Although raw materials are extremely limited in Switzerland, the country has a well-developed manufacturing economy. Raw material imports are converted into high-value exports by the country�s skilled workers. Leading areas of manufacturing include precision engineering, in particular clocks and watches (which accounted for 8 percent of export revenue in the early 1990s); heavy engineering and machine building, notably specialized, custom-produced equipment such as generators and turbines; food products, particularly specialized goods such as chocolate and cheese; textiles; chemicals; and pharmaceuticals. Swiss handicrafts, such as music boxes, embroideries, laces, and carved wooden objects, are widely prized.

Switzerland has extensive waterpower resources, and in 1999 some 59 percent of its electricity was produced in hydroelectric facilities. Nearly all of the rest was generated in nuclear power plants. Output from all sources in 1999 was 66.8 billion kilowatt-hours.

The unit of currency is the Swiss franc, divided into 100 centimes (1.50 francs equal U.S.$1; 1999 average). The semiprivate Swiss National Bank is the bank of issue, in which shares are held by the cantons, other banks, and the public. Switzerland is a major international financial center; its banks are favored by international depositors and financiers because of Swiss political and financial stability and traditional secrecy in banking transactions. Private banking is one of the country�s principal sources of income. Zürich is the country�s main banking center; leading commercial banks are the Union Bank of Switzerland, the Swiss Bank Corporation, and the Swiss Credit Bank. The Zürich Stock Exchange is one of the most important in Europe, and the city is also a major trade center for gold.

In 2000 Swiss imports cost $74.9 billion, and exports earned some $76.1 billion. The main exports included machinery, pharmaceuticals, clocks and watches, precision instruments, textiles and clothing, chemicals, pigments, and transportation equipment. Primary imports were machinery, automobiles, clothing, chemicals, precision instruments, and pharmaceuticals. The chief trading partners for exports were Germany, France, the United States, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom. Leading sources for imports were Germany, France, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Switzerland�s balance of trade is assisted by a robust tourism industry, one of the leading sources of foreign exchange and employment in the country. Visitors spent $7.3 billion in Switzerland in 2000.

Switzerland has about 5,030 km (about 3,126 mi) of railroad track, of which about 60 percent is owned and operated by the government; almost all the federally owned system has been electrified. Most of the rail traffic between France and Italy passes through Switzerland. Buses connect the more inaccessible regions. Roads totaled 71,115 km (44,189 mi) in 1999. There were 486 passenger vehicles in use for every 1,000 people in 1999. A national system of expressways was under construction; by the early 1990s 82 percent of the system�s planned 1,854 km (1,152 mi) had been completed.

There are three Alpine highway tunnels, including the 16.9-km (10.5-mi) Saint Gotthard tunnel, which is the longest highway tunnel in the world. There are also numerous railway tunnels through the Alps, with more being planned to alleviate highway traffic. In February 1994 Swiss voters addressed air and noise pollution issues by narrowly approving a controversial referendum banning all heavy truck traffic passing through Switzerland. The ban, heavily criticized by many European governments but also hailed as an important environmental measure, will go into effect in the year 2004 and will shift all large trucks traveling through the country to flatbed railroad cars.

Air transport, both domestic and international, is provided by Swissair, which is owned jointly by the federal government, the cantons, and private investors. Although Switzerland is landlocked, the Swiss merchant marine, created by decree of the federal government in 1941, consists of 21 large oceangoing vessels and numerous river barges, which operate from foreign ports and from the port of Basel on the Rhine River.

The Swiss Postal and Telecommunications agency oversees a comprehensive and modern communications system. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation provides radio and television programs in German, French, and Italian, and Swiss Radio International transmits radio programs to foreign countries. In 1997 there were 979 radios and 457 television receivers in use per 1,000 people. Switzerland has 88 daily newspapers; dailies with international reputations include Neue Zürcher Zeitung, published in Zürich, and Journal de Genève, published in Geneva.

In 1999 the Swiss labor force was made up of 3.8 million people. In the early 1990s about one-quarter of the labor force were foreigners (mostly from Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France), called guest workers. The leading labor group is the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, with some 444,000 members.

Switzerland is a republic governed under a constitution adopted on May 29, 1874, and amended many times since. The Swiss political system combines direct and indirect democracy with the principles of sovereignty of the people, separation of powers, and proportional representation. In federal elections, all citizens age 18 or older are eligible to vote; women gained suffrage in national elections in 1971 through a referendum. The electorate not only chooses its representatives but also decides important issues by means of referendums, an integral part of Swiss government. Constitutional amendments may be initiated by a petition of 50,000 voters and must be ratified by referendums. Federal legislation may also be made subject to referendums.

In Switzerland, executive power is vested in the Bundesrat, or Federal Council, composed of seven members who are elected to four-year terms by a joint session of the bicameral parliament. The council is responsible to the parliament. The legislature elects a president from among the members of the council for a one-year term. The constitution expressly prohibits the reelection of a president to consecutive terms of office.

The Swiss parliament, called the Federal Assembly, consists of two houses: the Ständerat, or Council of States, with 46 members (two for each full canton and one for each half canton) elected for varying periods at the discretion of the canton; and the Nationalrat, or National Council, with 200 members elected for four-year terms under a system of proportional representation.

The Federal Tribunal at Lausanne is composed of 30 judges who are appointed for six-year terms by the Federal Assembly. The court has final jurisdiction in suits between the cantonal and federal governments, corporations and individuals, and between cantons. It has original jurisdiction only in cases involving offenses against the confederation. In addition, each canton has its own autonomous system of justice, including civil and criminal courts and a court of appeals. Capital punishment was abolished in Switzerland in 1942.

All powers not delegated to the confederation by the Swiss constitution are reserved to the cantons. The forms of cantonal government vary, but each of the 23 cantons, three of which are subdivided into half cantons, has an elected legislative council and an executive council. In the smaller cantons, the council is a Landsgemeinde, a general assembly of voting citizens who decide matters by voice vote. In most cantons, however, the legislative council is a representative body elected by popular vote. Women gained the right to vote in local and cantonal elections in most areas during the 1970s; the last male bastion, Appenzell Inner-Rhoden, changed in 1990. The commune is the basic local unit of government; Switzerland has more than 3,000 communes in all, and they are largely autonomous in many governmental matters. Several communes are grouped into a district, which is headed by a prefect representing the cantonal government.

The strongest Swiss political parties are the Radical Democratic Party, standing for strong federal power; the Social Democratic Party, advocating democratic socialism; and the Christian Democratic People�s Party, opposing centralization of power. Other political parties of note are the Swiss People�s Party, the Independent Alliance, the Liberal Party, and the Greens, an environmentalist group.

The Federal Insurance Law of 1911 regulates accident and sickness insurance. Accident insurance is compulsory for most officials and employees. Old-age and survivor�s insurance, which also includes disability benefits, is compulsory and is financed by a payroll tax on both employers and employees. Unemployment insurance became compulsory under a 1976 law.

Service in the Swiss militia is compulsory for all males between the ages of 20 and 42. Switzerland does not maintain a standing army, however, so service consists of relatively short periods of training. Because rifles, uniforms, and other equipment are kept at home, Switzerland can mobilize completely within about 48 hours. If mobilized, the Swiss armed forces would include about 357,500 troops.

In pre-Roman times the territory now known as Switzerland was inhabited by the Helvetii in the west and the Rhaetians, a people believed to have been related to the Etruscans, in the east. Julius Caesar and the Romans conquered the region, which they named Helvetia, in the 1st century bc, and it became thoroughly Romanized. During the Germanic invasions that swept over the Western Roman Empire in the 4th century ad, the Burgundians and the Alamanni conquered Helvetia.

The Franks in turn conquered the Alamanni in the 5th century ad, and the Burgundians in the early 6th century. The Franks introduced a new civilization based largely on Christianity. On the dissolution of the Frankish Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, most of Switzerland became part of the duchy of Alemannia, or Swabia, one of the great feudal states of the German Kingdom; the southwestern part was incorporated into the kingdom of Transjurane Bourgogne. In 1033 the Burgundian portion was acquired by Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, and Switzerland became a part of his empire. It consisted of a collection of petty states, ruled by dukes, counts, bishops, and abbots, and of a number of small city-states, independent by imperial charter, which later became cantonal commonwealths.

In 1276 Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I of the Habsburg dynasty attempted to assert feudal rights in Switzerland, making his power a threat to the traditional liberties of the Swiss. To resist Rudolf�s aggression, the three so-called forest cantons�Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden�around the Lake of Lucerne, entered a league for mutual defense in 1291. During the 14th century Zürich, Glarus, Bern, Lucerne, and Zug joined the league, and in the 15th century Fribourg and Solothurn joined. In 1474 the Habsburgs, unable to cope with the militant Swiss mountaineers, abandoned their attempts to acquire the region as a family appanage, and the Swiss confederation became directly dependent on the empire.

In 1499 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I attempted to abrogate various Swiss governmental rights; in the ensuing war he was defeated, and by the Treaty of Basel on September 22, 1499, he was compelled to recognize the virtual independence of the Swiss. By 1513 Appenzell, Schaffhausen, and Basel had entered the confederation, each independent as a canton and sending two delegates to a federal assembly. Because of their skill and bravery in war, Swiss mercenaries became famous throughout Europe. In the course of the wars between Italy and France in the early 16th century, Swiss troops, fighting with the French as mercenaries, were able to annex the Italian districts and towns that later formed the canton of Ticino. The Swiss troops then fought against the French, and were defeated in 1515. This led to the introduction of Switzerland�s neutrality policy. In 1536 the Bernese Swiss took Lausanne and various territories from the duchy of Savoy.

The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland started in 1518, when a country pastor named Huldreich Zwingli began to denounce the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic church. Subsequently, under Zwingli�s leadership, the city of Zürich revolted against church dogma by burning relics, banning the adoration of saints, and releasing clerics from their vows of celibacy. Vigorously backed by the merchant class, such innovations further asserted the city�s independence from both the Roman Catholic church and the Holy Roman Empire. Other Swiss towns, such as Basel and Bern, quickly adopted similar reforms. In 1536 Geneva, where the French theologian John Calvin had just settled, revolted against the duchy of Savoy and refused to acknowledge the authority of its Roman Catholic bishop. Calvin organized his church democratically, incorporating ideas of representative government. From 1541 to 1564 Geneva became the stronghold of the Calvinist brand of Protestantism. Although the cantons preserved their neutrality in the Thirty Years� War of 1618 to 1648, Swiss diplomacy was able to maneuver formal recognition of Switzerland as a completely independent state by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

During the 1790s the French Revolution spread to Switzerland; the French continually intervened in support of Swiss revolutionaries, a group that sought to promote political reforms and the establishment of a strong national government, and in 1798 the revolutionaries occupied all Swiss territory. The Swiss confederation had until that time been a loose defensive alliance, but Napoleon Bonaparte, the future emperor of France, unified the country under the name Helvetic Republic and imposed a written constitution, which, like the French military occupation, was bitterly resented by most of the Swiss. In 1803, when it was in his interest to have Switzerland friendly, Napoleon withdrew the occupation troops and by the Act of Mediation granted a new constitution with Swiss approval. The Congress of Vienna, in 1815, recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland, and Swiss territory was expanded to include 22 cantons; since that time the country�s boundaries have remained virtually unchanged.

The period following the integration of Switzerland was one of attempted adjustment to the newly won unity. Conflict existed between autocratic and democratic elements and between Roman Catholic and Protestant areas. In 1847 the Roman Catholic cantons formed a league, the Sonderbund. The federal government declared the formation of such a league a violation of the constitution. Civil war resulted when the league refused to disband. The Sonderbund was defeated by the federal government, and the ensuing constitution of 1848 greatly increased the federal power. It was followed by the constitution of 1874, which, with modifications, is still in force; the 1874 constitution completed the development of Switzerland from a group of cantons to a unified federal state. However, Switzerland is unusual regarding the power vested within the cantons and individual communes. For example, it is the communes that grant individuals Swiss citizenship.

Because of the traditional neutrality of the country, Switzerland became the favored site of international conferences and the headquarters of many organizations. The main office of the International Red Cross was established there in 1863, as was that of the League of Nations following World War I (1914-1918). Switzerland was a league member but, after maintaining neutrality and harboring political refugees during World War II (1939-1945), the country refused to join the United Nations (UN) on the grounds that certain obligations of membership were incompatible with Swiss neutrality. It did, however, become a member of many agencies affiliated with the UN, and it has maintained a permanent observer at UN headquarters. Switzerland also served on the neutral nations� commission supervising the 1953 truce agreement in Korea, and it contributed money to UN peacekeeping efforts in Cyprus.

In a March 2002 referendum, a majority of Swiss voters backed the government�s campaign to become a full member of the UN. A previous referendum on membership, held in 1986, was overwhelmingly rejected. Supporters of UN membership�including business and labor groups� argued that Switzerland should participate more fully in global affairs. The country is expected to formally submit its UN membership application in late 2002.

In 1948 Switzerland joined the Organization for European Economic Cooperation. It became a founding member of the European Free Trade Association in 1959 and in 1963 joined the Council of Europe. Switzerland became a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), an international trade organization that was replaced in 1995 by the World Trade Organization (WTO). WTO headquarters are in Geneva.

In February 1971 Switzerland for the first time granted women the right to vote in federal elections and to hold federal office; by 1979 more than 10 percent of the seats in the Nationalrat were held by women. Although most cantons also extended suffrage to women, the process was not completed until 1990. An equal rights amendment to the constitution was approved in a 1981 referendum; another referendum in 1985 guaranteed women legal equality with men in marriage. Other referenda in the 1980s upheld Switzerland�s system of military conscription, rejected restrictions on abortion and some forms of contraception, tightened constraints on immigration and the granting of political asylum, and defeated a proposal to abolish the military. A referendum approved in 1994 made racial discrimination, racist propaganda, and denial of the German Nazi Holocaust illegal.

In 1992 Switzerland moved to end decades of fierce independence by joining the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, in December of that year Swiss voters soundly rejected joining the European Economic Area, a free-trade zone linking many Western European countries. The vote was a significant blow to Switzerland�s application, filed earlier that year, to join the European Community (now the European Union). However, in November 1993 voters approved a national value-added tax more in line with the tax structure of other European Union members after rejecting the tax three times in previous votes. In June 1994 Swiss voters rejected a referendum that would have authorized Swiss troops to take part in UN peacekeeping operations.

Responding to international pressures, in the mid-1990s Switzerland began to relax its traditional insistence on banking secrecy and allow foreign investigators access to bank records in cases where illegal acquisition or use of funds was suspected. In 1995 the Swiss Banking Association (SBA), under pressure from leading Jewish organizations, consented to search its vaults for unclaimed bank accounts believed to contain assets belonging to victims of the Nazi Holocaust (the accounts had been protected from public scrutiny by Switzerland�s banking secrecy laws). In September the SBA announced that it had uncovered $30 million in bank accounts that had been opened before 1945 but had been dormant since then. Jewish groups disputed the findings, claiming that the search should have turned up billions, rather than millions, of dollars in lost assets.

Jewish leaders and others then began raising further issues regarding the Swiss government�s relationship with Nazi Germany, questioning the extent to which the Swiss profited from their relationship with the German government during World War II. In late 1996 and early 1997 the Swiss government took steps to respond to these issues. The government approved commissions to investigate Switzerland�s dealings with Germany and to conduct a thorough search of Swiss bank accounts in an attempt to determine the exact contents of those accounts and the amount of assets belonging to Holocaust victims.

In January 1997 the Swiss government endorsed a proposal by the country�s leading banks and businesses to establish a memorial fund to compensate Holocaust survivors and their relatives. In February Switzerland�s three leading commercial banks announced that they would contribute an initial $70 million to the fund; the move followed threats by international Jewish groups and institutions in the United States to apply sanctions against Swiss banks.

In March the Swiss government proposed setting up a $4.7 billion fund and using the interest on the money to help victims of the Holocaust and other human catastrophes. The government estimated that the fund would generate earnings of several hundred million dollars a year. The proposal, which required parliamentary approval and an amendment to the constitution before going into effect, provoked sharp opposition from nationalist critics in Switzerland, who viewed the fund as an illegitimate use of public assets and an unacceptable admission of wartime guilt.

In July Swiss banking officials published a list of 2,000 accounts that had been dormant since the end of World War II and could have potentially contained assets of victims of the Holocaust. In September the first payments from the memorial fund established in January 1997 began to be made to Eastern European Jews. The following month Swiss officials announced that they had found 4,000 more dormant accounts.

Despite these actions, the Swiss banking community still faced pressure from individuals and groups who felt that the banks were not doing enough to aid Holocaust survivors and their descendants. In March 1998 class-action lawsuits and potential sanctions in the United States against Swiss banks prompted three of the largest private banks to agree to participate in negotiations aimed at a so-called global settlement of all claims and suits against them. In August the banks agreed to a settlement of $1.25 billion, allowing descendants of Jews killed in the Holocaust to receive money that many felt had long been due them.