Geneva

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Geneva
Top left: Palace of Nations, Middle left: CERN Laboratory, Right: Jet d'Eau, Bottom: View over Geneva and the lake.
Country Switzerland
Canton Geneva
District N/A
6°09′E / 46.2°N 6.15°E / 46.2; 6.15Coordinates: 6°09′E / 46.2°N 6.15°E / 46.2; 6.15
Population 185,726 (2007^[update])
  - Density 11,710 /km² (30,330 /sq mi)
Area 15.86 km² (6.12 sq mi)
Elevation 375 m (1,230 ft)
Postal code 1200
SFOS number 6621
Mayor (list) Rémy Pagani (as of 2009) À gauche toute!
Demonym Genevois
Surrounded by
(view map) Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
Website ville-ge.ch
SFSO statistics

Geneva (French: Genève, IPA: [ʒənɛv]; German: Genf, IPA: [ˈɡɛnf]  ( listen); Italian: Ginevra; Romansh: Genevra) is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandie (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). Situated where the Rhône River exits Lake Geneva (in French also known as Lac Léman), it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.

While the municipality itself (city center) has 189 442 inhabitants in 2010[1], the metropolitan area has 1,240,000 residents, according to a 2007 census.[2] The Greater Geneva Bern area has 2,800,000 residents.[3]

Geneva is a global city and a worldwide centre for diplomacy and the most important international co-operation centre with New-York because of the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations[4] and the Red Cross.[5] It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.

Geneva has been described as the third european financial centre after London and Zurich [6], and the world's sixth most important financial centre by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Chicago, Frankfurt and Sydney,[7] and a 2009 survey by Mercer found Geneva to have the third-highest quality of life in the world (narrowly outranked by Zürich).[8] The city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital".[9]

Etymology

The name Geneva is probably of Celtic origin. The city was mentioned in Latin texts with the spelling Genava. The name takes various forms in modern languages. Thus, it is Geneva in English and pronounced /dʒɨˈniːvə/, French: Genève [ʒənɛv], German: Genf [ɡɛnf]  ( listen), Italian: Ginevra [dʒiˈneːvra], and Romansh: Genevra. Another theory is that Geneva is derived from "Genévrier" which is the French word for "juniper."

History

Antiquity

Geneva first appears in history as a border town, fortified against the Celto-Germanic Helvetii, which the Romans took in 121 B.C. It became an episcopal seat in the 4th century.[10] In 443 it was taken by Burgundy, and with the latter fell to the Franks in 534. In 888 the town was part of the new Kingdom of Burgundy, and with it was taken over in 1033 by the German Emperor. According to legendary accounts found in the works of Gregorio Leti ("Historia Genevrena", Amsterdam, 1686) and Besson ("Memoires pour l'histoire ecclésiastique des diocèses de Genève, Tantaise, Aoste et Maurienne", Nancy, 1739; new ed. Moutiers, 1871), Geneva was Christianised by Dionysius Areopagita and Paracodus, two of the seventy-two disciples, in the time of Domitian; Dionysius went thence to Paris and Paracodus became the first Bishop of Geneva but the legend is fictitious, as is that which makes St. Lazarus the first Bishop of Geneva, an error arising out of the similarity between the Latin names Genara (Geneva) and Genua (Genoa, in northern Italy). The so-called "Catalogue de St. Pierre", which names St. Diogenus (Diogenes) as the first Bishop of Geneva, is unreliable.

A letter of St. Eucherius to Salvius makes it almost certain that St. Isaac (c. 400) was the first bishop. In 440 Salonius appears as Bishop of Geneva; he was a son of Eucherius, to whom the latter dedicated his Instructiones'; he took part in the Councils of Orange (441), Vaison (442) and Arles (about 455), and is supposed to be the author of two small commentaries, In parabolas Salomonis and on Ecclesisastis (published in P. L., LII, 967 sqq., 993 sqq. as works of an otherwise unknown bishop, Salonius of Vienne). Little is known about the following Bishops Theoplastus (about 475), to whom Sidonius Apollinaris addressed a letter; Dormitianus (before 500), under whom the Burgundian Princess Sedeleuba, a sister of Queen Clotilde, had the remains of the martyr and St. Victor of Soleure transferred to Geneva, where she built a basilica in his honour; St. Maximus (about 512-41), a friend of Avitus, Archbishop of Vienne and Cyprian of Toulon, with whom he was in correspondence (Wawra in "Tübinger Theolog. Quartalschrift", LXXXV, 1905, 576-594). Bishop Pappulus sent the priest Thoribiusas his substitute to the Synod of Orléans (541). Bishop Salonius II is only known from the signatures of the Synods of Lyon (570) and Paris (573) and Bishop Cariatto, installed by King Guntram in 584, was present at the two Synods of Valence and Macon in 585.

Middle Ages

From the beginning the bishopric of Geneva was a suffragan of the archbishopric of Vienne. The bishops of Geneva had the status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire since 1154, but had to maintain a long struggle for their independence against the guardians (advocati) of the see, the counts of Geneva and later the counts of the House of Savoy. In 1290 the latter obtained the right of installing the vice-dominus of the diocese, the title of Vidame of Geneva was granted to the counts of the House of Candia under count François de Candie of Chambéry-Le-Vieux a Chatellaine of the Savoy, this official exercised minor jurisdiction in the town in the bishop's. In 1387 Bishop Adhémar Fabry granted the town its great charter, the basis of its communal self-government[11], which every bishop on his accession was expected to confirm. When the line of the counts of Geneva became extinct in 1394, and the House of Savoy came into possession of their territory, assuming after 1416 the title of Duke, the new dynasty sought by every means to bring the city of Geneva under their power, particularly by elevating members of their own family to the episcopal see. The city protected itself by union with the Swiss Federation (German: Eidgenossenschaft), uniting itself in 1526 with Berne and Fribourg.

Reformation