Geneva

A view of Geneva, Switzerland.

Geneva (French: Genève) is the second-largest city in Switzerland, situated at the western end of Lake Geneva, close to the border with France. It has a population of 185,000 (metropolitan area: 960,000). It is the capital city of the Canton of Geneva.

Geneva was the home of the Protestant reformer John Calvin and became known as 'the Protestant Rome'. At this time it became an independent city-state, which was able to resist attempts by the Kingdom of Savoy to annex it in the early seventeenth century. The Geneva Bible, the first full-length Bible published in the English language, was named after and published in Geneva between 1560 and 1644 AD. Although aligned with the Swiss Confederation since the 1500s, Geneva became a part of Switzerland in 1815, part of the newly formed Canton of Geneva. It was also the birthplace for the French philosopher and ideological founder of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The first of the Geneva Conventions governing the conduct of war were signed in the city in 1864. Since then it has served as the headquarters of many peace-related and humanitarian organisations, including the International Red Cross and (between 1919 and 1946) the League of Nations. It is also the European headquarters of the United Nations, and HQ of many of its subsidiary organisations including the World Health Organization.

External links[edit]

• Geneva, at the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Official website
• Tourism website