60 Fun Facts About Switzerland

How many cantons make up the Swiss Confederation?

Six of them are so-called half-cantons with only one seat in the Council of States; Jura, the newest, split from Bern in 1979.

Which city is Switzerland's de facto capital, known as the "federal city"?

The Federal Assembly voted to put the seat of government there in November 1848, sending the future ETH to Zurich as a compromise.

How many national languages does Switzerland have?

German, French, Italian and Romansh, the last spoken by about 0.5% of the population in the canton of Grisons.

Roughly what share of Swiss residents speak German as their native language?

French accounts for about 23% and Italian for 8%.

The country code CH and the internet domain .ch come from Switzerland's Latin name. What is it?

Helvetica recalls the Helvetii, a Gaulish tribe of the Swiss Plateau; the neutral Latin avoids favouring any of the four languages.

The Federal Charter considered Switzerland's founding document dates from which year?

It was a defensive alliance of the valley communities of the central Alps; 1 August is now the national day.

Switzerland has not fought an international war since which year?

Its policy of armed neutrality dates back to the 16th century; it only joined the UN in the 21st century.

In which year did Switzerland finally join the United Nations?

It was the first state to join by popular referendum; it is still not a member of the European Union.

The 1847 Swiss civil war was fought against a breakaway alliance of Catholic cantons known as what?

The federal victory led directly to the 1848 constitution that created modern Switzerland.

In which year did Swiss women win the right to vote in federal elections?

The last canton, Appenzell Innerrhoden, held out until a Federal Supreme Court ruling in 1990.

Which canton was the last to grant women full voting rights, in 1990?

It is one of only two cantons that still decides matters at an open-air Landsgemeinde assembly.

How many members sit on the Federal Council, Switzerland's collective executive?

Elisabeth Kopp became the first woman on it in 1984 and Ruth Dreifuss the first female president in 1999.

How many signatures must a Swiss popular initiative gather within 18 months to force a national vote?

Any law passed by parliament can also be challenged by an optional referendum.

What is unusual about the shape of the Swiss national flag?

It shows a white Greek cross on a red field; the dimensions were fixed officially in 1889.

Which is Switzerland's highest mountain?

At 4,634 m it beats the far more famous Matterhorn by more than 150 metres.

The first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 was led by which English climber?

Four of the seven-man party fell to their deaths on the way down, and the disaster set off a tourist rush on Zermatt.

The name Toblerone blends its founder's surname with which Italian word?

Theodor Tobler's family firm was founded in Bern in 1899, and the bar's shape is said to echo the Matterhorn.

Which body of water, shared with France, is Switzerland's largest?

The Rhône flows in and out of it; Lake Constance, shared with Germany and Austria, is second.

The Rhine and the Rhône both rise in the Swiss Alps. Roughly how far apart are their sources?

They end up 1,000 km apart, one in the North Sea at Rotterdam and the other in the Mediterranean.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel, opened in 2016, holds which world record?

At 57 km it is also the deepest traffic tunnel and the first flat, low-level route through the Alps.

At 3,454 metres, which is the highest railway station in Europe?

The line, open since 1912, tunnels through the Eiger and Mönch to get there.

The Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps, lies in which canton?

It is about 23 km long and covers around 82 square kilometres.

The Rhine Falls, Europe's most powerful waterfall, lie between Zurich and which other canton?

They sit between Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Laufen-Uhwiesen.

The Jet d'Eau, the fountain where the Rhône leaves the lake, shoots water roughly how high?

Two 500 kW pumps push 500 litres a second into the air, at a cost of about half a million francs a year.

Which Swiss businessman founded the Red Cross and won the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901?

He came across the battlefield in 1859 while travelling to petition Napoleon III.

Swiss citizens may not serve in foreign armies, with one famous exception. Which?

Founded under Pope Julius II in 1506, the Guard is sometimes called the world's smallest army, with 135 members in 2024.

In which year was the Pontifical Swiss Guard established?

It is among the oldest military units in continuous operation anywhere.

Under the Swiss militia system, what do soldiers famously keep at home?

Men usually receive conscription orders for training at 18.

Which scientist became a Swiss citizen in 1901 and developed special relativity while working in Bern?

He was employed at the patent office there; Switzerland has one of the highest Nobel counts per capita.

CERN straddles the border between France and which Swiss city?

The city also hosts the UN's European headquarters, the WHO and the Red Cross.

Which of these was NOT invented in Switzerland?

Aspirin was a German product; the scanning tunnelling microscope, another Swiss invention, won a 1986 Nobel Prize.

Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann's first deliberate LSD trip on 19 April 1943 is now commemorated as what?

He took 250 micrograms thinking it a cautious dose, then cycled home as it took hold.

Swiss engineer George de Mestral got the idea for Velcro in 1941 from what?

He filed for a Swiss patent in 1951 and it was granted in 1955.

Helvetica was designed in 1957 by Miedinger and Hoffmann under what original name?

It was renamed after the Latin word for Switzerland to sell it abroad.

Solid milk chocolate was invented in Switzerland in 1875 by whom?

The Swiss remain the world's biggest chocolate consumers per head.

Nestlé, the world's largest food company, is headquartered in which lakeside town?

It was formed in 1905 by merging Henri Nestlé's infant-food firm with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company.

The name of the Swatch brand, founded in 1983, is a contraction of what?

It was the Swiss industry's answer to the quartz crisis: cheap, high-tech, disposable watches.

Rolex, now based in Switzerland, was actually founded in 1905 in which city?

Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis started it as Wilsdorf and Davis, importing Swiss watches to England, and moved to Switzerland after the First World War.

The company that became Victorinox began making knives for the Swiss army in 1891 in which town?

Karl Elsener's son renamed the firm Victorinox in 1921, combining his mother's name Victoria with inoxydable, French for stainless.

Muesli was developed around 1900 by Maximilian Bircher-Benner for whom?

The original recipe soaked oats overnight and added fresh apple, nuts, lemon juice and condensed milk.

Emmental, the holey cheese, is named after a valley in which canton?

Gruyère, likewise, comes from the Gruyères valley in Fribourg.

Which of these is a traditional Swiss dish of grated, pan-fried potatoes?

The "Röstigraben" (rösti ditch) is the jokey name for the cultural divide between German- and French-speaking Switzerland.

Heidi, the orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Alps, was created by which Swiss author?

The book appeared in two parts in 1880-81 and is set near Maienfeld in Graubünden.

According to legend, William Tell shot an apple off his son's head after defying which reeve?

The story is set around 1307 in Altdorf, canton Uri, and was written down only in the late 15th century.

Which reformer's movement in Zurich led to Switzerland's religious Wars of Kappel in 1529 and 1531?

Calvin's Geneva came a generation later; Zwingli himself died at the second Battle of Kappel.

In 1798 revolutionary France invaded and replaced the old confederation with which centralised state?

Napoleon abolished it in 1803 and restored a confederation.

Which two sports' world governing bodies, FIFA and the IIHF, are headquartered in Zurich?

The IOC, meanwhile, sits in Lausanne, along with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In which Swiss city is the International Olympic Committee based?

The Olympic Museum is there too, on the shore of Lake Geneva.

Roger Federer holds the record for men's singles titles at which Grand Slam tournament, with eight?

He was a Wimbledon ball boy and junior champion before winning his first major there in 2003.

Schwingen, considered by some the Swiss national sport, is a form of what?

Hornussen, another native sport, is described as a cross between baseball and golf.

The World Economic Forum's annual meeting is held in which Swiss resort?

Art Basel, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the Locarno Film Festival are the country's other big annual gatherings.

Besides Switzerland, which country uses the Swiss franc as legal tender?

The ISO code CHF stands for Confoederatio Helvetica Franc.

Which wooden instrument, several metres long, symbolises Swiss folk music alongside yodelling?

It is played with a trumpet-like embouchure and has no valves or keys.

How many Luftwaffe planes did the Swiss Air Force shoot down in May and June 1940 for violating its airspace?

Switzerland was itself bombed by the Allies several times, and interned over 300,000 refugees during the war.

What is the largest city in Switzerland?

Most of the country's 9 million people live on the Swiss Plateau, which also hosts Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and Lucerne.

Which 1648 settlement recognised Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire?

It came more than a century after the Wars of Kappel; the Congress of Vienna later recognised permanent neutrality in 1815.

Which Gaulish tribe, beaten by Caesar at Bibracte in 58 BC, gave Switzerland its Latin name?

They had tried to leave the Swiss Plateau for western Gaul and were forced back home with strict limits on their movements.

The English name Switzerland derives from the name of which canton?

A 'Switzer' was originally an inhabitant of Schwyz, one of the three forest cantons that formed the nucleus of the Old Confederacy.

Swiss expansion suffered a major setback with defeat at which 1515 battle?

Until then the Confederacy had a reputation for invincibility after beating the Habsburgs and Charles the Bold of Burgundy.

Which three cantons were admitted to Switzerland at the Congress of Vienna in 1815?

The country's borders have seen only minor adjustments since, with Jura carved out of Bern in 1979.