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For an alphabetical index of this subject, see the List of Switzerland-related articles.

Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.5 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) in German, Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) in French, Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) in Italian and Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

Switzerland's name is pronounced as in German, in French, in Italian and in Romansch.

The following topic outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Switzerland:

General reference

• Pronunciation:
• Common English country name(s): Switzerland
• Official English country name(s): of Switzerland
• Common endonym(s):
• Official endonym(s):
• Adjectival(s): Swiss
• Demonym(s):
• Etymology: Name of Switzerland
• International rankings of Switzerland

Geography of Switzerland

Main article: Geography of Switzerland

• Switzerland is: a landlocked country
• Location:
  • Northern Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere
  • Eurasia
    • Europe
      • Central Europe
      • Western Europe
  • Time zone(s): ]
  • Extreme points of Switzerland
• Population of Switzerland: 7,647,600 (June 30, 2008) - 94th most populous country
• Area of Switzerland: 41,284 km
• Atlas of Switzerland

Environment of Switzerland

• Climate of Switzerland
• Ecology of Switzerland
  • Ecoregions in Switzerland
  • Renewable energy in Switzerland
• Geology of Switzerland
• Protected areas of Switzerland
  • Biosphere reserves in Switzerland
  • National parks of Switzerland
• Wildlife of Switzerland
  • Flora of Switzerland
  • Fauna of Switzerland
    • Birds of Switzerland
    • Mammals of Switzerland

Natural geographic features of Switzerland

Main article: Landforms of Switzerland

• Fjords of Switzerland
• Glaciers of Switzerland
• Islands of Switzerland
• Lakes of Switzerland
• Mountains of Switzerland
  • Volcanoes in Switzerland
• Rivers of Switzerland
  • Waterfalls of Switzerland
• Valleys of Switzerland
• World Heritage Sites in Switzerland

Regions of Switzerland

Main article: Regions of Switzerland

Ecoregions of Switzerland

Main article: Ecoregions in Switzerland

Administrative divisions of Switzerland

Main article: Administrative divisions of Switzerland

• Provinces of Switzerland
  • Districts of Switzerland
    • Municipalities of Switzerland

Provinces of Switzerland

Districts of Switzerland

Municipalities of Switzerland

• Capital of Switzerland: Berne
• Cities of Switzerland

Demography of Switzerland

Main article: Demographics of Switzerland

Government and politics of Switzerland

Main article: Government of Switzerland and Politics of Switzerland

• Form of government:
• Capital of Switzerland: Berne

• Elections in Switzerland
  • (specific elections)
• Political parties in Switzerland
• Political scandals of Switzerland
• Taxation in Switzerland

Branches of the government of Switzerland

Executive branch of the government of Switzerland

• Head of state: President of Switzerland, ]
• Head of government: Prime Minister of Switzerland, ]
• Cabinet of Switzerland

Legislative branch of the government of Switzerland

• Parliament of Switzerland (bicameral)
  • Upper house: Senate of Switzerland
  • Lower house: House of Commons of Switzerland

Judicial branch of the government of Switzerland

• Supreme Court of Switzerland

Foreign relations of Switzerland

• Diplomatic missions in Switzerland
• Diplomatic missions of Switzerland
• United States-Switzerland relations

International organization membership

Main article: International organization membership of Switzerland

Switzerland is a member of:

• ]
• ]
• ]

Law and order in Switzerland

Main article: Law of Switzerland

• Capital punishment in Switzerland
• Constitution of Switzerland
• Crime in Switzerland
• Human rights in Switzerland
  • LGBT rights in Switzerland
  • Freedom of religion in Switzerland
• Law enforcement in Switzerland

Military of Switzerland

Main article: Military of Switzerland

• Command
  • Commander-in-chief: ]
    • Ministry of Defence of Switzerland
• Forces
  • Army of Switzerland
  • Navy of Switzerland: None
  • Air Force of Switzerland
  • Special forces of Switzerland
• Military history of Switzerland
• Military ranks of Switzerland

Local government in Switzerland

History of Switzerland

Main article: History of Switzerland, Timeline of the history of Switzerland, and Current events of Switzerland

• Economic history of Switzerland
• Military history of Switzerland

Culture of Switzerland

Main article: Culture of Switzerland

• Architecture of Switzerland
• Cuisine of Switzerland
• Ethnic minorities in Switzerland
• Festivals in Switzerland
• Humor in Switzerland
• Languages of Switzerland
• Media in Switzerland
• National symbols of Switzerland
  • Coat of arms of Switzerland
  • Flag of Switzerland
  • National anthem of Switzerland
• People of Switzerland
• Prostitution in Switzerland
• Public holidays in Switzerland
• Records of Switzerland
• Religion in Switzerland
  • Buddhism in Switzerland
  • Christianity in Switzerland
  • Hinduism in Switzerland
  • Islam in Switzerland
  • Judaism in Switzerland
  • Sikhism in Switzerland
• World Heritage Sites in Switzerland

The arts in Switzerland

• Art in Switzerland
• Cinema of Switzerland
• Literature of Switzerland
• Music of Switzerland
• Television in Switzerland
• Theatre in Switzerland

Sports in Switzerland

Main article: Sports in Switzerland

• Football in Switzerland
• Switzerland at the Olympics

Economy of Switzerland

Main article: Economy of Switzerland

• Economic rank, by nominal GDP (2007): 21st (twenty-first)

• Agriculture in Switzerland
• Banking in Switzerland
  • National Bank of Switzerland
• Communications in Switzerland
• Companies of Switzerland
• Currency of Switzerland:
• Economic history of Switzerland
• Energy policy of Switzerland
• Mining in Switzerland
• Oil industry in Switzerland
• Tourism in Switzerland
• Transport in Switzerland

• Switzerland Stock Exchange

Education in Switzerland

Main article: Education in Switzerland

Infrastructure of Switzerland

• Communications in Switzerland
  • Internet in Switzerland
• Energy in Switzerland
• Health care in Switzerland
• Transportation in Switzerland
  • Airports in Switzerland
  • Rail transport in Switzerland
  • Roads in Switzerland
• Water supply and sanitation in Switzerland

See also

• List of basic geography topics
• List of Switzerland-related articles (alphabetical index)
• List of international rankings

References

External links

Wikimedia Atlas of Switzerland

Official

• The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation
• Presence Switzerland
  • Your Gateway to Switzerland
• Swiss Statistics, official website of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office.

Reference

• CIA World Factbook - Switzerland

Geography

• Wikimedia Atlas of Switzerland
• Template:Wikitravel
• Template:Dmoz
• Federal Office of Topography
• searchable interactive map (search.ch)

History

• Historical Dictionary of Switzerland Template:De icon Template:Fr icon Template:It icon
• history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch

Media

• Neue Zürcher Zeitung Template:De icon, a Swiss daily newspaper
• Le Temps Template:Fr icon, a Swiss daily newspaper
• Corriere Del Ticino Template:It icon, a Swiss daily newspaper
• swissinfo.ch, Swiss News - Worldwide

Education

• The Swiss School System
• Universities in Switzerland

Science, Research and Technology

• The Swiss Portal for Research and Innovation
• State Secretariat for Education and Research, SER
• The Swiss National Science Foundation
• CTI, Commission for Technology and Innovation

Template:Lists by country

• Outlines of countries
• Switzerland
• Switzerland-related lists