Geneva

Description of Geneva

Geneva is a city and Swiss commune located near the French border, capital of the Canton of Geneva. It is the most populated city of Romandía and the second one of Switzerland after Zurich. It is located at the exit of the Rhone from Lake Geneva and is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. The municipality itself (la ville de Genève) has a population (in August 2013) of 194 458 inhabitants and the canton (which includes the city) has 474 169 inhabitants. In 2011, the metropolitan area (Grand Genève) had a population of 915,000 inhabitants including the French part. In Swiss territory, the transit area (known as Métropole lémanique) had a population of 1.25 million inhabitants. This area extends east of Geneva towards the Riviera area (Vevey, Montreux) and northeast towards Yverdon-les-Bains, in the neighboring canton of Vaud.

Geneva is a global city, financial and global center of diplomacy due to the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the United Nations agencies and the Red Cross.In fact, Geneva is the city that It houses the largest number of international organizations in the world, and it is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which mainly refer to the treatment, in war situations, of non-combatants and prisoners of war.

Geneva was positioned as the ninth most important financial world center in terms of competitiveness in the Global Index of Financial Centers, ahead of Frankfurt, and third in Europe after London and Zurich, a 2009 survey by Mercer shows that Geneva It is the third city with the highest quality of life in the world (behind Vienna and Zurich). The city has been known as the most compact metropolis in the world and the "capital of peace." However, between 2009 and 2011, Geneva ranked as the fourth and fifth city, respectively, the most expensive in the world.

Cathedrale St. Pierre

Maison Tavel

History

Antiquity
The Roman submission of the country of the Allobroges (Vienna) invade from 121 BC Geneva becomes an outpost north of the province of Transalpine Gaul (take the name Gaul Narbonne from the reign of Augustus). The development of a port intervenes in 123 BC - 25 AD The city is then made up of a modest agglomeration where dwellings are built of wood and mud. Geneva makes history in 58 BC when Julius Caesar mentions his passage in this city (Genava) in his De Bello Gallico (I, 6 and 7). Caesar prevents the passage of the Rhone by the Helvetii, who try either to tie boats together to make a floating passage (ratis) or to ford (De Bello Gallico, I 8). When Caesar settles temporarily with his troops in 58 BC. AD, the oppidum is still growing and then becomes a Roman city (vicus then civitas). Nevertheless, Nyon (Colonia Julia Equestris) then Avenches (Aventicum) occupy a more important place in the regional urban network. After a fire in the middle of the i st century, urban planning is modified and the constructions in stone are replacing buildings of light materials. The migration ALEMANES cause the destruction of all built in the last quarter of the iii th century.

The first Christian sanctuary is established around 350 AD. At the end of the iv th century, the complex was completed: it consists of a church of more than thirty meters long bordered by an access portal to the baptistery and its Annex In the upper town, the Saint-Germain represents the v th century a second focal point of the early Christian times. The installation of Burgondes in 443 and the choice of Geneva as capitalreinforce the political role of the city. The center of the kingdom of Burgundy moving towards 467 in Lyon, Geneva suffered the fratricidal wars between Godégisel and Gondebaud which burned the city. Until the end of the High Middle Ages, we observe a continuity of occupation whose best example is the Episcopal group. The limits of the city are maintained within the walls of the Lower Empire but the suburbs close to large cemeteries are developing. The landslide of Mount Tauredunum in 563 causes a tidal wave that destroyed the port and many dead. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, succeeding the horizontal development peculiar to the Roman period, the urban space was reduced and densified by giving a medieval city more and more built in height under the constraints imposed by the construction of the fortifications.

Middle Ages
The structure of power between the arrival of the Burgundians and the Treaty of Seyssel 1124 been the subject of debates that are not closed now. In front of the Burgundian king, the bishop possesses spiritual authority. But the dynastic quarrels weaken the Burgundian monarchy which disappears in 534 in favor of the Franks . Geneva becomes then the center of a pagus , the county of Geneva , which depends on the reigning king in Orleans or the king of Neustrie . From the time of the Carolingians , the diocese of Geneva is the stake of power struggles between the rulers of the region and the emperor. During thesharing of Verdun in 843 between the three son of Louis I st the Debonair , Geneva enters the kingdom devolved to Lothair , who will become the Lorraine. In 855, a new partition takes place by the Prüm treaty between the three sons of Lothaire . On this occasion, Geneva, Lausanne and Sion pass under the sovereignty of the eldest son Louis II, King of Italy and Emperor. In 875, on the death of Louis II, the diocese of Geneva passes under the sovereignty of his uncle Charles II the Bald , who gives it in appanage to his eldest son Louis le Bègue , future king of the Franks from 877 to 879. The 15 October 879 is created onKingdom of Burgundy or Kingdom of Provence des Bosonides (879-928), of which Geneva becomes an integral part, with the election by an assembly of notables of Boson , brother-in-law of Charles the Bald and Count of Autun , Duke of Lyonnais and of Provence. In 888, the death of Boson, then king of Provence and Burgundy Transjurane, creates a new kingdom of Burgundy, the kingdom of Burgundy Transjurane of Welf (888-1032) with the proclamation of Rodolphe I of Burgundy (859-911 ). The bishop of Geneva is one of the prelates swearing loyalty to Rodolphe at theterritorial abbey of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune . Rodolphe is of the family of Welf , lords of Upper Burgundy; he marries Willa, daughter of Boson. The bishopric of Geneva is part of the kingdom of Burgundy transjurane for 250 years at the head of which succeed Rodolphe II, Conrad the Pacific, his son, and Rodolphe III of Burgundy , his son. This one dies in 1032 and according to his will, the kingdom of Burgundy becomes possession of Conrad II the Salic Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Their sovereign becoming more distant, all the successive bishops of Geneva will fight relentlessly to make recognize their regal rights, particularly against the ambitions of the Counts of Geneva, lords of the surrounding lands. Thus, if he exercises a certain number of sovereign rights like that of coining money , the bishop does not receive the county rights in one or the other part of his diocese which are exerted by the count of Geneva which has a castle above Bourg-de-Four.

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