Switzerland is a relatively small but absolutely beautiful country with Alpine peaks and meadows, clear glacial lakes, and waterfalls that become headwaters for major European rivers such as the Rhine and Rhône. It has a very strong economy, high employment and low crime rates, and is home to several large multinational banks and other corporations.
Switzerland is multilingual, with four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Its population is about 7.5 million; the capital is Berne, but the largest city is Zurich. Its formal Latin name is Confoederatio Helvetica, derived from the Helvetii, an ancient Celtic people that settled in the Alpine region. It has been an independent nation since 1291 A.D. The Swiss government consists of a parliament with two houses and a seven-member federal council that functions as a head of state.
Switzerland remains a sort of unofficial capital of Alpine culture, expressed in music, dance, poetry, wood carving and embroidery. Yodeling, accordion playing and the blowing of the long Alpenhorn, thought to be very common in the area, are actually rare these days. The Swiss architectural traditions both Romanesque and Gothic, are most strongly expressed in the great cathedrals in Switzerland’s largest cities such as Basel, Geneva, Lausanne and Zürich. Switzerland has produced several well-known artists, such as Alberto Giacometti and Paul Klee, and the Dada surrealist movement began there in the early 20th century. And of course the typeface Helvetica, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007 and is among the most widely used sanserif typefaces in the world, was designed at the Haas Type Foundry in Münchenstein, Switzerland.