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Geneva

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This article is about the city in Switzerland. For other articles subjects named Geneva, see Geneva (disambiguation).

Coat of arms of the City and Canton of Geneva

Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra),Spanish: Ginebra), is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zurich), located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac de Genève or Lac Léman) empties into the Rhone River. "Geneva" is also the name of the westernmost canton of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France and centered around the city of Geneva.

Geneva was the name of a settlement of the Celtic people of the Allobrogi[?]. After the Roman conquest it became part of the Provincia Romana (Gallia Narbonensis). At Geneva Caesar hemmed in the Helvetii on their westward march. In the 9th century it became the capital of Burgundy. In the 16th century Geneva was the center of Calvinism; the old town Cathedral (Temple St-Pierre) was John Calvin's own church. It became a canton in 1815.

The city of Geneva is the seat of many international organizations, and was the seat of the League of Nations until its dissolution. Many United Nations organizations maintain offices here.

Notable sights in Geneva include its Clock Museum and Art & History Museum.

Statistics

Source: National Office of Statistics (http://www.statistik.admin.ch/stat_ch/ber01/fu0104.htm)

Current population (2001) of the city of Geneva: 176,000, of which 43.4% foreign.
Current population (2001) of the canton of Geneva: 414,300, of which 37.6% foreign.