Cartographica Helvetica by Diccon Bewes

Cartographica

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Switzerland isn’t a big country. In fact, it only ranks as the 132nd largest in the world. With an area of 41,285km², it’s about the same size as the Netherlands and a bit bigger than Bhutan. It shares a border with five other countries – Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein – the first four of which are members of the European Union. That means Switzerland is surrounded by the EU along a border that is 1,970km long.

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The shape of Switzerland

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Farthest point

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Switzerland’s wiggly shape means that nowhere is very far from the national border. The place furthest away is Uetendorf in Canton Bern, 69km from foreign land.

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26 cantons AG Aargau / AI Appenzell Innerrhoden / AR Appenzell Ausserrhoden BE Bern / BL Basel-Landschaft / BS Basel-Stadt / FR Fribourg GE Geneva / GL Glarus / GR Graubünden / JU Jura / LU Lucerne NE Neuchâtel / NW Nidwalden / OW Obwalden / SG St Gallen SH Schaffhausen / SO Solothurn / SZ Schwyz / TG Thurgau / TI Ticino UR Uri / VD Vaud / VS Valais / ZG Zug / ZH Zurich

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Highest point

Highest point in each canton Dufourspitze VS, 4634m / Finsteraarhorn BE, 4274m / Piz Bernina GR, 4049m Dammastock UR, 3630m / Tödi GL, 3614m / Rheinwaldhorn-Adula TI, 3402m Ringelspitz SG, 3248m / Titlis OW, 3238m / Les Diablerets VD, 3210m Rotstöckli NW, 2901m / Bös Fulen SZ, 2802m / Säntis AI, 2502m Säntis AR, 2502m / Vanil Noir FR, 2389m / Brienzer Rothorn LU, 2350m Wildspitz ZG, 1580m / Chasseral NE, 1552m / Hasenmatt SO, 1445m Mont Raimeux JU, 1302m / Schnebelhorn ZH, 1292m / Hinteri Egg BL, 1169m Hohgrat TG, 991m / Hagen SH, 912m / Geissfluegrat AG, 908m St. Chrischona BS, 522m / Les Arales GE, 516m

The highest mountain in Switzerland is Dufourspitze (4634 metres above sea level), part of the Monte Rosa massif in Valais. It’s named after General Dufour.

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North-south distance 220km

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Rhine

A Swiss puzzle Although Switzerland is one country, it is made up of 26 pieces, rather like a jigsaw puzzle. These pieces, known as cantons, are all different shapes and sizes but each is like a mini-state with its own flag, parliament, taxes and schools.

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Midpoint If you were to cut out a map of Switzerland and balance it on a pin, then the geographic centre of the country would be at Älggialp, in Obwalden.

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km West-east distance 348km

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Piz B ernina Lowest point

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Switzerland is at its lowest at Lake Maggiore (193 metres above sea level), a lake that is shared with Italy. As the crow flies, it’s only 70km from here to the country’s highest point.

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To the sea 160km

A landlocked land Switzerland has no coastline, making it one of only 49 countries that are landlocked. Despite having no direct access to the sea, Switzerland still has a small fleet of cargo ships that help supply the country with essential goods. This merchant navy was created during World War Two when neutral Switzerland needed to have ships flying the Swiss flag so that they wouldn’t be attacked.

The map maker Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787 – 1875) was a Geneva man who became a Swiss hero. He won the last civil war, gave the nation its flag, helped found the Red Cross, and was in charge of accurately mapping the whole country for the first time.

The shape of Switzerland How many?

You could fit eight Switzerlands inside Germany and 13 inside France. But China is a huge 232 times the size of Switzerland.

8x 232x 13x

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The Roof of Europe Almost a quarter of the country sits at over 2000m above sea level, and there are 48 named peaks over 4000m (no wonder Switzerland is often called the Roof of Europe). Some Swiss mountains are rather famous, such as the Matterhorn or the Eiger, while most are probably happy not to have hundreds of people climbing them or appear in thousands of photos. It’s hard to imagine what Switzerland would be like without its mountains. In fact, it’s possible that it wouldn’t exist at all without them. One important reason for the country’s creation was to control vital trade routes over the Alpine passes, for example the Gotthard Pass.

No mountains = no Switzerland? Maybe.

Everest 8848m Nepal – China

Aconcagua 6961m Argentina Denali 6190m USA

8000m

Kilimanjaro 5895m Tanzania

Mont Blanc 4809m France – Italy 6000m

Dufourspitze 4634m Switzerland Grossglockner 3798m Austria Mount Fuji 3776m Japan Zugspitze 2962m Germany Mount Olympus 2917m Greece

4000m

Ben Nevis 1345m UK 2000m Vaalserberg 323m The Netherlands

The shape of Switzerland Lake country

Lake Victoria 69,484km2 Kenya – Tanzania – Uganda (largest in Africa)

Instead of a coastline, Switzerland has quite a few lakeshores, some of which are crossed by international borders. Lake Geneva in the west and Lake Constance in the east are both shared with Switzerland’s neighbours, and act as bookends for the country. As for lakes inside the country, it’s almost impossible to know exactly how many there are, but the official estimate is around 1,500, with a combined area of water that’s about the same size as Aargau (or around 1,400km²). Of the lakes completely within Switzerland, the largest is Lake Neuchâtel, about twice the size of the next biggest, Lake Lucerne, while the the deepest is Lake Brienz, which dives 261m down.

Lake Constance 536km2 Austria – Germany – Switzerland

Lake Titicaca 8,372km2 Bolivia – Peru (largest in South America)

Lake Neuchâtel 218km2 Switzerland

Lake Geneva 580km2 France – Switzerland

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Lake Superior 82,100km2 Canada – USA (largest in North America)

River country

Did you know?

The total combined length of all the flowing water in Switzerland is 61,000km, or the same as one and a half times round the equator.

About 6% of Europe’s freshwater reserves are in Switzerland, not only in the lakes but also in the glaciers and rivers. Two of the continent’s greatest rivers – the Rhine and the Rhone – start their epic journeys to the sea in central Switzerland, and flow in a different direction. The Swiss section of the Rhine (from its source to the border in Basel) is 375km, making it Switzerland’s longest river. But the longest one completely within the country is the Aare at 295km.

Time travel Switzerland is officially called Confoederatio Helvetica, or CH for short, which is Latin for Swiss Confederation.

The country doesn’t have a Latin name just because it was once part of the Roman Empire (although it was) but because it’s easier to have one name in a very old language than four names in today’s national languages. It’s a little piece of the past that still survives in modern Switzerland but not the only one. Castles and battlefields show that the Swiss have fought for what they believe in and their success JU has created a country that grew from the original three cantons. In this chapter we’ll take a trip back through Swiss history to show you how that happened.

Vaud

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This was the first capital of the new Helvetic Republic, which was created in 1798 after the French invasion and occupation of Switzerland.

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Savoy ruled Canton Vaud until 1536, when Canton Bern took it and kept control for over 200 years. While Vaud became a Swiss canton, Savoy is now part of France.

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Neuchâtel This was once an independent state ruled by a foreign prince but even after it became a canton in 1815, the Prussian prince stayed in power for 33 years.

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When each canton joined By 1513 AI / AR / BL / BS / FR / SH / SO In 1979 JU

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GE By 1353 BE / GL / LU / ZG / ZH

In 1291 NW / OW / SZ / UR

Helvetia

In 1815 GE / NE / VS

In 1803 AG / GR / TG / TI / SG / VD

The most famous woman in Swiss history didn’t exist even though you probably see her every day on a coin. She was created in the late 17th century to represent the country, and she’s usually dressed like a Greek goddess, wearing long robes and holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. Her name comes from the Helvetians, a tribe that lived here during Roman times.

The last martyr Anna Göldi (1734 – 1782) was a maid for a rich family in Glarus who said she’d put a curse on their daughters. She was found guilty and became the last woman in Europe to be executed for being a witch. In 2008 the canton said she was innocent.

Did you know?

Swiss National Day on 1 August hasn’t always been a public holiday. It was only in 1993 that the Swiss voted yes to creating a new national holiday for everyone.

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For five years until 1803, the Helvetic Republic had its own tricolour flag (shown here) and new cantons. One was Säntis, which combined half of St Gallen with both Appenzells.

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A little green meadow that’s known as the birthplace of Switzerland, because it’s believed that the three first cantons made a friendship pact here in 1291.

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Valtellina Before Graubünden became a canton in 1803, it was an alliance that also governed a big chunk of land called Valtellina – but after almost 300 years that land became part of Italy.

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St Nicholas of Flüe The Swiss patron saint (also known as Brother Klaus) was born in Obwalden in 1417, became a soldier, had ten children and died a holy hermit.

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William Tell

Roman towns Aquae Helveticae AG / Augusta Raurica BL Aventicum FR / Curia GR / Julia Equestris VD Turicum ZH / Vindonissa AG Famous castles Bellinzona TI / Burgdorf BE / Chillon VD / Grandson NE Habsburg AG / Kyburg ZH / Lenzburg AG / Sargans SG Tarasp GR / Thun BE

The most famous man in Swiss history didn’t exist. No, really he didn’t, even if his story is so famous it could almost be true.

You maybe know it already: bad guy Gessler forced him to shoot an arrow through an apple on his son Walter’s head. Walter lived, Tell escaped, Gessler died and a Swiss hero was born. It became part of the history of how Switzerland began mainly because of a popular 19th-century play by the German writer Friedrich Schiller.

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What we eat Food is one of life’s basic ingredients, something you need every day, something you can’t live without.

So that makes it important to know what you are eating and where your food comes from. Switzerland has over 50,000 farms but they don’t produce enough to feed the whole population, so the country has to buy in food from abroad. Not only things like bananas and peppers that don’t grow easily here but also meat and grains that are a big part of most people’s diets. In this chapter, we’ll look at what the Swiss eat and where it comes from.

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The cow canton

Local delights

Which canton has the most cows? Canton Bern, with over 301,000. It needs them for all the milk used to make Emmentaler cheese and Toblerone chocolate.

National dishes like fondue, raclette and Rösti can be found all over Switzerland but some special treats are linked to a certain town or region. The map has some of our favourites on there: which ones do you love?

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The chicken canton Canton Fribourg has almost two million chickens living there – that’s six times the human population.

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Two cantons together – Bern and Vaud – produce over half the potatoes grown in Switzerland, and that’s an awful lot of potatoes.

The wheat canton Over half of all the crops grown in Switzerland is wheat. Canton Vaud is number one, growing as much wheat as the next two cantons put together.

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Did you know?

Organic products make up 10% of all food sales in Switzerland but for some products the percentage is much higher: a quarter of all eggs, vegetables and salad sold is organic.

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Swiss sausages Kalberwurst GL / Longeole GE / Olma Bratwurst SG Saucisson neuchâtelois NE / Saucisson vaudois VD

Swiss bread Basler Brot BL , BS / Burebrot LU / Cuchaule FR Pane Ticinese TI / Walliser Roggenbrot VS / Zopf BE

The apple canton A third of all eating apples, and half of all the apples pressed for juice, are grown in Canton Thurgau.

The national fruit An apple a day keeps Switzerland happy. The Swiss eat more apples than any other fruit, and nearly all the apples they eat are home-grown (the most popular variety is Gala). Maybe that’s no surprise as it was an apple on Walter’s head that William Tell had to shoot with an arrow so it’s been part of Switzerland from the very beginning. It’s even a fruit with its own national day in September.

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Zürcher Geschnetzeltes

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The carrot canton Aargau is often known as ‘the carrot canton’ but it’s actually not where the most carrots are grown. That’s St Gallen, with Aargau down in fourth place.

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The pig canton

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Canton Lucerne is the pig capital of Switzerland, with more pigs than people (426,000 against 409,000).

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The meal maker Betty Bossi is one of the best-selling cooks in Switzerland, with her own cookbooks and food products.

But she isn’t real. She was created in the 1950s to sell food, and her name was chosen because it’s easy to say in all four Swiss languages.

Animal farm If the whole of Switzerland was one farm, it would have a vast number of animals that would hugely outnumber humans.

Swiss farms are home to 11.8 million chickens, 1.5 million cows, 1.4 million pigs and 300,000 sheep. Plus quite a few ducks, geese, goats and horses, with even rabbits and turkeys too.