Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland after Zurich. Although there are only 188,000 citizens, there are in fact 780,000 people live in the metropolitan region.
The city is situated at 46°12' north, 6°09' East, around the southeast end of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman), and the old town sits atop a hill, presiding over the Rhone River. It is surrounded by two mountain chains, namely, the Alps and the Jura.
In terms of life in Geneva, there is nothing exciting. By contrast, compared with other metropolitan cities in Europe, Geneva is not live and dynamic enough. However, there is a reason why each year there are still a lot of tourists coming for a visit. This is because that Geneva is a global city, one of the most important finance centres and more importantly a centre for diplomacy. Worldwide international institutions choose to locate their headquarters here, such as the Red Cross. In spite of the fact that United Nations now is headquartered in New York, UN still remains a large presence. In addition, some child branches of organizations like the World Health and the International Labour Organization (ILO) can be seen in the city as well. Large international activities and summits are also held by Geneva. For example, environment envoys from more than 40 nations come to Geneva to figure out ways to help poor countries to fight against global warming by raising around 100 million dollars.
In history, the Protestant Reformation had affected Geneva. After the Roman Catholic bishop was driven out of the city and was not allowed to return, in 1536, the Genevans declared themselves Protestant and proclaimed their city a republic. The Protestant leader, John Calvin, thus became the spiritual leader of the city. The influence of this reformation was extended to all aspects of the society of Geneva, namely economy, politics and administration.
The status of being a republic remained until 1813 when Geneva became a Swiss Canton. The favourite festival in Geneva is Escalade which is in honour of a victory over the invasion of the Dukes of Savoy. People of Geneva successfully destroyed this attempt and as a cost of only 16 sacrifices. After this resistance, the House of Savoy was never strong enough to launch another invasion and thus Geneva saved its liberty. Genevans are still very proud of their history until today.
In general, Geneva is a French-speaking region. However, because of those international organizations mentioned above, English is the second most spoken language here.
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