Largest city in Switzerland
About Zurich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. As of the end of 2024, the municipality had a population of 436,551, while the urban area was home to 1.45 million people (2020), and the Zurich metropolitan area had a total population of 2.1 million (2020). Zurich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zurich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.
Name
The name is traditionally written in English as Zurich, without the umlaut. It is pronounced ZURE-ik. In German, the city name is written Zürich and pronounced [ˈtsyːrɪç] . In the local dialect, the name is pronounced without the final consonant and with two short vowels, as Züri [ˈtsyri], although the demonym remains Zürcher(in). The city is called Zurich [zyʁik] in French, Zurigo [dzuˈriːɡo] in Italian, and Turitg [tuˈritɕ] in Romansh. The earliest known form of the city's name is Turicum, attested on a tombstone of the late 2nd century AD in the form STA(tio) TURICEN(sis) ("Turicum customs post"). The name is interpreted as a derivation from a given name, possibly the Gaulish personal name Tūros. The toponym *Turīcon would then mean "belonging to Tūros", "place of Tūros". …
History
Settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze Age were found around Lake Zurich. Traces of pre-Roman Celtic La Tène settlements were discovered near the Lindenhof, a morainic hill dominating the SE – NW waterway constituted by Lake Zurich and the river Limmat. In Roman times, during the conquest of the alpine region in 15 BC, the Romans built a castellum on the Lindenhof. Later here was erected Turicum (a toponym of clear Celtic origin), a tax-collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat, which constituted part of the border between Gallia Belgica (from AD 90 Germania Superior) and Raetia: this customs point developed later into a vicus. …
Geography
Zurich is situated at 408 m (1,339 ft) above sea level on the lower (northern) end of Lake Zurich (Zürichsee) about 30 km (19 mi) north of the Alps, nestling between the wooded hills on the west and east side. The Old Town stretches on both sides of the Limmat, which flows from the lake, running northwards at first and then gradually turning into a curve to the west. The geographic (and historic) centre of the city is the Lindenhof, a small natural hill on the west bank of the Limmat, about 700 m (2,300 ft) north of where the river issues from Lake Zurich. Today the incorporated city stretches somewhat beyond the natural confines of the hills and includes some districts to the northeast in the Glatt Valley (Glattal) and to the north in the Limmat Valley (Limmattal). The boundaries of the older city are easy to recognize by the Schanzengraben canal. …
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