A report on Swiss Plateau, Swiss Alps and Vaud

Satellite image of the Swiss Plateau between the Jura and the Alps

Satellite image of Switzerland in October 2002. On the north side of the Alps, the regions located above 2000m are covered by snow. The canton of Ticino (on the south side) is almost snow-free in early autumn.

View from the Pilatus on the Swiss Plateau near Luzern

Swiss Alps seen from the Swiss Jura in December 2010

The Napf region in the higher Swiss Plateau

Bailiwicks of Bern in Vaud in the 18th century

Built by the Bishop of Lausanne during the 15th century, Château Saint-Maire has been the seat of the cantonal government since 1803

View from the Rigi on the sea of fog covering the Swiss Plateau

Much of the eastern part of the plateau has become part of the "Greater Zurich Area".

Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Bernese Alps, a deep U-shaped valley that resulted from erosion by glaciers

The densely populated Swiss Plateau: view of Zurich from Waidberg

Liskamm (4,527 m), above the Gorner Glacier

The room of the Grand Council of Vaud, the parliament of the canton of Vaud

Highest ski area in Europe above Zermatt

Lausanne, capital and largest city in Vaud

Due to strong political will by the citizenry, Zermatt remains car-free and retains much of its original character

The Glacier Express on the Landwasser Viaduct, Albula Range

The Alps are featured on the Swiss fifty-franc banknote since 2016.

The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau (Schweizer Mittelland; plateau suisse; altopiano svizzero) is one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland, lying between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps.

- Swiss Plateau

The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (Schweizer Alpen, Alpes suisses, Alpi svizzere, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions.

- Swiss Alps

The geography of the canton includes all three natural regions of Switzerland: the Jura Mountains, the Swiss Plateau and the (Swiss) Alps.

- Vaud

The Alpine cantons (from highest to lowest) are Valais, Bern, Graubünden, Uri, Glarus, Ticino, St. Gallen, Vaud, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Schwyz, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Fribourg, Lucerne and Zug.

- Swiss Alps

Entirely situated within the Swiss Plateau are the cantons of Zurich, Thurgau and Geneva; mostly situated within the Swiss Plateau are the cantons of Lucerne, Aargau, Solothurn, Bern, Fribourg and Vaud; small portions of the Swiss Plateau are situated in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Zug, Schwyz, St. Gallen and Schaffhausen.

- Swiss Plateau

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Switzerland

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Landlocked country located at the confluence of Western, Central and Southern Europe.

Founded in 44 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, Augusta Raurica (near Basel) was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.

The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colours shown are the subject territories.

The Act of Mediation was Napoleon's attempt at a compromise between the Ancien Régime and a Republic.

The first Federal Palace in Bern (1857). One of the three cantons presiding over the Tagsatzung (former legislative and executive council), Bern was chosen as the permanent seat of federal legislative and executive institutions in 1848, in part because of its closeness to the French-speaking area.

Inauguration in 1882 of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel connecting the southern canton of Ticino, the longest in the world at the time

General Ulrich Wille, appointed commander-in-chief of the Swiss Army for the duration of World War I

In 2003, by granting the Swiss People's Party a second seat in the governing cabinet, the Parliament altered the coalition that had dominated Swiss politics since 1959.

Köppen–Geiger climate classification map for Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Council in 2022 with President Ignazio Cassis (bottom) standing on an abstract, reduced railway lines map and positioned at their respective political origins

The Federal Palace, seat of the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council

The Landsgemeinde is an old form of direct democracy, still in practice in two cantons.

The colour-reversed Swiss flag became the symbol of the Red Cross Movement, founded in 1863 by Henry Dunant.

A Swiss Air Force F/A-18 Hornet at Axalp Air Show

Swiss-built Mowag Eagles of the Land Forces

A proportional representation of Switzerland exports, 2019

The city of Basel (Roche Tower) is the capital of the country's pharmaceutical industry, which accounts for around 38% of Swiss exports worldwide.

The Greater Zürich area, home to 1.5 million inhabitants and 150,000 companies, is one of the most important economic centres in the world.

The University of Basel is Switzerland's oldest university (1460).

Some Swiss scientists who played a key role in their discipline (clockwise):
Leonhard Euler (mathematics)
Louis Agassiz (glaciology)
Auguste Piccard (aeronautics)
Albert Einstein (physics)

The LHC tunnel. CERN is the world's largest laboratory and also the birthplace of the World Wide Web.

Members of the European Free Trade Association (green) participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area.

Switzerland has the tallest dams in Europe, among which the Mauvoisin Dam, in the Alps. Hydroelectricity is the most important domestic source of energy in the country.

Entrance of the new Lötschberg Base Tunnel, the third-longest railway tunnel in the world, under the old Lötschberg railway line. It was the first completed tunnel of the greater project NRLA.

Population density in Switzerland (2019)

Percentage of foreigners in Switzerland (2019)

Urbanisation in the Rhone Valley (outskirts of Sion)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was not only a writer but also an influential philosopher of the eighteenth century.

Roger Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, making him among the most successful men's tennis players ever.

Fondue is melted cheese, into which bread is dipped

National languages in Switzerland (2016):
German (62.8%)
French (22.9%)
Italian (8.2%)
Romansh (0.5%)

It is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Alps and the Jura, spanning a total area of 41285 km2 and land area of 39997 km2.

Swiss wine is produced mainly in Valais, Vaud (Lavaux), Geneva and Ticino, with a small majority of white wines.

Canton of Fribourg

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Located in western Switzerland.

Fribourg Prealps: Dent de Brenleire (2358 m, to the right) and Vanil Noir (2389 m, in the background)

Transports publics Fribourgeois bus station in Fribourg

The canton is bounded to the west by Lake Neuchâtel, to the west and the south by the canton of Vaud, and to the east by the canton of Bern.

The canton lies on the elevated Swiss Plateau.

This region is commonly called pre-Alps but is part of the Bernese Alps.

Topographical map (relief map) of Switzerland showing the Jura range proper (Faltenjura) in the northwest and west, and the Alps in the south and east

Jura Mountains

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The Jura Mountains (, , , ; Massif du Jura; Juragebirge; Massiccio del Giura, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border.

The Swiss Jura is one of the three distinct geographical regions of Switzerland, the others being the Swiss plateau and the Swiss Alps.

In Switzerland, the Jura Mountains extend over an area covering (from northeast to southwest) the cantons of Zurich, Aargau, Basel-Landschaft, Solothurn, Jura, Bern (i.e., Bernese Jura), Neuchâtel, Vaud, and Geneva.