Switzerland

Switzerland officially the Swiss confederacy (Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its ISO country code CHE), is a closed in country of 7.5 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a national republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal government and de facto capital, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and specially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

Switzerland is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Switzerland has a long narration of objectivity – it has not been at war since 1815 – and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the WTO and one of the U.N.'s two European offices.

The Latin formal name of Switzerland, Confoederatio Helvetica is derived from the Helvetii, an ancient Celtic people in the Alpine region. It is rendered in German as Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, in French as Confédération suisse, in Italian as Confederazione Svizzera and in Romansh as Confederaziun svizra. The freedom of Switzerland is conventionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.