Switzerland (German: die Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera, Romansh: Svizra), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country in Central Europe. This small multilingual country, of a little over 7 million people, has four national languages, German, French, Italian, and Romansch; however, the first of these, German, is only written or used for formal situations, and several variants and dialects are spoken commonly, and collectively are named as "Swiss German". It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, and Austria & Liechtenstein. It dates its independence to 1291; historically it was a confederation, and it has been a federation since 1848, with a current division into 26 cantons or "counties/states". While the cantons may be smaller than American counties within American states, the Swiss cantons function with more or less the same independence as American states, and sometimes with even more. The individual cantons are therefore best thought of as the states of Switzerland, rather than as counties. Switzerland has a strong economy in finance and banking, rates highly in international economic standards despite its small size, and maintains a long and strong tradition of political and military neutrality. This background allows Switzerland to host various international organizations, such as the United Nations, which, though headquartered in New York, has many departments in Switzerland. The safety, security, and scenic beauty of the country, for walking, hiking, and skiing, give it a strong and robust tourism sector.
Confoederatio Helvetica, the country's official Latin name, means Helvetic Confederation. The use of Latin avoids having to favour one of the four national languages. The abbreviation (CH) is used for the same reason. The titles commonly used in French (Conf�d�ration suisse), Italian (Confederazione Svizzera) and Romansh (Confederaziun svizra) translate as "Swiss Confederation", while the German name of Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft translates literally as "Swiss Oath Fellowship" or "Swiss Commonwealth of the Covenant". The term for a native of Switzerland is Swiss (German Schweizer, singular male Schweizer, female Schweizerin; French Suisses, male Suisse, female either Suisse or Suissesse; Italian Svizzeri, male Svizzero, female Svizzera).
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