After a visit to Switzerland I became interested in understanding a little of the geography of this wonderful country. Switzerland stands at the crossroads of north and south Europe. It shares, northern borders with Germany, eastern borders with Austria and Liechtenstein, southern borders with Italy and western borders with France. It is at the meeting place of three major European cultures, and it is no wonder that it also reflects the language cultures of these countries. I stayed in Basel, Interlaken (and visited Grindelwald) and went up the Jungrau as far as Wengen before going onto Lugano – just this journey was enough to appreciate the very different terrains – from snow to hot sun – in the same country.
There are three main geographical areas: The Swiss Plateau, the Jura and the Alps. The Plateau covers around 30% of the country’s land area, and has 66% of the population. It stretches from Lake Geneva in the South West to Lake Constance in the north east, with a median altitude of some 580m, and contains most of the farmland and industry of the country The Plateau is urbanised and the intensely cultivated land is being lost over time to the needs of the urban population. The Jura is a limestone highland range from Lake Geneva to the Rhine and is about 12% of Swiss land area. The Alps spread over 200 km at a median height of 1700 m, and occupy almost 66% of Swiss land area. The snow line begins at around 2500m – and there are 48 mountains over 4000m, around 1800 glaciers. The valleys of the several major rivers such as the Rhone, Upper Rhine, Reuss and Ticino divide the different mountain ranges. Whilst these mountains give the Swiss a clear identity to foreigners, actual economic growth is centred on the Plateau.
