Major Cities of the World
Major Cities of the World : Amsterdam
| Athens | Bangkok
| Beirut |
Berlin | Buenos Aires | Cape
Town | Chiang Mai | Chicago
| Florence | Hong
Kong | Kuala Lumpur | London
| Los Angeles | Moscow
| Mumbai | New
York | Ottawa | Paris
| Rome | San
Francisco | Singapore | Sydney
| Tokyo | Zurich
Zurich - Switzerland
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 437,145 in 2005; population of urban area is some 1.3 million) and capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural center (the political capital of Switzerland being Bern), and is widely considered to be one of the world's global cities. According to several surveys in 2006 and 2007, Zurich was named the city with the best quality of life in the world.
The origin of the name is probably the Celtic word Turus, a corroborating reference to which was found on a tomb inscription dating from the Roman occupation in the 2nd century; the antique name of the town in its romanized form was Turicum.
Geography
The city is situated where the river Limmat leaves the northern end of Lake Zürich and is surrounded by wooded hills including (from the north) the Gubrist, the Hönggerberg, the Käferberg, the Zürichberg, the Adlisberg and the Oettlisberg on the eastern shore; and the Uetliberg (part of the Albis range) on the western shore. The river Sihl meets with the Limmat at the end of Platzspitz, which borders the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum). The geographic (and historic) center of the city is the 'Lindenhof' a small natural hill on the left bank of the river Limmat, about 700 meters north of where the river leaves the Lake Zürich. Today the incorporated city stretches somewhat beyond it natural hydrographic confines given by its hills and includes some neighborhoods to the northeast in the Glattal (valley of the river Glatt).
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