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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Desiderius82 (talk | contribs) at 14:51, 20 September 2014 (→‎Borges). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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Coat of arms

Hi, I think the 'Coat of arms of the City and Canton of Geneva' shown on this page is actually for the Canton only, not for the city. But I can't find proof of this. Does someone know? Hwebers

It is for both. Here's the link from the City of Geneva's website: http://www.ville-geneve.ch/en/decouvrir/en-bref/armoiries.htm HTH Kokiri 23:36, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)
No, it isn't. There a slight difference, look !
There is a difference between the city and teh canton coat of arms: here is the official one for the canton [1] from the law itself [2]. The city's coat is cited above.


I've cut& paste the bit on the canton of Geneva and created a stub rather a redirect for the canton. After all this page states that it is about the city... Kokiri 13:24, 14 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Map Showing Location of Geneva

How do we add the map showing the location of geneva, similar to that found at Berne and Zürich and Basel? Sophrosune (talk) 15:56, 11 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Name of Lac Leman

The name 'Lac de Genève' has only ever been used in Geneva, and not elsewhere in Switzerland (as indicated on the page Lake Geneva). So I will probably remove the reference to this name, and let people look at the main article on the lake if they want more info. Schutz 08:02, 22 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I forgot to mention that even in Geneva, this name is now rarely used. Schutz 08:03, 22 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Lac de Genève crops up now and then but me and everyone I know calls it Lac Leman. Wyss 16:57, 22 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I removed the recent addition of the german name of Lake Geneva, because the complete area around Lake Geneva is frenchspeaking. Therefore, "Genfer See" is NOT a local name. However, through the link Lake Geneva, the reader can still find this information. --Neumeier 01:31, 20 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Flower Clock

The Flower Clock
The Flower Clock
The Flower Clock

Which image is better ? The second was on the article in the beginning.. then replaced with the first. I changed it back to a modified version of second ( the third image ) because I think it gives a better idea about how big the clock is in terms of size. Also, the first image's colour seems faded. Anyhow, what do others think ? sikander 08:43, 25 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Metropolitan Population of Geneva

Is the metropolitan population of Geneva really equivalent to nearly 2 million people? This would make Geneva one of the largest cities in Western Europe, and vastly bigger than Zürich. The link page goes to a site in German that doesn't appear to immediately address the issue. Geneva is easily viewed on arrival via plane during the day, provided cloud cover is not too thick, and the largest concentration of development is obviously and overwhelmingly concentrated in the Canton of Geneva, which hosts under half a million people. The total population of the ONLY neighbouring Swiss state (Canton) of Vaud is around 650,000, of which about 200,000 live in Lausanne city limits. Even if 400,000 Vaudois could be counted as part of the Metropolitan area of Geneva, which I imagine is not very likely, that still leaves almost a million people unaccounted for. Where do these million people live?? Annemasse? Ferney-Voltaire? Divonne-les-Bains?-Wikipedia sources suggest that the combined population of these three next largest towns around Geneva barely exceeds 40,000 people and the only other town of note within close reach to Geneva, Thonon-les-Bains (population about 30,000), is separated from the Geneva metropolitan area by substantial tracks of sparsely-populated countryside. I, therefore, would tend to assume that the Geneva urban agglomeration figure has been inflated by at least 7-800,000 people. Any thoughts? --Dogma2000 09:28, 24 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • The number comes from here [3], but it make reference to the "région lémanique [region of the Lake Geneva] vaste territoire qui englobe les Cantons de Vaud et de Genève, le Département de la Haute-Savoie, quelques territoires fribourgeois, valaisans et de l'Ain. I found more usuals numbers here [4] : 650000, 700000, and 750000, depending of the definition of the metropolitan area. I shall put the number of 700000 in the article. --Neumeier 21:47, 26 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

International organizations

Why was Geneva picked for so many international organizations? Sfisher 16:52, 30 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure, but one reason might be because it is in neutral Switzerland. NauticaShades 17:58, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Probably a lot of truth in that, but the Red Cross is there because that's where its founder, Henry Dunant, came from. Ireneshusband 10:54, 13 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Besides tradition, critical mass of already present international organizations, political stability and swiss neutrality, there is also the quality of life and good international tranport links. Some of these reason (neutrality, stability, approximative geographic centre of Europe) were even more important during the first half of the 20th century, when League of Nations and other international organizations were created in Geneva, but also UPU in Bern, IOC in Lausanne, and BIS in Basel. --Neumeier 01:59, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It all started with the Red Cross for the reasons above, then the League of Nations. The League very nearly went to Brussels, but Wilson and others pushed for Geneva because of religious reasons (Wilson's staunch protestantism) and not wanting the seat of the League to be in the center of the conflict the organization was supposed to prevent from ever occurring again.[1] Hennings.iheid (talk) 17:18, 27 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Is there really an International Committee of Committees?78.147.136.72 (talk) 19:45, 21 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Geneva and Gex

Passing mention should be made of the agreement with France over provisioning from Haute Savoy and Gex.


One of my history lecturers said it was a minor fancy of his that John Calvin and Ignatius Loyola met on the road outside Geneva in passing - one going in the other leaving.

62.6.121.44 21:32, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How do things work at the border?

The article says that some of the public transit routes cross into France. Does this mean that the border is not policed in any way? How long has it been like this? Ireneshusband 10:30, 13 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

All main border crossing points have a customs post on them. A few are manned more or less permanently (such as the crossing to Ferney where the F bus goes). Others for limited hours. Others only very occasionally. Even where there are permanently manned crossings, they do not stop everyone. The system relies on people finding a customs officer to declare anything necessary and not crossing without appropriate documentation. There are also mobile patrols which can stop people anywhere within a fairly large distance from the border, which probably provide more of a deterrent to abuse than the fixed checks.
The buses will usually pass straight through the post with just a nod from the border guard, but I have certainly been on buses a few times where it has been stopped and everyone on board required to show a passport/ID card.
Trains vary. The TGV trains to Paris require you to pass through a passport control point in the station, which is usually manned, before you get on the train or after you get off. I can't remember what the system is for the trains to Annemasse - I would guess at it being the same, but less frequently manned. Some trains crossing borders into or out of other parts of Switzerland have occasional checks by border guards who get on the train at the relevant points from time to time (if I recall correctly, peforming the checks on the train as it moves between the stations either side of the border, presumably on the basis of a bilateral agreement giving authority to act on the train within either territory).
Passport checks between Switzerland and France will (as such) soon be eliminated when Switzerland's entry to the Schengen system is implemented, but the customs checks will remain, which will presumably allow them the right to demand documentation if there is a customs-related need for it. Bradype 11:53, 13 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
When taking regional trains into Annemasse from Geneva Cornavin, you do have to go through a manned customs booth before having access to the train. Lostvalley 09:33, 3 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

UN Headquarters?

Picture of UN building states is the the UN Headquarters. While I wish the UN was not HQ'ed in NY, Geneva does not have the UN headquarters.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.246.143.130 (talk • contribs)

But geneva has the ECMA HQ. Shouldn't this be stated in the article?

Public Schools

In the education section of the article the "public school" system is described and one particular school is singled out as one of the oldest public schools. Can someone clarify in the article whether this is talking about public schools in the American sense of state schools or the English sense of independent/private schools? alihaig 08:25, 25 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

wordtothedude Collège Calvin is a public school in the American/European sense: a state school. —Preceding undated comment added 11:14, 17 March 2009 (UTC).

Climate

This section is very poorly worded and hard to understand. I'd rewrite it but I'm not even sure what they writer was trying to say. Definitely needs cleaned up.

Hipsterdoofus 20:00, 26 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I totally agree with this comment, I couldn't understand any of it and I'm not at all sure what to do about it. I'm not even sure if words were left out or sentences completely re-structured. Help wiki!

~Larkyn —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.75.24.252 (talk) 08:57, 29 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]


History Neutrality Dispute?

Where is the neutrality dispute that the current version mentions about Calvin? If no dispute is in progress those should be removed. JLMarais (talk) 23:06, 17 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The tags were there to protest some inappropriately critical statements about John Calvin. I have boldly rewritten that section and removed the tags. Calvin's tenure in Geneva was certainly controversial, and it is appropriate to discuss that controversy. But Wikipedia should not make controversial statements as if they were fact. Controversial statements should be attributed to a source and should be balanced. --BlueMoonlet (t/c) 16:56, 19 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed three entire sections of the article: "Monuments and landmarks", "Museums and Galleries", and "Parks", as they were all copied from various subpages of http://www.geneva.info/. There are non-infringing versions in the history, if someone wants to take the time to re-insert them. howcheng {chat} 18:22, 7 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Incorrect "density" figure in Infobox

For whatever reason the infobox is not converting the desnity correctly into square miles. With the area and population of the city, the density is comfortably 30,000 persons per square mile, but I can't figure out how to fix it. --Criticalthinker (talk) 05:14, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Travel guide

Much of the article reads like a travel guide. See Wikipedia:NOT#TRAVEL. To be encyclopedic, a section like the one on cinemas (which I've removed, along with some others], should give the number of cinemas, their specialities, their histories and what makes them distinctive from other world cities — of course with the sources cited. Information like this can be obtained for the article from many good travel books.

Let's band together to make this the best article on any European city, but not a travel guide. Amitiés, GeorgeLouis (talk) 06:39, 16 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alexander von Humboldt 1,585.65 USD

Class

Why is this article only a B-class article? I think it needs reassessing. Gaia Octavia Agrippa Talk | Sign 21:02, 22 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

History section

It appears that the History section of this article was heavily dependent on an article from the Catholic Encyclopedia published in 1910. We should try to reduce this trend, particularly given that (a) Geneva is famous as a major center for Protestantism, and focusing heavily on the Catholic perspective detracts from having a neutral point of view in this article, and (b) there is nothing in the History section that discusses the last 100 years of the city's history. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 05:50, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I'm willing to help translate the history section from the French Wikipedia; even better if I can get some assistance. The page is at http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneve#Histoire . What do you say? Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 06:44, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I brought in the 20th Century history section from the French Wiki, leaving out some of the tendentious material and that without a Source. The other sections, I suppose, can be left for later or for more skillful editing. Yours, GeorgeLouis (talk) 16:27, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

'Ginebra' in Spanish

And what about the Spanish 'Ginebra'? Spanish-speaking people tends to think that Geneva ('Ginebra' in Spanish) is Genoa ('Génova' in Spanish). It's a common mistake. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.142.175.22 (talk) 09:44, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not a National Capital

This has to be a national capital to be on the "top" list. Not even Los Angeles or Istanbul are there! Here is the list: National Capitals Wallie (talk) 14:22, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Quality of life index

There's still a reference to an older, 2007 Mercer study on Quality of Life. The 2009 study has been out for several weeks now: http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=19711427#3 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lexus forever (talk • contribs) 04:44, 16 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do you think this is Notable?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/11/28/switzerland.wto.violence/index.html?section=cnn_latest

violent protest 28 Nov 2009 against WTO in which cars were set fire to and windows were smashed

Stevv (talk) 22:23, 1 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Shall the graduate institute be part of the header of this article ?

Added on Nov 13, the sentence " In the heart of the International Geneva is located the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies an institution of advanced research and teaching which proposed MA and PhD programmes and prepare international actors to respond to the challenges of tomorrow's world." sounds a lot like the institute's recrutement flyer: http://graduateinstitute.ch/webdav/site/iheid/users/admin/public/central_dep/flyer_recrutement.pdf —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.194.8.73 (talk) 09:51, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology

Geneva is a Celtic name??? Verification? The French page says Geneva is originally Ligurian, which would make a lot more sense considering location and history!? 90.184.243.14 (talk) 22:58, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology is not clear. This was the territory of the Helvetii, a Celtic tribe. But look at the etymology of Genoa, with which commentators say it is cognate. But I don't think the Celtic empire extended to Liguria. The Latin etymology (from "knee") is not convincing to me. Basically, no one seems to know. Perhaps you could enlarge on this in the article. Nick Michael (talk) 13:05, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I thought the origin was Saint Juniper - in Italian Ginepro. /p/ to /v/ is a common slip and then you have the male/female forms Ginevro/Ginevra. Ginevra is the Italian name for the city. But maybe the St. Juniper/Ginepro connection is only true for the Italian form? I suppose the English form Genava could very well have Celtic roots in a way independent of the Italian/Ligurian form? 90.184.243.14 (talk) 03:21, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Juniper d. 1258 so it can hardly be connected! These place-names very often go back to prehistory. Nick Michael (talk) 15:56, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Geneva

(moved from my talk) Materialscientist (talk) 23:12, 4 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You today reinstated a statistic deleted by 84.227.201.125: [5], calling it "unexplained removal of referenced content." Although it was not me who deleted this statistic, I must call it into question:
1. The reference is dead.
2. The "greater Geneva Bern area" does not exist. It is like referring to "the greater New York Washington DC area" - meaningless. I have been through the federal statistics, e.g: [6] cited by the editor who originally posted it (don't know when, but it's immaterial) and I can find no reference to such an "area".
3. The federal statistics refer, logically, to the political area of Genève canton-ville (Geneva is the name of a canton, whose "capital" is the city of Geneva), with a combined population of 457'628 inhabitants (31.12.2009). The city of Geneva alone has 189'313 inhabitants (31.12.2009). These figures are taken from the official web page of Geneva: [7].

I therefore propose deleting the following:

While the municipality itself (city center) has a population (as of 31 December 2009) of 185,958[1], the Geneva metropolitan area has 1,240,000 residents, according to a 2007 census. The Greater Geneva Bern area has 2,800,000 residents.

and replacing it with:

While the municipality itself (ville de Genève) has a population (as of 31 December 2009) of 189,313, the canton of Geneva (which includes the city) has 457,628 residents (as of 31 December 2009).

As you have taken the trouble to try to maintain the integrity of the article, I would just like your approbation before effecting this edit. Many thanks. Nick Michael (talk) 23:00, 4 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Personal assessment declined. Brought here for public attention. Materialscientist (talk) 23:13, 4 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Notable people

There are several "notable people" in this section who are not natives of Geneva: Henriette d'Angeville, Stanislav Smirnov, Nedd Willard. Are there any Wikipedia criteria for being a "notable person"? Obviously a native should be included; but should people who moved there also be included? Or who lived there - and for how long? Or should it be restricted to people who were/are officially Genevese citizens? Every Swiss person has their official commune of origin (which is noted in their passport and other state documents) - but people who are officially Genevese were not necessarily born in Geneva, since a Swiss citizen takes his/her father's commune of origin, and many generations may be born and live in a completely different part of the country to their commune of origin: indeed, someone of Genevese origins may never have even visited Geneva. The whole thing is a very grey area... Nick Michael (talk) 21:54, 30 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No one has responded to my question above. No one has suggested criteria for deciding what makes a "notable person". I propose re-titling the section "Notable natives" and including only those persons born in Geneva (canton of). Without a comment within a few days, I'll make the changes. I bet that'll make someone react! Nick Michael (talk) 15:54, 24 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Still no opinions..? Do you think that Terry Southern, who lived for less than three years in Geneva, should be included in Notable people? Nick Michael (talk)

Inaccuracies in introduction.

Geneva (...) is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland (after Zurich) and is the most populous city of Romandie (the French-speaking part of Switzerland).

I'm not claiming to have any expertise in Swiss anthropology, but i noted some indifferences when browsing through related articles.

After comparing another article about Switzerland Cantons[2] to this article about Geneva, i found that Bern, Vaud, Aargau, and St. Gallen, are more superior to Geneva when it comes to population. Furthermore i found more discrepancies in the last set of bolded words, Geneva is not the most populated french speaking city, Vaud claims that title.

Vaud is a canton, not a city (despite urban sprawl), have a look at List of cities in Switzerland for more information. mgeo talk 21:37, 6 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Geneva is both a city and a canton, this article is about the city. Vaud and Aargau are both cantons, Bern and St. Gallen are both cities and cantons. Tobyc75 (talk) 18:57, 7 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It's important to distinguish between cities and cantons: the city of Geneva (ville de Genève) is a separate political entity to the canton of Geneva (république et canton de Genève). The confusion arises where a canton is named after its capital city (Geneva, Bern etc.). The capital city of Vaud is Lausanne, which eliminates the confusion in this case.
The city of Geneva is the second most populous city of Switzerland, and the most populous city of Romandie. The canton of Geneva however is very small, both geographically and demographically. Nick Michael (talk) 12:10, 14 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Since when a canton is a republic?!?!?!? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.181.5.114 (talk) 03:51, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See the article Canton of Geneva. The Genevese are very proud of being a republic. And why not! Nick Michael (talk) 21:39, 30 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

History section

Is extremely long; I'm proposing shifting most of it into its own article. LibStar (talk) 13:33, 25 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Seconded. The History section is long, and Geneva was an independent state right through to 1815 (albeit with periods of French domination, I think). Is there any active discussion towards doing this at present? AWhiteC (talk) 21:53, 12 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Fair enough, is any one going to make the split? Op47 (talk) 14:08, 1 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, me! Done! Hard work! Anybody want to check what I've done? Look out for the thing I forgot – there's always at least one. AWhiteC (talk) 23:28, 1 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thankyou, it looks fine to me. Op47 (talk) 13:58, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Heritage sites of national significance

The "Heritage sites of national significance" section seems messy to me and out of place for an average article about a city. Looking forward to some better solution rather than deleting them all recklessly.Lerox-Donut (talk) 15:13, 18 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Cityscape

I suggest adding this image to the article's section "Cityscape." Thoughts? Griberg 23:20, 7 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

View of Geneva from Mont Salève.

There's one already there, taken from an almost identical point. Don't know which is better, but the current one gives a better view of the city relative to its surroundings, whilst your candidate shows the Jura better. Nick Michael (talk) 21:41, 7 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Agree with Nick Michael. That would be a bit redundant with the picture in the Geography section. The current panorama in the cityscape section is not perfect but it is a more interesting view point because from there you can see how the buildings look like in Geneva. mgeo talk 12:46, 11 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Urbanisation in Geneva

Hey i don't really know how to use Wikipedia, but can anyone help me with the subject mentioned above? I need it to complete my Geography project. Please and Thank You :)Debslf (talk) 07:03, 23 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What sort of help are you looking for? Are you supposed to create an article on the subject of urbanization or write a report? What sort of information are you looking for? Tobyc75 (talk) 11:21, 23 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm supposed to do a research paper about Geneva's urbanisation, like about the urbanisation over the years, causes of urbanisation, consequences of urbanisation and to suggest solutions to manage urbanisation in the city concerned, which in my case is Geneva, Switzerland. Debslf (talk) 01:57, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Prononciation

Hi,

just to let you guys know that as a native speaker from Lorraine (NE) I'd pronounce Genève with a schwa between the 'g' and the 'n' (so, more like French « je nève » if it existed). I gather it would be true of most people in Lorraine and, I would tend to think, of most French speakers in France. I don't know about Swiss speakers though. At least I guess it would deserve some room in the introduction but I'm not sure what the guidelines say.

Cheers, Denhetreil (talk) 21:28, 24 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Borges

The article on Geneva shouldn't lack a mention of J L Borges. I propose his inclusion in the list of notable people, thus:

Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer, who lived as a youth, died and was buried in Geneva, and considered it one of his "Homelands"[3]

In case this type of mention is considered inappropriate, please let me know before I do include it in the article's text. (Of course I totally oppose the notion that "notable people" list should only include natives of a specific city, as was earlier proposed). Desiderius82 (talk) 14:45, 20 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

  1. ^ Kuntz, Joëlle (2011). Geneva and the call of internationalism: a history. Geneva: Republic and State of Geneva. pp. 47–54.
  2. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantons_of_Switzerland. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ Borges, Jorge Luis. "Obras Completas". Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1996, v. III, p. 497.
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