History
A characteristic characteristic and of continuous importance for the History of Switzerland is the strategic situation of the country in the axis the north-south of the continental traffic and the difficult accessibility of valleys in the interior.
The alpine steps were object of greed for the great European powers: the control of the ports was reason military and conquers for Romans and alamanes in the Antiquity, the Hapsburg in the Medioevo and France de Napoleón in Modernity.
The Swiss Confederation was transformed throughout the centuries of a lax tripartite union of the forest regions 1291 (oath of Rütli) into a modern federal State with 26 corners. There were moments in the History of Switzerland in which the confederal union had been able to break by divergent interests of its States member, a danger that could only be won definitively with the foundation of the federal State in 1848.


Geografic
Switzerland is a country of amazing topographic and climatic resistances. The mountain range of Jurá, the central Plain and the Alps form the three main geographic regions of the country.
Switzerland is a densely populated small country but: the density of the population reaches 183 inhabitants by square kilometer.
The climate and the time very are varied in Switzerland: according to region and station of the year the time can vary between Siberian cold and Mediterranean heat.

Climate
In spite of the exigüidad of its territory, Switzerland very has differentiated climates between one and another region. The Alps, true climatic barrier, divide to the country in two great parts.
To the north of these, the climate is temperado and of oceanic character, while, to the south, the Mediterranean influence causes that the climate is clearly smoother. This difference is made feel particularly during invier to us, when the temperatures are rather rudas to the north of the Alps.
There are surprising disparities still more with respect to the amount of precipitations.
The region of Stalden, almost of steppe, in the Valais corner, is contented with about 52 centimeters of rain per year. To less than 40 kilometers of there, the bulk of Monte Rosa, is watered by more than 400 centimeters of annual precipitations.