Swiss Capital

Switzerland is perhaps the world's richest country, with GDP per capita of U.S. $ 67,000. It also has two of the three cities with better quality of life of the world, Zurich and Geneva. However, none of them is the nation's capital. Swiss Federal authorities are headquartered in a region with a much lower population density, Bern .

In the metropolitan area of Bern live just 350,000 people, remarkably close to being the capital of a country with more than 7 million inhabitants. The city was founded by Duke Berthold V of Zähringen in the twelfth century. According to legend, the Duke would have that name in honor of a bear (Bär in German) he beat in that territory. It is proved that, for hundreds of years, the region was inhabited by such animals.

The canton (state in which divides the territory of Switzerland) Berne is part of the Swiss Confederation or Switzerland since 1353. Almost two centuries later, the city acquired the status of European power. It was only in 1848 when Bern was designated as the capital of the new Swiss federal state.

With regard to geography, is one of the richest counties in the country. 43% of its land is arable, while only 6% of its area is intended for residential area, which explains its small population. The rest of Bern is distributed between areas of forest or mountain .

Its economy is based on livestock, cheese production, hydropower and tourism . But undoubtedly the most important of the city is host to the administrative authorities of the country. Neither Zurich or Geneva is Switzerland's capital Berne. I bet most of you are surprised.