Geneva

Geneva is a city in western Switzerland, where the Rhône leaves Lake Geneva close to the French border. Henry Dunant, a businessman of the city, founded the International Committee of the Red Cross there in 1863.

John Calvin settled in Geneva in the 1530s and made it a center of the Protestant Reformation, with an academy that trained preachers from across Europe. Before that it had been ruled for centuries by its bishops and the dukes of Savoy. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the philosopher of The Social Contract, was born in the old town. Mary Shelley began Frankenstein in a villa on the lake shore near the city during a rainy summer of the 19th century. Geneva joined the Swiss Confederation as a canton in 1815, and in the 20th century it became the seat of the League of Nations and later of the European office of the United Nations.

The Jet d'Eau, a fountain at the edge of the lake, throws water 140 m (460 ft) into the air. Saint Pierre Cathedral, where Calvin preached, has a Romanesque and Gothic nave behind a neoclassical portico. The Reformation Wall, in a park below the old town, shows Calvin and three other reformers as large stone figures. The Palais des Nations, built for the League of Nations in the 1930s, has an Art Deco assembly hall and a park with peacocks.

Rolex has its head office and main workshops in Geneva. Patek Philippe was founded in the city by Antoine Norbert de Patek and Adrien Philippe, and it is known for its complicated mechanical watches. The Mediterranean Shipping Company, a container shipping line, also runs its business from Geneva.