Coordinates: 47°22?N 8°33?E? / ?47.367, 8.55
Population
376,815
- Density
4,101 /km?
Area
91.88 km?
Elevation
408 m
- Highest
871 m - Uetliberg
- Lowest
392 m - Limmat
Postal code
8000-8099
SFOS number
0261
Mayor
Elmar Ledergerber SPS/PSS
Surrounded by
Adliswil, D?bendorf, F?llanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, R?mlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
Twin towns
Kunming , San Francisco
Website
www.stadt-zuerich.ch
Z?rich [zoom]
View of the inner city with the four main churches visible, and the Albis in the backdrop
Z?rich IPA: [?tsy????], Z?rich German: Z?ri [?tsy?i], French: Zurich [zy?ik], Italian: Zurigo [dzu??i?go]; in English generally Zurich /?zju?r?k/) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne. Z?rich can be counted as one of the world's preeminent global cities. According to several surveys from 2006 to 2008, Z?rich was named the city with the best quality of life in the world.
Name
The earliest known form of the city's name is Turicum, attested on a tombstone of the late 2nd century CE in the form STA TURICEN . Neither the name's linguistic origin nor its meaning can be determined with certainty. A possibility is derivation from *Tur?con, from the Gaulish personal name T?ros.
A first development towards its later, Germanic form is attested as early as the 6th century CE with the form Ziurichi. From the 10th century onward, the name has more or less clearly been established as Z?rich , Zurich ). Note that in the modern Z?rich dialect, the name has lost its final ch [x]. This is hypocoristic rather than the result of a regular sound change, and the adjective remains Z?rcher ['tsyr
