Geneva (Switzerland) flag 120 x 120 cm
Geneva (Franco-Provençal: Genèva; French: Genève, IPA: German: Genf; Italian: Ginevra; Romansh: Genevra) is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandie (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). Situated where the Rhône River exits Lake Geneva (in French also known as Lac Léman), it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. While the municipality itself (city center) has a population (as of 31 December 2009) of 185,958, the Geneva metropolitan area has 1,240,000 residents, according to a 2007 census. The Greater Geneva Bern area has 2,800,000 residents.
Geneva is a global city, a financial centre, and a worldwide centre for diplomacy and the most important international co-operation centre with New York because of the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.
Geneva has been described as the third European financial centre after London and Zurich, and the world's eighth most important financial centre by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Frankfurt and Sydney, and a 2009 survey by Mercer found Geneva to have the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world (narrowly outranked by Zürich). The city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the Peace Capital. In 2009, Geneva was ranked as the fourth most expensive city in the world.
source: wikipedia