Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. A confederation in the central part of Western Europe , made up of twenty-two cantons, three of which are divided into half-cantons. Its area is 15, square miles. The name comes from the designation of one of the original cantons, Schwyz Schwiz , which was extended in the course of time to the entire confederation.
As regards its physical geography Switzerland is divided into three divisions: the Alps, the central region, and the Jura. The Swiss Alps form a part of the great curve of the Alpine chain of central Europe ; they extend from Mont-Dolent in the chain of Mont Blanc in the west to Piz Mondin, in the Lower Engadine in the east, and have a length measured in a straight line of miles.
The smaller part of the Jura range, including, however, its highest peaks, is on Swiss soil. Between the Alps and the Jura extends the central region, which is traversed by countless valleys and includes about 30 per cent of the entire area of Switzerland. The highest peak of the Swiss Alps is Monte Rosa, 15, feet. The rivers which have their sources in Switzerland belong to one or another of the following four river-basins: the basin of the Rhine, the waters of which flow into the North Sea; the basin of the Rhone, which carries its waters to the western Mediterranean; the basin of the Po, which empties into the eastern Mediterranean; and the basin of the Inn, which empties into the Danube and with this into the Black Sea.
The three river basins first mentioned have a common watershed, the range of the Gothard. The lofty mountain chain of the Swiss Alps above a definite height is permanently covered with snow which feeds the glaciers.
Switzerland contains altogether not less than glaciers, which cover an area of square miles. Taken altogether The climate of Switzerland is not uniform. The differences in temperature of the various parts are conditioned by the differences in altitude, which vary from feet to 15, feet above sea level, and by the Alps, the southern slope of which have a Mediterranean climate, while their northern slopes show that of central Europe.
