Origins of Geneva

The most ancient finds evidencing human occupancy of the Geneva area date back to about 3000 BC : they were unearthed on the shores of Lake Geneva, where there had been huddles of pile dwellings. The hill on which the later centre, now the Old Town, would be built was uninhabited probably for another two thousand years, then in about 500 BC members of the Celtic Allobroges clan stockaded themselves there.

The conquest of the Allobroges homelands by Rome from 122 to 120 BC turned Geneva into a Roman stronghold, and in 58 BC Julius Caesar had to defend it against a foray by the Helvetii. His account of this incident in Comments on the Gallic Wars, written in 52 BC, is the first known reference to Geneva in a text. The township spread space when the Roman Empire was at its zenith, and shortly before 400 AD it was awarded the status of a bishopric at the centre of a vast diocese.

The Germanic Burgundian tribe moved into the area in 443 AD, and Geneva became the seat of their kingdom for thirty years. The Franks occupied their territory in 534, and the town later became part of the Merovingian Kingdom and subsequently the Carlovingian Empire.

The Second Burgundian Kingdom rose out of the remains of the Empire in the IX century, including Geneva within its pale, only to fall under the domination of the German Empire by 1032.

However, while Geneva was legally a dependency, it was in point of fact governed by its bishops as their own seigneury from the XI century right through to the Reformation.

Source: Louis Binz, Professor at the University

More information:
• www.swissworld.org

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