History of Geneva in short Prehistory The first traces of the human settlement in the Genevese Basin are gone back to approximately 11 ' 000 years front J. - C. It is only towards 5 ' 000 to 4 ' 000 years front J. - C. that the first peasants of the Neolithic era occupy a territory very strongly wooded. The hill of the old city, centers old Geneva, will be inhabited only much later, probably not before 1000 av. J. - C. Towards 500, of the members of the Celtic tribe of Allobroges settle there inside a strengthened refuge. The conquest of the Allobroges grounds by Rome makes of Geneva a Roman city.
Antiquity
In 58 av. J. - C., Julius Caesar defends it against an incursion of the Helvetian ones; the mention of this event in its Comments of the War of Beat is the first appearance of the name of Geneva in a text. With the apogee of the Roman Empire, the urban area develops notably. Little before 400 a. J. - C., it is set up in bishopric, center of a vast diocese.
The Middle Ages
In 443, a Germanic tribe, Burgondes, is fixed in the area. During thirty years, Geneva shelters the capital of their kingdom. This one is occupied by the Francs into 534: Geneva is incorporated in Merovingian monarchy, then with the Carolingian Empire. The disintegration of this last, in IXe century, sees being born the Second kingdom from Burgundy, to which Geneva belongs. In 1032, this State passes to the Germanic emperors. In right, Geneva depends from now on Empire; in fact, since XIe century and until the Reform, it is controlled by its bishops become lords of the city.
The modern Time
The Reform triumphs in 1535. Politically, the city is now a republic. Calvin settles there in 1536. Its genius carries Geneva to the row of Protestant Rome. Since 1550, a bunch of Protestants, in particular French and Italian, persecuted in their country, find an asylum there. Under the aegis of Calvin and of Theodore de Bèze, they get for their new hearth a great religious and intellectual radiation. In 1602, the duke of Savoy, Charles-Emmanuel, tries a night attack against Geneva (the Climbing). The XVIIIe century was one time of great prosperity, Genevese industries - of which most known is the clock industry - the trade and the bank are flourishing. Jean-Jacques Rousseau is born in Geneva in 1712, Voltaire lives near 1755 to 1778.
The contemporary Time
In 1846, a revolution directed by James Fazy, reverses the government of the Restoration and establishes the constitution which still governs the canton. According to the ideas of the Genevese Henry Dunant, the International committee of the Red Cross is created in 1864, first of the international institutions which the city will shelter. The international mission of Geneva continues after the First World War, when it is selected like sits of the League of Nations, devancière of the United Nations Organization. Geneva remains the seat of its European office; several tens of other international institutions reside there.