Zurich Citizenship Test: History of Switzerland and Zurich

Last checked: 3 November 2026

What this area covers

The history area asks about the main stages from Roman times to today, for Switzerland as a whole and for the canton of Zurich. You do not need to know every date in the catalogue by heart, but you should be able to place the big turning points in order and say what they changed.

Below are the facts you should know, in our own words. We do not reproduce the canton’s questions.

Early times and the Old Confederacy

• In prehistoric times people lived in pile dwellings on the shores of lakes such as Lake Zurich.
• In Roman times the Helvetii lived in the area of today’s Switzerland. The Romans built towns such as Avenches, with its amphitheatre.
• In 1291 Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed an alliance. The Rütli meadow stands for it, and the legendary William Tell symbolises resistance against foreign rulers.
• After their defeat at Marignano in 1515, the Confederates gave up expanding their territory.
• The Reformation of the 16th century created Protestant Christianity and split Switzerland into Reformed and Catholic parts.

From 1798 to the federal state

• In 1798 French troops occupied the Confederacy, and under Napoleon it briefly became a centralised state (the Helvetic Republic). This ended the old order.
• In 1815 the great powers recognised Switzerland’s permanent neutrality. Neutrality means that Switzerland takes no side in wars between other states.
• In 1847 the Sonderbund War was fought between the liberal cantons and the Catholic conservative cantons.
• In 1848 the modern federal state was founded, with a constitution that left the cantons a large degree of autonomy.
• In 1863 the Red Cross (ICRC) was founded in Geneva; Henry Dunant was its founder.

Industry and the economy

• In the 19th century Switzerland changed from a farming society to an industrial one. The textile industry was the most important early sector; steam engines drove the change.
• Watchmaking made Switzerland a world leader, and chocolate makers such as Rodolphe Lindt and Philippe Suchard founded well-known companies.
• Alfred Escher of Zurich helped found the ETH, built railways and founded the bank that became Credit Suisse.
• Hardship and lack of work made many people emigrate in the 19th century.
• The Factory Act of 1877 banned child labour in factories so that children went to school.

The 20th century

• After the general strike of 1918, the 48-hour working week was introduced.
• In the Second World War Switzerland stayed neutral, but kept political and economic contacts with the warring powers.
• The AHV state pension was introduced in 1948. Living standards rose sharply in the 1960s.
• In the 1950s most foreign workers came from Italy. In 1970 the Schwarzenbach initiative tried to limit the number of foreigners. In the 1990s many people fled the wars in former Yugoslavia to Switzerland.
• Women gained the right to vote and stand for election at federal level in 1971. Equal rights for women and men have been in the constitution since 1981. Elisabeth Kopp was the first woman in the Federal Council.
• The canton of Jura was founded in 1979; it is the youngest canton.
• In 2000 voters approved the Bilateral Agreements I with the EU, the basis of today’s relations.

The history of Zurich

• The Romans called Zurich Turicum, a port and customs post, and brought their bathing culture.
• Ulrich Zwingli led the Reformation in Zurich from 1519.
• In the early 17th century a plague epidemic killed almost half of Zurich’s inhabitants.
• The canton of Zurich in its present form dates from 1803.
• During the Second World War potatoes were grown on the Sechseläutenplatz.
• Emilie Lieberherr of Zurich campaigned for women’s right to vote.

Key dates at a glance

How to study this area

Learn the dates as a story rather than a list: alliance, expansion and its end, religious split, French occupation, neutrality, civil war, federal state. Then hang the social history on it: industry, emigration, immigration, women’s rights.

Next step

Practise this area with the free questions. The other areas: Democracy and federalism, Social state and civil society, Geography, Culture and everyday culture. Format and registration: Knowledge test.