Romandy | |
|---|---|
Cultural region ofSwitzerland | |
 Language distribution in Switzerland by the year 2000. Romandy is shown in green | |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Entire Cantons | Geneva Jura Neuchâtel Vaud |
| Parts of Cantons | Bernese Jura (Berne) Western Fribourg (Fribourg) Lower Valais (Valais) |
| Largest city | Geneva |
| Area | |
• Total | 8,284 km2 (3,198 sq mi) |
| Population (2019) | |
• Total | 1,951,187 |
| • Density | 235/km2 (610/sq mi) |
| Demographics | |
| • Languages | French (Swiss French) |
Romandy (French:Romandie orSuisse romande;Arpitan:Romandia)[note 1] is theFrench-speaking historical and cultural region ofSwitzerland. In 2020, about 2 million people, or 22.8% of the Swiss population, lived in Romandy.[1] The majority of theromand population lives in the western part of the country, especially theArc Lémanique region alongLake Geneva, connectingGeneva,Vaud, and theLower Valais.
French is the sole official language in fourSwiss cantons:Geneva,Vaud,Neuchâtel, andJura. Additionally, French and German have co-official status in three cantons:Fribourg/Freiburg,Valais/Wallis, andBerne/Bern.
The adjectiveromand (feminineromande) is a regional dialectal variant ofroman (modern Frenchromain, i.e. "Roman"); inOld French used as a term for the Gallo-Romance vernaculars. Use of the adjectiveromand (with its unetymological final-d) in reference to theFranco-Provençal dialects can be traced to the 15th century; it is recorded, asrommant, in a document written in Fribourg in 1424 and becomes current in the 17th and 18th centuries in Vaud and Fribourg; it was adopted in Geneva in the 19th century, but its usage never spread outside of what is now French-speaking Switzerland.
The termSuisse romande has become widely used since World War I;[2] before World War I and during the 19th century, the termSuisse française "French Switzerland" was used, reflecting the cultural and political prestige of France (the canton ofVaud having been createdby Napoleon out of former Bernese subject territories, while Geneva, Valais and Jura were even briefly joined to France, as theLéman,Simplon andMont-Terribledépartements, respectively).Suisse romande is used in contrast toSuisse alémanique ("Alemannic Switzerland") the term forAlemannic German speaking Switzerland. Formed by analogy isSuisse italienne ("Italian Switzerland"), which is composed ofTicino and of a part ofGrisons.
InSwiss German, French-speaking Switzerland is known asWelschland orWelschschweiz, and the French-speaking Swiss asWelsche, using the old Germanic term for non-Germanic speakers also used in English ofWelsh (see*Walhaz). The termsWelschland andWelschschweiz are also used in writtenSwiss Standard German but in more formal contexts they are sometimes exchanged forfranzösischsprachige Schweiz ("French-speaking Switzerland") orfranzösische Schweiz ("French Switzerland"). SimpleWestschweiz "western Switzerland" may also be used as a loose synonym.
"Romandy" is not an official territorial division of Switzerland any more than there is a clear linguistic boundary. For instance, substantial parts of thecanton of Fribourg and the westerncanton of Bern are traditionally bilingual, most prominently inSeeland around the lakes ofMorat,Neuchâtel andBienne (Biel). French is the sole official language in fourSwiss cantons:Geneva,Vaud,Neuchâtel, andJura; and the co-official language – along with German – in the cantons ofValais,Bern,[3] andFribourg,[4] French speakers forming the majority of the population in the regions ofLower Valais,Bernese Jura and Fribourg francophone ("French-speakingFribourg"). Bernese Jura is an administrative division of the Canton of Bern,[5] whereas the two others are informal denominations.
| French is the sole official language in the following cantons: | ||||||
| Arms[note 2][6] | Canton of | Joined Switzerland | Capital | Population [note 3] | Area (km2) | Density (per km2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Vaud | 1803 | Lausanne | 814,762[7] | 3,212 | 247 |
 | Geneva | 1815 | Geneva | 506,343[8] | 282 | 1,756 |
 | Neuchâtel | 1815/1857 | Neuchâtel | 175,894[9] | 802 | 222 |
 | Jura | 1979 | Delémont | 73,709[10] | 839 | 87 |
| Three regions located in French-German bilingual cantons have a French-speaking majority: | ||||||
| Region | Canton of | Joined Switzerland | Largest city | Population | Area (km2) | Density (per km2) |
| Fribourg francophone[note 4] | Fribourg/Freiburg | 1481 | Fribourg/Freiburg | 235,069[11][note 5] | 1,264[12][note 5] | 186 |
| Lower Valais[note 6] | Valais/Wallis | 1815 | Martigny | 122,718[11] | 1,344 | 91 |
| Bernese Jura[note 7] | Bern | 1814 | Moutier | 53,721[13] | 541 | 99 |
| Romandy | Geneva | 1 951 187 | 8 284 | 235 | ||
The linguistic boundary between French and German is known asRöstigraben (lit. "rösti ditch", adopted in Swiss French asbarrière de rösti). The term is humorous in origin and refers both to the geographic division and to perceived cultural differences between the Romandy and the German-speaking Swiss majority. The term can be traced to theWWI period, but it entered mainstream usage in the 1970s in the context of theJurassic separatism virulent at the time.
The linguistic boundary cuts across Switzerland north-to-south, forming the eastern boundary of thecanton of Jura and then encompassing theBernese Jura, where the boundary frays to include a number of bilingual communities, the largest of which isBiel/Bienne. It then follows the border betweenNeuchâtel andBern and turns south towardsMorat, again traversing an areal of traditional bilinguism including the communities of Morat andFribourg. It divides thecanton of Fribourg into a western French-speaking majority and an eastern German-speaking minority and then follows the eastern boundary ofVaud with the upperSaane/Sarine valley of theBernese Oberland. Cutting across theHigh Alps atLes Diablerets, the boundary then separates the French-speakingLower Valais from the Alemannic-speakingUpper Valais beyondSierre. It then cuts southwards into the High Alps again, separating theVal d'Anniviers from theMattertal.
Historically, the linguistic boundary in theSwiss Plateau would have more or less followed theAare during the early medieval period, separatingBurgundy (where theBurgundians did not impose their Germanic language on the Gallo-Roman population) fromAlemannia; in theHigh Middle Ages, the boundary gradually shifted westward and now more or less corresponds to the western boundary of theZähringer possessions, which fell underBernese rule in the late medieval period, and does not follow any obvious topographical features. The Valais has a separate linguistic history; here, the entire valley, as far as it was settled, would have been Gallo-Roman speaking until its upper parts were settled byHighest Alemannic speakers entering from the Bernese Oberland in the high medieval period (seeWalser).
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Traditionally speaking theFranco-Provençal orPatois dialects ofUpper Burgundy, theromand population now speak avariety of Standard French.
Today, the differences between Swiss French andParisian French are minor and mostly lexical, although remnants of dialectal lexicon or phonology may remain more pronounced in rural speakers. In particular, some parts of the Swiss Jura participate in theFrainc-Comtou dialect spoken in theFranche-Comté region of France.
Since the 1970s, there has been a limited amount oflinguistic revivalism of Franco-Provençal dialects, which are often now calledArpitan (a 1980s neologism derived from the dialectal form of the wordalpine) and their areaArpitania.
The cultural identity of the Romandy is supported byRadio Télévision Suisse and the universities ofGeneva,Fribourg,Lausanne andNeuchâtel.
Historically, most of the Romandy has been strongly Protestant, especiallyCalvinist;Geneva was one of the earliest and most important Calvinist centres. However, Roman Catholicism continued to predominate inJura,Valais, andFribourg. In recent decades, due to significant immigration from France and Southern European countries, Catholics can now be found throughout the region.
TheTour de Romandie is an annual cycling event on theUCI World Tour, often considered to be an important race in preparation for theTour de France.
TheLibrary Network of Western Switzerland is in the region of Romandy.
It is a collection of Libraries of Western Switzerland that are based in the region of Romandy.
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46°12′00″N6°09′00″E / 46.2000°N 6.1500°E /46.2000; 6.1500
