Solothurn

The city of Solothurn (German: Solothurn pronounced [ˈzoːlotʊrn]; French: Soleure; Italian: Soletta; Romansh: Soloturn) is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also is the only municipality of the district of the same name.

The official language of Solothurn is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

History

Pre-Roman settlement

The oldest finds from Solothurn city probably date from the Paleolithic era. The remains of a Mesolithic camp were discovered in 1986 during renovations of the former Kino Elite building. From the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age, only a few scattered items have been discovered.

Roman settlement

The Roman settlement at Solothurn was probably built around AD 15-25 as a road station and bridge head on the road from Aventicum to Augusta Raurica or Vindonissa. A small vicus or settlement quickly developed around the castrum. Solothurn is first mentioned in 219 as vico salod[uro] on the so-called Eponastein. The name may indicate either that a Celtic settlement existed on the site before or just be a testimony to the mixed Gallo-Roman culture in the north-west provinces of the Roman Empire. It came to be known as Salodurum. Its strategical importance lay in the position at the approach to the Rhine from southeast. In the 2nd-3rd Century AD, the vicus expanded rapidly to fill almost all of what is now the old city of Solothurn, including a portion of today's suburb south of the Aare.

Canton of Solothurn

The Canton of Solothurn (German:  Solothurn ) is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn.

History

The territory of the canton comprises land acquired by the city. For that reason the shape of the canton is irregular and includes two exclaves along the French border, separated from the rest of the canton by Basel-Land, which form separate districts of the canton. Between 1798 and 1803 the canton was part of the Helvetic Republic. In 1803 Solothurn was one of the 19 Swiss cantons that were reconstituted by Napoleon (Mediation). Even though the population was strictly Roman Catholic, Solothurn did not join the Catholic separatist movement (Sonderbund) in 1845. Similarly, the federal constitutions of 1848 and 1874 were approved. The current constitution of the canton dates from 1987.

Geography

The canton is located in the north-west of Switzerland. To the west and south lies the cantons of Jura and Bern, to the east is Aargau. To the north the canton is bounded by the canton of Basel-Landschaft. Parts of two of the districts are exclaves and are located along the French border. The lands are drained by the Aare river and its tributaries. The landscape is mostly flat, but it includes the foothills of the Jura massif. Part of this, the massif of the Weissenstein, overlooks Solothurn and the Mitteland from the north and affords spectacular views of the Bernese Alps. The flat lands are a plain created by the Aare river. The total area of the canton is 791 km².