Basel

Basel stands where the Rhine turns north, dividing Grossbasel on its left bank from Kleinbasel on the right. A Roman fort occupied the site of an earlier Celtic settlement, and a bishopric developed around the old stronghold. The first bridge across the Rhine was built in 1225, helping Kleinbasel grow at its far end. Craft guilds and merchants prospered, while the city gradually gained independence from its prince-bishop.

In 1349 Jews were blamed for the Black Death and many were burned; a great earthquake destroyed much of Basel in 1356. The Council of Basel met from 1431 to 1449, and Pope Pius II endowed a university in 1459. Printers such as Johann Froben published the work of Erasmus and other humanists. Basel joined the Swiss Confederation in 1501 and adopted the Reformation under Oecolampadius in 1529, whereupon the bishop moved his seat to Porrentruy.

Its presses continued to give the city influence beyond the Rhine. John Calvin's Institutes appeared at Basel in 1536, followed in 1543 by Andreas Vesalius's work on human anatomy. In 1661 the city purchased the Amerbach collection of art, books and curiosities, opening it to the public. The Bernoulli family produced celebrated mathematicians, while Leonhard Euler studied under Johann Bernoulli. Basel also hosted negotiations: the treaty ending the Swabian War was made here in 1499, and French treaties with Prussia and Spain followed in 1795.