Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel stands on the lake of the same name in western Switzerland. Its name recalls a castle recorded in 1011; the counts of Neuchâtel later ruled the surrounding territory, and the settlement was recognised as a town in 1214.

In 1530 the inhabitants accepted the Reformation, and the town and territory were proclaimed indivisible. The county became a principality in the early seventeenth century. After the death of its ruler in 1707, the succession was awarded to Frederick I of Prussia, a Protestant ruler based far from Neuchâtel. Commerce and industries including watchmaking and lace expanded during the eighteenth century. In 1806 Prussia ceded the principality to Napoleon.