Trifter

Switzerland’s vegetation region is the tundra region. The tundra region is very

cold and dry. It contains a layer of what is called permafrost. Permafrost is a frozen layer

of soil that is thirty-six inches deep. About five inches of it thaws out in the spring and

in the summer. There is a lot of sleet and snow here because it is so cold in the alps. The

winters in the tundra are very cold with bellow freezing temperatures. In the summer it is

fair weather like a normal one of our springs. That is what the vegetation region of

Switzerland is.

Switzerland is almost completely covered by forest. The most common type is

deciduous forest. This means there a lot of pine trees, evergreens, and hollies. All

these trees have leaves that stay on all year. There are also some oak and birch trees as well. Those are the forests and trees of Switzerland.

There are many interesting facts about Switzerland. One cool thing is that the kids here only go to school four days a week. They go to school on Monday, Tuesday,

Thursday, and Friday. Another is that Switzerland is in the Guinness Book of World

Records for the country that eats the most chocolate. They are the founders of Swiss

cheese. In their Christmas Santa is not a big part of the day. They celebrate and think of

it more as the birthday of Jesus than a day when you get gifts and give out gifts. Those

are some interesting facts about Switzerland.

Swiss cheese comes from Switzerland. It is only made from the purest and best

tasting milk from their best cows. It is very simple to churn and go through all of the

steps. People wonder why there are holes in Swiss cheese. The real reason why is

because that during churning the cheese fills with carbon dioxide. Then when the cheese

comes out of the churner to harden and dry the carbon dioxide in the cheese expands and

makes bubbles. Then the bubbles explode and make the holes. That is how Swiss cheese

is made and where it comes from.

The history of Switzerland is very interesting. During the Roman Period (58B.C.

-400A.D.) The Swiss people moved toward southern France. On their way they get

stopped by Commander C. Julius Cesar. They got occupied by the Roman troops. This

is what sparked the start of Swiss history. During the Middle Ages (400-1,500) The

People of Switzerland set out to build new states and empires in Europe. This slowly

starts to happen. Then feudalism takes in. Feudalism is a process where people called

Serfs raised crops and gave them to their king. Fore this the serfs got protection from the

King and enough food to survive on. If the serfs refused to work fore the king they

would not be protected by the king. Then monasteries develop new agriculture methods.

Switzerland became an independent nation by its neighbors through a peace treaty in

1291. Now the Swiss people celebrate a national holiday on August 1. During the

Old Swiss Confederacy three valleys in central Europe and unite against counts of

Habsburg and fought fore autonomy to join the confederacy. They conquer territories in

northern and southern Switzerland. The Swiss Revolution happened in 1798.

Switzerland is thought of one of the first democracies in the world. If you look precisely

at the country you see that the majority does not believe in this although many people

did. They dominated minor democracy to a true democracy. This is one of the

revolutions of foreign troops fail to conquer democracy and start parliamentary

democracy. This is the fallback that started the periods of changes that happened little

by little. From 1914-1918 Switzerland was neutral of World War One. Then in the

1930’s-1940’s many people in were Nazis. Some people fought in World War Two

with the Germans under Aldolf Hitler’s command. They worked at some of the

concentration camps that tortured the Jews. This is because of the stock market crash

there similar to ours in America. Many Germans blamed it on the Jews and took them

against their will under Aldolf Hitler’s command. That is what the history of

Switzerland was like.

One very famous person who lived in Switzerland for a very long time is Albert

Einstein. Albert was born in on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany. Before Albert had

his first birthday his family moved to Munich. This is where his very close sister, Maja,

was born. There Albert started to enjoy books, music, and family outings. As he grew

up he seemed a very slow learner. This fact had worried his mother and father. At five

years old Albert’s dad gave him a compass. He loved the compass and tried to learn how

it worked. This triggered his lifetime love of science and geography.

It is very odd but, Albert absolutely hate school. When he went to his German

school, the rules were strict and the teachers where as mean as a swarm of piranhas. He

often got failing grades and did poorly on tests. Albert refused to study things that did

not interest him. Albert liked math and so it was the only thing he did good in. One day

when he was twelve he received a simple book on geometry. This was the thing that

made him so fond of math. During this time his Uncle Jakob taught him algebra

and how to do it. When Albert was just fifteen years old his father’s business in Munich

began to fail. His family moved to Milan, Italy while he stayed behind to earn his

diploma in high school. Albert was unhappy without his family. He began to learn the

violin and quit after only a small time playing it. Kids in school made fun of him

because he was Jewish. His teachers hated that he asked so many questions and made

him stop. He couldn’t stand it anymore.

After only six months he left the school and

moved to Milan, Italy with his family. He discovered Italy as one of his favorite places

in the world. Einstein wanted to get into a university but, it was very difficult to do with

no diploma. In 1895 he took a test that if he passed he would be accepted at the Swiss

Polytechnic Institute of Zurich, Switzerland. He did very bad in biology, zoology, and

languages, but did fantastic in math and physics. He did so good that one of the Swiss

professors told him to study more and retake the test. So he did one more year of high

school in Switzerland. In 1896 he passed the test and entered the institute. He had

many troubles in this school again. Einstein graduated in 1900. Because he had a bad

reputation in school, it was hard for him to find a teaching job. In 1901 Einstein became

a citizen of Switzerland. In 1902 he worked as a clerk at the Swiss Patent Office. In 1903

he married a women named Mileva Maric, a classmate at the institute. They lived in

Bern and had two sons, Hans Albert and Edward. In 1905 Einstein published a series of

articles setting forth some of his ideas.

In these articles he made the equation E=MC. He

also talked about the relationship between two physical properties, mass and energy. The

University of Bern read the paper and liked it so they hired Albert a part time job there in

1908. In 1909 Albert Einstein became a professor in physics. Einstein became very

close with the king and queen of Belgium and did many things with them. In 1905

Einstein published the first theory of relativity, the Special Theory of Relativity. In 1916

he published the General Theory of Relativity. This made Einstein come up with the

idea of atomic energy. In 1911 Einstein moved to Prague. In 1912 Einstein accepted a

high position at the Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland. In 1914 Albert

divorced his wife and married his cousin Elsa Lowenthal and had two girls. By 1918

Einstein was famous around the world. In 1921 Albert won the Nobel Prize for physics.

. In his book, A Manifesto to Europeans stating that the war was insane and was

slowing scientific progress. When Germany was defeated he move back there and

started following he Jewish religion. Then in 1933 Einstein’s life shattered when Adolf

Hitler came to power in Germany. He could not go back to Germany because Hitler

hated Jews and pacifists. He was both. One of the job offers in the U.S.A that he got was at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He only asked for so

little money that the institute insisted that they pay him three times as much.

President

Roosevelt invited him to the White House. Einstein became an American citizen and

never returned to Europe. The U.S government heard that the Germans were making an

atomic bomb. So Einstein decided to help the U.S.A and make one for them first.

Einstein insisted that it should not be used in violence but as a threat to the Germans.

Military leaders did not agree with him. The United States dropped the first ever atomic

bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. It ended World War Two but horrified Einstein. More than

92,000 people died or were missing. Others died later from the affects of radiation.

Einstein felt responsible for this. People asked him questions about bombs. He just said

to use them responsibly. He was getting old and started sailing again. He took a

peaceful life after all the things he did. He started playing the violin again. Then

Einstein died in his sleep on April 18, 1955. He was one of Switzerland’s most famous

people.

Another one of the most famous people from Switzerland is Shania Twain.

Shania Twain was born on August 28, 1965, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She grew up

in Timmons. When she was born she was really named Eileen Edwards. Her father

abandoned her family when she was very young. When she was a little older she planted

trees with her step-father in a forest group. When she got just a little bit older than that

she started a musicale career. Her parents supported her musical career. When she was

just 22 her parents died and she was the legal guardian of her two half brothers and sister.

This put her career to hold while caring for her siblings. Then after she settle everything

down she got a singing job at a resort in Deer Hurst. She worked at the resort for three

more years. She stopped because her siblings were old enough to live lives of their own.

She put some of her songs that she sang at the resort on tape and arranged a showcase concert in Canada. After that she released her first album, “Eponymous Debut” in

1993 but is wasn’t a huge hit. So she launched two more singles, “What Made You Say

That?” and “Dance With the One that Brought you.” These two singles were huge hits

in Europe. Country Music Television in Europe named her Rising Video Star of the

Year. Shortly after this she fell in love with Robert John “Mutt” Lange. He worked with

AC/DC, Pet Leopard, Foreigner, and Cars. He worked with her on making a new

album. This formed the album, “The Women in Me.” It was released in 1995. It’s first

single, “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” was rated number 11 there for that

year. Then came her first number1 hit single, “Any Man of Mine.” Her second number 1

hit single was, “(If your not in it for love) I’m Outta Here!” In 1996, “No One Needs to

Know” became her third number 1 hit single. In 1996 Shania sold over 6 million

albums.

By late 1996 she sold more than 3 million more albums. She made the song,

“Come on Over” in 1997. She spent the next two years traveling around the world. By

1999 she had sold 36 million copies of, “Come on Over.” Shania returned to her Swiss

Home to have some down time with her family. The next summer, Shania had her first

child. It was a boy that they named Eja. Eja was born on August 21, 2001. While

balancing family with work she made a new album that appeared in 2002. Shania Twain

is one of the most famous people from Switzerland.

In addition to the other to famous people in Switzerland is Roger Moore. Roger

Moore was born in London, England on October 14,1927. He attended an art school in

the 1940’s. He was at the Royal Academy of Drama he was drafted to the British Army

in Germany at the end of World War Two. So he did. After he did his time there he

went to the U.S.A. to attend a job he got contracted for with MGM for the TV series

Ivanhoe and Maverick. He rose to fame with his star role in The Saint. In 1972 he played

James Bond in the movie Live and Let Die instead of former James Bond actor Sean

Connery. This was the first of seven movies he stared in as James Bond. His last

appearance was in 1985. Ian Fleming thought that Roger was perfect as James Bond in

all those movies. His great acting career earner him a Medal of Honor from the British

Government in 1999. After the death of one of his best friends Audrey Hepbun he took

over as ambassador of UNICEF. During his breaks he skies in Gtsaad, Switzerland

where he lives. You could see him at one of the mountains there in the Alps. Roger

Moore was a great actor and a famous person of Switzerland.