In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, when it was granted a charter giving it a high degree of self-governance.

In the first half of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation reached the city, causing religious strife, during which Savoy rule was thrown off and Geneva allied itself with the Swiss Confederacy.

[35] In summer, many people swim in the lake and patronise public beaches such as Genève Plage and the Bains des Pâquis.

In the governmental year 2021–2022, the Administrative Council is presided over by Madame la maire de Genève Frédérique Perler.

The delegates take office due to a winner-takes-all election (French: scrutin majoritaire, Swiss Standard German: Majorzwahl or Majorz).

This gives the left-wing parties four out of the five seats and, for the first time in history, a female majority in the election held on 15 March / 5 April 2020.

Finally in 2012 the Projet d’agglomération franco-valdo-genevois was renamed Grand Genève ('Greater Geneva'), and the following year it was transformed into a Local Grouping of Transnational Cooperation [fr] (GLCT), a public entity under Swiss law, which now serves as the executive body of the Grand Genève.

English is also common due to a high number of Anglophone residents working in international institutions and the bank sector.

English was the second most common (7,853 or 4.4%), followed by Spanish (7,462 or 4.2%), Italian (7,320 or 4.1%), and German (7,050 or 4.0%); 113 spoke Romansh, an official language in Switzerland.

Over the past century, substantial immigration from France and other predominantly Catholic countries, as well as general secularization, has changed its religious landscape.

[30] Napoleon's common policy granted civil rights to Catholics in Protestant-majority areas, as well as the reverse, and also emancipated Jews.

While both networks cover the whole Romandy, special programs related to Geneva are sometimes broadcast on some of the local radio frequencies.

Festive traditions include chocolate cauldrons filled with vegetable-shaped marzipan treats and the Escalade procession on horseback in seventeenth century armour.

While this event has no practical effect, the sautier issues a formal press release and the local newspaper will usually mention the news.

The opera house, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, which officially opened in 1876, was partly destroyed by a fire in 1951 and reopened in 1962.

It is one of Europe's most prestigious institutions, offering MA and PhD programmes in anthropology and sociology, law, political science, history, economics, international affairs, and development studies.

Geneva is also home to more than a dozen private, for-profit universities whose activities have come under scrutiny for offering degrees that are not recognized in Switzerland and engaging in "unscrupulous practices".

Founded in 1954, CERN was one of Europe's first joint ventures and has developed as the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

Physicists from around the world travel to CERN to research matter and explore the fundamental forces and materials that form the universe.

Behind the financial sector, the next largest major economic sector is watchmaking, dominated by luxury firms such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Chopard, Piaget, Rolex, Roger Dubuis, Franck Muller, F. P. Journe and others, whose factories are concentrated in the Les Acacias neighbourhood, as well as the neighbouring municipalities of Plan-les-Ouates, Satigny, and Meyrin.

Trade finance, wealth management, and watchmaking, approximately contribute two thirds of the corporate tax paid in the canton[86] Other large multinationals are also headquartered in the city and canton, such as Firmenich (in Satigny), and Givaudan (in Vernier), the world's two largest manufacturers of flavours, fragrances and active cosmetic ingredients; SGS, the world's largest inspection, verification, testing and certification services company; Temenos, a large banking software provider; or the local headquarters for Procter & Gamble, Japan Tobacco International, or L'Oréal (in Vernier).

Despite its relatively small size, the canton produces around 10% of the Swiss wine and has the highest vineyard density in the country.

They won their first European title in a packed Patinoire des Vernets and with an estimated 5,000 more fans watching the game in a fanzone in front of the arena.

[95][96] Football is also popular and the town is home to Servette FC, a club founded in 1890 and named after a borough on the right bank of the Rhône.

Public transport by boat is provided by the Mouettes Genevoises, which link the two banks of the lake within the city, and by the Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman which serves more distant destinations such as Nyon, Yvoire, Thonon, Évian, Lausanne and Montreux using both modern diesel vessels and vintage paddle steamers.

Trains operated by Swiss Federal Railways connect the airport to the main station of Cornavin in six minutes.

[99] Taxis in Geneva can be difficult to find, and may need to be booked in advance, especially in the early morning or at peak hours.

Most of the drinking water (80%) is extracted from the lake; the remaining 20% is provided by groundwater, originally formed by infiltration from the Arve.

30% of the Canton's electricity needs is locally produced, mainly by three hydroelectric dams on the Rhône (Seujet, Verbois and Chancy-Pougny).

In 2024, the metropolitan area Geneva created an open data light pollution map encompassing a “dark grid”.