As with the various other places named Neuchâtel, Neufchâtel, Neufchâteau of northern France and Belgium, this reflects the Germanic influence on Gallo-Romance languages retained in the toponymy today.

On the death in 1707 of Marie d'Orleans-Longueville, duchess de Nemours and Princess of Neuchâtel, the people had to choose her successor from among fifteen claimants.

Louis XIV actively promoted the many French pretenders to the title, but the Neuchâtelois people passed them over in favour of King Frederick I of Prussia, who claimed his entitlement in a rather complicated fashion through the Houses of Orange and Nassau.

With the requisite stability assured, Neuchâtel entered its golden age, with commerce and industry (including watchmaking and lace) and banking undergoing steady expansion.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Prussia sought to obtain Hanover whilst still maintaining neutrality and abstaining from the wars waged by Napoleon.

Napoleon's field marshal, Berthier, became Prince of Neuchâtel, building roads and restoring infrastructure, but never actually setting foot in his domain.

After the fall of Napoleon, Frederick William III of Prussia reasserted his rights by proposing that Neuchâtel be linked with the other Swiss cantons (to exert better influence over all of them).

It took a bloodless revolution in the decades following for Neuchâtel to shake off its princely past and declare itself, on 1 March 1848, a republic within the Swiss Confederation.

[28] The city is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, a few kilometers east of Peseux and west of Saint-Blaise.

Above Neuchâtel, roads and train tracks rise steeply into the folds and ridges of the Jura range—known within the canton as the Montagnes neuchâteloises.

It is also the heartland of the celebrated Swiss watchmaking industry, centered on the once-famous towns of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, which both rely heavily on their horological past to draw in visitors.

[32] The Municipal Council (Conseil communal, CC) constitutes the executive government of the City of Neuchâtel and operates as a collegiate authority.

It is composed of five councillors (French: Conseiller communal/ Conseillère communale), each presiding over administrational sections and services comprising the related commissions.

In the mandate period January 2021 – June 2022 (l'année administrative) the Municipal Council is presided by Madame la présidente Violaine Blétry-de Montmollin.

It is home to research centres and organizations such as the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM),[50] Microcity innovation pole,[51] University of applied Sciences HE-Arc in Engineering[52] and also Philip Morris International's Cube.

Neuchâtel Junior College is a one-year school annually welcoming over 100 students in their final pre-university year to study the Ontario Grade 12 curriculum as well as Advanced Placement.

Neuchâtel's airport is about 6 km (3.7 mi) away from the center of the city and it takes 9 minutes to get into town with the direct tramway.

The center of the Old Town is located at the top of the hill, accessed by the steeply winding Rue du Château.

Begun in 1372, and the only artwork of its kind to survive north of the Alps, the monument comprises fifteen near-life-size painted statues of various knights and ladies from Neuchâtel's past, framed by 15th-century arches and gables.

The nearby turreted Prison Tower, which is the remains of a medieval bastion, has panoramic views over the town, along with models of Neuchâtel in different eras.

During the summer of 2002, Neuchâtel was one of five sites which held Expo.02, the sixth Swiss national exhibition, which was subject to financial controversy.

The festival of the Fête des Vendanges, representing the wine harvest, is held traditionally in late September.

William Ritter, Jean Piaget, Marcel Junod, Robert Miles and Yves Larock were all born in Neuchâtel.

It was also the site of a secret first meeting between French novelist Honoré de Balzac and the married woman who later became his wife, Eveline Hanska.

He was stabbed to death on 16 August 2005 by a mentally deranged woman during a prayer meeting in Taizé's Church of Reconciliation.

Swiss merchant and philanthropist David de Pury, a native of Neuchâtel, left a large fortune to the city for public works and charities.

His relative, James-Ferdinand de Pury, also a merchant and philanthropist, bequest his villa to house the town's ethnography museum.

[69] Didier Burkhalter, 94th President of the Swiss Confederation was born in Neuchâtel, as was Logitech founder Daniel Borel.

Footballers Max Abegglen,[70] Jayson Leutwiler, and Yann Kasaï, as well as Swiss Olympic field hockey player Albert Piaget were all born in Neuchâtel.

It is also the current residence of French tennis players Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon and Florent Serra, as well as the Mexican Formula 1 driver Sergio Pérez, and the artist and designer Ini Archibong.