Describing a new canton: the geology and lithology of Geneva by Louis-Albert Necker (1786–1861)

Abstract

In 2015 Geneva celebrates the bicentenary of the Republic's adhesion to the Swiss Confederation in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. Unlike other cantons formed at the same time, the territory of the new canton of Geneva was significantly larger than that of the previous entity, changing the political and confessional character of the ‘Protestant Rome'. A synopsis of the new canton was quickly published, aiming to promote a new cantonal identity, and this included a section on the lithology and geology of the canton by Louis-Albert Necker. A translation of this previously unrecognized work by Necker is presented, along with brief biographical notes and comments on his geological description of Geneva compared with that of his grandfather Horace-Bénédict de Saussure.