Origin of the Swiss Nation: Europe's most Diverse Country

What is the origin and history of Switzerland; the most diverse country in Europe? And how did the Swiss nation and identity form despite the extreme diversity in terms of language, ethnicity, religion and culture in one of Western Europe's smaller, yet most well-known countries?
In today's video we will be discussing how the country of Switzerland formed, some of the history that influenced it in the modern age, and how the various ethnolinguistic and religious groups of the country came into existence, and how immigration from the rest of Europe has shaped this nation in the recent past. Thanks for watching!
Music:
• Swiss Alphorn Music - ...
Sources:
www.davidkfaux.org/LaTene_Celt...
www.britannica.com/place/Swit...
history-switzerland.geschichte...
joshuaproject.net/countries/SZ

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

I lived in Switzerland for a while, I liked their chocolate and cheese

[@Masaman]

That's nice Kim

[@camatzuma]

Kim Jong-un Can I get your autograph

[@belstar1128]

Switzerland is a great ally of north Korea

[@goyonman9655]

Kiiiiiim

[@lakshya6851]

Masaman youre the first youtuber to reply to kim

[@koantao8321]

Switzerland has more of a political identity, than an ethnic one. As a Swiss, I am proud of my identity and history of democracy and I am mixed with all three main language groups.

[@johannesioannistsirigotis7142]

I know pal this man is an idiot

[@lalainaramarivelo]

Yeah Credit Suisse and all them banks who have mofo customers and money launderers...oui voilà faut en être fier. Pffffffff

[@johannesioannistsirigotis7142]

@@lalainaramarivelo great, so, stay out of Switzerland, and rest of Europe.

[@monkeman1062]

kind of like the us because freedom keeps together the many ethnic groups in america, the shared language also helps alot though.

[@joeduckburyofjoeducania4587]

I'm part British I have no idea how our country still exists🇬🇧

[@Autconscipatheonive]

Video ideas: Ainu Orgins How European is Turkey? How Scandinavian are Russia and Normandy? The Rus and the origin of the Russian nation? How gothic is Iberia? How Frankish is France? How Celtic is France? How Roman is France? How phoenician is Lebanon and Tunisia? How arab is the levant? How Aryan/indo-Aryan are India and Iran?

[@Roca005]

White Chocolate Genetically speaking, Spain shares some similarities with France in that sense.

[@KD--kj6zs]

@White Chocolate Haplogroups don't represent actual admixture. Sadly, France might be horridly more North African in the coming decades and the distinction between Celts and Germanics will be irrelevant.

[@neoconwarhawk1001]

Same

[@s.kertanguy8433]

The most mysterious to me , how is it that now Israel is in Europe ?

[@maxx1014]

+how Celtic is Germany

[@kurtnotafed4645]

Never layed my alphorn away so fast

[@ploppyploppy6554]

Hahahahahaahahahah

[@tonyhawk94]

Correction there : The Swiss French is perfectly understandable with regular French. On the contrary, my German friends (from Hamburg) told me that they couldn't really understand Swiss German on its oral form.

[@TheBlackSulfur]

So I am a Swiss German and I have to say, it's kind of nice being recognised like this :) one minor detail you got somewhat wrong: we have no trouble understanding Austrians and Germans, but most of the time, they don't really understand us. Maybe except for the regions directly bordering us. But a guy from Berlin typically doesn't understand a word I'm saying.

[@User-Seven-Teen]

We probably dont have trouble understanding them because, especially high german is being fed to us from early on so we get used to it. Just think about it. National radio, tv, formal speeches, teachers, books. All in high german. Given the fact, that a lot of austrian german is pretty near to high german, we dont have trouble understanding them because we learned high german

[@pevitzachast6892]

Of course the Swiss doesn’t have trouble understanding the Germans and Austrians. It’s not magic. High German is taught in the schools. Germans and Austrians aren’t learning Swiss German in their schools because it’s not an official language.

[@koantao8321]

Well, even among Swiss Germans we sometimes have difficulty in understanding the German spoken in Wallis among the Walser people.

[@renatofranceschino]

​

[@DE-xt7jv]

I agree, although British I speak fluent high German. When living in CH, it look me a few days to adapt my ears to get used to Schwitzerdutsch, but then improved.

[@mrjones5636]

"Germans and swiss can understand each other" Yeah, nah... I'm swiss and I myself have a hard time undrstanding some swiss dialects.

[@fabianzimmermann5495]

The Germans can‘t understand us, but we can understand them. They just sometimes think, that they can understand us, when they listen to Swiss German radio, but for us Swiss, this is more like German, what you hear in the radio. And a few dialects are also a bit hard to understand for me.

[@mrjones5636]

@@fabianzimmermann5495 What? The biggest Radio stations (srf 1,2,3) brodcast in swiss german, not normal german. But yeah, I'm also swiss, and I understand germans (at least in the south). But if you go north, their accents get harder and harder to understand.

[@fabianzimmermann5495]

@@mrjones5636 Let me explain. The text, that the radio narraters read from, is German, but they read it in Swiss German. Because of that, A few words get switched. Words, that in Swiss German would be at the end of the sentence, are suddenly in the middle of the sentence and the other way around. Because of that, the Swiss German, that you hear on the radio, is easier for Germans to understand than actual Swiss German. A working partner from my father moved from Germany to Switzerland recently and when he and his wife were in the car, listening to the radio, his wife said, that she could understand everything, the narrater said. He (the working partner) replied: "Yeah, for Swiss people, this is German and not Swiss German." It's from a German text, that was translated word by word to Swiss German, so it's not, how we actually speak Swiss German. I hope you understand my explanation.

[@mrjones5636]

@@fabianzimmermann5495 What radio stations actually do this? I'm also swiss, and in my experience, besides the hourly news, the radio hosts talk freely, and don't read a text. Could you give some examples?

[@fabianzimmermann5495]

@@mrjones5636 It is in the German wikipedia article about Swiss German. The workers at the radio stations are used to make notes in German and then they read it, as they see it, but in Swiss German. It's in the section: Schweizer Hochdeutsch und Schweizerdeutsch

[@azhadial7396]

As a French person, I never heard a francophone Swiss speak Franco-provençal. Swiss, from my experience, just speak French with a few unique words and expressions (they are also well known for their "septante, nonante" and sometimes "huitante").

[@aquariusxristus901]

A'zhadial im swiss ,arpitan its speak in switzerland but its rare , old poeple speak arpitan its called « patois » in northern romandy (swiss french région) poeple speak another gallo-roman language :franc-camtois

[@azhadial7396]

@@aquariusxristus901 In France, we use the exact same word ("patois") to refer to the local languages which are, nowadays, spoken by only a few elders (although the situation of Corsican, Basque, Occitan, and local Germanic languages in Alsace-Moselle is different). I guess the situation of Arpitan in Switzerland is similar to that of France. But thanks for the clarification!

[@stefmethaudsw]

We also speak arpitan language in canton Valais. Especially in a village called Evolène, there are still there native arpitan speakers (arpitan language is called there patois d’Evolène in french)

[@ghostgghu9225]

A swiss-french do not talk french😂😂

[@augth]

Vous pourriez parler français.

[@sibulu2878]

Im a simple swiss person I see a swiss themed video on youtube? I click on it. Very simple.

[@pyrrhocorax]

I've been to Switzerland once. Beautiful country.

[@McChunkLovesBelgium]

The alpines 😍

[@robendert7617]

I found this very interesting, as a Dutch national living in Switzerland, on the edge of the French speaking and German speaking part of the Canton of Bern. There are some mixed language cities in Switzerland. I live close to Biel (in German) or Bienne (in French) that is bilingual. It is noteworthy that Italian is more widely used as a second language than one would expect. As a matter of fact, there was a high immigration of Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese in the French speaking regions. As it is easier for Spaniards and Portuguese people to learn Italian than the other languages for Italians, and as there was a high intermarriage rate amongst those nationalities in Switzerland, Italian is often used in daily life and as a lingua franca in professional circumstances.

[@dababy.]

Rob Endert wow I’m from Ticino and I actually didn’t know that!

[@Solunex]

I live in Biel lol

[@fartreta]

Cool, I didn't know about that! One would expect that since French is also a Romance language it would be easy enough for other speakers of Romance languages to learn only French as lingua franca. But maybe they have other (emotional? identity?) motifs to separate themselves from the majority language?

[@Solunex]

Absurd Bird No french is very close to English Most of the words are parallel words

[@fartreta]

@@Solunex hmm, English is a West Germanic language that was really heavily under influence of (Norman) French in the Middle Ages. However that doesn't mean that they're closely related in a linguistical sense, but sure they're both Indo-European languages. So they're like distant relatives that started an S/M relationship in mature age with English as the submissive partner of the dominatrix French 😊 French is "genetically" close to other Romance languages, especially Italian.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Switzerland, the country that loves to observe. Drew is a fan of that nation

[@chrisnation1432]

At least it's a real country. Unlike Denmark. Or the country that lost the war to the emus.

[@the_wandering_one]

"Switzerland, Europe's most diverse country" Russia : Am I a joke to you?

[@mr.knapptrick9911]

Europe

[@justgian986]

@Weeding isnt St. Moritz for the rich russians and not davos?

[@justgian986]

@Weeding oh sorry mate, wouldnt want even more russians in our beautiful graubündner mountains. Die huere sieche

[@justgian986]

@Weeding graubünde wird zu kaliningrad 2.0

[@sabinefanger3785]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXeVXomOa7mFbMk 💖👑💖

[@KometVonHelvetien]

We aren't german nor french or italian. We are Swiss.

[@rovantox7930]

No youre not. I cant say that im ethnic Berliner or something. Switzerland is made out of germans, french, and italian and maybe some romansh.

[@KometVonHelvetien]

@@rovantox7930 Yes we are. It's something different of being a BERLINER (From a city) or being a SWISS (From a Country).

[@shlabedeshlub3334]

@@rovantox7930 so we're all africans or what?

[@andreasspichtig1182]

@@rovantox7930 They are ethnic Swiss Peoples living Here you call them "Eidgenossen" Switzerland has 3 Cantons (States) you call them "Urkantöne" that formed the actually Switzerland (Eidgenossenschaft) in the year 1291. I live in one of this States. And some Farmers Family actually lives there since 1291 or longer They also got a very weird and funny dialect to, which the Most Swiss peoples now a days dont understand so this peoples got really nothing to do with italians, french or Germans ..

[@dieblauezitrone8487]

There is no ethnic called Swiss. we are a multi ethnic country of Germans, French, Italian and some rumantsch.

[@PWN3DU01]

Yes. As a Swiss I waited years for this!

[@PWN3DU01]

@Francisco Martinez De Santiago Zürich. German part.

[@PWN3DU01]

@‌ Actually my birthplace is only a few hundred meters away from the founding place called Rütli.

[@PWN3DU01]

@m True. The name originates from south India tho my father is from Malaysia.

[@KometVonHelvetien]

@‌ Calling Zürich swiss is a big disgrace.

[@KometVonHelvetien]

@eessa1212 No. It's not the "second" city of Switzerland. (What does that even mean?) If you mean to join the Confederation, no. Founding Cantons are: Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden (Obwalden and Nidwalden). The next Canton to join was Luzern(Lucerne) after that Zürich. Also it's a common "joke" in switzerland to deny that Zürich is swiss because of their behavior and the many Foreigners they have.

[@NotQuiteFirst]

Everybody thinks the three types of Swiss are German, French and Italian. But really it's clockmakers, bankers, and chocolatiers

[@ThrE3-GeS]

First you allways forget the farmers in the alps. someone got's to make milk for the chocolat and cheese. ;)

[@yodorob]

Not to mention Ricola cough drops!

[@niahoad]

You forgot cheese and cocaine consumption. Both on an all time high

[@tentifr]

@@yodorob RIIICOLA

[@romainsavioz5466]

@@niahoad nope

[@Blyatuber]

Greetings from Ticino, the only fully Italian speaking canton in the Confederation! Btw Romantsch actually IS pretty much intelligible since it's like a mix between Italian and German, but actually closer to Italian so I understand it pretty well :)

[@MarcoLu84]

There lives a german speaking minority in Ticino. Like Lara Gut for example.

[@vincenzomannaro7444]

@@MarcoLu84 disappeared almost. Anyways there are way more Italians in German Swiss zone (in some zones are basucally majority).

[@joeduckburyofjoeducania4587]

Do you understand lombard language

[@evernightcg9081]

More intelligible with norther italian dialects. The mid to sourthern ones are pretty much not illegible at all. But still easier to learn…

[@sylvaingermanier98]

Swiss German aren't German. They are Allemanics Swiss French aren't French. They are Romands (or Valaisans :D ). Swiss Italian aren't Italian. They are Ticinese. Swiss Rumantsch are Rumantsch.

[@AdrianCelsiusTepes]

The ultimate proof of that is found in football, in a match involving France, Germany or Italy: Romands will support whoever plays against France. Allemanics will support whoever plays against Germany Ticinesi will support whoever plays against Italy. And I have no idea if Rumantsch are into football.

[@sylvaingermanier98]

@@AdrianCelsiusTepes pretty true for most people

[@constantinfueg8166]

Swiss French aren't Valaisan. Valais is a canton that joint the confederation lattely, they were under Piemont-savoy Kingdom befor that. Swiss speaking French, if you should find a link, were part of the Duchee of Bourgogne until 1450 (and something). Trying to find an ethnic, cultural link in between swiss community isn't the way to analyse it. You should try to understand the will of territories willing to be free of any feodal King's influence. And that grow up to a culture of Rebuplic (rule of the people by the people) + the alliance in between the canton develop a culture of citizenship "know your place, think what is good for the other, be carful not to arm the big picture by taking to much for yourself" + you should had the protestant thinking as a part of religious background (work hard in this life, to ensure paradis, don't run after materialistic good, if you are rich don't show it and save to invest and create goods to will benefit to the majority)

[@sylvaingermanier98]

@@constantinfueg8166 i said Valaisan because im too proud of it to be named as Romand. Just a joke. And Valaisans speaking french existe since 100 years. Many people nowdays stills speak arpitan variations, patois.

[@jeancharlesnavet]

U got that a bit wrong, Valaisan hot a low valais that speak french and a high valais that speak german . But this Guy us a idiot , insted of saying there is a french speaking région he is saying the french région... I doubt he really knows what he is speaking about .

[@williamchristian8705]

My three friends in Switzerland are all quite different. Language and origin are below. 1) Swiss German although of Italian and Brazilian. 2) French and Swiss born. 3) Italian and Italian born. All three speak at least 4 languages each. It is a very unique country.

[@sirijaw]

I'm Swiss and my first language is french, when I went to Amsterdam for vacation a museum worker though that we were German. I thought that was funny

[@hesedken]

haha

[@Demographiaanthropology]

It's very rare when people of different languages get along so well

[@Demographiaanthropology]

@m which is what?

[@yyyboy]

Usually (young) people from different parts of the country will speak english if the other person speaks another language :-D We learn the other's language, but it's just easier :-D At least in my experience.

[@Quarton]

American of Swiss ancestry here - My ancestors came to America before the American Revolution, in the 1700's. I'm proud of my Swiss roots, among others! Thanks for this study of Switzerland. I'd like to see more about the German background.

[@Quarton]

@Francisco Martinez De Santiago No, we've fully integrated into American society. (¡Pero, he aprendido hablar castellano! Vivía en la República Argentina por 9 años.) I'm attempting to learn German now.

[@byRilex]

American of 1/56 Antartican ancestry here! #MAGA

[@Quarton]

@Morgh123 I like turtles kzbin.info/www/bejne/eX6xo6xqhapsabs

[@LodrikBadric]

Do you know where your ancestors came from? (Which town or region?) Cheers, a Swiss :)

[@Em-fz5uh]

Wow that's awesome !! I wish I knew my ancestry in the 1700s! Do you know from which town ?

[@mickeyrube6623]

European #1: Do you think Switzerland's flag is part of why the country is so liked here in Europe? European #2: Not sure. It's definitely a big plus, though!

[@cordlefhrichter1520]

Ha! nice.

[@senselessnothing]

Switzerland is liked because it has money, other than that it's sterile

[@senselessnothing]

Morgh123 You also have chocolate, mountains and very high prices. It fits a few people well, particularly workaholics and wealthier retirees.

[@senselessnothing]

Morgh123 There are some nice places in switzerland if you have more money than sense particularly in the warmer italian climate. I don't know, maybe when I get supremely rich.

[@timsmith2910]

roger federer said that

[@historytales202]

My great-great grandfather came from Switzerland. His last name was Fillipini, was half French, lived in Ticino, yet listed his mother tongue as French.

[@ghostgghu9225]

I now a person "Filippini" in Ticino Im from there

[@Cocacola2103]

My parents were immigrants escaping from the wars in Iraq. They ended up living in Canton Sankt Gallen (german part). To finally find a video from Masaman explaining Switzerland is such a blessing! What I love about Switzerland the most is our wonderful politics. Media "drama" does exist but in no way to the degree that you can find in the U.S.A. people are very reasonable to talk to.

[@williamfavre4239]

I am really happy to see a video about my home country ! Thank you for letting this wish come true hahahah ^^ A video that would be interesting would be to take about the vision of the Swiss people or the idea of Switzerland in general in relationship with the outside. ;)

[@guillerminavelazquez2773]

I discovered these videos recently and I enjoy them very much. History is fantastic.

[@EricMaechler]

nice video - good job - greetings from switzerland :)

[@ericmeier9522]

I am half Swiss, from the "germanic" part in fact from a town just at the Rhine, and half Catalan. I would be very interested in the Romansch because I've always had the feeling that the Catalan language and the Romansch share many linguistic aspects. Thanks for your work :)

[@allanmeierjensen4925]

Eric Meier a Meier like me smile..

[@Strohkopfs]

Im Swiss. well done! the different language regions are mostly derived from peoplegroups after the fall of the roman empire

[@JonniePolyester]

Brilliantly done never knew that much about Switzerland till now!

[@Thesungod95]

where you get such a deep explanation of every topic....great

[@kacperwoch4368]

10:00 How Europeans see Europe

[@juantamayo5295]

lol

[@ethanselig9796]

You should do a video on Luxembourg next! This one was great and super interesting!

[@arnulfwulfrix5315]

as swiss i ll thank you and say nice work. you painted a pretty accurate portrait of swiss history and diversity.

[@gibrankhader6240]

nice video. greetings from Basel ( Switzerland)

[@XxLIVRAxX]

The multicultural federal model of switzerland is an interesting example to study for a country like Spain with unresolved regional linguistic tensions both latent or stirred up like in Catalonia.

[@jhaarbur]

I am glad you have investigated some of the suggestions I made! Usual suggestions: 1. Reiterations of anything that you haven't done yet (and thank you for doing most of them!) 2. Why the name "North Macedonia" is such a big deal between Greece and North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia FYROM) 3. Swaziland's name change to eSwatini 4. Czech Republic/Czechia and Cape Verde/Cabo Verde as well if you want 5. Bougainville (especially since the big vote for independence will be November 23rd) 6. Chuuk Islands and Independence from Micronesia 7. The history of Nan Madol en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Madol 8. Artificial languages and ethno-genesis 9. Taking random international organizations you haven't discussed yet and doing a "what if they were a country?" thing. 10. Was China a colony of ancient Egypt? Ancient Egyptian colonialism and colonialism of the ancient era 11. Ancient civilizations of Crete 12. What is the Cabinda? 13. Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea 14. East Timor 15. How many countries have bagpipes? 16. Nauru 17. Moors + modern Moorish ethnicity 18. World's strangest EXCLAVES (in contrast to your video on the world's strangest enclaves) 19. Understanding Jammu and Kashmir (given the current situation over there) 20. Indigenous civilizations of the Amazon 21. Indigenous civilzations of New Guinea 22. Knights of Malta explained 23. Elaborate on Roman Britannia in depth 24. Manx and the Isle of Man 25. *The peoples of the "Dune" universe, with emphasis on how future expansion into the universe parallels the colonization of all the areas of the Earth by human beings (including our small dent into Antarctica) 26. Demographics of the Arctic Cirlce 27. Anglo-Saxon ethnicity within the UK itself; what if we spoke Germanic "Anglish"? Was there an Anglo-Saxon invasion or was it a cultural adaption over time? 28. Dynasties, civilizations, and how ethnicity is related to this topic (as it can get confusing) 29. Cimmerians-a little known people who have had a major impact en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimmerians 30. The mystery of the "Allegewi" and pre-Columbus North America 31. King George Island, Antarctica and the two civilization settlements on there 32. What might be the ethnic distribution of Antarctica in the future if it becomes more habitable? 33. Ethno-genesis and the current refugee crises all over the world 34. Little known nation states between 1700-circa 1950. Some of these places have fascinating stories 35. Somalia-specific focused video 36. A more in depth look at the Saami and Samiland ***Again, I know you've done topics on much of these, but I state these as looking at them in a different frame or investigating them deeper. With one planet, there's only so much you can cover before you start overlapping even beyond what has been discussed already!

[@jimpatras4255]

Another fascinating video, Mason. Well done. I always find the maps that you use throughout your videos of great interest, but that flash on the screen and are then gone before I have time to absorb them or even before the legend can be seen. Would you please tell us where we could view them at a more leisure pace? And keep up the good work.

[@mrbisse1]

Very useful! Thanks!

[@danbaumann8273]

As a Canadian born and raised in Canada but of Swiss descent I've kept close touch with my cultural ancestry through my parents and also through my relatives that still live there. I was offered dual citizenship which I readily accepted and which is something offered to 2nd generation Swiss living in other countries and I believe is in that sense somewhat unique. A unique blend of modern and ancient, even pagan, cultural aspects. Celtic, Germanic, Roman, and actually more. I guess in a sense one of the main cross roads of Europe. Much to learn from this small country about getting along yet also retaining and being proud of ones unique identity.

[@hermannalberts6038]

I would like to point out that as a Ticino born family we belong since 1500 a.d. to the swiss cantons and the swiss confederation. We speak a lombard dialect and we use the italian language. Italy as a young nation was born in 1856, so approx350 years after we were swiss. So please never, never say we are italian! We can instead say we belong to an italic alpine group or we are speaking the Italian language. Speaking of ethnicity we are mostly lombard alpine race, and we have more in common with Zurich( less than 200 km from here) than with anyone from Florence or Rome which is 600 km far away.

[@user-mw7zq2bt5k]

Thaaaanks for displaying my country!!!

[@mfvieira89]

It'd be nice for you to explain a bit more about the Romanch people

[@tasshznoclue1006]

SabuPtolemy stoopid

[@ruralsquirrel5158]

Talk about the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia, which is located inside the Swiss borders.

[@malehumanperson7901]

It's tiny though. There's not much to say.

[@ThrE3-GeS]

Yes there is. It has another german exclave all the way to the north near the german border in canton schaffhausen. And it's bigger, an entire german village but they pay with frank as well. But that makes no diffrence cuz you can pay with euros too in the whole country. But they are under german juristiction.

[@gavinpeters5418]

Ticino will buy soon.

[@dcjandrews4716]

I’d like to know how the Swiss with such a small population came to be so influential in world banking.

[@islandlife6591]

Simple. Switzerland has no natural resources, is landlocked and has a landscape that is not advantageous for agriculture. Banking was an obvious choice. The fact that Switzerland is neutral, politically stable and respectful of privacy, it quickly became a destination of choice for the wealthy to deposit their assets.

[@TheCabal13]

@@islandlife6591 And of course having the best army in the world :)

[@my_other_side473]

One word "Neutrality"

[@KenDelloSandro7565]

Masaman it woud be great if you did one on the Catholics of Switzerland. Thanks again for another top notch documentary.

[@BradleyGearhart]

I’d like to learn more about the Swiss Germans

[@ThrE3-GeS]

The Map Channel the swiss don't like the germans that much. They think they are arrogant and they ignore the fact that they are related. What do you want to know more? The swiss goverment once wanted to claim that swissgerman should become a proper language but failed because the rest of the EU saw that diffrently.

[@nirutivan9811]

leandro rodrigues The second part of your comment is just wrong: First there was never a serious attempt by our government to make Swiss German a official language and second we are not a part of the EU. There is no way the EU could tell us which languages are allowed to be our national languages.

[@chavem]

@@ThrE3-GeS Well, Swiss-German is VASTLY different from Standard german and the different dialects in our country are often nearly incomprehesible, even for us... so there are strong arguments for declaring it a separate language!

[@marlonmerz9850]

@@ThrE3-GeS That is just wrong. The majority of the german speaking parts of switzerland have been Germanophiles for much of modern history. A good example of this, is General Wille who nearly made switzerland join world war one on the german side. Even today the swiss-germans don't really hate germans. They just make fun of them all the time.

[@marlonmerz9850]

@@chavem Actualy there already is a seperate writen language, although it is practically the same. It's called Schweizer Standartsprache and the main difference to german is the replacement of the "ß" with "ss".

[@samuelrothlisberger4962]

Thanks for the vid on my home country. I wished youd have addressed more things than just diversity. There is alot more to switzerland e.g. its foreign politics and history

[@davidw8668]

Hey Masaman, very impressed by the detailed research and nice presentation - as always but especially for this one as I'm from Switzerland :) Great job!

[@kyw1883]

Bern indiana is where a lot of my family and ancestry are from! Thank you for helping me connect dots

[@modigbeowulf5482]

I'm watching. Looks great. Thanks

[@cardett75]

many swiss french are not very native but decendant of french protestant (Huguenot) who fled catholic persecution in France in the 1500's and 1600's they also brought standard french with them

[@yodorob]

I had no idea that Protestants outnumber Catholics in French Switzerland - aka Suisse Romande - but it makes sense, as Geneva is where Calvinism as a whole originated.

[@user-xz9dp7qo2b]

Mainly for Geneva though, not the case for most rural areas of Vaud (and definitely not the case for Catholic Valais and Fribourg)

[@cardett75]

@@user-xz9dp7qo2b yes the majority of swiss french are propably still native to the area, but a good portion of the population (not just the french one) are from huguenot heritage

[@dababy.]

Protestants in Italian Switzerland have a similar history too

[@user-xz9dp7qo2b]

@@cardett75 not gonna argue with that ;) (Sorry, first time I read most instead of many)

[@Demographiaanthropology]

It's weird that such a diverse country never had much tension

[@nirutivan9811]

Well „never“ is not true. We had many civil wars until 1848 (many of them were conflicts between protestants and catholics or between rural areas and cities). But since the „Sonderbundskrieg“ in 1847 and the following new constitution in 1848 we didn’t have any wars.

[@Demographiaanthropology]

@@nirutivan9811 oh ok thanks

[@a.j.nytronics9482]

Dear Masaman, thank you for the video. I was who requested it. I like it. Do another video about Canton Ticino, the only italian-Speaking Swiss Canton.

[@nirutivan9811]

Grisons has also italian-speaking parts.

[@a.j.nytronics9482]

@@nirutivan9811 Yes. But Ticino is the only one where Italian is the main language of the Canton.

[@endless_puns]

Love your videos but they were better without background music imho...

[@gabrielfrund9497]

Hi you can find also Burgondy heritage in villages names finishing by - ens in Vaud-Fribourg and -az in Valais. I am living on the Rostigraben french-german boarder Thanks masaman

[@sylvaingermanier98]

The -énaz or -onnaz in Wallis are not burgundians. Its an arpitan (patois) form of the latininized -ona or -una from the gaullic onna (river) and unna (water)

[@gabrielfrund9497]

@@sylvaingermanier98 ok someone Said to me that it was burgondy origine name thanks you for the information i shared To Geography Now the - ens names

[@etuanno]

I liked the disclaimer that a Swissgerman shall never be told he's a German. The history in the middle ages can be explained roughly as a confederation of states that conquered land together. (most of the french part, the Tessin, the Aargau). Especially the canton of Bern was huge compared to it's size nowadays. They helped eachother against revolts and foreign invasions (Burgundy wars).

[@blakehillman6494]

Great video! I think videos on the Romansh, and the Ladin, would be very interesting.

[@andrewlarson6805]

Hi Mason thanks for the video I always appreciate your videos I guess I'm not really curious as to which Swiss Community I would like to know more about but I do have a different question I've tried to study what are called the cloud people of Peru which seemed to be all extinct now possibly they met the same fate as the original New Zealand people? But I know that there was DNA testing done on them I just can't find any of the results and I'm very curious about that if you have any information or can find any that I can't could you do a video on that?

[@Demographiaanthropology]

Its' really strange that it never split up at all

[@TheSkyGuy77]

It did once. The Sonderbund War

[@angon4xd824]

Next time do also a video about Luxembourg, where half of the population is foreign and where it’s residents speak atleast 3 or 4 languages

[@boristzakov5706]

Masaman, Next time tell us about the Netherlands where 21% of the population is not of Dutch origin. You may also tell us about Belgium, a very "homogeneous" country as well.

[@ThrE3-GeS]

Ah luxemburg the place of where like 35% are portuguese and portuguese is one the most spoken language.

[@MK-rw1on]

@@ThrE3-GeS still one of the weirdest things for me. As a German I was in Luxemburg for the first time and everyone, who worked in the shop where we stopped for a break, spoke Portugiese.

[@angon4xd824]

leandro rodrigues Funny enough, I’m Luxembourgish-portuguese myself

[@vincenzomannaro7444]

@@ThrE3-GeS and 10% are Italians LMAO Luxemburg is basically a latindom now.

[@Aryan-Jat]

Bro you should do a video of the Jat people as I think this will be a very interesting one for the channel

[@Iamtheliquor]

The best the about the Swiss flag, it’s a big plus😂

[@Damio22yt]

The flag of Austria has a big minus. 🤣

[@azhadial7396]

@@Damio22yt They both cancel each others out kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4nJY4SJeMmCqMU

[@felipeoyarzun5424]

@@azhadial7396 Liechtenstein is the 0

[@Iamtheliquor]

m oh........

[@LeonardoGuilherme92]

@@felipeoyarzun5424 Conspiracy theorists would see both Switzerland and Austria as an opposition in mathematic terms and Liechtenstein as ground ZERO for everything that is german. LMAO

[@feyseldifficile9758]

I am Ethiopian and Switzerland may be a model to build a federal or confederal state in Ethiopia !

[@gabrielfrund9497]

Hi from a bilingual canton FRIBOURG

[@fartreta]

Bonjour Fribourg, Grüezi Fryburg!

[@pickupthelantern6395]

swiss guy here overall a very interesting video and very accurate, although i must say that the statement at 5:53 is not completely true. in switzerland we learn „classic“ german in school, so there‘s no problem for us to understand germans. when we get home the dialect is often (depending on your city/town) so different from classic german, that it would take a lot of learing to completely understand swiss german. btw i really appreciate your desclaimer to not call us germans :)

[@Resilio_]

Thanks for doing my country!🇨🇭🇨🇭

[@StrahOfTheSundjer]

Serbia has a very ethnically diverse population, especially in the north of the country. Hope to see it in one of the future videos

[@rickgrimes5441]

I love Switzerland. Awesome place.

[@LordMacharius]

I'd love to hear more about Silesians.

[@haroldthommen3296]

Last name originates from northern Switzerland i believe. Revue Thommen is an old watch company from Waldenburg. My grandpa always spoke some german and said we were german.

[@alastairfrauchiger7106]

As a Swiss person I’m really glad you got everything right. I’m really confused by your statement about Swiss-French? People understand me (and my Swiss-French) just fine in France? I think your source on that might be questionable.

[@sylvaingermanier98]

Le patois était encore parlé il y a 50 ans en Valais, ça devrait être une vieille source

[@erikmartin4996]

What’s with the really distracting music?

[@perryoparsonneseatingjuicy8738]

Erik Martin it’s nice. Music composes a big part of the culture of a nation. You want to learn about the Swiss, here is their music.

[@tru7hhimself]

it's exactly the same "music" that was in the last video that had nothing to do with switzerland.

[@perryoparsonneseatingjuicy8738]

tru7hhimself kzbin.info/www/bejne/hobTnKV5htyUeMk Sir, it is most definitely about Switzerland. Being the world expert he is, I can’t envision masaman ever including music which doesn’t actually belong to the region he is discussing.

[@s.stevens4520]

Made it hard to hear him

[@dcjandrews4716]

Agree, thought I had another window open and couldn’t find it to close or turn it off.

[@k1b04ALL]

Thumbs up on a great video! The only thing I'd suggest is perhaps updating the term from "non-violence" to "non-aggression" in the initial list of IR policies? I believe the Swiss may not blindly enjoy it but are (at least historically) never afraid of wielding it. Maybe already mentioned, and hoping it still carries the definition and spirit of your originally intended message.

[@Thesungod95]

i wait for your every new video like ppl may be waiting for every new version of Iphone

[@steifan]

Would be cool with some background on the Alpine culture, I sense that they have much in common although they might live in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Germany, Austria, Italy or even Slovenia. Feels like the people's just have been divided up by borders, religion and somewhat languages the last couple of hundred years. A bit like Scandinavia but more recent. And finally: hell in Swedish and Norwegian is called "Helvete" (similar in Denmark) - which could make scandinavians think that the Helvetic Republic is a funny name.

[@MartinaValla]

Me too! I often feel the idea that a shared "Alpine" culture and identity is overlooked, or straightforward ignored.

[@Em-fz5uh]

Excellent question ! I can't answer for sure but there are definitely a lot of similarities. Like the food and architectures. The hell comment is so funny I love it 😄. How do you pronounce helvete ?

[@andread5614]

I have french swiss (protestant) and distant german swiss ancestry. Please speak about both.

[@user-xf6ty4iv9w]

The colors in the flag of Switzerland stands for: Red : Money White : Chololate Blue : Praticipating in World Wars.

[@goyonman9655]

Awesome

[@marianacaffaro]

Blue???

[@user-xf6ty4iv9w]

@@marianacaffaro yes, blue for the millitary might that defeated the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Great Britain and the US in 1 blow.

[@Sandwich13455]

Tee-hee!

[@boristzakov5706]

Quel idiot. Blue in the Swiss flag?! The rest of the comment is idiotic as well.

[@xKiLLzZx1]

Don't forget the Rösti-Graben between the swiss-german and french part. We hate each other but love us at the same time :D

[@oof5020]

We hate the other part, but hate the ones outside more, so we stay with the other part. ^^

[@xKiLLzZx1]

@@oof5020 Basically no choice xD so we choose the less evil.

[@oof5020]

@@xKiLLzZx1 yeah :P

[@LodrikBadric]

In my opinion that's totally not true Just in the political sense the Röstigraben exists. Also there are other cultural lines you could draw that are also quite interesting: de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%BCnig-Napf-Reuss-Linie

[@kingofcorona984]

Can you do a presentation on the Veneto people?

[@BlueHarvey100]

5:22 I have to say thank you. As a Swiss Person myself, I am so glad you put that Disclaimer up.

[@allenmurphy7739]

I love your videos Masaman. I just wanted to mention that the Latin Romansh language is not related to the ancient Raetian language which was related to Etruscan. Etruscan and Raetian belong to the pre-Indo-European Tyrsenian languages.

[@Michael-do2xf]

3:57 Switzerland is technically a federation. I won't get into the details but it's called a Confederation because it started as one, and because it sounds cooler.

[@tziuriky86]

I would love to learn more about the Romansh people and language. I've been in Switzerland a long time ago, in the area where the language is spoken, and I was curious seeing signs and place names written in this little known language.

[@tziuriky86]

@danbau08 thanks for the info 👍

[@Alias_Anybody]

"Infamously neutral" should be their national motto.

[@hectorvega621]

It would probably be written in Latin as "Neutrali Genere Quid Factum truncas inhonesto"

[@hectorvega621]

@@exploreshare7925 and you can Swallow and Spit a Fat One

[@goyonman9655]

With a positive sign on their flag

[@ThrE3-GeS]

How everybody forgat that switzerland whas neutral because Hitler wanted it that way. He needed a neutral place in his reich, so he could get money for all the gold he had stolen from invaded countrys. Only this way he could buy stuff for the war.

[@oliverludwig6148]

@@ThrE3-GeS bullshit! source?

[@Sonnendufti]

I'm from the german speaking part, and my family was also one of these families that were here in switzerland since more than 700 years (canton Schwyz). But my ancestors didnt come from germany but from Elsass (french) =)

[@stephencrisdale9693]

I find it quite amazing that the earliest regions of Switzerland as a 'country' reached concord all those centuries ago and were so successful other neighbouring regions sought to become part of the confederation... and this despite the amazing amount of non-agreement of the time that must have mirrored the one-upmanship and "I-know-better-than-thou-ism" that more than abounds in the comments for this Vlog - even from those who say they're Swiss themselves!! Who'd have thought a bunch of people back then would figure out that something was far more important than who could prove they had the biggest whatever, that they could put all that bollocks aside for long enough to build something really truly worthwhile. And then along comes the internet... 😏😀

[@Ammmssk]

part of my family is protestant french speaking swiss migrants in chile, and when i did one of this dna test it said super precisely that part of me was coming from this german speaking side , so i guess they are all mixed

[@Ammmssk]

but i think that's due to they were protestants, my grandfather always said that religion was super important when it came to marriages

[@_vame]

Yeah that was in the last century, i would say that religion is really uninoortant!

[@CorvusLeukos]

Part of my family is catholic/reformed (I'm not sure) German-speaking Swiss migrants in Argentina and when I took a DNA test it said I had north Swiss, west Austrian, central east French and south west German ancestry (basically where alemannic dialects are spoken)

[@ThrE3-GeS]

Im portuguese born in switzerland and im proud to hear portuguese is among the most commonly spoken foreign languages. And it's true, there are villages completly full of portuguese and you have in every kanton or major city a portuguese community center. We are the backbone of swiss economy. And it's allways fun to watch portugal play against switzerland football here in switzerland, it's like a home/home match ^^ even tough my heart is splited during the match it's such a experience to watch. Specificly i remember the euros in 2008 in switzerland and austria. It was like Euro 2004 Portugal 2.0 and one of the best Euros ever.

[@KometVonHelvetien]

Eh. Ok? Backbone of swiss economy? Eh No?

[@sergegirard864]

Masaman, I enjoy your video very much. But I wish you reduced the use of the word « although », as it is distracting. But please continue to provide us with your valuable videos.

[@harveybeaver9731]

I would like to hear more about the Romansch.

[@sirarthurofwinterfell282]

Yes I love Switzerland ❤️

[@marucunucuagadisan6572]

I think it will by interesting, if you make video about nord province of Serbia ,, autonom province of Voivodina in with live 26 ethnic groups, of with 5 languages are regonised as official in some parts of the province, and the focus of diversity is in region ,, banat tat is split between, Serbia, Romenia and Hungary... and also really good video :)

[@maxx1014]

Is German still recognized a local status? Because two of my friends have Banat/voivodina origin from Serbia because their grand parents were expelled after WW2

[@marucunucuagadisan6572]

@@maxx1014 unfortunately not their number are only 4000 now mostly in Voivodina they were expelled almost totally after word war 2 too explain better all the minority in tis region lose demografic to serbian majority, wen Serbia united tis region there ver only 35 %serbian and 65 prosent another etnik, group now it's 65 %> 35 % ,dat its because of discrimination of the minority and politics to win demografic in every region were minority are major, by introductions of serb from another region ( bosnia, kosovo, central serbia, and tis tactics work quite well, my family live in serbian banat 1775 until today and have survived a lot of ting during history....

[@maxx1014]

@@marucunucuagadisan6572 yes nationalism sucks, destroyed much of the diversity in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe. Look at eastern Europe from Finland to Greece at 1900, there was almost no grand region were stable

[@marucunucuagadisan6572]

@@maxx1014 true :(

[@psalux18963]

@@maxx1014 Nationalism has normalized the majority of balkan peninsula. The same has happened in the Caucasus region. Sometimes I wonder what kind of state can exist in a region that is populated this way, and I think that something similar to the Austro - Hungaric Empire could be the only solution.

[@markusmarkus8279]

Could you please do a vide about the diversity and ethnic groups of the democratic republic congo and maybe also for congo brazzeville and angola please ?

[@mounbakko5871]

... your fluency in leaves to question how you acquired your ability of narration... is it knowledge or memorisation?... ... curious due to how impressive you deliver the projects you cover.

[@MartinaValla]

Ohai Switzerland, our direct neighbours to the North!

[@ghostgghu9225]

You said Svizzero not Svizzera, that's wrong 😂😂

[@mikel4506]

A very Nice

[@golubhimself]

I'm from Serbia and I have family in Switzerland from both my father's and my mother's side coincidentially