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Chronicle
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Important dates of the history of Basel and Switzerland:
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from 500 BC: Celtic tribes settle at the bend of the Rhine
44 BC: Munatius Plancus founds Augusta Raurica, 10 kilometres upstream; Romans build a fort on the future site of the cathedral
374 AD: First recorded mention of the place name Basilea
from 450: Area settled by Alemannic tribes; collapse of the Roman Empire
740: Basel becomes a see (bishopric)
1000: Basel becomes a free imperial city
1019: Emperor Henry II orders the construction of the cathedral; completed in 1500; Henry II declared city's patron saint
1080: First city wall; others follow as the city expands
1226: Bishop Heinrich von Thun builds one of the first bridges over the Rhine
1291: Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden form a pact against the Habsburgs; other cantons soon join the Confederation; road built over the Gotthard Pass; the Swiss become a formidable fighting force
1348, 1356: Half the population lost in the plague; large parts of the city devastated by an earthquake and fires
1392: Kleinbasel purchased by the Bishop
1397: The Jews are banished from the city and return only centuries later
1431-48: Council of Basel; Pope Felix V elected in 1440
1444: Schlacht bei St. Jakob: battle in which the Swiss are defeated by a Franco-Austrian army
1460: University founded by Pope Pius II, a former Secretary to the Council of Basel; humanists including Erasmus of Rotterdam settle in Basel; first printing presses; Paracelsus and Holbein active in Basel
1471: Emperor Frederick III bestows on Basel the right to hold fairs
1499: Swabian (or Swiss) War: as a trading centre, Basel must choose between joining the Holy Roman Empire or the Swiss Confederation; the latter breaks de facto from the Holy Roman Empire
1501: Basel and Schaffhausen join the Confederation; city hall built
1516: The defeat at Marignano puts an end to Swiss military ambitions; henceforth, Swiss soldiers fight mainly as mercenaries (particularly for France), and this becomes a major source of income
1529: Reformation in Basel (reformers include Oekolampad); the bishop is forced to flee; Reformation spread to Geneva by Calvin and to Zurich by Zwingli; guilds take control of city government
1648: The Peace of Westphalia marks the end of the Thirty Years' War and ends the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire over Basel; Basel mayor Rudolf Wettstein conducts negotiations on behalf of the Confederation
1670: Silk ribbon industry established
1685: The Edict of Nantes (recognising religious tolerance) is repealed; Protestants from all over Europe arrive in Basel, bringing new skills with them
1758: Trading house of Johann Rudolf Geigy founded; dye production begins
1795: The Peace of Basel ends the war between France, Spain and Prussia
1798: Napoleon occupies Switzerland and creates the centralised Helvetic Republic; the Basler Peter Ochs helps to draw up the Helvetic Constitution, which supersedes the archaic medieval system and introduces certain civil liberties
1803: Return to the former system of a confederation of states; Ticino and large parts of French-speaking Switzerland retain their newly won autonomy
1815: New order in Europe following Napoleon's defeat; Congress of Vienna recognises Switzerland's "eternal armed neutrality"; pre-Napoleonic order restored; Jura passes from the See of Basel to Bern.
1833: The rural districts rebel against exploitation by the city and form their own canton (Basel-Landschaft); Basel loses its hinterland and a third of its wealth
1844: The railway reaches Basel
1847: Sonderbund war between Catholic and Protestant cantons; political structures prove to be outdated
1848: A new constitution is accepted despite resistance from the original cantons; Switzerland becomes a federal state; first amendments in 1874
1849: Museums built in the Augustinergasse
1860: City walls demolished; only a few of the larger gates retained
1891: The popular initiative established at the federal level
1897: First Zionist Congress in Basel; Theodor Herzl: "The Jewish state was founded in Basel"
1914-18: Swiss army stationed on the borders during World War I; Switzerland remains unscathed; industrial unrest
1918-19: Whole country rocked by industrial strife
1939-45: Switzerland surrounded by Fascist-ruled territory, but is not attacked; cross-border commerce dwindles
1946: Basel-Mulhouse, the world's first binational airport, founded; renamed in 1993 as EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg to reflect German participation
1963: Cross-border cooperation stimulated by the founding of Regio Basiliensis
1969: Reunification of the two half-cantons rejected owing to "no" vote in Basel-Landschaft
1972: Women given the vote at federal level (cantonal voting rights since 1966)
1992: Membership of the European Economic Area rejected by a majority of the Swiss electorate and cantons; Basel-Stadt and French-speaking Switzerland vote in favour
1994: Laufental passes from Bern to Canton of Basel-Landschaft
1990s: Wave of mergers in Basel: Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy merge to form Novartis, Swiss Bank Corporation and Union Bank of Switzerland merge to form the new UBS; various spinoffs result; rise of biotechnology
World War II comes back to haunt Switzerland: banks and insurance companies pay compensation totalling some billions of francs to Holocaust victims; Switzerland's wartime record is tarnished
2000: Switzerland votes in favour of bilateral agreements with the EU
2001: The two half-cantons celebrate the 500th anniversary of Basel's admission to the Confederation and organise a European Culture Month
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