Why do people in Switzerland speak french?
Switzerland as a political body was created over a long period. First it was just some Kantone (counties) in the German part (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden). The Kanton of Berne controlled large parts of the French speaking area. They were integrated later, finally when Napoleon reorganized the countries of Europe etc. French speaking parts are Geneva, Lausanne (le Vaud), Neuchâtel, parts of the Valais, Fribourg and a small part of the Kanton of Berne. This area is called ‘la Romandie. The French language comes from Latin. The Romans conquered most of Europe, also the Celtic Gauls, who lost their original language completely (apart from some place names) and developed their individual ‘Latin’ language over the course of a long dominion (French, Italian, Spanish etc) German came with Germanic tribes from the North. They settled over a large part of today’s Switzerland.
