Schaffhausen

Schaffhausen is a town in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name. It has a population of about 36,000 as 2016.

The old portion of the town has many fine Renaissance era buildings decorated with exterior frescos and sculpture, as well as the impressive old canton fortress, the Munot. A train runs out of town to the nearby Rhine Falls in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Europe's largest waterfall, a tourist attraction.

 History 
Schaffhausen was a city state in the Middle Ages, documented to have struck its own coins starting in 1045. For a time it was under Habsburg domination, but regained its independence in 1415. It allied itself with Zürich in 1457, and became a full member of the Swiss Confederation in 1501. The first railroad came to Schaffhausen in 1857.

Schaffhausen is in a finger of Swiss land surrounded on three sides by Germany. On April 1, 1944, Schaffhausen suffered a bombing raid by United States Army Air Forces aircraft which strayed from German airspace into neutral Switzerland. While the United States immediately offered four million dollars in reparations, the raid occurred only a month after the Swiss Air Force had shot down an American bomber.

In 1947 it merged with the former municipality of Buchthalen. In 1964 it merged with the former municipality of Herblingen. Since 2009, Hemmental has been part of the town.

 Industry 
Schaffhausen has some well-known industrial companies (Georg Fischer) in piping systems, machine tools and automotives, one internationally-reputed watches manufacturer (IWC), and drug industry (Cilag, founded by Bernhard Joos).

References

 Other websites 

 City of Schaffhausen  
 Schaffhausen Tourism 
 City archives  
 U.S. Bombings of Switzerland during World War II 


Category:Imperial free cities