It is located in north-central Switzerland, [ 5 ] at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. As of January [update] , the municipality had , inhabitants, [ 6 ] the urban area 1. Both Zurich Airport and Zurich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.
Permanently settled for over 2, years, Zurich was founded by the Romans , who called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6, years although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early. The official language of Zurich is German, [ a ] but the main spoken language is Zurich German , the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect. As one of Switzerland's primary financial centres, Zurich is home to many financial institutions and banking companies.
The name is traditionally written in English as Zurich , without the umlaut. The first development towards its later Germanic form is attested as early as c. In Neo-Latin texts dating from c. The earliest written record of the town dates from the 2nd century, with a tombstone referring to it as the Statio Turicensis Quadragesima Galliarum "Zurich post for collecting the 2. In the 5th century, the Germanic Alemanni tribe settled in the Swiss Plateau.
The Roman castle remained standing until the 7th century. A Carolingian castle, built on the site of the Roman castle by the grandson of Charlemagne , Louis the German , is mentioned in in Castro Turicino iuxta fluvium Lindemaci. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zurich, Uri , and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. In , King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.
During the s, a city wall was built, enclosing 38 hectares, when the earliest stone houses on the Rennweg were built as well. The Carolingian castle was used as a quarry, as it had started to fall into ruin. The abbess nominated the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city.
