Neuchâtel (German Neuenburg), capital of the canton of the same name, lies on the north shore of the Lac de Neuchâtel (Neuenburger See), below the Jura mountains. It is the seat of a University and has a Commercial College and the Swiss Watchmaking Research Laboratory. The public buildings are mainly
on the shores of the lake around the harbor; the residential districts, with their houses of yellow Jurassic limestone, rise above the lake on the foothills of the Chaumont, surrounded by parks.
The town first appears in the records in 1011 under the name of Novum Castellum, and in the course of the 11th C. it became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Thereafter it changed hands several times. The Counts of Neuchâtel gave place to the Counts of Freiburg im Breisgau, who in turn were succeeded by the Counts of Hochberg. From 1504 to 1707 the town belonged to the Dukes of Orléans-Longueville, and then passed to the Crown of Prussia. In 1848 a federal and republican constitution came into force, and in 1875 King William IV of Prussia renounced his claim to Neuchâtel. During the 18th C. the town developed into a commercial and industrial center (watch-making, fabric printing) and in 1815 it became the cantonal capital.
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