1. Name: 

Switzerland is also known as "Confoederatio Helvetica", therefore the abbreviation CH. "Confoederatio" stands for "confederation", "Helvetica" derives from the Latin word "Helvetier", the name of the people who lived in the area which became later Switzerland. 

2. Flag: 

The white cross on the red back (see top left on each page) has a religious background. The cross represents the cross, Jesus was put on, the red color represents his blood.

3. Capital:

    The capital of Switzerland is Bern City, also the capital of the canton Bern.

4.Administrative divisions

Switzerland consists of 23 Kantone (singular Kanton, cantons or states), 3 of them are  divided into Halb-Kantone ("split states") with the following authorities:

• Grosser Rat, Kantonsrat or Landesrat(the name varies between the cantons), legislative authority
• Kantonsregierung, executive authority
• Kantonsgericht, judicial authority

 Eidgenossenschaft:

The confederation (Eidgenossenschaft:) consists of the following authorities:

 The federal assembly (Bundesversammlung) or parliament meets in the Bundeshaus in bern and consists of two houses or Kammer.

• Ständerat: also called the kleine Kammer with two representatives of each canton, or one representative of each split-canton, regardless of the size of the population of the canton.

• Nationalrat: also called the grosse Kammer ("large chamber") with 200 representatives. the number of representatives is proportional to the population of the cantons, but there is at least one representative of a canton

 The Bundesrat consists of seven members, elected (every four years) by the Vereinigte Bundesversammlung, a combined assembly of both chambers.

The president of the Bundesrat, called Bundespräsident / Bundespräsidentin, changes every year.

The seven Bundesräte / Bundesrätinnen lead the following departments:-

• Foreign Affairs (für auswärtige Angelegenheiten)

• Home Affairs (des Innern)

• Justice and Police (Justiz- und Polizei-)

• Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (für Verteidigung, Bevölkerungsschutz und Sport)

• Finance (Finanz-)

• Economic Affairs (Volkswirtschafts-)

• Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation)

  The federal court in Lausanne is the highest court in the country.

 The duties of the confederation are limited in the Bundesverfassung ("constitution"). These are:

• Protection of the country and its citizens
• Postal services, telephone and telecommunications (PTT)
• Monetary system (Nationalbank, "national bank")
• Transportation (Nationalstrassen (motor ways), railway)
• Military
• Customs
• Diplomatic relations with other countries

People can take direct influence by two means:

• Initiative: 100'000 citizens can request a voting about a change or extension of the Bundesverfassung ("constitution") or the Bundesgesetzt ("federal law").

• Referendum: If the Bundesrat wants to change or extend the Bundesverfassung("constitution") or Bundesgesetz ("federal law"), 50'000 citizens can request a voting about it.

5. Language: 

Switzerland's four official languages, traditionally spoken in different regions of the country, are German, French, Italian and Rumantsch

* Due to massive immigration (20% of the resident Swiss population are non-naturalized foreigners, 50% do have at least one parent that has not been born in the country!), there are many individuals who will not say they speak one of the four official languages of Switzerland when asked for their mother tongue.

There are clearly defined regions for all four official languages (German in northern, central and eastern Switzerland, French in western Switzerland, Italian in southern Switzerland and Rumantsch in southeastern Switzerland, see map above).

The regions do, however, overlap just a little: German is being used in parallel to Rumantsch in all Rumantsch areas and in parallel to French in the bilingual cities of Biel/Bienne, Fribourg/Freiburg, Murten/Morat and in some smaller towns and villages along the language border in western

Source: Info. about Switzerland