Carouge
Description
Carouge is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, with a population of 19,114 (2007).
History
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2012)Carouge is first mentioned in the Early Middle Ages as Quadruvium and Quatruvio. In 1248 it was mentioned as Carrogium while in the 14th Century it was known as Quarrouiz or Quarroggi. In 1445 it was mentioned as Quaroggio. The current city was built from the ground up, by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy, starting on 31 January 1786.
Geography
Carouge has an area, as of 2009, of 2.7 square km. Of this area, 0.13 km2 (0.050 sq mi) or 4.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.23 km2 (0.089 sq mi) or 8.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.25 km2 (0.87 sq mi) or 83.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km2 (9.9 acres) or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 18.5% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 31.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 20.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.1% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 8.1%. Out of the forested land, 6.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.3% is used for growing crops and 1.5% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located south of the Rhone and Arve rivers.
Heritage sites of national significance
The Archives of Carouge is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Carouge is listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Religion
From the 2000 census, 7,816 or 44.4% were Roman Catholic, while 2,381 or 13.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 221 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.26% of the population), there were 57 individuals (or about 0.32% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 244 individuals (or about 1.39% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 75 individuals (or about 0.43% of the population) who were Jewish, and 643 (or about 3.66% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 52 individuals who were Buddhist, 16 individuals who were Hindu and 37 individuals who belonged to another church. 4,306 (or about 24.48% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1,742 individuals (or about 9.90% of the population) did not answer the question.