Lake Neuchâtel (french: Lac de Neuchâtel ; frp, Lèc de Nôchâtél; german: Neuenburgersee) is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

primarily in Romandy, in the French-speaking part of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The lake lies mainly in the

canton of Neuchâtel The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (french: République et Canton de Neuchâtel); rm, Chantun Neuchâtel; it, Cantone di Neuchâtel is a French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 (or ...

, but is also shared by the cantons of

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms ...

, Fribourg, and

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. It comprises one of the lakes in the Three Lakes Region (French: ''Pays des Trois-Lacs'', German: ''Drei-Seen-Land''), along with lakes

Biel , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) ...

/Bienne and Morat/Murten. With a surface of , Lake Neuchâtel is the largest lake located entirely in Switzerland and the 59th largest lake in Europe. It is long and at its widest. Its surface is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

, and the maximum depth is . The total water volume is . The lake's drainage area is approximately and its culminating point is Le Chasseron at . In comparison to the Lake Geneva region, the Lake Neuchatel shoreline has experienced significant economic development with the completion of the regional motorway network. It is also known to have housed a Celtic agglomeration on pile-dwellings called La Tène and which gives its name to the second Iron Age. The lake is fed by the rivers L'Orbe (called La Thielle or La Thièle locally, downstream of the city of Orbe), ''L'Arnon'', ''L'Areuse'', ''Le Seyon'', and ''La Menthue'', as well as by the ''Canal de la Broye''. The Thielle Canal (french: Canal de la Thielle, german: Zihlkanal) drains the lake into Lake Biel and is part of regulation system for the lakes and the rivers of the Seeland region. Lake Neuchâtel was the home of the now

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species of deepwater trout '' Salvelinus neocomensis''.

Geography

Lake Neuchatel is situated at the foot of the Jura mountain range, on the Swiss Plateau. Mainly in the French-speaking Swiss Romande, it borders the territory of four cantons:

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (Fra ...

(),

(), Fribourg () and

(). The lake's main tributaries are the Thiele and the Broye canal which connect it to Lake Morat. It flows into Lake Biel via the

Thielle canal The river Thielle (french: La Thielle, or La Thièle, german: Zihl), is a tributary to the Aare, in the Swiss Seeland. The Thielle results from the merging of the Orbe and Talent, northeast of the little city of Orbe in the Swiss canton of Vaud. ...

(German: ''Zihlkanal''). Since the

Jura water correction The correction of the waters of the Swiss Jura consisted of a wide series of hydrological undertakings carried out in Switzerland in the region of the three lakes: Lake Morat connected to Lake Neuchatel by the Broye Canal, the latter connecte ...

in the 19th and 20th centuries, it has served, together with Lake Morat, as a compensation basin for the waters of the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descen ...

flowing into Lake Biel. Indeed, if the level of the latter rises too much, the flow may stop or even go in the opposite direction. Lake Neuchâtel is long and has a maximum width of . Its maximum depth is and its capacity is estimated at . It is the largest lake located entirely on Swiss territory, considering that

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

and

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lak ...

are shared with neighboring countries. In the summer of 2021, Lake Neuchatel reached historically high water levels due to widespread flooding over mainland Europe.

History and prehistory

The lake was frequented by prehistoric man as evidenced by the remains (site of the Auvernier lake resort and archeological museum, the

Laténium The Laténium is an archeology museum located in Hauterive, a suburb of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Its name refers to the famous nearby site of La Tène which gave its name to the Second European Iron age. The Laténium is composed of a park an ...

) where bones of

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is k ...

and Eurasian beaver were also found (two species then almost ubiquitous in Europe). Several

megalithic A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

monuments line the lake such as the alignment of Clendy and the

menhirs A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be fou ...

of Gorgier,

Grandson Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

Saint-Aubin-Sauges Saint-Aubin-Sauges is a former municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipalities of Bevaix, Saint-Aubin-Sauges, Gorgier, Vaumarcus, Montalchez and Fresens merged into t ...

, and Vauroux, as well as an imposing erratic block, the . When the first Swiss towns appear,

Mont Vully Mont Vully (653 m; in German also known as ''Wistenlacherberg''''MontVully''
hls-dhs-dss.ch) is a

, which was a large fortified area of around 50 hectares built around 120 BCE, controlled the lakes of Morat and Neuchâtel while the La Tène area remained nearly unoccupied. What is now Yverdon-les-Bains was located on a barrier island on the other side of the lake, a place of smaller settlement (3 to 4 hectares) occupied from the

4th century BCE The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period. This century marked the height of Classical Greek civilization in all of its aspec ...

, and later fortified in 80 BCE by means of a long and solid rampart with frontal posts (like that of Vully), before this oppidum (''Eburodunum'') becomes a ''

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

'' in the first centuries CE. The first written mention of the lake dates from the year 998 CE, where a ''laci everdunensis'' (or lake of Yverdon, from its Latin name ''Eburodunum'') is mentioned, near which the priory of

Bevaix Bevaix is a former municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipalities of Bevaix, Saint-Aubin-Sauges, Gorgier, Vaumarcus, Montalchez and Fresens merged into the new mun ...

was founded. The name dominates throughout the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, co-utilized with the current term ''Lake Neuchâtel'', however, is frequent from the

15th century The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian dates from 1 January 1401 ( MCDI) to 31 December 1500 ( MD). In Europe, the 15th century includes parts of the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the early modern period. ...

onwards. The latter became dominant during the 19th century, in particular with the lowering of the level of the lake and the development of the Vaudois railway, which reduced the importance of the Port of Yverdon. Lake Neuchâtel, and in particular the town of Neuchâtel became a popular tourist destination during the

Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...

period due to its climate and panoramic views of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

List of settlements on the lake

Northwestern shore

From Yverdon to La Tène (Southwest to Northeast): * Yverdon-les-Bains ( VD) *

(VD) *

Bonvillars Bonvillars is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Bonvillars is first mentioned in 1100 AD as ''Binvilar''. Local Savoyard Knight Sir John de Bonvillars (Sir Jean de Bevillard in F ...

(VD) * Onnens (VD) *

Corcelles-près-Concise Corcelles-près-Concise is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Corcelles-près-Concise is first mentioned in 885 as ''Corceles''. In 888 it was mentioned as ''Corcella''. Geography ...

(VD) *

Concise Concise is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Concise is first mentioned in 1179 as ''Concisa''. Geography Concise has an area, , of . Of this area, or 24.4% is used for agric ...

(VD) *

Vaumarcus Vaumarcus is a former municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipalities of Bevaix, Saint-Aubin-Sauges, Gorgier, Vaumarcus, Montalchez and Fresens merged into the new ...

( NE) * Sauges (Saint-Aubin-Sauges) (NE) * Saint-Aubin (Saint-Aubin-Sauges) (NE) * Gorgier, Chez-Le-Bart (Gorgier) (NE) *

(NE) *

Cortaillod Cortaillod is a municipality in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. The Neolithic Cortaillod culture was named after Cortaillod, where four Neolithic villages have been discovered. History Cortaillod is first mentioned in 1311 as ''Cortaill ...

(NE) * Areuse (Boudry) (NE) * Colombier (Milvignes) (NE) * Auvernier (Milvignes) (NE) * Serrières (Neuchâtel) *

* Hauterive (NE) * St-Blaise (NE) * Marin-Epagnier (La Tène) (NE)

Southeastern shore

From Yverdon to Gampelen: * Cheseaux (Cheseaux-Noréaz) (VD) * Yvonand (VD) * Cheyres (Cheyres-Châbles) ( FR) * Châbles (Cheyres-Châbles) (FR) * Font (Estavayer) (FR) * Estavayer-le-Lac (Estavayer) (FR) * Forel (Estavayer) (FR) * Chevroux (VD) * Pré de Riva (Gletterens) (FR) * Portalban (Delley-Portalban) (FR) * Chabrey (Vully-les-Lacs) (VD) * Champmartin (Cudrefin) (VD) *

Cudrefin Cudrefin () is a municipality in the district of Broye-Vully in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Cudrefin is first mentioned in 999 as ''Curtefin''. Geography left, Cudrefin Cudrefin has an area, , of . Of this area, or 60.7% is us ...

(VD) * La Sauge (Cudrefin) (VD) * Lindehof, Witzwil (Ins) ( BE) * Tannenhof (Gampelen) (BE)

Notes

External links

*
Waterlevels at the Harbour of Neuchâtel
from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment {{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Neuchatel L Lake Neuchatel Neuchatel Neuchatel Neuchatel Neuchatel Neuchatel Bern–Fribourg border Fribourg–Vaud border Bern–Vaud border Bern–Neuchâtel border Ramsar sites in Switzerland