Why go
Basel's modern history helps explain why Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft are separate cantonal areas and why the city often appears in the history of international movements. The first World Zionist Congress and later meetings belong to this chapter, alongside the growth of modern institutions.
The full story
Political upheaval around the turn of the nineteenth century reached Basel as well as the surrounding region. After agitation and a short civil war, the countryside separated from the city in 1833 to form Basel-Landschaft. A traveler moving between central Basel and nearby communities crosses a division that came from that conflict, not simply a change from town to suburb. The city also hosted meetings with consequences far beyond the Rhine. The Peace of Basel in 1795 involved revolutionary France, Prussia and Spain. The first World Zionist Congress met here in 1897, making Basel an important name in the history of Zionism. In 1912, the Second International held an extraordinary congress in the city during the Balkan Wars. The Basel Convention, opened for signature in 1989, addressed the movement of hazardous waste across borders. These events are different in purpose and should not be folded into one romantic idea of diplomacy. Together they show how Basel's border location and meeting facilities connected a relatively compact city to wider political and environmental debates.