Carouge

Carouge (kaʁuʒ) is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. 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 by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy, starting in 1760–70. It obtained the status of city in 1786. Carouge was taken by revolutionary France in 1792, apparently with considerable local support. During the Napoleonic wars, in 1814 Carouge was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia following a brief occupation by Austria. The Treaty of Turin (1816) transferred Carouge to the Canton of Geneva and it therefore became part of the Swiss Confederation. Carouge has an area, , of . Of this area, or 4.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 8.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 83.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 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. Carouge has a population () of . , 37.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 21%. It has changed at a rate of 15.6% due to migration and at a rate of 5.1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks French (13,700 or 77.9%), with Portuguese being second most common (921 or 5.