Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman
passenger liner company on the Lake of Geneva
The Compagnie générale de navigation sur le Lac Léman or Lake Geneva General Navigation Company (commonly abbreviated to CGN) is a public Swiss company operating ships on Lake Geneva connecting towns in both France and Switzerland including Geneva, Vevey, Montreux, Évian-les-Bains, and Lausanne.
History
The CGN was formed in 1873 through the merger between three companies, bringing together the vessels 'Helvétie', 'Léman', 'Aigle' and later the 'Flèche' in a single fleet. The growth of tourism corresponded with the construction of railways during the second half of the 19th century, leading the CGN to cater for tourists as well as local traffic.
The cessation of tourism during World War I severely affected the CGN. Similarly affected during World War II, the company had to cease all operations for three months during 1940. The company was rescued by state intervention in 1943.
After the war the fleet was updated, with some steamships converted to diesel and from the 1960s augmented with new vessels.
Current fleet
As a Swiss registered company, the ships fly the Swiss flag at the stern but, as the southern shore of the lake is mainly French territory, they also fly the Tricolour from the jackstaff at the bow.
“Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman” enters the record as passenger liner company on the Lake of Geneva. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Compagnie, Générale and Navigation can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Compagnie, Générale and Navigation provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q676230. VIAF identifies the subject as 234371416. The Library of Congress control number is n2011055419. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1873, 1940 and 1943.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman”, its source revision and the description used here.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.