Cantons of Switzerland

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For Districts within each Swiss Canton, see Districts of Switzerland.
Swiss cantons
Schweizer Kantone (German) Cantons suisses (French)
Cantoni svizzeri (Italian) Chantuns svizras (Romansh)
Also known as:
Stände, États, Stati
ValaisTicinoGrisonsGenevaVaudNeuchâtelJuraBernThurgauZürichAargauLucerneSolothurnBa
sel-LandschaftSchaffhausenUriSchwyzGlarusSt. GallenAppenzell InnerrhodenAppenzell
AusserrhodenObwaldenNidwaldenZugFribourgBasel-StadtFranceItalyLiechten-
steinAustriaGermany
Category Federated state
Location Switzerland
Found in Regions
Created
13th century
Number 26 cantons (as of 1979)
Populations 16,003 (Appenzell Innerrhoden) – 1,487,969 (Canton of Zürich)
Areas 37 km2 (14 sq mi) – 7,105 km2 (2,743 sq mi)
Government
List of cantonal executives of Switzerland
Subdivisions
Districts and municipalities
This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Switzerland

Constitution
Federal Council
Federal Assembly
Elections
Federal courts
Foreign relations
Cantons
Municipalities
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The 26 cantons of Switzerland[1] are the member states of the Swiss Confederation.
The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate
allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte. Two important periods in the
development of the Old Swiss Confederacy are summarized by the terms Acht Orte
('Eight Cantons'; from 1353–1481) and Dreizehn Orte ('Thirteen Cantons', from 1513–
1798).[2]

Each canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy, formerly also Ort ('lieu/locality', from
before 1450), or Stand ('estate', from c. 1550), was a fully sovereign state with
its own border controls, army, and currency from at least the Treaty of Westphalia
(1648) until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848, with a brief
period of centralised government during the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803). The term
Kanton has been widely used since the 19th century.[3]
The number of cantons was increased to 19 with the Act of Mediation (1803), with
the recognition of former subject territories as full cantons. The Federal Treaty
of 1815 increased the number to 22 due to the accession of former associates of the
Old Swiss Confederacy. The canton of Jura acceded as the 23rd canton with its
secession from Bern in 1979.[4] The official number of cantons was increased to 26
in the federal constitution of 1999, which designated former half-cantons as
cantons.

The areas of the cantons vary from 37 km2 (15 sq. mi.) (Basel-Stadt) to 7,105 km2
(2743 sq. mi.) (Grisons); the populations (as of 2018) range from 16,000 (Appenzell
Innerrhoden) to 1.5 million (Zürich).

Terminology
The term canton, now also used as the English term for administrative subdivisions
of other countries, originates in French usage in the late 15th century (recorded
in Fribourg in 1467),[5] from a word for "edge, corner", at the time the literal
translation of Early Modern High German ort.[6] After 1490, canton was increasingly
used in French and Italian documents to refer to the members of the Swiss
Confederacy.[3] English use of canton in reference to the Swiss Confederacy (as
opposed to the heraldic sense) dates to the early 17th century.[7]

In the Old Swiss Confederacy, the term Ort (plural: Orte) was in use from the early
15th century as a generic term for the member cantons.[3] The founding cantons
specifically were also known as Waldstätte 'forest settlements' (singular:
Waldstatt). The formulaic Stette und Waldstette for the members of the early
confederacy is recorded in the mid-14th century, used interchangeably with Stett
und Lender ('cities and lands', 'city cantons and rural cantons') until the late
15th century.[8] Ort was increasingly replaced by Stand (plural: Stände) 'estate'
about 1550, a term taken to imply liberty and sovereignty. Abolished in the
Helvetic Republic, the term 'Stand' was revived in 1815 and remains in use today.
[3] [9]

The French term canton adopted into German after 1648, and then only in occasional
use until the early 19th century: prominent usage of Ort and Stand gradually
disappeared in German-speaking Switzerland from the time of the Helvetic Republic.
Only with the Act of Mediation of 1803 did German Kanton become an official
designation, retained in the Swiss Constitution of 1848.[3] [10]

The term Stand (French: état, Italian: stato) remains in synonymous usage and is
reflected in the name of the upper chamber of the Swiss Parliament, the Council of
States (German: Ständerat, French: Conseil des États, Italian: Consiglio degli
Stati, Romansh: Cussegl dals Stadis).

In the modern era, since Neuchâtel ceased to be a principality in 1848, all Swiss
cantons can be considered to have a republican form of government. Some cantons
formally describe themselves as republics in their constitutions. This applies to
the Romance-speaking cantons in particular: Geneva (formally République et canton
de Genève, 'Republic and canton of Geneva'), Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais,[11] Vaud[12]
and Ticino.[13]

History
Main articles: Eight Cantons, Thirteen Cantons, Restoration and Regeneration in
Switzerland, and Switzerland as a federal state
Further information: Flags and coats of arms of cantons of Switzerland

The "Thirteen-Canton Confederation" of the Old Swiss Confederacy (1513–1798)

In the 16th century, the Old Swiss Confederacy was composed of 13 sovereign
confederate allies (the Thirteen Cantons; German: Die Dreizehn Alten Orte), and
there were two different kinds: five rural states (German: Länder) – Uri, Schwyz
(which became eponymous of the confederacy), Unterwalden, Glarus, Appenzell – and
eight urban states (German: Städte) – Zürich, Bern, Luzern, Zug, Basel, Fribourg,
Solothurn, Schaffhausen.

Though they were technically part of the Holy Roman Empire, they had become de
facto independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximilian I in 1499 in Dornach.
[14]

In the early modern period, the individual confederate allies came to be seen as
republics; while the six traditional allies had a tradition of direct democracy in
the form of the Landsgemeinde, the urban states operated via representation in city
councils, de facto oligarchic systems dominated by families of the patriciate.[note
1]

The old system was abandoned with the formation of the Helvetic Republic following
the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798. The cantons of the Helvetic Republic
had merely the status of an administrative subdivision with no sovereignty. The
Helvetic Republic collapsed within five years, and cantonal sovereignty was
restored with the Act of Mediation of 1803. The status of Switzerland as a
federation of states was restored, at the time including 19 cantons (the six
accessions to the early modern Thirteen Cantons being composed of former associates
and subject territories: St. Gallen, Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud). Three
additional western cantons, Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva, acceded in 1815.

The process of "Restoration", completed by 1830, returned most of the former feudal
rights to the cantonal patriciates, leading to rebellions among the rural
population. The Radicals embodied these democratic forces calling for a new federal
constitution. This tension, paired with religious issues ("Jesuit question")
escalated into armed conflict in the 1840s, with the brief Sonderbund War. The
victory of the Liberal-Radicals resulted in the formation of Switzerland as a
federal state in 1848. The cantons retained far-reaching sovereignty but were no
longer allowed to maintain individual standing armies or international relations.
As the revolutions of 1848 in Western Europe had failed elsewhere, Switzerland
during the later 19th century (and with the exception of the French Third Republic,
until the end of World War I) found itself as an isolated democratic republic,
surrounded by the restored monarchies of France, Italy, Austria-Hungary and
Germany.

Constitutions and powers

See also: List of cantonal executives of Switzerland and List of cantonal
legislatures of Switzerland

The 22 cantonal coats of arms (all but Jura, with the half-cantons represented
jointly) in stained glass set in the dome of the Federal Palace of Switzerland (c.
1900)
The Swiss Federal Constitution[16] declares the cantons to be sovereign to the
extent that their sovereignty is not limited by federal law.[17] Areas specifically
reserved to the Confederation are the armed forces, currency, the postal service,
telecommunications, immigration into and emigration from the country, granting
asylum, conducting foreign relations with sovereign states, civil and criminal law,
weights and measures, and customs duties.

Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, executive, police and courts.
[17] Similar to the Confederation, a directorial system of government is followed
by the cantons.

The cantonal legislatures are unicameral parliaments, with their size varying
between 58 and 200 seats. A few legislatures also involve or did involve general
popular assemblies known as Landsgemeinden; the use of this form of legislature has
declined: at present, it exists only in the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and
Glarus. The cantonal executives consist of either five or seven members, depending
on the canton.[18] For the names of the institutions, see the list of cantonal
executives and list of cantonal legislatures.

The cantons retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation
by the federal constitution or law: most significantly the cantons are responsible
for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement, public education, and retain the power of
taxation. Each canton defines its official language(s). Cantons may conclude
treaties not only with other cantons but also with foreign states (respectively
Articles 48 and 56 of the Federal Constitution).

The cantonal constitutions determine the internal organisation of the canton,

including the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but
almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws; some
municipalities have their own police forces.

As at the federal level, all cantons provide for some form of direct democracy.
Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws or to
veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. Other than in the instances
of general popular assemblies in Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus, democratic
rights are exercised by secret ballot. The right of foreigners to vote varies by
canton, as does whether Swiss citizens living abroad (and registered to vote in a
canton) can take part in cantonal voting.

Swiss citizens are citizens of a particular municipality (the place of origin) and
the canton in which that municipality is part. Cantons, therefore, have a role in
and set requirements for the granting of citizenship (naturalisation), though the
process is typically undertaken at a municipal level and is subject to federal law.

Switzerland has only one federal public holiday (1 August); public holidays
otherwise vary from canton to canton.

List
The cantons are listed in their order of precedence given in the federal
constitution.[note 2] This reflects the historical order of precedence of the Eight
Cantons in the 15th century, followed by the remaining cantons in the order of
their historical accession to the confederacy.[19]

Arms
[note 3] Code Name in official language(s) Name in English As a Swiss canton
since Capital GDP (2020)[21]
in million CHF GDP per
capita (2020)[22]
in CHF Population
[note 4] Area (km2) Density
(per km2) [note 5] No. munic. (2018)[23] Official languages
1 Coat of arms of Zürich

ZH Zürich Zürich 1351 Zürich 149,004 96,359 1,553,423

1,729 898 166 German
2 Coat of arms of Bern

BE Bern; Berne Bern / Berne 1353 Bern 80,209 77,027 1,043,132

5,960 175 347 German, French
3 Coat of arms of Luzern
LU Luzern Lucerne 1332 Lucerne 28,176 67,936 416,347
1,494 279 83 German
4 Coat of arms of Uri

UR Uri Uri 1291

[note 6] Altdorf 1,985 54,006 36,819 1,077 34 20 German
5 Coat of arms of Schwyz

SZ Schwyz Schwyz 1291

[note 6] Schwyz 9,876 61,223 162,157 908 179 30 German
6 Coat of arms of Obwalden

OW Obwalden Obwalden / Obwald 1291

[note 6] or 1315 (as part of Unterwalden) Sarnen 2,564 67,453 38,108
491 78 7 German
7 Coat of arms of Nidwalden

NW Nidwalden Nidwalden / Nidwald 1291

[note 6] (as Unterwalden) Stans 2,867 66,209 43,520 276 158 11
German
8 Coat of arms of Glarus

GL Glarus Glarus 1352 Glarus 2,763 67,849 40,851 685

60 3 German
9 Coat of arms of Zug

ZG Zug Zug / Zoug 1352 Zug 20,029 156,210 128,794 239 539
11 German
10 Coat of arms of Fribourg

FR Fribourg; Freiburg Fribourg / Freiburg 1481 Fribourg 19,180

59,263 325,496 1,671 195 136 French, German
11 Coat of arms of Solothurn

SO Solothurn Solothurn / Soleure 1481 Solothurn 18,029 65,237

277,462 790 351 109 German
12 Coat of arms of Basel-City

BS Basel-Stadt Basel-Stadt / Basel-City 1501 (as Basel until 1833/1999)

Basel 37,168 189,354 201,156 37 5,444 3 German
13 Coat of arms of Basel-Country

BL Basel-Landschaft Basel-Landschaft / Basel-Country 1501 (as Basel until

1833/1999) Liestal 20,567 70,866 292,955 518 566 86 German
14 Coat of arms of Schaffhausen
SH Schaffhausen Schaffhausen / Schaffhouse 1501 Schaffhausen 7,244
87,569 83,107 298 278 26 German
15 Coat of arms of Appenzell Ausserrhoden

AR Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Ausserrhoden / Appenzell Outer-Rhodes 1513

(as Appenzell until 1597/1999) Herisau[note 7] 3,190 57,601 55,309
243 228 20 German
16 Coat of arms of Appenzell Innerrhoden

AI Appenzell Innerrhoden Appenzell Innerrhoden / Appenzell Inner-Rhodes 1513

(as Appenzell until 1597/1999) Appenzell 1,043 64,358 16,293 172
94 6 German
17 Coat of arms of St. Gallen

SG St. Gallen St. Gallen / St. Gall 1803

[note 8] St. Gallen 38,041 74,210 514,504 2,031 253 77 German
18 Coat of arms of Graubünden

GR Graubünden; Grischun; Grigioni Grisons / Graubünden 1803

[note 9] Chur 14,519 72,754 200,096 7,105 28 108 German,
Romansh, Italian
19 Coat of arms of Aargau

AG Aargau Aargau 1803

[note 10] Aarau 43,590 63,177 694,072 1,404 494 212 German
20 Coat of arms of Thurgau

TG Thurgau Thurgau / Thurgovia 1803

[note 11] Frauenfeld[note 12] 17,208 61,190 282,909 992 285
80 German
21 Coat of arms of Ticino

TI Ticino Ticino / Tessin 1803

[note 13] Bellinzona 29,311 83,450 350,986 2,812 125 115
Italian
22 Coat of arms of Vaud

VD Vaud Vaud 1803

[note 14] Lausanne 56,898 70,250 814,762 3,212 254 309 French
23 Coat of arms of Valais

VS Valais; Wallis Valais 1815

[note 15] Sion 19,194 55,313 348,503 5,224 67 126 French,
German
24 Coat of arms of Neuchâtel

NE Neuchâtel Neuchâtel 1815/1857

[note 16] Neuchâtel 15,343 87,080 175,894 802 219 31 French
25 Coat of arms of Geneva
GE Genève Geneva 1815
[note 17] Geneva 51,976 102,876 506,343 282 1,792 45 French
26 Coat of arms of Jura

JU Jura Jura 1979

[note 18] Delémont 4,687 63,643 73,709 839 88 55 French
- Coat of arms of Switzerland CH Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft;
Confédération suisse;
Confederazione Svizzera;
Confederaziun svizra Swiss Confederation 1815/1848
[note 19] (Bern) 694,662 80,418 8,670,300 41,291 210 2,222
German, French, Italian, Romansh
The two-letter abbreviations for Swiss cantons are widely used, e.g. on car license
plates. They are also used in the ISO 3166-2 codes of Switzerland with the prefix
"CH-" (Confœderatio Helvetica — Helvetian Confederation — Helvetia having been the
ancient Roman name of the region). CH-SZ, for example, is used for the canton of
Schwyz.

Half-cantons
Six of the 26 cantons are traditionally, but no longer officially, called "half-
cantons" (German: Halbkanton, French: demi-canton, Italian: semicantone, Romansh:
mez-chantun). In two instances (Basel and Appenzell) this was a consequence of a
historic division, whilst in the case of Unterwalden a historic mutual association,
resulted in three pairs of half-cantons. The other 20 cantons were, and in some
instances still are[51]—though only in a context where it is needed to distinguish
them from any half-cantons—typically termed "full" cantons in English.[52]

The first article of the 1848 and 1874 constitutions constituted the Confederation
as the union of "twenty-two sovereign cantons", referring to the half-cantons as
"Unterwalden (ob und nid dem Wald ['above and beneath the woods'])", "Basel (Stadt
und Landschaft ['city and country'])" and "Appenzell (beider Rhoden ['both
Rhoden'])".[53] The 1874 constitution was amended to list 23 cantons with the
accession of the Canton of Jura in 1978.

The historic half-cantons, and their pairings, are still recognizable in the first
article of the Swiss Federal Constitution of 1999 by being joined to their other
"half" with the conjunction "and":

The People and the cantons of Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden and
Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft,
Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden, St. Gallen,
Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Geneva, and Jura form
the Swiss Confederation.

— Article 1 of the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation[54]

The 1999 constitutional revision retained the traditional distinction, on the
request of the six cantonal governments, as a way to mark the historic association
of the half-cantons to each other.[55] While the older constitutions referred to
these states as "half-cantons", a term that remains in popular use, the 1999
revision and official terminology since then use the appellation "cantons with half
of a cantonal vote".[56]

The 1⁄2, 1 and 2 francs coins as minted since 1874 represent the number of cantons
by 22 stars surrounding the figure of Helvetia on the obverse. The design of the
coins was altered to show 23 stars, including Jura, beginning with the 1983 batch.
The design has remained unchanged since, and does not reflect the official number
of "26 cantons" introduced in 1999.[57]

Caricature of the division of Basel, 1833

The reasons for the existence of the three pairs of half-cantons are varied:

Unterwalden never consisted of a single unified jurisdiction. Originally, Obwalden,

Nidwalden, and the Abbey of Engelberg formed distinct communities. The collective
term Unterwalden remains in use, however, for the area that partook in the creation
of the original Swiss confederation in 1291 with Uri and Schwyz. The Federal
Charter of 1291 called for representatives from each of the three "areas".[58][59]
The historical canton of Appenzell divided itself into "inner" and "outer" halves
as a consequence of the Reformation in Switzerland in 1597:[60] Appenzell
Innerrhoden (Catholic) and Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Protestant).
The historical canton of Basel was divided in 1833 after the Basel countryside
(which became the canton of Basel-Landschaft) declared its independence from the
city of Basel (which became the canton of Basel-Stadt), following a period of
protest and armed conflict about the under-representation of the more populous
countryside in the canton's political system.
With their original circumstances of partition now a historical matter, the half-
cantons are since 1848 equal to the other cantons in all but two respects:[61]