Cantons of Switzerland

Valais

Ticino

Graubünden
(Grisons)

Geneva

Vaud

Neuchâtel

Jura

Bern

Thurgau

Zurich

Aargau

Lucerne

Solothurn

Basel-Land

Schaffhausen

Uri

Schwyz

Glarus

St. Gallen

AI

AR

Obwalden

Nidwalden

Zug

Fribourg

Basel-Stadt

France

Italy

Liecht.

Austria

Germany

The thirteen cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy (1513-1798).

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state^[1] with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848. The most recently created canton is the Canton of Jura, which separated from the Canton of Bern in 1979.^[2]

History

In the 16th century, the Old Swiss Confederacy was composed of thirteen sovereign cantons, and there were two different kinds: six land (or forest) cantons and seven city (or urban) cantons. Though they were technically part of the Holy Roman Empire, they had become de facto independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximillian in 1499.^[3] The six forest cantons were democratic republics, whereas the seven urban cantons were oligarchic republics controlled by noble families.

Constitution

Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts.^[4] Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton.^[5] For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law.^[4] The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 15,471 to 1,244,400.

Direct democracy

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for (half-)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. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

List

The cantons are listed in the order given in the federal constitution.^[1]

Coat of arms	Abbr	Canton	Since	Capital	Population[2]	Area[3]	Density[4]	№ munic.[5]	Official languages
	ZH	Zürich	1351	Zürich	1,307,567	1,729	701	171	German
	BE	Bern	1353	Bern	962,982	5,959	158	388	German, French
	LU	Lucerne (Luzern)	1332	Lucerne	363,475	1,493	233	88	German
	UR	Uri	1291	Altdorf	34,989	1,077	33	20	German
	SZ	Schwyz	1291	Schwyz	141,024	908	143	30	German
	OW	Obwalden	1291	Sarnen	33,997	491	66	7	German
	NW	Nidwalden	1291	Stans	40,287	276	138	11	German
	GL	Glarus	1352	Glarus	38,237	685	51	25 (from 2011: 3)	German
	ZG	Zug	1352	Zug	109,141	239	416	11	German
	FR	Fribourg	1481	Fribourg	263,241	1,671	141	168	French, German
	SO	Solothurn	1481	Solothurn	250,240	791	308	122	German
	BS	Basel-Stadt (Basel-City)	1501 (part of Basel until 1833)	Basel	185,227	37	5,072	3	German
	BL	Basel-Landschaft (Basel-Country)	1501 (part of Basel until 1833)	Liestal	269,145	518	502	86	German
	SH	Schaffhausen	1501	Schaffhausen	74,527	298	246	27	German
	AR	Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Appenzell Outer Rhodes)	1513 (part of Appenzell until 1597)	Herisau[6]	52,654	243	220	20	German
	AI	Appenzell Innerrhoden (Appenzell Inner Rhodes)	1513 (part of Appenzell until 1597)	Appenzell	15,471	173	87	6	German
	SG	St. Gallen	1803	St. Gallen	465,937	2,026	222	85	German
	GR	Graubünden (Grigioni, Grischun, Grisons)	1803	Chur	188,762	7,105	26	180	German, Romansh, Italian
	AG	Aargau (Argovia)	1803	Aarau	581,562	1,404	388	220	German
	TG	Thurgau (Thurgovia)	1803	Frauenfeld[7]	238,316	991	229	80	German
	TI	Ticino	1803	Bellinzona	328,580	2,812	110	169	Italian
	VD	Vaud	1803	Lausanne	672,039	3,212	188	375	French
	VS	Valais	1815	Sion	298,580	5,224	53	143	French, German
	NE	Neuchâtel	1815	Neuchâtel	169,782	803	206	53	French
	GE	Geneva	1815	Geneva	438,177	282	1,442	45	French
	JU	Jura	1979 (previously part of Bern)	Delémont	69,555	838	82	64	French
	CH	Switzerland		Bern	7,593,494	41,285	174	2,596	German, French, Italian, Romansh

The two-letter abbreviations for Swiss cantons are widely used, e.g. on car license plates and in the ISO 3166-2 codes of Switzerland (with the prefix "CH-", i.e. CH-SZ 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), reflecting a history of mutual association or partition.

The Swiss Constitution of 1848 for the new federal state stipulates the existence of rights for each of the three original cantons (Unterwalden, Appenzell and Basel) equal to those of the other cantons, with 2 seats each on the Swiss Council of States, which has 44 seats for 22 cantons (the canton of Jura did not exist yet). With 6 entities comprising parts of those former three cantons, each "half canton" is designated a portion of the former whole canton's representation in the Council of States, being a single representative for each, half that of its original full canton, and thus the designation of half canton.

The half-cantons are identified 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 (underlining not in original)^[6]

The 1999 constitutional revision retained this distinction, on the request of the six cantonal governments, as a way to mark the historic association of the half-cantons to each other.^[7] In contrast, the first article of the 1848 and 1874 constitutions constituted the Confederation as the union of "twenty-two sovereign cantons",^[8] referring to the half-cantons as "Unterwalden (above and beneath the woods)", "Basel (city and country)" and "Appenzell (both Rhoden)".^[9] 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 a cantonal vote".^[10]

With their mutual association a purely historical matter, the half-cantons are since 1848 equal to the other cantons in all but two respects:^[11]

• They elect only one member of the Council of States instead of two (Cst. art. 150 par. 2).
• In popular referendums about constitutional amendments, which require for adoption a national popular majority as well as the assent of a majority of the cantons (Ständemehr / majorité des cantons), the result of the half-cantons' popular vote counts only one half of that of the other cantons (Cst. arts. 140, 142). This means that for purposes of a constitutional referendum, at least twelve out of a total of twenty-three cantonal popular votes must support the amendment.^[12]

Caricature of the division of Basel, 1833

The reasons for the association between 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".^[13][14]

• The canton of Appenzell divided itself into an "inner" and "outer" half ("Rhoden") as a consequence of the Reformation in Switzerland in 1597:^[15] Appenzell Innerrhoden (Catholic) and Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Protestant).

• The canton of Basel divided itself as a consequence of a revolt of the Basel countryside in 1833, in order to promote equality among its citizenry, combating claims between rural and city residents over preferential status:^[16] Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt.

Names in other languages

See also

• List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland
• Data codes for Switzerland#Cantons
• List of cantons of Switzerland by area
• List of cantons of Switzerland by elevation
• Flags of Swiss cantons
• Cantonal bank, a commercial bank (at least partially) owned by the canton

Notes

1. ^ This is the order generally used in Swiss official documents. At the head of the list are the three city cantons that were considered preeminent in the Old Swiss Confederacy; the other cantons are listed in order of accession to the Confederation. This traditional order of precedence among the cantons has no practical relevance in the modern federal state, in which the cantons are equal to one another, although it still determines formal precedence among the cantons' officials (see Swiss order of precedence).
2. ^ as of 5 April 2009 (2009 -04-05)^[update]
3. ^ km²
4. ^ Per km², based on 2000 population
5. ^ As of 31 December 2007, Bundesamt für Statistik (Federal Department of Statistics) (2008). "Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz" (Microsoft Excel). http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/regionen/thematische_karten/maps/uebersichtskarte.html. Retrieved 11 November 2008. 
6. ^ Seat of government and parliament is Herisau, the seat of the judicial authorities is Trogen
7. ^ Seat of parliament half-yearly alternates between Frauenfeld and Weinfelden

References

• Bernhard Ehrenzeller, Philipp Mastronardi, Rainer J. Schweizer, Klaus A. Vallender (eds.) (2002). Die schweizerische Bundesverfassung, Kommentar. ISBN 3-905455-70-6.  (German). Cited as Ehrenzeller.
• Häfelin, Ulrich; Haller, Walter; Keller, Helen (2008) (in German). Schweizerisches Bundesstaatsrecht (7th ed.). Zürich: Schulthess. ISBN 978-3-7255-5472-0.  Cited as Häfelin.

External links

• Swissworld.org – The cantons of Switzerland
• GeoPuzzle – Assemble cantons on a Swiss map
• Badac – Database on Swiss cantons and cities (French/German)

Subdivisions of Switzerland     Aargau Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Innerrhoden Basel-Stadt Basel-Landschaft Bern Fribourg Geneva Glarus Graubünden Jura Lucerne Neuchâtel Nidwalden Obwalden Schaffhausen Schwyz Solothurn St. Gallen Thurgau Ticino Uri Valais Vaud Zug Zürich Regions · Cantons · Districts · Municipalities (List · Former)