Cantons of Switzerland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Names of the Swiss cantons in German.
Names of the Swiss cantons in German.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Historically each canton in the historical confederation was a sovereign state, with its own borders, army and currency until the current federal structure was established in 1848.

During the sixteenth century, the Swiss Confederation was composed of thirteen self-governed states. These states were called 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 almost completely independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximillian in 1499.

The six forest cantons were democratic republics, whereas the seven urban cantons were governed by city councils. These city councils, however, were controlled by small oligarchies of wealthy citizens. The urban cantons included Zurich, Bern and Basel.

Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. 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. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

All tasks that do not explicitly fall within the Confederation according to the Swiss Constitution are matters of the cantons. The cantons determine the degree of autonomy of the municipalities, thus this varies greatly. The sizes of the cantons are vary: from just 37 to 7,105 square km; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

In cantonal matters, direct democracy in the form of general assemblies (Landsgemeinde) is now confined to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are expressed using the ballot box. Since the Canton of Jura split from the Canton of Bern in 1978, no new cantons have been created.

Contents

[edit] List and map

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

Flag Abbr Canton Since Capital Population¹ Area² Density³ № munic.¹ Official languages
Flag of Zürich ZH Zürich 1351 Zürich 1,228,600 1,729 701 171 German
Flag of Bern BE Bern 1353 Bern 947,100 5,959 158 399 German, French
Flag of Lucerne LU Lucerne 1332 Lucerne 350,600 1,493 233 107 German
Flag of Uri UR Uri 1291 Altdorf 35,000 1,077 33 20 German
Flag of Schwyz SZ Schwyz 1291 Schwyz 131,400 908 143 30 German
Flag of Obwalden OW Obwalden (Obwald) 1291 Sarnen 32,700 491 66 7 German
Flag of Nidwalden NW Nidwalden (Nidwald) 1291 Stans 38,600 276 138 11 German
Flag of Glarus GL Glarus 1352 Glarus 38,300 685 51 28 German
Flag of Zug ZG Zug 1352 Zug 100,900 239 416 11 German
Flag of Fribourg FR Fribourg 1481 Fribourg 239,100 1,671 141 242 French, German
Flag of Solothurn SO Solothurn 1481 Solothurn 245,500 791 308 126 German
Flag of Basel-City BS Basel-Stadt (Basel-City) 1501 Basel 186,700 37 5,072 3 German
Flag of Basel-Country BL Basel-Land (Basel-Country) 1501 Liestal 261,400 518 502 86 German
Flag of Schaffhausen SH Schaffhausen 1501 Schaffhausen 73,400 298 246 34 German
Flag of Appenzell Ausserrhoden AR Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Outer Rhodes) 1513 Herisau / Trogen4 53,200 243 220 20 German
Flag of Appenzell Innerrhoden AI Appenzell Innerrhoden (Inner Rhodes) 1513 Appenzell 15,000 173 87 6 German
Flag of St. Gallen SG St. Gallen (St. Gall) 1803 St. Gallen 452,600 2,026 222 90 German
Flag of Graubünden GR Graubünden (Grisons) 1803 Chur 185,700 7,105 26 211 German, Romansh, Italian
Flag of Aargau AG Aargau (Argovia) 1803 Aarau 550,900 1,404 388 232 German
Flag of Thurgau TG Thurgau (Thurgovia) 1803 Frauenfeld / Weinfelden5 228,200 991 229 80 German
Flag of Ticino TI Ticino 1803 Bellinzona 311,900 2,812 110 244 Italian
Flag of Vaud VD Vaud 1803 Lausanne 626,200 3,212 188 382 French
Flag of Valais VS Valais 1815 Sion 278,200 5,224 53 160 French, German
Flag of Neuchâtel NE Neuchâtel 1815 Neuchâtel 166,500 803 206 62 French
Flag of Geneva GE Geneva 1815 Geneva 414,300 282 1,442 45 French
Flag of Jura JU Jura 1979 Delémont 69,100 838 82 83 French
Flag of Switzerland CH Switzerland   Bern 7,261,200 41,285 174 2,890 German, French, Italian, Romansch

Notes:

  1. As of 31 December 2001, National Statistics
  2. km²
  3. Per km², based on 2000 population
  4. Seat of government and parliament is Herisau, the seat of the judicial authorities is Trogen
  5. Seat of parliament half-yearly alternates between Frauenfeld and Weinfelden

The two-letter abbreviations for Swiss cantons are widely used, e.g. on car license plates and in the ISO 3166-2 codes (with the prefix "CH-", i.e. CH-SZ for the canton of Schwyz).

[edit] The traditional half-cantons

Six cantons have traditionally been called "half-cantons" (or "demicantons"). This term is now deprecated by constitutional scholars, as the 1999 constitution lists 26 coequal cantons. The appellation "cantons with half a cantonal vote" is still sometimes used.

The other four half-cantons have resulted from the division of a preexisting canton:

As federal states, the traditional half-cantons had the same institutional structure as well as the same rights and obligations as the other cantons, with two exceptions. For one thing, they elect only one member of the Council of States instead of two. Also, in popular referendums that require not only a national popular majority but also the assent of a majority of the cantons (Ständemehr / majorité des cantons), such as constitutional amendments, the result of their cantonal vote counts half as much as that of other cantons, to the effect that a majority of the cantons is actually the majority of twenty-three cantonal votes.

[edit] Names in other languages

Abbr English French Italian German Romansh


AG Aargau (rare: Argovia) Argovie Argovia Aargau (help·info) Argovia
AI Appenzell Innerrhoden (Appenzell Inner-Rhodes) Appenzell Rhodes-Intérieures Appenzello Interno Appenzell Innerrhoden (help·info) Appenzell dadens
AR Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Appenzell Outer-Rhodes) Appenzell Rhodes-Extérieures Appenzello Esterno Appenzell Ausserrhoden (help·info) Appenzell dador
BS Basel-Stadt (Basel or Basle-City) Bâle-Ville Basilea Città Basel-Stadt (help·info) Basilea-Citad
BL Basel-Land (Basel or Basle-Country) Bâle-Campagne Basilea Campagna Basel-Landschaft (help·info) Basilea-Champagna
BE Berne (Bern) Berne Berna Bern (help·info) Berna
FR Fribourg Fribourg Friburgo Freiburg (help·info) Friburg
GE Geneva Genève Ginevra Genf (help·info) Genevra
GL Glarus Glaris Glarona Glarus (help·info) Glaruna
GR Graubünden (Grisons) Grisons Grigioni Graubünden (help·info) Grischun
JU Jura Jura Giura Jura (help·info) Giura
LU Lucerne Lucerne Lucerna Luzern (help·info) Lucerna
NE Neuchâtel Neuchâtel Neuchâtel Neuenburg (help·info) Neuchâtel
NW Nidwalden Nidwald Nidvaldo Nidwalden (help·info) Sutsilvania
OW Obwalden Obwald Obvaldo Obwalden (help·info) Sursilvania
SH Schaffhausen (Schaffhouse) Schaffhouse Sciaffusa Schaffhausen (help·info) Schaffusa
SZ Schwyz Schwyz (or Schwytz) Svitto Schwyz (help·info) Sviz
SO Solothurn Soleure Soletta Solothurn (help·info) Soloturn
SG St. Gallen (St. Gall) Saint-Gall San Gallo St. Gallen (help·info) Son Gagl
TG Thurgau (Thurgovia) Thurgovie Turgovia Thurgau (help·info) Turgovia
TI Ticino Tessin Ticino Tessin (help·info) Tessin
UR Uri Uri Uri Uri (help·info) Uri
VS Valais Valais Vallese Wallis (help·info) Vallais
VD Vaud Vaud Vaud Waadt (help·info) Vad
ZG Zug Zoug Zugo Zug (help·info) Zug
ZH Zürich (Zurich) Zurich Zurigo Zürich (help·info) Turitg

[edit] Notes

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (September 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
  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).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  • GeoPuzzle - Assemble cantons on a Swiss map
  • Badac - Database on Swiss cantons and cities (French/German)
Cantons of Switzerland
Aargau · Appenzell Ausserrhoden · Appenzell Innerrhoden · Basel-City · Basel-Country · Berne · Fribourg · Geneva · Glarus · Graubünden · Jura · Lucerne · Neuchâtel · Nidwalden · Obwalden · Schaffhausen · Schwyz · Solothurn · St. Gallen · Thurgau · Ticino · Uri · Valais · Vaud · Zug · Zürich
v • d • e
First-level administrative divisions of Europe
1 Has part of its territory outside Europe. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantons_of_Switzerland"
Personal tools