A report on Cantons of Switzerland and Vaud

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

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)

Caricature of the division of Basel, 1833

Bailiwicks of Bern in Vaud in the 18th century

Built by the Bishop of Lausanne during the 15th century, Château Saint-Maire has been the seat of the cantonal government since 1803

The room of the Grand Council of Vaud, the parliament of the canton of Vaud

Lausanne, capital and largest city in Vaud

Vaud ((Canton de) Vaud, ; (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation.

- Vaud

Geneva (formally République et canton de Genève, 'Republic and canton of Geneva'), Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais, Vaud and Ticino.

- Cantons of Switzerland

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Switzerland

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Landlocked country located at the confluence of Western, Central and Southern Europe.

Founded in 44 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, Augusta Raurica (near Basel) was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.

The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colours shown are the subject territories.

The Act of Mediation was Napoleon's attempt at a compromise between the Ancien Régime and a Republic.

The first Federal Palace in Bern (1857). One of the three cantons presiding over the Tagsatzung (former legislative and executive council), Bern was chosen as the permanent seat of federal legislative and executive institutions in 1848, in part because of its closeness to the French-speaking area.

Inauguration in 1882 of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel connecting the southern canton of Ticino, the longest in the world at the time

General Ulrich Wille, appointed commander-in-chief of the Swiss Army for the duration of World War I

In 2003, by granting the Swiss People's Party a second seat in the governing cabinet, the Parliament altered the coalition that had dominated Swiss politics since 1959.

Köppen–Geiger climate classification map for Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Council in 2022 with President Ignazio Cassis (bottom) standing on an abstract, reduced railway lines map and positioned at their respective political origins

The Federal Palace, seat of the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council

The Landsgemeinde is an old form of direct democracy, still in practice in two cantons.

The colour-reversed Swiss flag became the symbol of the Red Cross Movement, founded in 1863 by Henry Dunant.

A Swiss Air Force F/A-18 Hornet at Axalp Air Show

Swiss-built Mowag Eagles of the Land Forces

A proportional representation of Switzerland exports, 2019

The city of Basel (Roche Tower) is the capital of the country's pharmaceutical industry, which accounts for around 38% of Swiss exports worldwide.

The Greater Zürich area, home to 1.5 million inhabitants and 150,000 companies, is one of the most important economic centres in the world.

The University of Basel is Switzerland's oldest university (1460).

Some Swiss scientists who played a key role in their discipline (clockwise):
Leonhard Euler (mathematics)
Louis Agassiz (glaciology)
Auguste Piccard (aeronautics)
Albert Einstein (physics)

The LHC tunnel. CERN is the world's largest laboratory and also the birthplace of the World Wide Web.

Members of the European Free Trade Association (green) participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area.

Switzerland has the tallest dams in Europe, among which the Mauvoisin Dam, in the Alps. Hydroelectricity is the most important domestic source of energy in the country.

Entrance of the new Lötschberg Base Tunnel, the third-longest railway tunnel in the world, under the old Lötschberg railway line. It was the first completed tunnel of the greater project NRLA.

Population density in Switzerland (2019)

Percentage of foreigners in Switzerland (2019)

Urbanisation in the Rhone Valley (outskirts of Sion)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was not only a writer but also an influential philosopher of the eighteenth century.

Roger Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, making him among the most successful men's tennis players ever.

Fondue is melted cheese, into which bread is dipped

National languages in Switzerland (2016):
German (62.8%)
French (22.9%)
Italian (8.2%)
Romansh (0.5%)

The country is a federal republic composed of 26 cantons, with federal authorities based in Bern.

Swiss wine is produced mainly in Valais, Vaud (Lavaux), Geneva and Ticino, with a small majority of white wines.

Canton of Bern

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Helveto-Roman settlement Bern-Engehalbinsel

Burgundian and Allamanni lands between 534 and 843

Lands held by the main noble families around 1200

The Swiss Confederacy before the Battle of Sempach (1387)

The Swiss Confederacy in the 18th century

The districts of the Bernese Aargau before the creation of the Canton of Aargau

Districts of the Canton of Bern in the 18th Century

Map of the modern Canton of Vaud, which was annexed by Bern from 1536 until 1798

Siege and execution of the garrison at Grandson

View from the Chasseral across the Mittelland to the Bernese Alps

Wetterhorn, painting by Joseph Anton Koch, 1824

The Grand Council, the cantonal parliament

Capital city of Bern with the Aare, Gothic Nydeggkirche on left

The canton of Bern or Berne (Kanton Bern; canton de Berne) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation.

To the west lie the canton of Neuchâtel, the canton of Fribourg and canton of Vaud.

Valais

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Valère Basilica dominating the Rhône Valley. By the 12th century, the bishops of Sion began building churches and castles in Sion to represent their power and administer their estates.

The Rhône Valley near Pfynwald. Note the vineyards, pines, and steppic vegetation that are typical of dry Central Valais

The Aletsch Glacier, largest in the Alps

The Weisshorn, one of the highest peaks of Valais

Predominantly Catholic, the canton includes numerous churches and Alpine chapels (here Maria zum Schnee in Bettmeralp)

The Grande Dixence is one of the world's largest dams

St. Gingolph is one of the only two ports on Lake Geneva, and the terminus of the Tonkin Railway

BLS train descending the summit line of the Lötschberg Railway

A postbus waiting on the summit of the Simplon Pass

People gathering at the national cow fighting final

A Brisolée served with local products and wine

Valais (in French) (, , ; Valês), or Wallis (in German) (Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation.

It borders the cantons of Vaud and Bern to the north, the cantons of Uri and Ticino to the east, as well as Italy to the south and France to the west.

Helvetic Republic

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Sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars.

The Helvetic Republic, with borders according to the first Helvetic constitution of 12 April 1798

Alois von Reding led Central Swiss troops against the French.

William Tell fights the revolution (1798), by Dunker, praises the struggle of the Old Confederation against the Helvetic revolution supported by French invasion. It depicts the Swiss folk hero William Tell, carrying a shield with the Rütlischwur, and his son fighting the revolution, represented as a chimera wearing a phrygian cap

The awakening of the Swiss (1798), by Midart, celebrates the transformation of the Old Confederation into the Helvetic Republic. It shows a Swiss who wakes up from his sleep (the ancien régime) and is handed his weapons by Liberty. In the background, the rising sun and the Gallic rooster herald the new era

The provisional constitution of 15 January 1798

The Swiss Confederacy, which until then had consisted of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance (and ruling over subject territories such as Vaud), was invaded by the French Revolutionary Army and turned into an ally known as the "Helvetic Republic".

Canton of Fribourg

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Located in western Switzerland.

Fribourg Prealps: Dent de Brenleire (2358 m, to the right) and Vanil Noir (2389 m, in the background)

Transports publics Fribourgeois bus station in Fribourg

The canton is bilingual, with French spoken by more than two thirds of the citizens and German by a little more than a quarter.

The canton is bounded to the west by Lake Neuchâtel, to the west and the south by the canton of Vaud, and to the east by the canton of Bern.

Canton of Geneva

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The cantons and allies of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the 18th century. Geneva is a group of small territories in the southwest.

The County of Geneva and surrounding territories in around 1200.

Territories acquired by Berne from Geneva, 1339-1798

L'Escalade, the last attempt by Savoy to take Geneva by force, 1602

Charles Pictet de Rochemont, the Geneva envoy to the Congress of Vienna who negotiated the canton’s borders

Borders after the Congress of Vienna: in yellow, the previous lands of Geneva; in blue, towns ceded by France; in pink, towns ceded by Savoy.

View from Reculet mountain towards Geneva. The canton occupies most of the Geneva basin, the valley between the Reculet (France) and Mount Salève (France). The Alps are visible in the background, covered by clouds

The headquarters of the local cantonal bank, the BCGE

Geneva has the densest vineyards of Switzerland. Here, the largest wine-making municipality of Switzerland, Satigny.

Map of the French département of Léman established in 1798

Map of the canton of Geneva after the first peace of Paris May 1814

Map of the canton of Geneva after the treaty of Paris 1815

Map of the canton of Geneva after the treaty of Turin 1816

The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (République et canton de Genève; Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; Republik und Kanton Genf; Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; Republica e chantun Genevra), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation.

Within the country, the canton shares borders with Vaud to the east, the only adjacent canton.

Sonderbund War

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Distribution of confessions at the start of the 19th century.

The general staff of the federal army: Kurz, Minscher, Enloff, Bontemps, Gerwer, Müller, Ziegler, Bourkhardt, Dufour, Rilliet de Constant, Luvini, Donats, Ochsenbein and Gmür

Swiss Army uniforms of the Sonderbund War

The 2nd Division crosses the Emme river into Littau.

The Sonderbund War (Sonderbundskrieg, Guerre du Sonderbund, Guerra del Sonderbund) of November 1847 was a civil war in Switzerland, then still a relatively loose confederacy of cantons.

After publishing a proclamation on October 26, Dufour appointed as division commanders: Peter Ludwig von Donatz (Grisons), Johannes Burckhardt and Eduard Ziegler (Zürich) from among the Conservatives and Louis Rilliet de Constant (Vaud), Dominik Gmür, Giacomo Luvini (Ticino) and Ochsenbein (Bern) from among the Radicals.

Canton of Neuchâtel

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View of Lake Neuchâtel from the northern shore, port of Vaumarcus

Neuchâtel Castle, now seat of the cantonal government

La Chaux-de-Fonds, most populous city in the canton

The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (République et Canton de Neuchâtel, ) is a French-speaking canton in western Switzerland.

Lake Neuchâtel lies southeast of the canton, while the canton of Vaud is southwest of the canton of Neuchâtel.