Cantons of Switzerland Totally Explained

Everything about Swiss Cantons totally explained

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency 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.
   In the 16th century, the Old Swiss Confederation 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'd become de facto independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximillian in 1499. The six forest cantons were democratic republics, whereas the seven urban cantons were oligarchic republics controlled by noble families.
   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.
   The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty isn't limited by federal law. 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 14,900 to 1,244,400.
   As on the federal level, all cantons provide for 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 and map

The cantons are listed in the order given in the federal constitution.

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

Notes:

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

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

The traditional half-cantons

Six cantons – Obwalden, Nidwalden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Basel-City and Basel-Country – have traditionally been called "half-cantons" or "demicantons". This term is now deprecated by constitutional scholars, as the 1999 constitution lists 26 equal cantons. The appellation "cantons with half a cantonal vote" has recently come in use in official and legal texts.
The region of Unterwalden has, in the historical record, always been divided into the half-cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden. The other four half-cantons have resulted from the division of a preexisting canton: The canton of Appenzell split into the half-cantons of Innerrhoden and Ausserrhoden in 1597 as a result of the Reformation. The canton of Basel was divided into the half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country after a revolt of the Basel countryside in 1833.
The six half-cantons have the same institutional structure as well as the same rights and obligations as all 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. This means that a majority of the cantons is actually the majority of twenty-three cantonal votes.

Names in other languages

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

Further Information

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