The twenty-six cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Historically and until the mid-19th century, each canton in the then-confederation was a sovereign state, with its own borders, army, and currency; 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 of cantons: the six forest cantons and seven 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, while the seven urban cantons were governed by city councils. However, these city councils were controlled by small oligarchies of wealthy citizens. The urban cantons included Zürich, 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 (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 extremely different: 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 creation of the Canton of Jura in 1978 there have been no new cantons. According to the constitution of 1999 , the number of cantons is officially twenty-six, but the number of states (Stände) relevant for election of the Council of States (Ständerat) and voting in federal Initiatives, is twenty-three: the cantons of Unterwalden, Appenzell, and Basel are counted as two half-cantons each. Unterwalden is divided into Obwalden and Nidwalden, Appenzell into Innerrhoden and Ausserrhoden, while Basel is divided into Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft.

List and map

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The table below lists the cantons in the order of the constitution.

Flag	Abbr	Canton	Since	Capital	Population1	Area2	Density3	Nr. of mun.s1	Official languages	ZH	Zürich (Zurich)	1351	Zürich	1,228,600	1,729	701	171	German	BE	Bern (Berne)	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 (Basle-City)	1501	Basel	186,700	37	5,072	3	German	BL	Basel-Landschaft (Basle-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	Herisau4	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	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, Romansh

Notes: ¹ As of 31 December 2001, National Statistics, ² km², ³ per km², based on 2000 population ⁴ seat of government and parliament, the seat of the judicial authorities is Trogen.

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).

Names in other languages

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Abbr	English	French	Italian	German	Romansh	Spanish	Esperanto1
AG	Aargau (rare: Argovia)	Argovie	Argovia		Argovia	Argovia	Argovio
AI	Appenzell Innerrhoden (Appenzell Inner-Rhodes)	Appenzell Rhodes-Intérieures	Appenzello Interno		Appenzell dadens	Appenzell Rodas Interiores
AR	Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Appenzell Outer-Rhodes)	Appenzell Rhodes-Extérieures	Appenzello Esterno		Appenzell dador	Appenzell Rodas Exteriores
BS	Basel-Stadt (Basel or Basle-City)	Bâle-Ville	Basilea Città		Basilea-Citad	Basilea Ciudad	Bazelo-Urbo
BL	Basel-Landschaft (Basel or Basle-Country)	Bâle-Campagne	Basilea Campagna		Basilea-Champagna	Basilea-Campaña	Bazelo-Kamparo
BE	Bern (Berne)	Berne	Berna		Berna	Berna	Berno
FR	Fribourg	Fribourg	Friburgo		Friburg	Friburgo	Friburgo
GE	Geneva	Genève	Ginevra		Genevra	Ginebra	Ĝenevo
GL	Glarus	Glaris	Glarona		Glaruna	Glaris
GR	Graubünden (Grisons)	Grisons	Grigioni		Grischun	Grisones	Grizono
JU	Jura	Jura	Giura		Giura	Jura	Ĵuraso
LU	Lucerne	Lucerne	Lucerna		Lucerna	Lucerna	Lucerno
NE	Neuchâtel	Neuchâtel	Neuchâtel		Neuchâtel	Neuchatel	Novkastelo
NW	Nidwalden	Nidwald	Nidvaldo		Sutsilvana	Unterwalden Bajo	Nidvaldo
OW	Obwalden	Obwald	Obvaldo		Sursilvania	Unterwalden Alto	Obvaldo
SH	Schaffhausen (Schaffhouse)	Schaffhouse	Sciaffusa		Schaffusa	Schaffhausen	Ŝafhaŭzo
SZ	Schwyz	Schwyz (or Schwytz)	Svitto		Sviz	Schwyz
SO	Solothurn	Soleure	Soletta		Soloturn	Soleura	Soleŭro
SG	St. Gallen (St. Gall)	Saint-Gall	San Gallo		Son Gagl	Sankt Gallen
TG	Thurgau (Thurgovia)	Thurgovie	Turgovia		Turgovia	Turgovia	Turgovio
TI	Ticino	Tessin	Ticino		Tessin	Tesino	Tiĉino
UR	Uri	Uri	Uri		Uri	Uri
VS	Valais	Valais	Vallese		Vallais	Valais	Valezo
VD	Vaud	Vaud	Vaud		Vad	Vaud	Vaŭdo
ZG	Zug	Zoug	Zugo		Zug	Zug	Zugo
ZH	Zürich (Zurich)	Zurich	Zurigo		Turitg	Zurich	Zuriko

Notes: ¹where a version differing from German is available.

See also

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• List of coats of arms of Swiss cantons
• List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland
• List of 2005 cantonal office-holders on January 1, 2005.
• Data codes for Switzerland#Cantons
• List of Cantons of Switzerland by area
• List of Cantons of Switzerland by highest point
• Flags of Swiss cantons

External links

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• GeoPuzzle - Assemble cantons on a Swiss map
• Badac - Database on Swiss cantons and cities (French/German)

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