Switzerland's Cantons (Federal States)

Some Notes on Statistical Information

• Entry into the Confederation
  

  The relatively late dates of entry into the confederation for ten out of 26 cantons might give the completely false impression that these cantons were not part of the confederation until the 19th century.
  In fact these cantons were part of the old confederation from the 15th and 16th centuries on, though not as free and equal confederates but rather as conquered and subdued territories (don't believe all myths about the oldest democracy, read the brute historical facts about political power in Switzerland before the 1798 revolution).
  Therefore this table gives, unlike the usual compilations, the dates of conquest <in italics and brackets> for Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino and Vaud.
  Other cantons first had a status of associated members, dates of first association treaty are given in italics.
  Graubünden was originally itself a small confederation of three valleys (1367, extended 1395, 1424, 1436) and became associated to the Swiss confederation in 1498.
  Dates in [brackets] show the splitting of cantons Appenzell, Basel and Unterwalden into half-cantons, and the separation of canton Jura from Bern.

• Official Languages spoken in public life are abbreviated as
  d = Deutsch (German), f = French, i = Italian, r = Rumantsch.
  
  
• Population density:
  

  The overall population density of 180 inhabitants per km² is almost as high as in the UK or India, and significantly higher than in France or the U.S.A. A closer look shows that the highly industrialized Mittelland [midlands, plateau] region stretching from Lake Geneva to Bodensee [Lake of Constance] includes all major cities and is overcrowded with a population density of about 600 inhabitants per km² - though this region is the only in Switzerland where agriculture is possible on a fairly intense level. In the prealpine and Jura regions the population density is about 80 to 250 inhabitants per km² while it reaches 25 to 70 in the alpine cantons.

> See also: www.gov.ch
Register of the internet sites of Switzerland's Administration and Public Services on federal, cantonal and communal level. Most of the websites listed there are only available in the language of the region (German, French, Italian, Rumantsch), however.