Geography of Switzerland - Political Divisions and Greater Regions

Political Divisions and Greater Regions

See also: Subdivisions of Switzerland

As a federal state, Switzerland is composed of 26 cantons, which are further divided into districts and municipalities. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848. There are considerable differences between the individual cantons, most particularly in terms of population and geographical area; hence seven larger and more homogeneous regions have been defined. They do not, however, constitute administrative units and are mostly used for statistical and economical purposes.

Regions	Cantons	Regions	Cantons
Northwestern Switzerland	Aargau	Central Switzerland	Lucerne
	Basel-Landschaft		Nidwalden
	Basel-Stadt		Obwalden
Espace Mittelland	Bern		Schwyz
	Fribourg		Uri
	Jura		Zug
	Neuchâtel	Eastern Switzerland	Appenzell Ausserrhoden
	Solothurn		Appenzell Innerrhoden
Lake Geneva	Geneva		Glarus
	Valais		Graubünden
	Vaud		Schaffhausen
Zurich	Zurich		St. Gallen
Ticino	Ticino		Thurgau

Read more about this topic: Geography Of Switzerland

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