Swiss Cantons Trivia Quiz

Answer: Schwyz

The Swiss confederation was founded in 1291 by the cantons Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden.

The canton Schwyz, which also gave its name to the country as a whole, is divided in six districts: Schwyz, Einsiedeln, Gersau, Höfe, Küssnacht and March. These districts have a total of 30 municipalities, of which Freienbach by a little margin is the most populous (before Einsiedeln and Schwyz).
Thurgau is a canton that joined the Swiss confederation in 1803.

Answer: Schaffhausen

The Rhine Falls is a waterfall on the Rhine, near the town of Schaffhausen (capital city of the canton). Over a width of about 150 m, the Rhine forces its way 23m down with an average water flow of 250 to 600 m³ per second - although the peak volume was more than double the high average. The Rhine Falls is not the highest waterfall, but the one with the highest volume of water flow in Switzerland (and even in the total of Europe).

Schaffhausen town is a municipality founded in 1045 that once was an independent city-state, before incorporation into the Swiss confederation. Tourists can admire the All Saints Abbey and the Münster (cathedral), besides of course the Rhine Falls. There are a few observation decks built over the falls.

Bern is the capital city of Switzerland and of the canton Bern.

Answer: Grischun

Grischun is the Romansch name for the canton Graubunden, the sole canton where three official languages are recognized: German, Italian and Romansch. Graubunden has as capital city Chur and as popular destinations Davos and St-Moritz. As the largest canton of Switzerland, Graubunden offers the most varied landscape and thus has been nicknamed "Little Switzerland".

All Swiss cantons have an official name in each of the four Swiss languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. Turitg is the Romansch name for the canton Zürich.

Answer: Valais

Valais is one of the Swiss cantons with official languages German and French. The German name for the canton is Wallis. The capital city is Sion, also the most populous municipality in the canton. Other interesting municipalities are Zermatt (at the feet of the Matterhorn), Crans-Montana and Saas-Fee, the principal municipality in the Saas valley renowned as a skiing resort.

The Dufourspitze reaches a height of 4 634 m and is the highest Alp with a peak that is entirely in Switzerland. Only Mont Blanc is a higher Alp, but that mountain is situated on the border of France and Italy.

The Matterhorn (Mount Cervino in Italian) has a very distinctive look : it is a rough pyramid, with each face (almost) exactly to one compass direction. The Swiss chocolate brand Toblerone uses the Matterhorn in many of its advertisements, because the chocolate bar is shaped as a series of Matterhorn-like mountains.

Answer: Vaud

Vaud is a canton in the southwest of Switzerland, roughly situated between the Lac Leman to the south and the Lac de Neuchâtel to the north. Its capital and most populous city is Lausanne. Another well-known municipality in Vaud is Montreux, the town where every year the European television awards (the Golden Rose, the European counterpart of the American Emmy) are handed over. Charlie Chaplin is buried in Vevey, another well-known municipality of Vaud.

Obwalden and Nidwalden are the two semi-cantons that emerged from the former canton Unterwalden, one of the three founding cantons of Switzerland. However, the valleys of Obwalden and Nidwalden never truly united into one single jurisdiction. The capital of Obwalden is Samen, and Stans is the capital of Nidwalden.

Appenzell-Innerrhoden and Appenzell-Ausserrhoden split because of religious conflicts: Appenzell-Innerrhoden is mainly Roman-Catholic, while Appenzell-Ausserrhoden is mainly Calvinistic. Capitals are respectively Appenzell and Herisau.

Basel-Stadt saw Basel-Landschaft leaving because the people from outside the city felt they were underrepresented in the cantonal politics. So the people from the more rural part created the canton Basel-Landschaft (Basle-Country in English). The capital of Basel-Stadt is of course Basel, while Basel-Landschaft has Liestal as capital.

Answer: Luzern

The canton of Luzern has as capital the city Luzern, lying on the western shore of the Vierwaldstättersee (in English: Lake Lucerne) and on the banks of the river Reuss, which connects the lake to the river Aare. The wooden bridge is the covered Kapellbrücke, originally built around 1365 and open for pedestrians. Part of the bridge was destroyed by fire in 1993, but rebuilt almost within a year. Alas, the 1993 fire also destroyed several interior paintings dating back to the Seventeenth Century.

Glarus canton has as a capital Glarus city, that lies on the banks of the Lindt river.

Answer: Ticino

Ticino (Tessin in the other Swiss languages) is the only Swiss canton where Italian is the only official language. It lies in the south of Switzerland, bordering Italy. The official name is Repubblica e Cantone Ticino, so the official name includes also the notion of a republic.

Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino, has gained international fame because of the inclusion of three of its castles (Castelgrando, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro) to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. The city is located near the banks of the Ticino river and a short distance from the Lago Maggiore. Locarno is just on the other side of the Lago Maggiore.

The Jura is a French-speaking region that became Switzerland's 26th canton only in 1979. Its capital is Delemont.

Answer: Aargau

Aargau is the canton named after the Aare river. Its capital Aarau has a similar etymology: Aarau (the city) is literally "plain of the Aare", while Aargau translates to "shire of the Aare".

The Aare river has its origin in the canton of Bern, and flows in a very meandering direction to the Rhine near Koblenz. From the Grimselsee through the Räterichsbodensee it flows first to the east, then north to northwest into the Brienzersee. It then continues via Interlaken to the Thunersee and turns north via Bern and west into the Wohlensee and the Bielersee. There it makes a sharp turn to the east and the northeast.

The Aargau canton has as other municipalities of interest Laufenburg (the Swiss part of the original city Laufenburg on both sides of the Rhine, while the German part shares the name Laufenburg) and Baden Aargau (not to be confused with the German city Baden-Baden).

Neuchâtel is literally (from Middle French) "New Castle". The canton Neuchâtel is in the far northwest of the country.

Answer: Geneve

Genève (the English name is Geneva) is the canton with Genève (the city) as capital, and a dozen minor municipalities. It lies to the southwest of Lac Leman, and is the most western of all Swiss cantons.

The city Genève is located very near the French border, where the Rhône river exits Lac Leman. The proximity of the French border and the traditional neutrality of the Swiss confederation since 1860 have contributed to make Geneva a suitable place for the headquarters of various international organisations. The United Nations chose Geneva as headquarters for (among others) the UNCTAD (trade and development) and the WHO (World Health Organisation). But also the International Committee of the Red Cross was established in Geneva, as well as the headquarters of Médecins sans Frontières and the European Broadcasting Union, to name just a few.

Answer: Sankt Gallen

Sankt Gallen is a canton in the east of Switzerland, bordering Liechtenstein and Austria. It has a strange outline, because it almost surrounds Appenzell Auserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden.

Capital of the canton is the city Sankt Gallen, named after the Abbey Sankt Gallen. The abbey was named after St. Gall, an Irish Missionary to France and Switzerland who chose to live as a hermit in that location. According to his hagiography, he once asked a wild bear to fetch some firewood, and the bear complied. St. Gall died about 630, and about hundred years later the monk Saint Othmar founded the Abbey of Sankt Gallen, which soon grew into a large abbey with a richly furnished library. The Abbey was closed down in 1805, but the church still exists and can be admired. The library is still active, and in 2007 a project for digitally conserving all content of the library was launched.

Zug is a canton in the middle of Switzerland. Its capital city is Zug.