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See also:SCHWYZ (See also:modern spelling Schwiz) , one of the See also:forest cantons of central See also:Switzerland. Its See also:total See also:area is 350.5 sq. m., of which 293.6 sq. m. are reckoned as " productive " (forests covering 64.9 sq. m. and vineyards •17 sq. m.), while of the See also:rest 214 sq. m. are occupied by lakes (nearly 9 sq. m. of that of See also:Zurich, 84 sq. m. of that of See also:Lucerne, 3; sq. m. of that of See also:Zug, and the whole of the See also:lake of Lowerz), and .5 sq. m. is covered by glaciers. Its loftiest point is the Boser Faulen (9200 ft.)., while the two highest summits of the Rigi (the See also:Kulm, 5906 ft., and the Scheidegg, 5463 ft.) rise within its See also:borders. The See also:canton extends from the upper end of the lake of Zurich on the See also:north to the See also:middle reach of the lake of Lucerne on the See also:south; on the See also:west it touches at Kussnacht, the See also:northern See also:arm of the same lake, and in the same direction the lake of Zug at Arth, See also:mountain ridges dividing it from See also:Glarus on the See also:east and from See also:Uri on the south. It is made up of two See also:main valleys, those of the Muota, flowing through the older portion of the canton to the lake of Lucerne, and of the Sihl that passes near See also:Einsiedeln on its way to Zurich. Less important are the Aa, that See also:waters the Waggi glen before joining the lake of. Zurich, and the See also:Biber, which receives the Alpbach that flows past Einsiedeln. It is thus a hilly rather than a mountainous region, and is all but wholly devoted to See also:pastoral pursuits. It has not many See also:railways, the See also:principal being that portion of the main St Gotthard See also:line between Kussnacht and Sisikon (about 20 m.), while from Arth-Goldau a line runs past Biberbrucke (where falls in the See also:branch from Einsiedeln, 3 m.) towards Wadenswil. From Arth-Goldau a mountain line runs up to the Rigi Kulm, with a branch to the Rigi Scheidegg,while from Arth-Goldau the line towards Zug runs for 54 M. within the canton. There is also a mountain line from Brunnen to Axenstein. In 1900 the See also:population was 55,385, of whom 53,834 were See also:German-speaking, 11o8 See also:Italian-speaking, and 296 See also:French-speaking, while 53,537 were Romanists, 1836 Protestants and 9 See also:Jews. The most populous See also:town is Einsiedeln, with its famous See also:Benedictine monastery, but Schwyz (the See also:port of which is Brunnen) is the See also:political See also:capital.
There is a certain amount of See also:industrial activity in the canton, particularly in the portion bordering on the lake of Zurich, while See also:silk-See also:weaving at See also:home is widespread. There are many See also:fruit trees, particularly See also:cherry trees. But on the whole the region is essentially a pastoral one, and the See also:local See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
brown See also:race of See also:cattle is much esteemed and largely exported, mainly to north See also:Italy. There are 417 mountain pastures or " See also:alps " in the canton, capable of supporting 17,492 cows, and of an estimated capital value of 1,128,000 frs. Till 1814 the canton was included in the See also:diocese of See also:Constance, but it is now nominally See also:part of that of See also:Coire. There are six administrative districts in the canton, which comprise See also:thirty communes. The cantonal constitution See also:dates mainly from 1876, but was revised in 1898. The legislature (Kantonsrat) is composed of members elected in the proportion of one for every six See also:hundred (or fraction over two hundred) inhabitants and holds See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office for four years—the elections in twelve (the larger) of the thirty electoral circles take See also:place according to the principles of proportional See also:representation. The executive (Regierungsrat) of seven members is elected by a popular See also:vote, and holds office for four years. The two members of the federal Stdnderat and the three of the federal Nationalrat are also chosen by a popular vote. The " obligatory See also:referendum " prevails in the See also:case of all See also:laws approved by the legislature and important See also:financial See also:measures, while two thousand citizens may claim a popular vote as to any decrees or resolutions of the legislature, and have also the right of " initiative " as to the revision of the cantonal constitution or as to legislative projects.
The valley of Schwyz is first mentioned in 972 under the See also:form of " Suittes." Later, a community of freemen is found settled at the See also:foot of the Mythen, possessing See also:common lands, and subject only to the See also:count of the Ziirichgau, as representing the German See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king. Its See also:early See also:history consists mainly of disputes with the See also:great monastery of Einsiedeln about rights of pasture. In 1240 the community obtained from the See also:Emperor See also:Frederick II. the See also:privilege of being subject immediately to the See also:empire. Its territory then included only the See also:district See also:round the See also:village of Schwyz and the valley of the Mucta. But in 1269 it bought from Count See also:Eberhard of See also:Habsburg-Laufenburg (who in 1273 sold all his other rights to the See also:head of the See also:elder line of the Habsburgs), Steinen and Rothenthurm. Schwyz took the See also:lead in making the famous See also:everlasting See also:league of the 1st of See also:August 1291, with the neighbouring districts of Uri and of See also:Unterwalden, its position and political See also:independence specially fitting it for this prominence. An attack by Schwyz on Einsiedeln was the excuse for the See also:Austrian invasion that was gloriously beaten back in the See also:battle of See also:Morgarten (See also:November 15th, 1315). In the history of the league Schwyz was always to the front, so that its name in a dialectal form (Schweiz) was from the early 14th See also:century onwards applied by foreigners to the league as a whole, though it formed part of its formal See also:style only from 1803 onwards. Between 1319 and 1354 Schwyz secured See also:possession of Arth. But it was only after the victory of See also:Sempach (1386) that it greatly extended its borders. An " See also:alliance " with Einsiedeln in 1397 ended in 1434 with the See also:assumption of the position of " See also:protector " of that great See also:house, between 1386 and 1436 the whole of the " See also:March " (the region near the upper lake of Zurich) was acquired, in 1402 Kussnacht was bought, and in 1440 the " Hofe," the parishes of Wollerau, Feusisberg and Freienbach, situated on the main lake of Zurich. All these districts were governed by Schwyz as " subject lands," the supreme See also:power resting with the Landsgemeinde (or See also:assembly of all male citizens of full See also:age), which is first distinctly mentioned in 1294, though it seems to have already existed in 1281, when mention is also made of a common See also:seal. Schwyz joined the
other forest cantons in opposing the See also:Reformation and took part in the battle of Kappel (1531), in which See also:Zwingli See also:fell. In 1586 it became a member of the See also:Golden or See also:Borromean League, formed to continue the See also:work of St See also:Charles See also:Borromeo in carrying out the See also:counter reformation in Switzerland. In 1798 Schwyz, including Gersau (See also:free from 1390), formed part of the Republique Telliane (or Tellgau) set up by the French, which a See also:week later gave way to the Helvetic See also:republic. The men of Schwyz, under Aloys Reding, offered a valiant resistance to the French, but they were forced to yield. Their See also:land formed part of the vast canton of the Waldstatten, though the March and the Hofe were lost to that of the See also:Linth. In 1799 a French occupation was successfully resisted, while later in the same See also:year part of the canton was the See also:scene of the disastrous See also:retreat from See also:Altdorf to Glarus over the Kinzigkulm and Pragel passes by the Russians under See also:Suvarov in See also:face of the French See also:army. In 1803 the See also:separate canton of Schwyz was again set up, the March and the Hofe being recovered, while Gersau now became part of it. In 18o6 the great landslip from the Rossberg buried Goldau, causing great loss of See also:life and of See also:property. Later, Schwyz resisted steadily all proposals for the revision of the pact of 1815, joined in 1832 the league of See also:Sarnen, and in 1845 the Sonderbund, which was put down by a See also:short See also:war in 1847. In 1832 the See also:outer districts (Einsiedeln, the March, Kussnacht and Pfaffikon) formed themselves into a separate canton, an See also:act which brought about a federal occupation of the old canton in 1833, this ending in the See also:dissolution of the new canton, the constituent parts of which were put on an equal political footing with the rest. In 1838 a strife See also:broke out in the older portion of the canton between the richer See also:peasant proprietors (nicknamed the " Horns," as they owned so many cows) and the poorer men (dubbed the " Hoofs," as they possessed only goats and See also:sheep) as to the use of the common pastures, which the " See also:Horn " party utilized far more than the others. The " Horn " party finally carried the See also:day at the Landsgemeinde held at Rothenthurm. The cantonal constitution of 1848 put an end to the See also:ancient Landsgemeinde; it was revised in 1876 (when membership of one of the 29 communes became the political qualification), and in 1898.
End of Article: SCHWYZ (modern spelling Schwiz)
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