Four Forest Cantons, the, Ger. Die Vier Waldstätten, in central Switzerland, the cantons of Unterwalden, Schwyz, Uri, and Lucerne, the first Swiss communities to win their freedom against the ...

Rütli or Grütli, meadows, Uri canton, central Switzerland, on the shore of the Lake of Lucerne. Here, according to the legend of William Tell, representatives of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden m...

Küssnacht am Rigi, town (1990 pop. 9,461), Schwyz canton, central Switzerland, on the Lake of Lucerne. A small resort, it is known chiefly as the scene of the killing of Gessler by William Tel...

Morgarten, mountain, 4,084 ft (1,245 m) high, N central Switzerland, on the border of Schwyz and Zug cantons. There, on Nov. 15, 1315, a small Swiss force decisively defeated the Austrians, th...

Einsiedeln, town (1990 pop. 10,869), Schwyz canton, E central Switzerland. Einsiedeln is the most famous pilgrimage center in Switzerland and one of the most noted in Europe. Its important Ben...

Uri, canton (1993 pop. 35,500), 415 sq mi (1,075 sq km), central Switzerland, one of the Four Forest Cantons. Altdorf is the capital. The most sparsely populated of the Swiss cantons, Uri is a...

Unterwalden, canton, central Switzerland, one of the Four Forest Cantons. A mountainous, forested, and chiefly pastoral region, Unterwalden is divided into the half cantons of Obwalden (1993 p...

Sonderbund [Ger.,=separate league], 1845–47, defensive league of seven Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland; it was formed to protect Catholic interests and prevent the establishment of a mor...

Tell, William, legendary Swiss patriot. According to legend, Tell was a native of Uri, one of the Swiss forest cantons. Gessler, the canton's Austrian bailiff, decreed that Swiss citizens must...

Ticino, Fr. and Ger. Tessin, canton (1993 pop. 294,100), 1,086 sq mi (2,813 sq km), S Switzerland, on the southern slope of the central Alps, bordering on Italy. Bellinzona is the capital. Lar...