The canton of St. Gallen or St Gall ( ; ; ; ) is a canton of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Its capital is St. Gallen. Located in northeastern Switzerland, the canton has an area of (5% of Switzerland) and a resident population close to half a million as of 2015 (6% of Switzerland). It was formed in 1803 as a conflation of the city of St. Gallen, the territories of the Abbey of St. Gall and various former subject territories of the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

History

The canton of St. Gallen is an artificial construct of various historical territories, defined by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, French Consulate, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 to abolish the Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Old Swiss Confederacy, Switzerland by F ...

in 1803. About half of the canton's area corresponds to the acquisitions of the abbey of St. Gallen over centuries. The city of St. Gallen became independent of the abbey in 1405. At the same time, the abbey lost control of

Appenzell Appenzell () was a cantons of Switzerland, canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen, in existence from 1403 to 1597. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered ...

. Conversely, the Toggenburg was acquired by the Abbey in 1468. Both the city and the abbey were associates ('' Zugewandte Orte'') of the

, but unlike Appenzell never joined as full members. The territories at

Lake Zürich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

Walensee Lake Walen, also known as Lake Walenstadt or (), is one of the larger lakes in Switzerland. Located in the east of the country, about two thirds of its area are in the canton of St. Gallen and about one third in the canton of Glarus. Its na ...

and Rheintal remained independent until 1798. In the Helvetic Republic, the northern parts of the modern canton together with Appenzell became the canton of Säntis, while its southern parts together with

Glarus Glarus (; ; ; ; ) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.canton of Linth. Before the 1798 French invasion, the territory of the modern canton consisted of the free city of St. Gallen, the territories of the

Abbey of St. Gallen The Abbey of Saint Gall () is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian Renaissance, Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot wh ...

(including Fürstenland and Toggenburg), the free city of

Rapperswil Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...

, Pfäfers Abbey, Sargans and the independent lordships (bailiwicks) of Rheintal, Sax-Forstegg, Hohensax, Werdenberg, Windegg and Uznach. In April 1798, the territories of the later canton of St. Gallen were divided between the cantons of Säntis and

Linth The Linth (pronounced "lint") is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Linthal, Glarus, village of Linthal in the mountains of the cantons of Switzerland, canton of canton of Glarus, Glarus, and eventually flows into the Obersee (Züri ...

of the Helvetic Republic, along with

Glarus Glarus (; ; ; ; ) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...

. However, the two new Cantons had immediate financial problems and were forced to institute a number of unpopular taxes and laws. The Abbey was secularized on 17 September 1798 and the Prince-Abbot Pankraz Vorster fled to Vienna. The unpopular laws and the closing of the Abbey caused unrest throughout the area. When the

War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition () (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war targeting French Revolution, revolutionary French First Republic, France by many European monarchies, led by Kingdom of Great Britain, Britai ...

broke out in 1799, an Austrian army marched into eastern Switzerland and returned the Prince-Abbot to his throne at the Abbey. However, his victory was short-lived. The Austrian and Russian armies were defeated outside Zürich and the French Army returned to St. Gallen driving the Prince-Abbot out. In 1803, as part of the

, the area joined the Swiss Confederation as the Canton of St. Gallen. The cantonal constitution of 1803 was revised in 1814. Because of the confessional heterogeneity of the canton's population, the 1814 constitution did unusually organise matters of religion, marriage and education not on a cantonal level but introduced a twofold division (confessional dualism), with separate Protestant and a Catholic assemblies subordinate to the legislative cantonal assembly (Grosser Rat). The constitution was revised again in 1831, introducing elements of direct democracy. The constitution of 1831 divided the canton into 15 districts (''Bezirke''), reduced to 14 in 1918 (fusion of Tablat district with St. Gallen district). Due to continuing confessional squabbles over the organisation of schools, the canton eventually placed education under its authority in 1861. The constitution was revised again in 1890, with a stronger emphasis on direct democracy. The 1890 constitution remained in effect, with numerous later changes, until 2001, the date of the latest revision of the cantonal constitution, when the division into districts was replaced by a division into eight constituencies (''Wahlkreise''), effective 1 January 2003.

Geography

The canton is located in the north east of Switzerland. It is bounded to the north by

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

(''Bodensee''). To the east lies the Rhine valley. Over the Rhine are

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

(state of

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

) and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. To the south, the canton of St. Gallen is bounded by the cantons of Graubünden,

Glarus Glarus (; ; ; ; ) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...

. To the west lie the cantons of Zürich and

Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

. The two half cantons Appenzell Innerrhoden and

Appenzell Ausserrhoden Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden ( ; ; ; ), in English sometimes Appenzell Outer Rhodes, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of twenty municipalities. The seat of the gove ...

are completely surrounded by lands of the canton of St. Gallen. The main rivers of the canton are the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, Thur,

and Seez. The topography changes from the plains, near river Rhine and Lake Constance, towards the mountainous areas of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

in the south ( Appenzell Alps and

Glarus Alps The Glarus Alps () are a mountain range in central Switzerland. They are bordered by the Uri Alps and the Schwyz Alps to the west, the Lepontine Alps to the south, the Appenzell Alps to the northeast. The eastern part of the Glarus Alps contains ...

). About one third () of the canton is wooded, while nearly half is is used for farming. of the farm land is alpine pastures. Of the rest of the canton, is considered unproductive while is filled with housing or roads. The altitude above the sea-level varies from (the lake of Constance) to (the Ringelspitz). The canton includes portions of the lake of Constance (), of the Walensee (rather over ), and of the lake of Zürich (), and several small lakes wholly within its limits. The mountains of the canton include part of a thrust fault that was declared a geologic

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, under the name Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, in 2008.

Political subdivisions

Constituencies

Since 2003 the canton is subdivided into 8

constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

(''Wahlkreise'') replacing the districts (''Bezirke''). * Rheintal with capital

Altstätten Altstätten is a small List of towns in Switzerland, historic rural town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district Rheintal (Wahlkreis), Rhine Valley, in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of St. Gallen (canton), St. Gall i ...

* Rorschach with capital Rorschach * Sarganserland with capital Sargans * See-Gaster with capital Rapperswil-Jona * St. Gallen with capital St. Gallen * Toggenburg with capital Lichtensteig * Werdenberg with capital Buchs * Wil with capital Wil

Municipalities

There are 77 municipalities in the canton ().

Politics

Federal election results

: FDP before 2009, FDP.The Liberals after 2009 : "*" indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton. : Part of the GPS

Demographics

88% of the population is German-speaking. The main centres of population are the capital St. Gallen (69,700 inhabitants), Rapperswil-Jona (27,000), Wil (17,500) and Gossau (17,000). , the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population. The majority of the population () is Roman Catholic (52%) while a large minority is

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

(28%).

Historical population

The historical population is given in the following table:

Economy

Agricultural activity consists predominantly of

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

and cattle breeding in the mountainous areas. In the plains fruit and wine production are important, but there is also mixed farming. Industries of the canton include optical goods, pyrotechnics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Tourism plays an important role in the many resorts. There is a thermal spa in Bad Ragaz and another in St. Margrethen and a great number of winter sports facilities.

Education

Higher educational institutions include the Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil and the University of St. Gallen.

Notes and references

External links

Official website
stadt {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Gallen Cantons of Switzerland Cantons of the Helvetic Republic 1803 establishments in Switzerland States and territories established in 1803