In Swiss politics and the history 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 ...

, a is the body of

voting Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...

population in a certain

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

. The grouping of voters by valley rather than

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

is a tradition harking back to before the establishment of the current administrative divisions with the foundation of

Switzerland as a federal state The rise of Switzerland as a federal state began on 12 September 1848, with the creation of a federal constitution in response to a 27-day civil war, the ''Sonderbundskrieg''. The constitution, which was heavily influenced by the United State ...

in 1848. A will typically include voters of several municipalities. For example, the of Lauterbrunnen Valley includes the voting population of the municipalities of

Lauterbrunnen Lauterbrunnen () is a village and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli (administrative district), Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Swi ...

, Wengen, Mürren,

Stechelberg Stechelberg () is a small village in Switzerland located at the base of the Schwarzmönch mountain in the Bernese Alps, part of the district of Lauterbrunnen. History The name "Stächelbärg" is first recorded in 1749 to describe this part of th ...

, Gimmelwald and Isenfluh. Similarly, the of Hasli consists of six municipalities, Gadmen, Guttannen, Hasliberg,

Innertkirchen Innertkirchen is a village and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli (administrative district), Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in Bern (canton), the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014, ...

, Meiringen and Schattenhalb. In this case, the is coterminous with the Bernese

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Oberhasli The Oberhasli is a historical '' Landvogtei'' or '' Talschaft'' in the Bernese Highlands, Switzerland, bordering on the cantons of Obwalden (OW), Nidwalden (NW), Uri (UR) and Wallis (VS). From 1833 to 2009, Oberhasli was incorporated as th ...

. Historically, is the traditional German translation of the Latin term in the Federal Charter of 1291, literally 'the people of the valley'. Thus, the enumeration of the Confederates, : is rendered as :"the people of the

Uri Uri may refer to: Places * Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland * Úri, a village and commune in Hungary * Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India * Uri (island), off Malakula Island in V ...

, the entirety of the valley of

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 ...

and the community of people of the of

Unterwalden Unterwalden, translated from the Latin ''inter silvas'' ("between the forests"), is the old name of a forest-canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne, consisting of two valleys or '' Talschaften'', now tw ...

References

See also