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The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of 1,553,423 (as of 31 December 2020), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the de facto capital of the canton, but is not specifically mentioned in the constitution. The official language is German. The local Swiss German dialect, called Züritüütsch, is commonly spoken.
The canton has the highest Human Development Index score (0.993) out of 1,790 subnational regions as of 2022. It is also a global financial center and has the fourth-highest GRP in Switzerland behind Basel-Stadt, Zug and Geneva by GDP per capita.
The prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zurich, which are located around Lake Zurich in the cantons of Schwyz, St. Gallen and Zurich, make up a considerable portion of the 56 sites in Switzerland that are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. Nine of these UNESCO World Heritage sites are located on the shore of Lake Zurich: Freienbach–Hurden Rosshorn, Freienbach–Hurden Seefeld, Rapperswil-Jona/Hombrechtikon–Feldbach, Rapperswil-Jona–Technikum, Erlenbach–Winkel, Meilen–Rorenhaab, Wädenswil–Vorder Au, Zürich–Enge Alpenquai and Kleiner Hafner. Because the lake has grown in size over time, the original piles are now around 4 metres (13 ft) to 7 metres (23 ft) under the water level of 406 metres (1,332 ft). Within an area of about 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi) around Lake Zurich, there are also the settlements Greifensee–Storen/Wildsberg at the Greifensee and Wetzikon–Robenhausen at the Pfäffikersee. As well as being part of the 56 Swiss sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, each of these 11 prehistoric pile dwellings is also listed as a Class object in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance.
Zurihgauuia (Zürichgau) was a subdivision of Turgowe (Thurgau) in the Duchy of Alamannia, consisting roughly of the territory between Reuss and Töss. From the 740s, substantial portions of Zürichgau were owned by the Abbey of St. Gall. In c. 760, an administrative re-organisation under counts Ruthard and Warin exempted the castle town of Zurich from comital rule. A county of Zürichgau was established under Louis the Pious, for a count Ruadker, in 820. Zürichgau (Zurichgeuue) remained a nominally separate territory in the later 9th century but was often ruled by the same count as Thurgau. In 915, Zürichgau together with Thurgau fell to the Bucharding dukes of Swabia. In the late 10th century, the county of Zurich was ruled by the Nellenburger, and during 1077–1172 by the Lenzburger.
By the 13th century, Zürichgau was divided between the Habsburgs and the Kyburger, who held the territory west and east of Lake Zurich, respectively.
The territory of the canton of Zurich corresponds to the lands acquired by the city of Zurich after it became reichsfrei in 1218. Zurich pursued a policy of aggressive territorial expansion especially during the century following the revolution of the guilds in 1336. Zurich joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1351.
Zurich claimed and lost the Toggenburg in the Old Zürich War of the 1440s. The northern parts up to the river Rhine came to the canton after the city of Zurich purchased Winterthur from the Habsburgs in 1468. In 1651, Zurich purchased Rafzerfeld from the counts of Sulz. At this point, almost all of the territory of the modern canton (as well as some territories beyond its modern borders) was owned by Zurich; exceptions include Wülflingen (acquired 1760), Buch (acquired 1761), Dietikon, which was a condominium, and Rheinau (owned by Rheinau Abbey).
In the 18th century, the "inner bailiwicks" (Innere Vogteien) were under direct administration of city officials, while the "outer bailiwicks" (Äussere Vogteien) were ruled by the reeves of Kyburg, Grüningen, Greifensee, Eglisau, Regensberg, Andelfingen, Wädenswil, and Knonau. The city of Winterthur was nominally subject to Zurich but retained far-reaching autonomy.
Zürichgau, the name of the medieval pagus, was in use for the territories of the city of Zurich during the 15th and 16th century; the term canton (Kanton) gradually entered use in the 16th century, but Zürichgau remained widely used well into the 19th century (becoming obsolescent after the formation of the modern canton in 1831).
Under the short-lived Helvetic Republic (1798–1803), the canton of Zurich became a purely administrative division. In 1803, some former possessions of Zurich to the west gained independence as part of the Canton of Aargau. In 1804 the Kantonspolizei Zürich was established as Landjägerkorps (rural police).
A cantonal constitution was drawn up in 1814 and replaced in 1831 by a radical-liberal constitution. The Züriputsch, an armed uprising of the conservative rural population against the radical-liberal order, led to the dissolution of the cantonal government, and a provisional conservative government was installed by colonel Paul Carl Eduard Ziegler. Under the threat of intervention of the other radical-liberal cantons of the Confederacy, the provisional government declared that the 1831 constitution would remain in effect. In a tumultuous session on 9 September 1839, the cantonal parliament declared its dissolution In the so-called Septemberregime, the newly elected cantonal government replaced all cantonal officials with conservatives, but it was again ousted by a radical-liberal election victory in 1844.
Alfred Escher was a member of the new cantonal parliament of 1844; he was elected to the cantonal government in 1848 and later in the same year into the first National Council under the new federal constitution. The radical-liberal era of 1844–1868 was dominated by the so-called System Escher, a network of liberal politicians and industrialists built by Alfred Escher. Escher governed the canton almost in monarchical fashion, and was popularly dubbed Alfred I. or Tsar of All Zurich. Escher controlled all cantonal institutions, at first with very little political opposition, expunging all trace of the conservative takeover of 1839. Under Escher, the city of Zurich rose to the status of economic and financial center it still retains. Opposition against the dominance of Sytstem Escher increased after 1863. The cantonal government was accused to continue the system of aristocratic rule liberalism had claimed to abolish. The oppositional Democratic Movement was centered in Winterthur, led by mayor Johann Jakob Sulzer and publicist Salomon Bleuler. They succeeded in imposing the introduction of the direct democratic instrument of the popular initiative in 1865, which precipitated a revision of the cantonal constitution. In April 1869, a new cantonal constitution was adopted by popular vote, introducing additional direct democratic elements and the popular election of both the cantonal government and the cantonal representatives in the federal Council of States. The new constitution also abolished the death penalty (the last execution by hanging in Zurich took place in 1810, the last public execution by guillotine in 1865), guaranteed freedom of religion and freedom of association and introduced progressive taxes.
In 1877, the Cantonal Laboratory Zurich was founded in order to regulate the quality of food and drinking water. The first cantonal chemist was Haruthiun Abeljanz, who was instrumental in setting up the new laboratory, moving it from an unpromising start in converted storage rooms to Lintheschergasse 10, which was located just behind the Pestalozziwiese, a memorial to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.
The Cantonal Bank was established in 1870 to regulate cantonal loans at fixed interest rates to farms and businesses.
A law of proportional representation was passed in 1916, favouring the rise of the Social Democrats. A proposal for the introduction of female suffrage was rejected in 1920; female suffrage was introduced on the municipal level in 1969 and on the cantonal level in 1970, shortly before its imposition by federal law, passed in 1971.
Economic growth continued in the 20th century. A first airport was built at Dübendorf in 1910, replaced by the international airport at Kloten in 1948. Rapid urbanisation expanded throughout the canton and beyond in the final decades of the 20th century, further accelerated by the S-Bahn from 1990, with only a few municipalities in Weinland, Knonaueramt and Oberland remaining out of easy commuting distance to the city.
The current constitution replaced the one of 1869 in January 2006.
The Antiquarische Gesellschaft in Zürich is an organization devoted to preserving the canton's history, the Staatsarchiv Zürich houses the state archives.
The vast majority of the canton lies to the south of the Rhine. The exceptions being the Rafzerfeld, acquired by the canton in 1651, and a tiny portion of the village of Laufen-Uhwiesen called Nohl. Its neighbouring cantons are Schaffhausen to the north, Aargau to the west, the cantons of Zug and Schwyz to the south and the cantons of Thurgau and St. Gallen to the east. It also has an international border with the German district of Waldshut and though only for 460 m (1,510 ft) the district of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg owing to its short border with Stemmer, an outlying hamlet belonging to the municipality which forms the small German enclave of Büsingen am Hochrhein.
The canton of Zurich can be roughly divided into its capital city (Zurich) and lakeside areas (including the Goldcoast), the Unterland in the northwest, the Oberland in the southeast, the Weinland and Winterthur in the northeast, and the Knonaueramt southwest of the Albis. The Zurich Metropolitan Area extends beyond the cantonal borders.
The canton is situated in the eastern part of the Swiss Plateau. In the northwest and southeast, its territory rises towards the Jura (Lägern) and Alps (Appenzell Alps, Schwyz Alps), respectively. The canton lies entirely within the drainage basin of the High Rhine. It is characterized by glacial landform and traversed by a series of rivers generally flowing south-east to north-west (except for the Jona). These rivers are (listed west to east): Reuss, Reppisch, Sihl, Linth-Limmat (forming Lake Zurich), Glatt, Töss, Jona and Thur. The main lakes are Lake Zurich (Linth-Limmat, 88 km2 / 34 sq mi), Greifensee (Glatt, 8.4 km2 / 3.2 sq mi) and Pfäffikersee (Glatt, 3.3 km2 / 1.3 sq mi). Minor lakes include Türlersee (Limmat), Katzensee (Glatt), Hüttnersee (Sihl), Lützelsee (Limmat) and Egelsee (Limmat).
The valley of the Linth leads into the Lake Zurich and continues as the Limmat. This valley is the most significant valley of the canton of Zurich. The valley of the Glatt originates at the Greifensee and is separated from the Limmat by a ridge that includes the Zürichberg, Öschbrig and Pfannenstiel. West of the city of Zurich, the Limmat Valley is separated from the Furt Valley by a ridge that includes the Altberg and Käferberg. The Lägern separates the Furt Valley from the When Valley.
The Töss Valley is located in the east of the canton and is separated from the Toggenburg area in the canton of St. Gallen by a mountainous area (traversed by the Hulftegg Pass). The Hörnli (1,133 m / 3,717 ft) is the highest elevation of this mountain ridge. The Schnebelhorn is a mountain located near Fischenthal in the Töss Valley, between the cantons of Zurich (west) and St. Gallen (east). It is the highest summit (1,292 m / 4,239 ft) of the canton of Zurich. The watershed between the Töss and Jona is located near Gibswil. From there, the Jona Valley runs mainy southwards towards Wald and then westwards towards Rüti, eventually flowing into Obersee (Lake Zurich) in the canton of St. Gallen.
The Sihl Valley is located in the west of the canton. The Sihl converges with the Limmat in the city of Zurich at Platzspitz park. The Sihl Valley is separated from Lake Zurich by the Zimmerberg. From the valley of the Reppisch (Knonaueramt), it is separated by the Albis Range. The Albishorn (915 m / 3,002 ft) is the highest elevation of this range. The Uetliberg is also part of the Albis Range. This mountain is popular with the population of the city of Zurich for recreation.
The Rhine Falls (German: Rheinfall), Europe's largest waterfall and popular tourist attraction, are located on the border between the cantons of Zurich and Schaffhausen, between Laufen-Uhwiesen and Neuhausen am Rheinfall. On the Zurich side, the Laufen Castle (Schloss Laufen) overlooks the waterfall.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Canton of Zurich”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.