Canton of Uri: Difference between revisions

Template:Infobox Canton Uri (German: Uri^ⓘ) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss River between Lake Lucerne and the St. Gotthard Pass. German is the primary language spoken in Uri. Uri was the only canton where the children in school had to learn Italian as their first foreign language. But in the school year of 2005/2006 this was changed to English as in most other cantons. The population is about 35,000 of which 3,046 (or 8.7%) are foreigners.^[1] The legendary William Tell is said to have hailed from Uri. The historical landmark Rütli lies within the canton of Uri.

The oldest traces of humans in the Canton of Uri are from around 2200 BC and include a quartz production site and flint arrowheads at Hospental-Rossplatten and Gotthardmätteli. There are Bronze Age graves at Bürglen and possibly also some at Jagdmatt that are from 1300-900 BC. The earliest traces of a settlement were discovered at Amsteg and date from the Middle Bronze Age (1450-1200 BC). This village was located in a protected valley along a route into the Reuss and was near quartz, copper and iron deposits. An Iron Age village was built in the same spot around 500-450 BC. Pottery from the Bronze and Iron Ages show that these villages traded with surrounding villages and even crossed the alpine passes to trade with Quinto in Ticino and the alpine Rhine valley.

The large celtic treasure trove at Erstfeld, now generally interpreted as a votive offering to a mountain deity, indicates that there was a large, prosperous population in central alps during the 4th century BC.^[2]

During the Roman era, Uri remained mostly isolated from the Roman Empire. An analysis of the place names along the shores of Lake Lucerne show a Gallo-Roman influence, while in the mountain valleys Raetian names are more common. When the Roman Empire withdrew from the Alps, the lake side villages looked north to the towns along the lake for support, while the alpine villages in the Urseren valley banded together.^[2]

It is thought that the name Uri derives from the old German word Aurochs meaning wild ox.^[3] The region's traditional coat of arms bears a bull's head.^[4]

During the 7th century, Alemannic German speaking settlers from the Kingdom of the Franks began to move into the narrow plains around the southern end of Lake Lucerne. In a process that took about three centuries they spread into the alpine valleys. The number of place names with either German or Latin roots next to each other indicates that this migration was generally peaceful. The alemanni grave at the church of St. Martin in Altdorf (660-680) shows the political and religious leadership roll that the Alemanni had in the upper Reuss valley.^[2]

Uri is first mentioned in 732 as the place of banishment of Eto, the abbot of Reichenau, by the duke of Alamannia.^[5] In 853 it was given to the nunnery at Zürich by Louis the German, which he had founded for his daughter Hildegard. It is unclear whether the gift included the entire Reuss valley or just certain settlements. The abbess appointed a vogt to manage the lands, but ruled the lands with a light hand. Many of the surrounding villages became tenants of the abbey or obtained similar privileges. Under the abbess, the villages of the valley began to develop a sort of local government.^[5]

In contrast, the Urseren valley remained more isolated, though they had some connections to the Leventina valley. Some of the villages in the Urseren were settled by Disentis Abbey and were part of the Diocese of Chur. By the 10th century, there were settlements of Romansh speakers from Disentis in the high valleys.^[2]

Between approximately 920 and 976 the Duke of Swabia was the vogt under the abbess in Zurich. They were followed by the Lenzburgs from 976 to 1173 and then the Zähringens. In 1218, the Zähringens died out, and the bailiwick was given to the Habsburgs. According to Aegidius Tschudi's history, in 1231 King Henry of Germany, the son of Emperor Frederick II, bought Uri from the Habsburgs and granted it imperial immediacy. During the 13th century, the St. Gotthard Pass opened, which brought ever increasing trade and wealth to Uri. With the growing wealth, the towns and villages along the Gotthard route became increasing independent. As early as 1243 Uri had a district seal, and in 1274, Rudolph of Habsburg, who was now the Holy Roman Emperor, confirmed its historic privileges.^[5]

In Urseren, Disentis Abbey appointed a vogt, though in 1239-40 Emperor Frederick II changed the vogt's office into a secular, imperial office. He appointed Count Rudolf of Rapperswil as his vogt. When the Rapperswil male line died out in 1283 the vogt office in Urseren also fell to the Habsburgs.^[2]

While the traditional date of the Eternal Alliance of the Forest Cantons and the foundation of the Swiss Confederation is 1291, modern research indicates that it may have been as later, perhaps in 1307.

In the traditional history of the Eternal Alliance, the Habsburgs had appointed a tyrannical vogt named Albrecht Gessler to rule over Uri from his castle in Altdorf. According to Tschudi's version of the events (recorded in the 16th century) Gessler raised a pole in the village's central square, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before the hat. On 18 November 1307, William Tell visited Altdorf with his young son and passed by Gessler's hat, publicly refusing to bow to it, and so was arrested. Gessler - intrigued by Tell's famed marksmanship, yet resentful of his defiance - devised a cruel punishment: Tell and his son would be executed, but he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head of his son, Walter, in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow.^[6] However, Gessler noticed that Tell had drawn two bolts and discovered that Tell had planned to kill him if the first bolt had killed Tell's son. Gessler took Tell captive, but Tell was able to escape. Tell then ran cross-country to Küssnacht where he assassinated Gessler with the second cross bow bolt.^[7] Tell's assassination sparked a rebellion, which led to the Rütlischwur, a further alliance between Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden.

While the historicity of William Tell and specific events are questioned by modern historians, the cantons around Lake Lucerne and other nearby lakes had a long history of alliances. For example, in 1291, Uri, Schwyz and Zürich entered into a three year defensive alliance.^[2] In 1309, Emperor Henry VII combined Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden into the Waldstätte or Forest Cantons.

In 1314, Duke Louis IV of Bavaria (who would become Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor) and Frederick the Handsome, a Habsburg prince, each claimed the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. The Confederates supported Louis IV because they feared the Habsburgs would annex their countries as Habsburg property — as they already had tried to do in the late 13th century.

War broke out over a dispute between the Confederates of Schwyz and the Habsburg-protected monastery of Einsiedeln regarding some pastures, and eventually the Confederates of Schwyz conducted a raid on the monastery. The Habsburg response to the raid, led to the Battle of Morgarten in 1315 where the Confederate army, including some troops from Uri, destroyed the Habsburg army. A few months after the victory at Morgarten, the three Forest Cantons met at Brunnen to reaffirm their alliance in the Pact of Brunnen.^[8] In the following forty years, the alliance expanded as other cantons (Lucerne in 1332 and Zürich in 1351, Glarus and Zug in 1352 and Bern in 1353) joined the alliance.^[9]

In 1386 Uri participated in the victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Sempach. Following the victory at Sempach, Uri began a program of territorial expansion to allow them to control the entire Gotthard route. As a first step, Uri annexed the lands of Urseren in 1410. The Urseren valley was allowed to retain its own mayor and assembly, and its own courts under those of Uri. It was not fully incorporated till 1888.^[5] In 1403, with the help of Obwalden, it won the Leventina valley from the duke of Milan, but lost it in 1422. Though in 1440 Uri alone reconquered it and kept it until 1798. Between 1410 and 1418, Uri occupied the Val d' Ossola in what is now Italy. In 1419, with Obwalden, Uri conquered Bellinzona, but lost it at the Battle of Arbedo in 1422. In 1478, Uri marched into the Leventina valley, south of the Gotthard pass. The citizens of the valley welcomed Uri's troops as liberators from the Duke of Milan. They then attempted to besiege Bellinzona, but gave up after 14 days, when the Duke sent 10,000 troops to drive them out. About 600 men of the Confederate rear guard defeated the Milanese army at the Battle of Giornico and drove Milan out of the Leventina valley but did not take Bellinzona.^[10] In 1500, with Schwyz and Nidwalden, it captured Bellinzona again and held it until 1798. By 1503, Uri, Nidwalden and Schwyz jointly controlled the bailiwicks of Blenio, Bellinzona and Riviera. In 1512 Uri shared in the conquest of Lugano with the rest of the Confederation.^[5] Together with the rest of the Confederation, Uri shared in the conquest and rule over a number of subject territories under the administration of several cantons including; 1415-1712 Baden, 1460-1798 Thurgau, 1482-1798 Sargans, 1491-1798 Rheintal, 1512-1798 Locarno, the Maggia valley, Lugano and Mendrisio and 1532-1712 the Freiamt including the Upper Freiamt between 1712-98.^[2]

The region resisted the Protestant Reformation and remained Roman Catholic. In 1524-25 the Landammann Beroldingen of Josue asked the cantonal scribe Valentin Compar to write a polemic against the reformer Huldrych Zwingli, which was read to the cantonal congress and approved. As the Reformation spread through the Swiss Confederation, the five central, catholic cantons felt increasingly isolated and they began to search for allies. After two months of negotiations, the Five Cantons formed die Christliche Vereinigung (the Christian Alliance) with Ferdinand of Austria on 22 April 1529.^[11][12] Tensions continued to rise between the Protestant and Catholic cantons. After numerous minor incidents and provocations from both sides, a Catholic priest was executed in the Thurgau in May 1528, and the Protestant pastor J. Keyser was burned at the stake in Schwyz in 1529.^[13] The last straw was the installation of a Catholic reeve at Baden, and Zürich declared war on 8 June, occupied the Thurgau and the territories of the Abbey of St. Gall and marched to Kappel at the border to Zug.

By mediation the Federal Tagsatzung, bloodshed in the First War of Kappel was barely avoided. The peace agreement (Erster Landfriede) was not exactly favorable for the Catholic party, who had to dissolve its alliance with the Austrian Habsburgs. The protestant cantons also demanded that the catholic cantons allow protestant preachers into them, and imposed a trade embargo to try to force them to agree. In late September 1531, about 8,000 soldiers from the Five Cantons (including Uri) marched against Zurich and Zwingli to lift this embargo. When they met Zwingli's forces on 11 October 1531 at the Second War of Kappel, the catholic forces were victorious and Zwingli was killed.^[14][15]

During the Helvetic Republic Uri was part of the canton of Waldstätten. After this, in 1803 as part of the Act of Mediation, Uri regained its independence. All attempts towards religious or constitutional reform were resisted. In 1815 Uri joined the League of Sarnen for this reason. Later on Uri was one of the members of the Sonderbund. The Sonderbund was a separatist Catholic league, but was defeated by the Swiss Confederation which led to the Swiss Federal Constitution.

The canton is located in the centre of the country on the north side of the Swiss Alps. The lands of the canton are that of the Reuss valley and those of the main river's tributaries. Uri has an area, as of 2011^[update], of 1,076.4 km² (415.6 sq mi). Of this area, 24.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and 55.6% is unproductive land.^[16]

The highest elevation in the canton, and in the Urner Alps as a whole, is the Dammastock, at 3,630 m (11,910 ft), north of the Furka Pass. The Glarus and Lepontine Alps ranges are also partially situated in the canton of Uri.

The blazon of the coat of arms is Or, a bull's head caboshed sable, langued and noseringed gules.^[17]

The current constitution dates back to 1888. It was revised in 1929 when the open assembly (Landsgemeinde) was abolished. Uri today comprises 20 self-administered territories: the cantonal capital is Altdorf.

The municipalities of the canton of Uri are: Altdorf, Andermatt, Attinghausen, Bauen, Bürglen, Erstfeld, Flüelen, Göschenen, Gurtnellen, Hospental, Isenthal, Realp, Schattdorf, Seedorf, Seelisberg, Silenen, Sisikon, Spiringen, Unterschächen, Wassen

Uri has a population (as of December 2020^[update]) of 36,819.^[18] As of 2010^[update], 9.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of -0.4%. Migration accounted for -1.2%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.3%.^[16] Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (32,518 or 93.5%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (677 or 1.9%) and Italian is the third (462 or 1.3%). There are 67 people who speak French and 51 people who speak Romansh.^[19]

Of the population in the canton, 16,481 or about 47.4% were born in Uri and lived there in 2000. There were 9,118 or 26.2% who were born in the same canton, while 5,426 or 15.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,019 or 8.7% were born outside of Switzerland.^[19] As of 2000^[update], children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 58.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.4%.^[16] As of 2000^[update], there were 15,029 people who were single and never married in the canton. There were 16,839 married individuals, 2,040 widows or widowers and 869 individuals who are divorced.^[19]

As of 2000^[update], there were 13,430 private households in the canton, and an average of 2.5 persons per household.^[16] There were 3,871 households that consist of only one person and 1,382 households with five or more people. As of 2009^[update], the construction rate of new housing units was 4.7 new units per 1000 residents.^[16] The vacancy rate for the canton, in 2010^[update], was 0.77%.^[16]

The historical population is given in the following chart:^[2]

The cultivated fields of the canton are located in the valley of the Reuss River. There are pastures on the lower mountain slopes. Since most of the terrain is extremely hilly, it is not suitable for cultivation. Hydroelectric power generation is of great importance. Forestry is one of the most important sectors of agriculture. At Altdorf there are cable and rubber factories.

Tourism is an important source of income in the canton of Uri. An excellent network of roads facilitates tourism in remote areas in the mountains.

As of  2010^[update], Uri had an unemployment rate of 1.4%. As of 2008^[update], there were 1,764 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 703 businesses involved in this sector. 5,388 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 324 businesses in this sector. 9,431 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,113 businesses in this sector.^[16]

In 2008^[update] the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 13,383. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 958, of which 891 were in agriculture, 65 were in forestry or lumber production and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 5,078 of which 2,948 or (58.1%) were in manufacturing, 71 or (1.4%) were in mining and 1,696 (33.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 7,347. In the tertiary sector; 1,384 or 18.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 819 or 11.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 1,126 or 15.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 103 or 1.4% were in the information industry, 264 or 3.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 445 or 6.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 505 or 6.9% were in education and 1,505 or 20.5% were in health care.^[20]

Of the working population, 12.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 48.5% used a private car.^[16]

Tourism is a major industry in the Canton of Uri. In 2008^[update], there were 91 hotels in the canton with a total of 1,368 rooms. During the same year 145,600 guests stayed in those hotels and 67.1% were from outside Switzerland.^[21]

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 74.3% of the vote. The next most popular parties was the SP/PS (21.5%). The remainder of the vote (4.3%) was split between other local parties.^[22]

The FDP lost about 13.0% of the vote when compared to the 2007 Federal election (87.3% in 2007 vs 74.3% in 2011). The SP/PS moved from below fourth place in 2007 to second.^[23]

From the 2000 census^[update], 29,846 or 85.8% were Roman Catholic, while 1,809 or 5.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 525 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.51% of the population), there were 22 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 565 individuals (or about 1.62% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 7 individuals (or about 0.02% of the population) who were Jewish, and 683 (or about 1.96% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 44 individuals who were Buddhist, 46 individuals who were Hindu and 22 individuals who belonged to another church. 818 (or about 2.35% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 655 individuals (or about 1.88% of the population) did not answer the question.^[19]

In Uri about 11,949 or (34.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,794 or (8.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 2,794 who completed tertiary schooling, 74.2% were Swiss men, 16.9% were Swiss women, 5.7% were non-Swiss men and 3.3% were non-Swiss women.^[19]

Media related to Uri at Wikimedia Commons

• Official site Template:De icon
• Official statistics

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