A History of Switzerland
From the Federal Charter of 1291 to the modern Confederation — trace Swiss history across the cantons through the places where it still stands.
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What surprised me most about Switzerland is how close the history feels. You can stand on the Rütli meadow where the Confederacy was born in 1291, walk into the Grossmünster where Zwingli preached the Reformation, or look up at the Reformation Wall in Geneva — and it isn't roped off in a museum, it's woven into the towns you're already visiting. Once you know the story, every old town and lakeside city reads differently. We hope it does for you too.
— Scott
Seven Centuries of the Confederation
From three rural cantons swearing mutual defence in 1291 to a modern direct democracy of 26 cantons and four languages — Switzerland\'s story is written across its old towns, battlefields, and lakeside cities. These are the places where that history is still visible.
Modern Switzerland
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A direct democracy of 26 cantons and four national languages, Switzerland is governed as much by its citizens — who vote on issues several times a year — as by its parliament. From the Rütli meadow to the halls of Geneva, the history that began in 1291 is still visible across the country when you visit.
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Tell our AI planner you want to follow the history of the Confederation and it will build an itinerary — the Rütli meadow, Reformation Zürich and Geneva, Bern's old town, and more.
Start Planning →Frequently Asked Questions
Switzerland traces its origins to the Federal Charter of 1 August 1291, when the rural communities of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden pledged mutual defence — the start of the Old Swiss Confederacy. That date is still celebrated as Swiss National Day. The country gained formal independence from the Holy Roman Empire at the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, and became a unified federal state under the constitution of 1848.
Swiss neutrality grew out of centuries of avoiding foreign entanglements and was formally recognised and guaranteed by the great powers at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Switzerland maintained armed neutrality through both World Wars, mobilising its army to defend its borders while staying out of the fighting. Neutrality remains a cornerstone of Swiss policy today.
The Reformation began in Switzerland in 1519 when Huldrych Zwingli preached reform from the Grossmünster in Zürich. From 1536, John Calvin made Geneva a leading centre of Protestantism, sometimes called the "Protestant Rome." The Reformation split the Confederacy between Protestant and Catholic cantons — a divide that shaped Swiss history for centuries.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was founded in Geneva in 1863 by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant, who had been horrified by the suffering he witnessed after the 1859 Battle of Solferino. The first Geneva Convention followed in 1864. You can learn the full story at the Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva.
Yes — much of Swiss history is woven into the towns you'll already be visiting. The Rütli meadow on Lake Lucerne (reached by boat) marks the founding of the Confederacy, the Grossmünster in Zürich and the Reformation Wall in Geneva tell the Reformation story, Bern's UNESCO-listed old town surrounds the Federal Palace, and the Sempach and Morgarten battlefields are open to visitors.
Switzerland joined the United Nations in 2002, after a national referendum — one of the last countries to become a full member, reflecting its long tradition of neutrality and direct democracy. Geneva had already hosted the UN's European headquarters at the Palais des Nations since the organisation's founding.