1.
Appenzell
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Appenzell is a region and historical canton in the northeast of Switzerland, entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411 and it has been divided since into Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden since 1597 as a result of the Swiss Reformation. The territory of Appenzell as an entity is known as Appenzellerland or as das Appenzell. In political contexts, the two cantons are referred to as beide Appenzell, the name Appenzell derives from Latin, abbatis cella. This refers to the Abbey of St. Gall, which exerted an influence on the area. By the middle of the 11th century the abbots of St Gall had established their power in the later called Appenzell. By about 1360, conflicts over grazing rights, taxes, both parties wanted to protect their rights and interests by joining the new Swabian League. In 1377 Appenzell was allowed to join the League with the support of the cities of Konstanz, with the support of League, Appenzell refused to pay many of the gifts and tithes that the Abbot Kuno von Stoffeln demanded. In response to the loss of revenue from his estates, Kuno approached the Austrian House of Habsburg for help, in 1392 he made an agreement with the Habsburgs, which was renewed in 1402. In response, in 1401 Appenzell entered into an alliance with the city of St. Gallen to protect their rights, on a certain day, throughout the abbots lands, they attacked the bailiffs and drove them out of the land. Following unsuccessful negotiations Appenzell and St. Gallen entered into a treaty, the treaty between St. Gallen and Appenzell marked a break between the abbot and his estates. Perhaps fearing the Habsburgs, in 1402 the League expelled Appenzell, during the same year, St. Gallen reached an agreement with the abbot and Appenzell could no longer count on St. Gallens support. Glarus provided less support, but authorized any citizen who wished to support Appenzell to do so, in response, the League raised an army and marched to St. Gallen before heading toward Appenzell. On 15 May 1403, they entered the pass to Speicher, a small force of Appenzell and Confederation troops defeated the League army and signed a short lived peace treaty. Following another Appenzell victory on 17 June 1405, at Stoss Pass on the border of Appenzell town, during the expansion, Appenzell had even captured the abbot of St Gall and in response they were excommunicated by the Bishop of Constance. However, while the Bund expanded the Austrians used the peace to regain their strength, on 11 September 1406 an association of nobles formed a knightly order known as the Sankt Jörgenschild to oppose the rebellious commoners of the Bund. Following a defeat at Bregenz, Appenzell was unable to hold the Bund together, the city of St. Gallen and the Canton of Schwyz each paid off the Austrians to avoid an attack, and the Bund was dissolved by King Rupert on 4 April 1408. As part of the treaty, the abbot gave up his ownership of Appenzell
2.
Appenzell District
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Appenzell District is a district of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. It has a population of 5,822, the area of Appenzell is 16.88 km2. The district of Appenzell consists of a part of the town Appenzell, as well as Rinkenbach, Kau, while a single late Bronze Age site has been discovered in the forest outside Appenzell, there is no evidence of a prehistoric settlement. The region around Appenzell remained forested and very lightly settled until the end of the Early Middle Ages, under the authority of the abbots of the monastery of St. Gall settlers began to colonization of the Sitter river valley in the late 11th century. It is mentioned, in a deed granting rights to clear land, at the same time, the parish of St. Mauritius was established. By 1200, the parish included the area of the district as well as villages of Brenden, Lank, Lehn. The meager records before 1500 does not allow reconstruction of the early residential development. It is likely that the first village houses were along the road between church and abbots farm, which was built at what is now Reichsstrasse near the Gansbach stream and this gave the early village an east-west orientation. East of the church the Metzibrücke bridge was built over the Sitter river and this led to the extension of the village across the river. The eastern end of the village was a conglomerate of economic, in 1291, Appenzell was devastated by the troops of the Count of Werdenberg-Sargans. In 1353, it was granted the right and an open plaza. At the same time, a row of houses grew up to line the Hauptgasse and Hirschengasse streets, the latter road was added as a major cross street running in the north-south direction. Additional connecting roads, squares and open areas were built at around the same time, the village of Ried, south of the village center, was founded in 1483 as a charitable foundation for poor villagers. As the village began to grow in power it began to be mentioned as an entity from the rest of the abbatis cella. Starting on 10 November 1367, and often in the 15th Century, the villagers of Appenzell town are still known as Hofer, to distinguish them from the surrounding farmers. Starting in the 14th Century, a variety of craftsmen and traders lived and worked in Appenzell, the Answer and Mandate Book of 1547 includes regulations and controls for farmers, millers and butchers. The number of fairs was increased to two on 23 September 1353 and the town was given the right to collect tolls, in the 15th century there is evidence of a tavern in Appenzell town and a set of weights and measures for regulating commercial activities. By about 1360, conflicts over grazing rights, taxes, both parties wanted to protect their rights and interests by joining the new Swabian League
3.
Cantons of Switzerland
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The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte, with the Napoleonic period of the Helvetic Republic the term canton/cantone/Kanton was fully established. From 1833, there were 25 cantons, which became 26 after the secession of the canton of Jura from Bern in 1979. The term canton, now used as English term for administrative subdivisions of other countries, originates in French usage in the late 15th century, from a word for edge. After 1490, canton was increasingly used in French and Italian documents to refer to the members of the Swiss Confederacy, English use of canton in reference to the Swiss Confederacy dates to the early 17th century. It was increasingly replaced by Stand after 1550, the French term canton was not adopted into German usage prior to 1648, and after that only in occasional use. The prominent usage of Ort and Stand only gradually disappeared in German-speaking Switzerland with the Helvetic Republic, only with the Act of Mediation of 1803 did German Kanton become an official designation, retained in the Swiss Constitution of 1848. The term Stand remains in usage and is reflected in the name of the upper chamber of the Swiss Parliament. Republic Some cantonal constitutions provide for a formal name of the state. Most of Romandys cantons and Ticino call themselves république/Repubblica officially, at least within their constitutions, for example, the canton of Geneva refers to itself formally as the République et canton de Genève. Though they were part of the Holy Roman Empire, they had become de facto independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximillian in 1499 in Dornach. The old system was abandoned with the formation of the Helvetic Republic following the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798, the cantons of the Helvetic Republic had merely the status of an administrative subdivision with no sovereignty. The Helvetic Republic collapsed within five years, and cantonal sovereignty was restored with the Act of Mediation of 1803, the status of Switzerland as a federation of states was restored, at the time including 19 cantons. Three additional western cantons, Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva, acceded in 1815, the process of Restoration, completed by 1830, returned most of the former feudal rights to the cantonal patriciates, leading to rebellions among the rural population. The Liberal Radical Party embodied these democratic forces calling for a new federal constitution and this tension, paired with religious issues escalated into armed conflict in the 1840s, with the brief Sonderbund War. The victory of the party resulted in the formation of Switzerland as a federal state in 1848. The cantons retained far-reaching sovereignty, but were no longer allowed to maintain standing armies or international relations. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts, most of the cantons legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between 58 and 200 seats
4.
Districts of Switzerland
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In contrast to centrally organised states, in the federally constituted Switzerland each canton is completely free to decide its own internal organisation. Therefore, there exists a variety of structures and terminology for the subnational entities between canton and municipality, loosely termed districts, most cantons are divided into Bezirke. They are also termed Ämter, Amtsbezirke, district or distretto, the Bezirke generally provide only administration and court organization. However, for historical reasons districts in cantons Graubünden and Schwyz are their own legal entities with jurisdiction over tax, seven of the 26 cantons – Uri, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Basel-City and Geneva – have always existed without the district level of government. An eighth one, Appenzell Innerrhoden, uses no intermediate level either, bern in 2006 decided a reduction of its 26 districts to five administrative regions. Vaud decided a reduction from 19 to 10 districts, valais is planning a similar reduction and in Thurgau, a reduction of eight to four districts is under discussion. From 2005, districts only have a statistical meaning, the districts are functionally equivalent to municipalities elsewhere in Switzerland, and are generally shown as municipalities on maps etc. The Canton is divided into 6 districts, Appenzell Gonten Oberegg Rüte Schlatt-Haslen Schwende Municipalities of Switzerland
5.
Schwende District
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Schwende District is a district in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. In the 12th century the name was recorded as Swendi or swandjan and this is a derivate of the German expression schwinden machen. Schwende first came into existence between 1204 and 1220, Schwende has an area, as of 2011, of 57.5 square kilometers. Of this area,48. 1% is used for agricultural purposes, of the rest of the land,2. 1% is settled and 17. 6% is unproductive land. The district covers the portion of the half-canton which lies south-west of the Sitter river and it includes the settlement of Schwende as well as the western portion of Weissbad which is between the Sitter and south of the Brüelbachs. It also includes the village of Wasserauen as well as the majority of the Alpstein mountains to the peak of Mt. Säntis. The blazon of the coat of arms is Azure a Castle Argent windowed Sable. A silver castle stands on three green mountains, the three mountains are horizontally traversed by a silver waived beam. The coat of arms refers back to the Schwende Castle located in this village, Schwende has a population of 2,159. As of 2008,6. 9% of the population are resident foreign nationals, over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 7. 3%. It has changed at a rate of 5. 4% due to migration, most of the population speaks German, with Serbo-Croatian being second most common and Italian being third. There are 5 people who speak French and 3 people who speak Romansh, of the population in the district 1,042 or about 53. 9% were born in Schwende and lived there in 2000. There were 288 or 14. 9% who were born in the canton, while 418 or 21. 6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland. In 2008, ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens remained the same while the population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man and 2 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland, at the same time, there were 3 non-Swiss men and 2 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 was a decrease of 9 and this represents a population growth rate of -0. 2%. As of 2000, there were 907 people who were single, There were 899 married individuals,88 widows or widowers and 41 individuals who are divorced. As of 2000 the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is equal to the cantonal average of 0.59 per room
6.
Parliament
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In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative, elected body of government. Generally a modern parliament has three functions, representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government, historically, parliaments included various kinds of deliberative, consultative, and judicial assemblies. The term is derived from Anglo-Norman parlement, from the verb parler talk, the meaning evolved over time, originally any discussion, conversation, or negotiation, through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups, often summoned by the monarch. By 1400, it had come to mean in Britain specifically the British supreme legislature, various parliaments are claimed to be the oldest in the world, under varying definitions. The Sicilian Parliament, whose first assembly was convened in 1097, the Icelandic Althing, year 930, but only including the main chiefs. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, some scholars suggest that in ancient Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council. The same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, however, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies. Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy, the Athenian assembly was the most important institution, and every citizen could take part in the discussions. However, Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, the Roman Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy. Some Muslim scholars argue that the Islamic shura is analogous to the parliament, however, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system. England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist, under the Anglo-Saxon kings, there was an advisory council, the Witenagemot. The name derives from the Old English ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, the first recorded act of a witenagemot was the law code issued by King Æthelberht of Kent ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose, however, the Witan, along with the folkmoots, is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament. As part of the Norman Conquest of England, the new king, William I, did away with the Witenagemot, membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the tenants in chief, the few nobles who rented great estates directly from the king, along with ecclesiastics. William brought to England the feudal system of his native Normandy and this is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the Privy Council and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament, only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court. Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power to which the throne had to defer no later than the rule of Edward I, like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially finance. A meeting in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments, in 1307, Edward I agreed not to collect certain taxes without the consent of the realm
