Schwyz-Swizerland

This typical Swiss town is near Lucerne in central Switzerland. The surrounding canton of Schwyz (pronounced shfeetz) was one of three founding members of the Swiss Confederation and gave its name to the rest of the country (Switzerland is called "Schweiz" in German). The Victorinox factory, where the original Swiss Army knives are made are also available for sale. Travel by a train up to the resort town of Stoos which is worth watching.
Schwyz (shvets), canton (1993 pop. 116,100), 351 sq mi (909 sq km), central Switzerland, one of the Four Forest Cantons Four Forest Cantons, the, Ger. Die Vier Waldstätten, in central Switzerland, the cantons of Unterwalden , Schwyz , Uri , and Lucerne , the first Swiss communities to win their freedom against the Hapsburgs.
Bordering on the Lake of Zürich in the north and the Lake of Lucerne in thesouthwest,
Schwyz is a mountainous and forested region, with meadows supporting livestock and
orchards in the valleys. Cotton and silk textiles and wood furniture are
manufactured, and there are large hydroelectric plants in the north. The population is German-speaking and Roman Catholic. In the early 13th cent. the rights to Schwyz passed to the counts of Hapsburg, but in 1240 Emperor Frederick II granted Schwyz a charter making it immediately subject to the Holy Roman Empire. The charter was revoked in 1274 by Rudolf I of Hapsburg, and in 1291 Schwyz concluded with Uri Uri (`re), canton (1993 pop. and Unterwalden Unterwalden the pact which became the basis of Swiss liberty. (The name Switzerland derives from Schwyz.) The canton rejected the Reformation and in 1845 joined the Catholic Sonderbund Sonderbund (zôn`d?rbnt) [Ger. Its capital, Schwyz (1993 pop. 13,000), one of the oldest towns in Switzerland, is a summer resort.
The Swiss federal archives there contain the original pact of 1291. The town has a 16th-century town hall with historic paintings, several baroque churches, and numerous patrician houses (17th–18th cent.).

1. a canton of central Switzerland: played an important part in the formation of the Swiss confederation, to which it gave its name. Capital: Schwyz. Pop.: 133 300 (2002 est.). Area: 908 sq. km (351 sq. miles)

2. a town in E central Switzerland, capital of Schwyz canton: tourism. Pop.: 13 802 (2000)