Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. It houses the Federal Charter of 1291 or Bundesbrief - the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland - at the Bundesbriefmuseum.
Name
The earliest certain record of the name dates to 972, recorded in Medieval Latin as . There are a number of uncertain records dated between 924 and 960, in the form Swites (Suuites) and Switz.Viktor Wiebel, 'Suittes – Schwyz – Schweiz : Geschichte und Deutung des Namens Schwyz' Mitteilungen des historischen Vereins des Kantons Schwyz 65 (1972) (retro.seals.ch ) The name is recorded as Schwitz in the 13th century, and in the 17th to 18th century often as Schweitz. The name's etymology is uncertain. It was long presented as derived from the name of an eponymous founder in Swiss legend, one Suito or Switer, an explanation found in Swiss school textbooks until the first half of the 20th century. There is currently no consensus on the name's derivation.Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen, Frauenfeld 2005, 819f. Isaac Wake, diplomat of King James VI and I in Bern, suggested in 1625 that the name originated in Sweden, among the Suecia, "who in the time of king [sic] Sigebert made a transmigration out of Suecia and planted themselves in this country". A Germanic etymology was suggested by Gatschet (1867), deriving the name from an Old High German verb "to burn" (referring to slash-and-burn clearing of woodland for habitation).Albert S. Gatschet, Ortsetymologische Forschungen als Beiträge zu einer Toponomastik der Schweiz, 1867. Brandstetter (1871) is critical of Gatschet's suggestion and prefers derivation from an Alemannic personal name in Svid- as it were presenting a scholarly defense of the Suito of the founding legend.Brandstetter, Die Ortsnamen Schwiz und Stans (1871). Svid- as a first element in Germanic names (such as Svidger, Svidbert, Svidulf) is somewhat rare but well recorded, Förtsemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856), 1138. The etymology proposed for the by Hubschmied (1929) derives the name from a Gallo-Roman *, from the Gaulish or Latin word for "pig", via a Romance * "(mountain, pasture) of pigs" yielding an Alemannic . Hubschmied distanced himself from this opinion in 1961, preferring an unspecified pre-Roman (or "Etruscan") source. Sonderegger (1966) revisits Gatschet's "slash-and-burn" proposal, but now claims derivation from a cognate Celtic root, , Proto-Celtic with a meaning of "clearing" or similar, giving Gaulish * (the long vowel as in "Rhine"), Gallo-Romance *Svēdus, -is, and finally in Old High German by the 8th century.Stefan Sonderegger, 'Die Ausbildung der deutsch-romanischen Sprachgrenze in der Schweiz im Mittelalter', Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter 31, Bonn, 1966/67, 223–290. A summary of the history of suggestions is given in Viktor Weibel, Suittes – Schwyz – Schweiz : Geschichte und Deutung des Namens Schwyz, Mitteilungen des historischen Vereins des Kantons Schwyz 65 (1972).
The name was extended to the area dominated by Schwyz (the Canton of Schwyz), and later to the entire Old Swiss Confederacy. Other cantons tended to resent this in the 15th century, but after 1499 the term was widely self-adopted, out of spite so to speak, since it had been employed as a term of abuse by the Swabian side during the Swabian War. and (the origin of the English name Switzerland) could be used interchangeably as country names in the 16th century.
The Swiss German pronunciation is the same for the name of the town and that of the country (the two are distinguished only by use of the definite article for the latter, "Schwyz", "Switzerland"). The spelling of y for [iː] originates from the ligature ij in 15th-century handwriting.
History
While a few Roman era coins have been found in Schwyz, the earliest evidence of a settlement comes from the 8th century. The Alamanni cemetery at the parish church and the church itself are both from the first half of the 8th century. This first church was followed by a second ottonian church around 1000, which may have been destroyed by the 1117 Verona earthquake. In 1121 the third church building, a romanesque building, was consecrated. This was followed in the 15th century by the much larger fourth church which was destroyed, along with much of the village, by fire in 1642. The fifth church, an early baroque church was replaced because of serious structural defects by the current late baroque church which was dedicated in 1774.
Because Schwyz was the capital of a canton, many of the government organizations administered both the town and the canton at the same time, and the history of the town is closely tied to the history of the canton.
According to the chronicle of Johann Stumpf from 1548, the old town originally consisted of a village square, the church and its cemetery, the town hall, the inn, the archive tower and a number of scattered wooden houses. Around 1500, to distinguish it from the Canton of Schwyz, Schwyz town was often called Kilchgassen, which meant the village around the church but not the surrounding villages. The fire of 1642, which destroyed 47 buildings in the center of the village, allowed the town to be totally rebuilt. A new, larger town square with major roads radiating out was built in front of the new church and the new city hall. The houses were rebuilt as urban townhouses and a ring of about 30 large patrician farm houses grew up surrounding the village center.
Geography
Besides the town of Schwyz, the municipality includes the settlements of Ibach, Seewen and Rickenbach. To the east, the municipality includes, or borders on, the mountains of Hochstuckli, Kleiner Mythen, Grosser Mythen, Rotenflue, and Furggelenstock. The river Muota flows out of these mountains and through the municipality on its way to Lake Lucerne. The Haggenegg Pass and Holzegg Pass both cross to Alpthal, whilst the Ibergeregg Pass crosses to Oberiberg.
Schwyz has an area, , of . Of this area, 46.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (5.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a Confederate cross couped in the hoist argent.Flags of the World.com accessed 12-March-2012
Demographics Schwyz had a population () of . , 15.6% of the population were resident foreign nationals. Over the year 2010–2011 the population reduced by 0.6%. Migration accounted for −0.9%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 11 December 2013 Most of the population () speaks German (12,441 or 90.1%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (378 or 2.7%) and Italian is the third (273 or 2.0%). There are 23 people who speak French and 25 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 5,824 Swiss men (42.2% of the population), 1,058 (7.7%) non-Swiss men, 5,932 Swiss women (43.0%) and 988 (7.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 6,681 or about 48.4% were born in Schwyz and lived there in 2000. There were 2,195 or 15.9% who were born in the same canton, while 2,780 or 20.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,797 or 13.0% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.1%.
, there were 6,314 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,305 married individuals, 722 widows or widowers and 461 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000 accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 5,250 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 1,582 households that consist of only one person and 536 households with five or more people. , a total of 4,968 apartments (90.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 375 apartments (6.8%) were seasonally occupied and 156 apartments (2.8%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.8 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Schwyz was 1185.58 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$950, £530, €760 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 543.08 CHF (US$430, £240, €350), a two-room apartment was about 904.87 CHF (US$720, £410, €580), a three-room apartment was about 1068.78 CHF (US$860, £480, €680) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1461.34 CHF (US$1170, £660, €940). The average apartment price in Schwyz was 106.2% of the national average of 1116 CHF.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Rental prices 2003 data accessed 26 May 2010 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.25%.
Historic population The historical population is given in the following chart:
Historic Population Data Year Total Population German Speaking Italian Speaking Catholic Protestant Other Jewish Islamic No religion given Swiss Non-Swiss 1621 2,052 1669 ca. 2,500 1743 4,639 1799 6,338 1802 ca. 5,000 1837 5,225 1850 5,432 5,428 4 5,406 26 1870 6,137 6,114 38 5,987 167 1888 6,616 6,424 110 6,552 64 21 6,380 236 1900 7,398 7,072 246 7,268 129 18 1 6,911 487 1910 8,000 7,549 352 7,807 184 48 3 7,399 601 1930 8,256 7,866 245 8,004 246 50 7,830 426 1950 10,259 9,827 255 9,888 358 92 1 9,896 363 1970 12,194 11,206 744 11,615 501 209 5 17 11,080 1,114 1990 12,872 11,530 453 11,420 667 849 3 225 160 11,319 1,553 2000 13,802 12,441 273 11,269 751 1,065 5 502 377 11,756 2,046
Heritage sites of national significance The Bundesbriefmuseum (Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation), the Dominican nuns Convent of St. Peter am Bach, the entire medieval and early modern settlement, the Hermitage and chapel, the Forum der Schweizer Geschichte (Forum of Swiss History), the Ab Yberg im Grund House, the Bethlehem House at Reichsstrasse 9, the Ceberg im Feldli house at Theodosiusweg 20, the house at Gotthardstrasse 99 in Ibach, the Grosshus at Strehlgasse 12, the Immenfeld house, the house at Langfeldweg 14 in Kaltbach, the house at Oberschönenbuch 79 in Ibach, the Herrenhaus Waldegg, the Hettlingerhäuser, the Hofstatt Ital Reding, the Catholic Parish Church of St. Martin, the Maihof, the Palais Büeler, the Rathaus (Town council house), the Reding House, the State Archives of Schwyz and the Köplihaus house are listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Schwyz is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Politics In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 39.91% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (26.12%), the SPS (17.05%) and the FDP (12.72%). In the federal election, a total of 5,554 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 57.8%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton accessed 28 May 2010
Economy , Schwyz had an unemployment rate of 1.8%. , there were 484 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 174 businesses involved in this sector. 2,756 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 179 businesses in this sector. 7,099 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 696 businesses in this sector.