Each of the 26 modern cantons of Switzerland has an official flag and a coat of arms. The history of development of these designs spans the 13th to the 20th centuries.

List The cantons are listed in their order of precedence given in the federal constitution.This is the order generally used in Swiss official documents. At the head of the list are the three city cantons that were considered preeminent in the Old Swiss Confederacy; the other cantons are listed in order of accession to the Confederation. This traditional order of precedence among the cantons has no practical relevance in the modern federal state, in which the cantons are equal to one another, although it still determines formal precedence among the cantons' officials (see Swiss order of precedence). This reflects the historical order of precedence of the Eight Cantons in the 15th century, followed by the remaining cantons in the order of their historical accession to the confederacy.

Standesfarben were used to identify the (historical) cantons when the full banner was not available for display, although there is overlap; Unterwalden and Solothurn share the same colours, as do Basel and Appenzell, and with the accession of the modern cantons, Valais and Basel-City, and St. Gallen and Thurgau.Louis, Mühlemann, Wappen und Fahnen der Schweiz, 700 Jahre Confoederatio Helvetica, Lengnau, 3rd ed. 1991. Swiss Armed Forces, Fahnenreglement, Reglement 51.340 d (2007). . Standesfarben listed for the Tagsatzung of 1807: Der aufrichtige und wohlerfahrene Schweizer-Bote 4 (1807), 190f.

Nr.Order of precedence, enumerating the 22 cantons of the 1848 constitution (Jura as nr. 23). Nr. 1–8 are the Eight Cantons, nr. 1–13 the Thirteen Cantons. Name COAFlagColoursBlazon DateDate of introduction of the flag or coat of arms; see cantons of Switzerland for a list of cantons by date of accession to the Swiss Confederacy. Capital 1 Zurich Per bend argent and azure 13th c. Zürich 2 Bern Gules, on a bend or a bear passant sable armed, langued, and pizzled of the field 13th c. Bern 3 Lucerne Per pale azure and argent (flag: Per fess argent and azure) 14th c. Lucerne 4 Uri Or, a bull's head cabossed sable langued and nose-ringed gules 13th c.founding forest-canton, foundation date traditionally given as either 1307, 1304 or 1291 (see Foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy). Altdorf 5 Schwyz Gules, in sinister chief a cross couped argent (flag: Gules, in dexter chief a cross couped argent) 13th c.; 17th c. (modern coa) Schwyz 6a Obwalden Per fess gules and argent, a key paleways counterchanged 13th c. (as part of Unterwalden); 17th c. (modern coa) Sarnen 6b Nidwalden Gules, a key paleways with two shafts argent 13th c. (as part of Unterwalden); 17th c. (modern coa) Stans 7 Glarus Gules, a pilgrim walking towards the dexter argent, habited sable, holding in his dexter hand a staff, in his sinister hand a bible, and about his head a halo, all or 14th c. Glarus 8 Zug Argent, a fess azure 1319 Zug 9 Fribourg black and white, before 1815 (and partly until 1830) black and blue. Per fess sable and argent 1470s (banner); 1830 (coa) Fribourg 10 Solothurn Per fess gules and argent 1443 Solothurn 11a Basel-Stadt Argent, a crosier paleways sable 13th c. Basel 11b Basel-Landschaft Argent, a crosier with seven crockets paleways to sinister gules 1834 Liestal 12 Schaffhausen Or, a ram salient sable horned, crowned, unguled, and pizzled of the field, and langued gules 1218 Schaffhausen 13a Appenzell Innerrhoden Argent, a bear rampant sable armed, langued, and pizzled gules 15th c. (as Appenzell) Appenzell 13b Appenzell Ausserrhoden Argent, a bear rampant sable armed, langued, and pizzled gules, between the letters V and R sable 15th c. (as Appenzell); 17th c. (modern coa) HerisauTrogen Seat of government and parliament is Herisau, the seat of the judicial authorities is Trogen 14 St. Gallen Vert, a fasces paleways argent banded of the field 1803Act of Mediation; formed out of the Canton of Säntis and the northern half of the Canton of Linth. St. Gallen 15 Grisons black-white-blue according to the 2007 Fahnenreglement; historically also grey-white-blue.Per fess and in chief per pale: first per pale sable and argent; second quarterly azure and or, a cross counterchanged; third argent, an ibex rampant sable langued and pizzled gules 15th c. (Three Leagues); 1933 (modern coa) Chur 16 Aargau Per pale, the first sable, three bars wavy argent; the second azure, three stars argent 1803Act of Mediation; created from the 1798-invented cantons of Aargau (previously land controlled by Bern) and Baden (previously a Swiss condominium), together with Fricktal (before 1802 not Swiss territory). Aarau 17 Thurgau Per bend argent and vert, two lions passant bendways or langued and pizzled gules 1803Act of Mediation; coterminous with the canton of Thurgau of the Helvetic Republic (1798), formerly a condominium. FrauenfeldSeat of parliament half-yearly alternates between Frauenfeld and Weinfelden 18 Ticino Per pale gules and azure (flag: Per fess gules and azure) 1803Act of Mediation; combining the former cantons of Bellinzona and Lugano; see Ennetbirgische Vogteien. Bellinzona 19 Vaud Per fess argent and vert, in chief the words 'Liberté et Patrie' or 1803Act of Mediation, formerly Canton of Léman. Lausanne 20 Valais Per pale argent and gules, thirteen stars counterchanged 1571;Coat of arms of the République des Sept-Dizains with seven stars. 1815 (modern coa) Sion 21 Neuchâtel green-white-red, formerly red-yellow. Per pale vert and gules, a pale and in sinister chief a cross couped, both argent 1857Coat of arms introduced in the aftermath of the Neuchâtel Crisis of 1856–1857. Neuchâtel 22 Geneva Per pale: first or, an eagle with two heads dimidiated per pale sable crowned, armed, and beaked gules; second gules, a key paleways or 15th c. Geneva 23 Jura Per pale: first argent, a crosier gules; second gules, three bars argent 1979seceded from Berne Delémont Swiss Confederation Gules, a Cross couped Argent 14th c. (Swiss cross); 1815 (modern coa) (Bern )The Swiss constitution does not designate a capital. Bern was designated as "seat of the federal administration" in 1848, and referred to as "federal city" (German: , French: , Italian: ).

Heraldic charges Of the 26 cantons since 1999 (22 cantons in 1848, accession of Jura in 1979, three half-cantons designated "canton" in 1999): six flags are simple bicolor designs, per fess (Lucerne, Fribourg, Solothurn, Ticino), per bend (Zürich) or with a central fess (Zug). The coats of arms of Ticino and Lucerne have the peculiarity that they are per pale even though the flags are per fess. eight flags with heraldic animals: the bear for Bern and for Appenzell (both Innerrhoden and Ausserrhoden) the bull for Uri the ram for Schaffhausen the ibex for Graubünden (at the time only one of three coats of arms shown side by side for the Three Leagues) the eagle () for Geneva two lions for Thurgau three with the bishop's crozier or Baselstab, for Basel (Basel-City and Basel-Country) and Jura three with a key (Keys of Heaven), for Unterwalden (both Obwalden and Nidwalden) and for Geneva two cantons show the Swiss cross, for Schwyz on solid red, and for Neuchâtel in the corner of the "revolutionary" tricolour two with stars, Valais and Aargau, the latter with additional wavy lines representing rivers two with letters for Appenzell Ausserrhoden (VR for Ussere Rhoden) and Vaud (inscription 'Liberté et Patrie'). the image of a pilgrim (Saint Fridolin) for Glarus the fasces for St. Gallen

Distinctively, Swiss cantons use square flags.

History

Historically, the number of cantons was: eight from 1352 to 1481, see Eight Cantons thirteen from 1513 to 1798, see Thirteen Cantons twenty during the time of the Helvetic Republic, from 1798 to 1803, without official flags or coats of arms twenty-two from 1848 to 1978, including three cantons divided into two half-cantons each twenty-three from 1979 to 1999, due to the secession of the canton of Jura from Bern.

Nidwalden and Obwalden form traditional subdivisions of Unterwalden. Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, as well as Appenzell Inner- and Ausserrhoden, are half cantons, resulting from the division of Basel and Appenzell, respectively. The Swiss Federal Constitution of 1999 abandoned the use of the term "half-canton" as an official designation, so that the official number of cantons became 26 - the former half-cantons being now referred to as "cantons with half a cantonal vote" officially, even though they are still commonly referred to as "half-cantons".

With the exception of Lucerne, Schwyz and Ticino, the cantonal flags are simply transposed versions of the cantonal coats of arms. In case of Lucerne and Ticino, whose flags consist of fields of different colours divided per fess (horizontally), the coats of arms are of the same colours divided per pale (vertically). The coat of arms of Schwyz has the cross moved from the (hoist) canton to the sinister canton with respect to the flag.

The coats of arms of the Thirteen Cantons are based on medieval signs, originating as war flags and as emblems used on seals. For war flags, a distinction was made between Banner and Fähnlein, the former was the large war flag used only in the case of a full levy of cantonal troops for a major operation. The latter was a smaller flag used for minor military expeditions. The Banner was considered a sacred possession, usually kept in a church. Losing the banner to an enemy force was a great shame and invited mockery from other cantons.

Pope Julius II in recognition of the support he received from Swiss mercenaries against France in 1512 granted the Swiss the title of Ecclesiasticae libertatis defensores and gave them two large banners, besides a blessed sword and hat. Papal legate Matthias Schiner in addition gave to the Swiss cantons and their associates a total of 42 costly silk banners with augmentations, the so-called Juliusbanner. Some of these banners survive, of the cantonal ones notably those of Zürich and Solothurn.

The fashion of arranging cantonal insignia in shields (escutcheons) as coats of arms arises in the late 15th century. The Tagsatzung in Baden was presented with stained glass representations of all cantons . In these designs, two cantonal escutcheons were shown side by side, below a shield bearing the Imperial Eagle and a crown, flanked by two banner-bearers. Based on these, there arose a tradition of representing cantonal arms in stained glass (Standesscheiben), alive throughout the early modern period and continued in the modern state.

Zürich The flag of Zürich is derived from a blue-and-white design attested since the 1220s, the diagonal division of the flag is first attested 1389.

The flag of Zürich was adorned by a red Schwenkel since 1273. This was regarded as a mark of sovereignty and honour by the people of Zürich, but the Schwenkel was otherwise used as a mark of "shame", identifying replacement flags used after a real flag was captured by an enemy This led to a misunderstanding after the Battle of Nancy, when the Duke of Lorraine removed the Schwenkel from the Zürich flag, stating that with the present victory, Zürich had "erased its shame". The perplexed Zürich troops later quietly re-attached the Schwenkel.

Zürich attached the Swiss cross in the red Schwenkel rather than in the main flag, and this may have contributed to the development of the flag of Switzerland (placing the white cross in a red field by default).

Bern

The city of Bern is a Zähringer foundation of 1160. In the 13th century, its flag showed a black bear in a white field, changed to the current red-and-yellow diagonal arrangement in 1289. Bern also had a war flag with a simple red-and-black horizontal division. The cantonal colours remain red and black.

Lucerne The blue-and-white flag is attested from 1386.