Local names | Canton du Valais Kanton Wallis |
---|---|
Short name | Valais |
German name | Wallis |
Lat deg | 46 |lat_min 4 |
Lon deg | 7 |lon_min 36 |
Capital | Sion |
Area | 5224 |
Area rank | 3rd |
Population rank | 9th |
Since | 1815 |
Abbr | VS |
Languages | French, German |
Executive | Conseil d'Etat, Staatsrat |
Executive members | 5 |
Legislative | Grand Council |
Parliament members | 130 |
Highest | Monte Rosa |
Highest m | 4634 |
Lowest | Lake Geneva |
Lowest m | 372 |
Municipalities number | 143 |
Districts designation | districts, Bezirke |
Districts number | 13 |
King Rudolph III of Burgundy gave the lands to the Bishop of Sion in 999, making him Count of the Valais. The count-bishops then struggled to defend their area against the dukes of Savoy, so that the medieval history of the Valais is inextricably linked with that of the diocese of Sion.
The Valais resisted the Protestant Reformation, remaining faithful to the Roman Catholic Church. On March 12, 1529, Valais became an associate member (Zugewandter Ort) of the Swiss Confederation. In 1628 the Valais became a republic, the République des Sept Dizains/Republik der Sieben Zehenden under the guidance of the prince-bishop of Sion and the bailli. The bishop remained in power until 1798 when Napoleon's troops invaded the Valais and declared a Revolutionary République du Valais (March 16) which was swiftly incorporated (May 1) into the Helvetic Republic until 1802 when it became the separate Rhodanic Republic. In 1810 the Rhodanic Republic was annexed by Napoleonic France as the département of Simplon. Independence was restored in 1813, and on August 4, 1815 the Valais finally entered the Swiss confederation as a canton. In 1845, the Valais joined the Catholic separate league (Sonderbund) which led to what is called the Sonderbund War. 99,000 Swiss Federal troops under General Henri Dufour were faced by 79,000 Separatists, but in the end the Valais chose not to fight.
The wide, glacial Rhône valley dominates the area. There are many side valleys which branch off the main valley. These vary from narrow and remote to reasonably populous and popular. At the head of the Mattertal valley lies Zermatt, a pretty tourist village dominated by views of the Matterhorn (4,478 m). Fifty of the mountains exceed 4,000 m with the highest, Monte Rosa, reaching to , and there are numerous glaciers including several of the largest in the Alps.
The Rhône drains almost the entire canton and flows in the main valley from east to west down to Martigny, then in a right angle north to its mouth in Lake Geneva. After the small town of Saint-Maurice, the northern banks of the river belong to the canton of Vaud. However two areas are located on the south side of the Alps and are drained by the Po river: the valley south of the Simplon Pass and the small area south of the Great St. Bernard Pass. The main valley is bounded by the Bernese Alps in the north and the Pennine Alps in the south. Other ranges situated partially in Valais are the Chablais Alps, the Mont Blanc Massif, the Urner Alps and the Lepontine Alps. Only about half of the total area is considered productive.
Lower Valais:
The canton is thinly populated. Its population (as of ) is . , the population included 57,061 foreigners, or about 19.1% of the total population. The largest towns are the capital Sion (Sitten), Monthey, Sierre, Martigny and Brig. There is no major city located in the canton. 81% of the population is Roman Catholic while only 6% are Protestant.
Wine and fruit cognacs, e.g. "Williamine" production and tourism are some of the main industries of the canton. The Matterhorn near Zermatt is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Swiss mountains, as is its sister valley immediately east Saas Fee. Other parts of the mountains of the canton further west are popular as well, such as the more French-speaking resorts near Verbier and the Evolene and Arolla region. The resorts on the north side of the main Rhône river valley are popular, looking out southwards towards the Peninne Alps and still part of the southern slope of the Bernese Alps, such as the family-oriented resort of Crans-Montana. The resorts in the Goms region are slightly less known, yet also receive attention during the summer hiking season and the winter ski season.
Apart from tourism, agriculture is still important, particularly cattle breeding in the mountains and dairy farming in the plains. The wine industry of the canton is the largest in Switzerland. There are also a large number orchards in the area, and saffron is also gathered here.
Europe's tallest gravity dam is located at Grande Dixence in the canton. Hydroelectric power plants from the canton produce about a quarter of Swiss electricity.
The west part and the most industrial region of the canton is called Chablais. The area is very important for the economy. The lands from the Valais part of Lake Geneva to the town of St-Maurice are located in the Chablais. There are a lot of factories, the most important are the subsidiaries of Novartis and Syngenta, in Monthey. In the town of Collombey-Muraz, there is an oil refinery.
Near Visp there is a large aluminium processing plant. Other metal products and chemicals are produced around Visp and Sierre.
Because of the tourism there are many mountain railways and cable cars in the mountains. The scenic rail route across the Furka Pass originates in the canton of Valais.
Category:Cantons of Switzerland Category:Cantons of the Helvetic Republic Category:Wine regions of Switzerland Category:Arpitany
als:Kanton Wallis ar:كانتون فاليز an:Cantón d'o Valais frp:Canton du Valês zh-min-nan:Valais Chiu be:Кантон Вале be-x-old:Вале bs:Valais br:Valais ca:Valais cs:Valais cy:Valais da:Valais de:Kanton Wallis et:Valais' kanton es:Cantón del Valais eo:Kantono Valezo eu:Valais kantonamendua fa:ایالت وله fr:Canton du Valais gl:Valais ko:발레 주 (스위스) id:Kanton Valais is:Valais it:Canton Vallese he:ואלה sw:Valais la:Valesia lt:Valė ln:Kanton ya Mbwaku lmo:Canton Vales mr:व्हाले nl:Wallis (kanton) ja:ヴァレー州 no:Wallis nn:Valais oc:Canton de Valés pnb:ویلائس pl:Valais pt:Valais (cantão) ro:Cantonul Valais rm:Chantun Vallais ru:Вале (кантон) sq:Kanton Wallis scn:Canton Vallisi simple:Valais sr:Кантон Вале fi:Valais sv:Valais tr:Valais (kanton) uk:Вале (кантон) vec:Canton Vałexe vi:Valais (bang) war:Valais zh:瓦莱州This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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