In Swiss politics and the history of the Old Swiss Confederacy, a is the body of

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

population in a certain

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

(as it were English '' dale

-ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

''). The grouping of voters by valley rather than

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

is a tradition harking back to before the establishment of the current administrative divisions with the foundation of Switzerland as a federal state in 1848. A will typically include voters of several municipalities. For example, the of Lauterbrunnen Valley includes the voting population of the municipalities of

Lauterbrunnen , neighboring_municipalities= Aeschi bei Spiez, Blatten (Lötschen) (VS), Fieschertal (VS), Grindelwald, Gündlischwand, Kandersteg, Lütschental, Reichenbach im Kandertal, Saxeten, Wilderswil , twintowns = } Lauterbrunnen is a village ...

Wengen Wengen () is a mountain village in the Bernese Oberland of central Switzerland. Located in the canton of Bern at an elevation of above sea level, it is part of the Jungfrauregion and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells to ...

Mürren Mürren is a traditional Walser mountain village in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland, at an elevation of above sea level and it cannot be reached by public road. It is also one of the popular tourist spots in Switzerland, and summer and w ...

Stechelberg Stechelberg is a small village in Switzerland located at the base of the Schwarzmönch mountain in the Bernese Alps, part of the district of Lauterbrunnen. History The name "Stächelbärg" is first recorded in 1749 to describe this part of the v ...

Gimmelwald Gimmelwald is a small traffic free village in the Bernese Oberland in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, and is located between Stechelberg and Mürren, at an elevation of 1363 meters (4472 feet). The village is at the foot of the UNESCO World Heri ...

and

Isenfluh Isenfluh is a hamlet in Switzerland, north of the road from Wilderswil to Lauterbrunnen. It is first mentioned in 1319 as ''Ysenfluo'' and in 1401 people from the Lötschental started to settle in the small hamlet. The hamlet belonged to the mon ...

. Similarly, the of Hasli consists of six municipalities, Gadmen,

Guttannen Guttannen is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Origin of the name Guttannen is the name of a meadow, which became the name of the municipality. It comes from the phrase ''ze ...

, Hasliberg,

Innertkirchen Innertkirchen is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipality of Gadmen merged into the municipality of Innertkirchen.

Meiringen Meiringen () is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Besides the village of Meiringen, the municipality includes the settlements of Balm, Brünigen, Eisenbolgen, Hausen, Prasti, ...

and Schattenhalb. In this case, the is coterminous with the Bernese

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Oberhasli The Oberhasli is a historical '' Landvogtei'' or ''Talschaft'' in the Bernese Highlands, Switzerland, bordering on the cantons of Obwalden (OW), Nidwalden (NW), Uri (UR) and Wallis (VS). From 1833 to 2009, Oberhasli was incorporated as the O ...

. Historically, is the traditional German translation of the Latin term in the

Federal Charter of 1291 The Federal Charter or Letter of Alliance (german: Bundesbrief) is one of the earliest constitutional documents of Switzerland. A treaty of alliance from 1291 between the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, the Charter is one of a series ...

, literally 'the people of the valley'. Thus, the enumeration of the Confederates, : is rendered as :"the people of the Uri, the entirety of the valley of

Schwyz The town of Schwyz (; french: Schwytz; it, Svitto) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ' ...

and the community of people of the of

Unterwalden Unterwalden, translated from the Latin ''inter silvas''(''between the forests''), is the old name of a forest-canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne, consisting of two valleys or '' Talschaften'', no ...

References

See also