Canton of St. Gallen

The canton of St. Gallen, also canton of St Gall (German: Kanton St. Gallen Sankt Gallen ; Romansh: Chantun Son Gagl; French: Canton de Saint-Gall; Italian: Canton San Gallo), is a canton of Switzerland. The capital is St. Gallen.

Canton of St. Gallen
Kanton Sankt Gallen (German)
Canton of St Gall
Canton
Flag
Coat of arms
Location in Switzerland
Map of St. Gallen

Coordinates: 47°20′N 9°10′E
CapitalSt. Gallen
Subdivisions77 municipalities, 8 districts
Government
 • ExecutiveRegierung (7)
 • LegislativeKantonsrat (180)
Area
[1]
 • Total2,030.75 km2 (784.08 sq mi)
Population
 (December 2020)[2]
 • Total514,504
 • Density250/km2 (660/sq mi)
ISO 3166 codeCH-SG
Highest point3,248 m (10,656 ft): Ringelspitz
Lowest point396 m (1,299 ft): Lake Constance
Joined1803
LanguagesGerman
Websitewww.sg.ch

Located in northeastern Switzerland, the canton has an area of 2,026 km2 (782 sq mi) (5% of Switzerland) and a resident population close to half a million as of 2015 (6% of Switzerland). It was formed in 1803 as a conflation of the city of St. Gallen, the territories of the Abbey of St. Gall and various former subject territories of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

History
Map of the historical territories now united in the Canton of St. Gallen: Imperial City of St. Gallen, Imperial Abbey of St. Gallen, County of Toggenburg, Rapperswil, Uznach, Windegg (Gaster), County of Sargans, Pfäfers Abbey, Werdenberg, Lordship of Hohensax, Barony of Sax-Forstegg and Rheintal.

The canton of St. Gallen is an artificial construct of various historical territories, defined by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Act of Mediation in 1803. About half of the canton's area corresponds to the acquisitions of the abbey of St. Gallen over centuries.

The city of St. Gallen became independent of the abbey in 1405. At the same time, the abbey lost control of Appenzell. Conversely, the Toggenburg was acquired by the Abbey in 1468.

Both the city and the abbey were associates (Zugewandte Orte) of the Old Swiss Confederacy, but unlike Appenzell never joined as full members.

The territories at Lake Zürich, Walensee and Rheintal remained independent until 1798. In the Helvetic Republic, the northern parts of the modern canton together with Appenzell became the canton of Säntis, while its southern parts together with Glarus became the canton of Linth.

Before the 1798 French invasion, the territory of the modern canton consisted of the free city of St. Gallen, the territories of the Abbey of St. Gallen (including Fürstenland and Toggenburg), the free city of Rapperswil, Pfäfers Abbey, Sargans and the independent lordships (bailiwicks) of Rheintal, Sax-Forstegg, Hohensax, Werdenberg, Windegg and Uznach.

In April 1798, the territories of the later canton of St. Gallen were divided between the cantons of Säntis and Linth of the Helvetic Republic (along with Appenzell, Glarus and parts of Schwyz.

However, the two new Cantons had immediate financial problems and were forced to institute a number of unpopular taxes and laws. The Abbey was secularized on 17 September 1798 and the Prince-Abbot Pankraz Vorster fled to Vienna. The unpopular laws and the closing of the Abbey caused unrest throughout the area. When the War of the Second Coalition broke out in 1799, an Austrian army marched into eastern Switzerland and returned the Prince-Abbot to his throne at the Abbey. However, his victory was short-lived. The Austrian and Russian armies were defeated outside Zürich and the French Army returned to St. Gallen driving the Prince-Abbot out.

In 1803, as part of the Act of Mediation, the area joined the Swiss Confederation as the Canton of St. Gallen.[3]

The cantonal constitution of 1803 was revised in 1814. Because of the confessional heterogeneity of the canton's population, the 1814 constitution did unusually organise matters of religion, marriage and education not on a cantonal level but introduced a twofold division (confessional dualism), with separate Protestant and a Catholic assemblies subordinate to the legislative cantonal assembly (Grosser Rat).

The constitution was revised again in 1831, introducing elements of direct democracy. The constitution of 1831 divided the canton into 15 districts (Bezirke), reduced to 14 in 1918 (fusion of Tablat district with St. Gallen district).

Due to continuing confessional squabbles over the organisation of schools, the canton eventually placed education under its authority in 1861.

The constitution was yet again revised in 1890, with a stronger emphasis on direct democracy.

The 1890 constitution remained in effect, with numerous later changes, until 2001, the date of the latest revision of the cantonal constitution.

In the 2001 constitution, the division into districts was replaced by a division into eight constituencies (Wahlkreise), effective on 1 January 2003.

Geography
Gigerwaldsee, Calfeisental

The canton is located in the north east of Switzerland. It is bounded to the north by Lake Constance (Bodensee). To the east lies the Rhine valley. Over the Rhine are Austria (state of Vorarlberg) and Liechtenstein. To the south, the canton of St. Gallen is bounded by the cantons of Graubünden, Glarus and Schwyz. To the west lie the cantons of Zürich and Thurgau.

The two half cantons Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden are completely surrounded by lands of the canton of St. Gallen.

The main rivers of the canton are the Rhine, Thur, Linth and Seez. The topography changes from the plains, near river Rhine and Lake Constance, towards the mountainous areas of the Alps in the south (Appenzell Alps and Glarus Alps). About one third (619.7 square kilometers (239.3 sq mi)) of the canton is wooded, while nearly half is 9,790.6 km2 (3,780.2 sq mi) is used for farming. 278.6 km2 (107.6 sq mi) of the farm land is alpine pastures. Of the rest of the canton, 259.1 km2 (100.0 sq mi) is considered unproductive while 176 km2 (68 sq mi) is filled with housing or roads.[4]

The altitude above the sea-level varies from 398 m (1,306 ft) (the lake of Constance) to 3,251 m (10,666 ft) (the Ringelspitz). The canton includes portions of the lake of Constance (54 km2 (21 sq mi)), of the Walensee (rather over 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi)), and of the lake of Zürich (10 km2 (3.9 sq mi)), and several small lakes wholly within its limits.[5]

The mountains of the canton include part of a thrust fault that was declared a geologic UNESCO World Heritage Site, under the name Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, in 2008.

Political subdivisions

Constituencies
Wahlkreise

Since 2003 the canton is subdivided into 8 constituencies (Wahlkreise) replacing the districts (Bezirke).

  • Rheintal with capital Altstätten
  • Rorschach with capital Rorschach
  • Sarganserland with capital Sargans
  • See-Gaster with capital Rapperswil-Jona
  • St. Gallen with capital St. Gallen
  • Toggenburg with capital Lichtensteig
  • Werdenberg with capital Buchs
  • Wil with capital Wil

Municipalities

There are 77 municipalities in the canton (As of 2017).[6]

Politics

Federal election results
Percentage of the total vote per party in the canton in the Federal Elections 1971–2015[7]
PartyIdeology197119751979198319871991199519992003200720112015
FDP.The Liberalsa Classical liberalism23.625.127.627.524.020.017.016.914.713.612.314.3
CVP/PDC/PPD/PCD Christian democracy44.043.344.140.839.435.831.026.222.221.420.316.6
SP/PS Social democracy14.615.118.016.311.413.116.217.118.414.716.714.2
SVP/UDC Swiss nationalism* b**1.9**8.427.633.135.831.535.8
Ring of Independents Social liberalism7.08.08.210.210.19.34.11.9****
EVP/PEV Christian democracy3.0*2.1*2.3*1.71.31.52.01.81.8
GLP/PVL Green liberalism0.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.03.16.04.9
BDP/PBD Conservatism**********3.83.6
PdA/PST-POP/PC/PSL Marxism*0.4**********
POCH Progressivism0.40.5**********
GPS/PES Green politics*****6.24.94.07.16.46.45.7
FGA Feminist***3.35.3c******
SD/DS National conservatism*2.2**2.13.12.01.40.80.7*0.3
Rep. Right-wing populism7.05.4**********
EDU/UDF Christian right******1.01.01.11.01.20.9
FPS/PSL Right-wing populism****5.112.610.21.0****
Other 0.3***0.2*3.41.81.31.2*1.9
Voter participation %62.053.545.044.043.642.941.043.642.846.846.846.5
^a FDP before 2009, FDP.The Liberals after 2009
^b "*" indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton.
^c Part of the GPS

Demographics
Almabtrieb at Mels in 2019.

88% of the population is German-speaking.[8] The main centres of population are the capital St. Gallen (69,700 inhabitants), Rapperswil-Jona (27,000), Wil (17,500) and Gossau (17,000). [2] As of 2007, the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population.[9] The majority of the population (as of 2000) is Roman Catholic (52%) while a large minority is Protestant (28%).[10]

Historical population

The historical population is given in the following table:

Historic Population Data[11]
Year Total Population Swiss Non-Swiss Population share
of total country
1850 169 625 166 367 3 258 7.1%
1880 209 719 198 195 11 524 7.4%
1900 250 285 221 841 28 444 7.4%
1950 309 106 289 268 19 838 6.7%
1970 384 475 325 641 58 834 6.1%
2000 452 837 361 904 90 933 6.2%
2020 514,504 6.0%

Economy

Agricultural activity consists predominantly of dairy farming and cattle breeding in the mountainous areas. In the plains fruit and wine production are important, but there is also mixed farming.

Industries of the canton include optical goods, pyrotechnics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Tourism plays an important role in the many resorts. There is a thermal spa in Bad Ragaz and another in St. Margrethen and a great number of winter sports facilities.

Education

Higher educational institutions include the Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil and the University of St. Gallen.

Notes and references
  1. Arealstatistik Land Cover - Kantone und Grossregionen nach 6 Hauptbereichen accessed 27 October 2017
  2. "Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit". bfs.admin.ch (in German). Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  3. St. Gallen (Canton) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. Swiss Federal Statistics Office (2008). "Arealstatistik – Kantonsdaten nach 15 Nutzungsarten". Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  5. Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). "St Gall (canton)" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–4.
  6. "Gemeindestand – Stand vom 02.04.2017". Office fédéral de la statistique. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  7. Nationalratswahlen: Stärke der Parteien nach Kantonen (Schweiz = 100%) (Report). Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 2015. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  8. Federal Department of Statistics (2008). "Wohnbevölkerung nach Hauptsprache, nach Kantonen und Städten". Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
  9. Federal Department of Statistics (2008). "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeit, Geschlecht und Kantonen". Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on December 15, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  10. Federal Department of Statistics (2004). "Wohnbevölkerung nach Religion". Archived from the original (Interactive Map) on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  11. "St. Gallen (Kanton)". Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (in German). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
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