The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland is a project to develop an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland started in 1988. Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 An encyclopedia (alternatively encyclopaedia) is a written compendium of knowledge. ... Since 1848, the Swiss Confederation has been a federal state of relatively autonomous cantons, some of which have a history of confederacy that goes back more than 700 years, arguably putting them among the worlds oldest surviving republics. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The encyclopedia is being edited simultaneously in three national languages of Switzerland: German (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz - HLS), French (Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse - DHS) and Italian (Dizionario Storico della Svizzera - DSS). The first of 12 volumes was published in 2002. An additional volume per year is planned. A single volume with a selection of articles will be published in Romansh (Lexicon Istoric Retic - LIR). Romansh (also spelled Rumantsch, Romansch or Romanche) is any of the various Rhaetian languages spoken in Switzerland. ...

The online edition is available since 1998 and includes all articles ready for publication in print, but no illustrations. It lists the 40,000 topics to be covered.

The 40,000 headings are grouped in:

1. Biographies
2. Articles on families
3. Articles on places (municipalities, cantons, other nation states, fortresses, archeological sites)
4. Subject articles (historical phenomena and terms, institutions, events)

The encyclopedia is published by a foundation under the patronage of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAGW/ASSH) and the Swiss Historical Society (SGG-SHH) and financed by national research grants. Besides a staff of 30 at the central offices, the contributors include 100 academic advisors, 2500 historians and 100 translators.

Print edition

• Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Schwabe AG, Basel, ISBN 3796519008 (2002-)
• Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (DHS), Editions Gilles Attinger, Hauterive, ISBN 2882561334 (2002-)
• Dizionario storico della Svizzera (DSS), Armando Dadò editore, Locarno, ISBN 888281100X (2002-)

External links

• DHS/HLS/DSS online edition in German, French, Italian
• Lexicon Istoric Retic (LIR) online edition in Romansh