The German speaking part of Switzerland (German: Deutschschweiz) comprises about 65 % of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switzerland, most of the Swiss plateau and the greater part of the Swiss Alps) The Swiss plateau (plateau suisse in French, Schweizer Mittelland in German) constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura mountains and the Alps. ... Chief peaks and mountain passes in the Swiss Alps: Regions Bernese Oberland  with chief peaks and moutain passes from Lake Geneva to the Furka, the Reuss Valley and Lake Lucerne; Lepontine Alps  from the Simplon to the Splugen and south of the Furka and Oberalp Passes; from the St Gotthard...

In most Swiss cantons, German is the only official language (Aargau, Appenzell, Basel, Glarus, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Uri, Zug, Zurich). Aargau (German Aargau, French Argovie, Italian Argovia, Romansh Argovia, in English sometimes Argovia) is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. ... Alternate uses: see Appenzell (disambiguation) Appenzell is a region in Switzerland consisting of the cantons Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, both are surrounded by the canton of St. ... Location within Switzerland Basel (English traditionally: Basle , German: Basel , French Bâle , Italian Basilea ) is Switzerlands third most populous city (188,000 inhabitants in the canton of Basel-City as of 2004; the 690,000 inhabitants in the conurbation stretching across the immediate cantonal and national boundaries made Basel... Glarus is the capital of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. ... Location within Switzerland View of the city from Lake Lucerne Another view across Lake Lucerne The Lion Monument Lucerne (German: Luzern) is a city in Central Switzerland with a population of 60,274 (December 31, 2003), capital of the Canton of Lucerne. ... Nidwalden is a canton of Switzerland. ... Obwalden is a canton of Switzerland. ... Location within Switzerland Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland; it has an estimated population of 33,700 in 2003. ... The town Schwyz is the capital of the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. ... The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. ... St. ... Thurgau (Thurgovia) is a canton of Switzerland. ... Uri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. ... Zug, capital of the Swiss canton of that name, a picturesque little town at the northeastern corner of the lake of Zug, and at the foot of the Zugerberg (3255 ft. ... General view showing Grossmünster church. ...

The canton Bern has a French minority, in Fribourg and Valais, German has minority status. In the canton Grison, more than half of the population speaks German, which is together with Italian and Romansh official language. Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ... Fribourg (French: Fribourg, German: Freiburg or Freiburg im Üechtland) is a city in the country of Switzerland and the capital of the Swiss Canton of Fribourg on the river named Saane (in German) or Sarine (in French). ... The Valais (also known in German as Wallis) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the south-western part of the country, in the Pennine Alps around the valley of the Rhone River from its springs to Lake Geneva. ... Romansh (also spelled Rumantsch, Romansch or Romanche) is any of the various Rhaetian languages spoken in Switzerland. ...

While the French speaking Swiss prefer Romands and Romandie, the German speaking Swiss refer commonly to the French speaking Swiss as "Welsche" and to their area as Welschland, which has the same ethymology as the English Welsh. In Germany Welsch and Welschland are antiquated, rarely used, and somewhat disparaging and refer to Italy. Romandy (in French and German Romandie), or la Suisse romande, is the French-speaking part of Switzerland. ... Welsh is an adjective that may refer to: Of or relating to Wales The Welsh language The Welsh people Welsh may also refer to several places in the United States: Welsh, Arkansas Welsh, Louisiana Welsh, Ohio The verb to welsh means to swindle by not paying a debt, although some...

Contrary to the Italian and French speaking Swiss, the German speaking Swiss do not feel very close to their neighbours on the other side of the Swiss frontier, though the Alemannic dialects on both sides of the Rhine are similar. The reasons for this are mainly historical, as the German part of Switzerland has factually been separated from the rest of the German speaking areas since the late middle ages and officially since the peace of Westphalia. Another factor is the status of the dialect. High German is the official language and is used in writing and to a great part by the media, but the spoken language in Switzerland in all social classes is almost exclusively Swiss German (more precisely one of the Swiss German dialects) - in Germany, people with higher education seldem speak a marked dialect. The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster by Gerard Terborch (1648) Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Münster by Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1648 The Peace of Westphalia, also known as the treaties of Münster and Osnabrück, is the series... Italic text Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzertütsch, Schwizertitsch) is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. ...

Politically, the rural German speaking Swiss have a marked conservative tendency: they do not favor an entry into the European union and vote in general against centralization and state intervention. An exception are the big cities like Zurich and Basel, which are more open and politically more to the left. On country level, this matter though, only in Basel-Stadt with a 100% urban population, while the city of Zurich is politically a minority in the conservative canton of Zurich. This shows especially in votes on constitutional matters, where the many small conservative rural German speaking cantons dominate the more open cities and the French and Italian areas.

The German speaking Swiss do not feel as a uniform group - the average German speaking Swiss feels foremost belonging to Solothurn, St. Gallen, or Uri and sees himself not speaking Swiss German but the Baseldytsch (dialect of Basel), Bärndütsch (dialect of Bern) or Züridütsch (dialect of Zurich). The marked subsidiarity of the Swiss federalism where many political decisions are taken at municipal or cantonal level supports this attitude. Subsidiarity is the idea that matters should be handled by the lowest competent authority. ... Federalism is a system of government in which power is constitutionally divided between a central authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces). ...

The German speaking part of Switzerland has no monolithic culture. Already in the middle ages there was a marked difference between the rural cantons and the city cantons focusing on trade and commerce. After the reformation, all cantons were either Catholic or Protestant and the denominational influences on culture added to the differences. Even today, where all cantons are somewhat denominationally mixed, the different historical denominations can be seen in the mountain villages, where Central Switzerland abounds with chapels and statues of saints and the farm houses in the very similar landscape of the Bernese Oberland show instead Bible verses carved on the houses. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ...

See also: Romandie, Röstigraben Romandy (in French and German Romandie), or la Suisse romande, is the French-speaking part of Switzerland. ...