Flags and arms of cantons of Switzerland there is overlap; Unterwalden and Solothurn share the same colours, as do Basel and Appenzell, and with the accession of the modern cantons, Valais and Basel-City, and St. Gallen and Thurgau. Of the 26 cantons since 1999 (22 cantons in 1848, accession of Jura in 1979, three half-cantons designated "canton" in 1999): Distinctively, Swiss cantons use square flags. Historically, the number of cantons was: Nidwalden and Obwalden form traditional subdivisions of Unterwalden. Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, as well as Appenzell Inner- and Ausserrhoden, are half cantons, resulting from the division of Basel and Appenzell, respectively. The Swiss Federal Constitution of 1999
Cantons of Switzerland until the late 15th century. "Ort" was increasingly replaced by "Stand" (plural: "Stände") "estate" about 1550, a term taken to imply liberty and sovereignty. Abolished in the Helvetic Republic, the term was revived in 1815 and remains in use today. The French term "canton" adopted into German after 1648, and then only in occasional use until the early 19th century: prominent usage of "Ort" and "Stand" gradually disappeared in German-speaking Switzerland from the time of the Helvetic Republic. Only with the Act of Mediation of 1803 did German "Kanton" become an official designation, retained in the Swiss Constitution of 1848.