Cantons of Switzerland it was widely seen as anti-EU rhetoric rather than a serious proposal. The motion was eventually dropped and not even examined by the parliament. Cantons of Switzerland The 26 cantons of Switzerland (, , , ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte. Two further major steps in the development of the Swiss cantonal system are referred to by the terms "Acht Orte" ("Eight Cantons"; between 1353 and 1481) and "Dreizehn Orte" ("Thirteen Cantons",during 1513–1798); they
Cantons of Switzerland Confederacy was composed of 13 sovereign confederate allies (the Thirteen Cantons; ), and there were two different kinds: five rural states () – Uri, Schwyz (which became eponymous of the confederacy), Unterwalden, Glarus, Appenzell – and eight urban states () – Zürich, Bern, Luzern, Zug, Basel, Fribourg, Solothurn, Schaffhausen. Though they were technically part of the Holy Roman Empire, they had become "de facto" independent when the Swiss defeated Emperor Maximillian in 1499 in Dornach. In the early modern period, the individual confederate allies came to be seen as republics; while the six traditional allies had a tradition of direct