Geography of Switzerland rolling hills and plains of the plateau. The smaller Jura Mountains are located on the north west side of the plateau. Much of the northern border with Germany follows the Rhine, though the Rhine enters Switzerland near Schaffhausen. The eastern border with Germany and a portion of Austria is drawn through Lake Constance (). A portion of the southwest border with France is drawn through Lake Geneva. Switzerland is divided into 26 sovereign cantons. The cantons along the Swiss Plateau tend to be the most populous, industrial and religiously Protestant. The cantons in the Alps tend to be less populous,
Cantons of Switzerland that remains in popular use, the 1999 revision and official terminology since then use the appellation "cantons with half of a cantonal vote". The reasons for the existence of the three pairs of half-cantons are varied: With their original circumstances of partition now a historical matter, the half-cantons are since 1848 equal to the other cantons in all but two respects: Between 1831 and 1833 the canton of Schwyz divided into half-cantons: (Inner) Schwyz and the break-away Outer Schwyz; in this instance the half-cantons were forced by the Confederation to settle their disputes and re-unite. In the 20th century, some