Switzerland is a federation of 26 partly sovereign states called cantons. Each raises its own taxes and has a different educational system, and most differ from their neighbors either by language or religion. There are significant regional differences in culture and customs, even within such a small country (the size of the US state of Tennessee).

Contents of this section:

• Zurich
• Basle
• Primitive Switzerland
• Bern
• Geneva
• Ticino
• Liechtenstein
• Roestigraben, a mythical barrier between Swiss Germans and French Swiss