HISTORY:
The Canton of Ticino takes
its name from the Ticino River which runs into Lake Maggiore from the north.
About 500 BC the Celts and
Helvetii tribes lived in north and west Switzerland and by 100BC the Roman
culture started to blossom. About the year 260 AD Germanic Alemanni entered
Switzerland followed by the German Burgundians who settled in the west
in 443 AD.
By 600 Churraetie and Alemannia
had become part of the Franconian Empire. At the same time the country
was Christianised and in 800 became part of the Holy Roman Empire. About
1200 the St Gotthard Pass was traversed opening up the Alpine valleys to
the trade routes. Throughout the 1300s various regions joined the Swiss
Confederation and in 1414 it expanded to include Ticino.
The administration of the
Italian-speaking baillifs in Ticino was a blemish on the character of the
old Swiss Confederation and the countryside fell into neglect.
Lugano, Locarno, Mendrisio
and the Maggia-Valley were a gift of Maximilian Sforza of the Duchy of
Milano due to the liberation of Milan in 1512. In 1515 after the defeat
at Marignano Switzerland's famous neutrality began. After the Thirty Years
Way (1618-1648) the Peace of Westphalia gave legal recognition to Switzerland's
independence.
In1798, the Ticino area requested
to remain with the Helvetic Republic instead of becoming part of Napoleon's
Cisalpinian Republic which emerged in 1803. Napoleon's Mediation Act settled
much of the civil strife creating 19 cantons including that of Ticino/Tessin.
At Napoleon's defeat in 1815 the Swiss Federation was enlarged to 22 cantons
and Europe's big powers guaranteed Switzerland's territory and recognized
the nation's permanent neutrality.
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