Switzerland

Early history
Main articles: Early history of Switzerland and Switzerland in the Roman era
The oldest traces of hominid existence in Switzerland date back about 150,000 years.[20] The oldest known farming settlements in Switzerland, which were found at Gächlingen, have been dated to around 5300 BC.[20]

Founded in 44 BC, Augusta Raurica was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is nowamongst the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.[21]
The earliest known cultural tribes of the area were members of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures, named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel. La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC,[20] possibly under some influence from the Greek and Etruscancivilisations. One of the most important tribal groups in the Swiss region was the Helvetii. In 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesar's armies defeated the Helvetii.[20] In 15 BC, Tiberius, who was destined to be the second Roman emperor and his brother, Drusus, conquered the Alps, integrating them into the Roman Empire. The area occupied by the Helvetii—the namesakes of the laterConfoederatio Helvetica—first became part of Rome's Gallia Belgica province and then of its Germania Superior province, while the eastern portion of modern Switzerland was integrated into the Roman province of Raetia.
In the Early Middle Ages, from the 4th century, the western extent of modern-day Switzerland was part of the territory of the Kings of the Burgundians. The Alemanni settled the Swissplateau in the 5th century and the valleys of the Alps in the 8th century, forming Alemannia. Modern-day Switzerland was therefore then divided between the kingdoms of Alemannia and Burgundy.[20] The entire region became part of the expanding Frankish Empire in the 6th century, following Clovis I's victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504 AD, and later Frankish domination of the Burgundians.[22][23]Throughout the rest of the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries the Swiss regions continued under Frankish hegemony (Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties). But after its extension under Charlemagne, the Frankish empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843.[20] The territories of present day Switzerland became divided into Middle Francia and East Francia until they were reunified under the HolyRoman Empire around 1000 AD.[20]
By 1200, the Swiss plateau comprised the dominions of the houses of Savoy, Zähringer, Habsburg and Kyburg.[20] Some regions (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, later known as Waldstätten) were accorded the Imperial immediacy to grant the empire direct control over the mountain passes. When the Kyburg dynasty fell in 1264 AD, the Habsburgs under King Rudolph I (Holy RomanEmperor in 1273) extended their territory to the eastern Swiss plateau.[22]
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Old Swiss Confederacy
Main article: Old Swiss Confederacy
Further information: Growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy, Reformation in Switzerland, and Early Modern Switzerland

Federal charter of 1291
The Old Swiss Confederacy was an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps. The Confederacyfacilitated management of common interests (free trade) and ensured peace on the important mountain trade routes. The Federal Charter of 1291 agreed between the rural communes of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden is considered the confederacy's founding document, even though similar alliances are likely to have existed decades earlier.[24][25]

The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark grey) to the sixteenthcentury (light grey) and its associates (blue)
By 1353, the three original cantons had joined with the cantons of Glarus and Zug and the Lucerne, Zurich and Bern city states to form the "Old Confederacy" of eight states that existed until the end of the 15th century. The expansion led to increased power and wealth for the federation.[25] By 1460, the confederates controlled most of the...