| Canton of Oberland Kanton Oberland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canton of theHelvetic Republic | |||||||||
| 1798–1803 | |||||||||
 TheHelvetic Republic, as at the constitution of 12 April 1798, showing the canton of Oberland in brown. The Canton of Bern (purple) is directly north of Oberland and the Canton of Wallis (olive) is south. | |||||||||
| Capital | Thun | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 12 April 1798 | |||||||||
| 19 February | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Switzerland | ||||||||
Oberland (Swiss Standard German pronunciation:[ˈoːbərlant]ⓘ, "Highlands") was the name of acanton of theHelvetic Republic (1798–1803), corresponding to the area of theBernese Oberland, with its capital atThun.
After theFrench invasion of Switzerland in 1798, the old Bernese order was broken up and the Oberland separated from the rest of the canton. Within the new canton, historic borders and traditional rights were not considered. As there had been no previous separatist feeling amongst the conservative population, there was little enthusiasm for the new order.
The 1801Malmaison Constitution proposed reuniting the Oberland with Bern, but it was not until theAct of Mediation, two years later, with the abolition of the Helvetic Republic and the partial restoration of theancien régime, that the two cantons were reunited.[1]
During its short-lived existence, the canton was administered in tendistricts, each named for the district seat, except where shown:
Aeschi
Brienz
Frutigen
Interlaken (district seat:Wilderswil)
Oberhasli (Meiringen)
Saanen
Upper Simmental (Zweisimmen)
Lower Simmental (Erlenbach)
Thun
Unterseen
