Move the slider to any year. Inside today's Switzerland every historic territory is coloured by its status in that year: full member canton, associate (zugewandter Ort), subject land or common bailiwick, the Helvetic Republic, annexed by France, or under another power; before the Roman conquest the Celtic and Alpine peoples are shown. Around it, the states of the region are drawn from a dataset of historical borders, green where they ruled the Swiss lands in the current chapter. 30 chapters carry the story, and the slider is stretched so that the dense modern centuries get more room than the long ancient ones. Hover a territory for its status; click a neighbouring state to open its Wikipedia article.

Boundaries are approximate. The historic units are assembled from modern district boundaries, so each carries a single acquisition date and small lordships are simplified; the tribal areas before 15 BCE are indicative only. The dashed line is the border of modern Switzerland, for orientation only.