FRIBOURG (Ger. Freiburg), one of the Swiss Cantons, in the western portion of the country, taking its name from the town around which the various districts that compose it gradually gathered. Its area is 644 sq.m., of which 568 sq.m. are classed as "productive." It is a hilly region, the highest summits (of which the Vanil Noir, 7,858 ft., is the loftiest) rising in the Gruyere district at its south-eastern extremity, the best known being probably the Moleson (6,582 ft.) and the Berra (5,653 ft.). But it is the heart of pastoral Switzerland and is famed for its cheese and cattle. It is watered by the Sarine or Saane river (with its tributaries the Singine or Sense and the Glane) that flows through the canton from north to south, and traverses its capital town. The upper course of the Broye (like the Sarine, a tributary of the Aar) and that of the Veveyse (flowing to the Lake of Geneva) are in the southern portion of the canton. A small portion of lakes Neuchatel and Morat belongs to the can ton, wherein is the Lac Noir or Schwarzsee. There are sulphur springs near the lake, and at Montbarry and Bonn. The main line from Lausanne to Bern past Fribourg runs through the Can ton with important branch lines in all directions. Pop. (1920) by 1930 census most of whom are Roman Catholics. The canton is on the linguistic frontier in Switzerland, the line of division running nearly due north and south through it, and even through its capital. The German-speaking inhabitants are found chiefly in the north-western (Morat region) and north eastern (Singine valley) portions, as well as in the upper valley of the Jogne or Jaun in the south-east. Besides the capital, Fri bourg (q.v.) the only villages of importance are Bulle, Chatel St. Denis, Morat (q.v.) or Murten, Romont and Estavayer le Lac or Staffis am See.
The canton is pre-eminently a pastoral and agricultural region, tobacco, cheese and timber being its chief products. Its indus tries include watch-making (Semsales), paper-making (Marly) and chocolate manufacturing. It forms part of the diocese of Lau sanne and Geneva, the bishop living since 1663 at Fribourg. It is a stronghold of Roman Catholicism with monasteries and nun neries, such as those of the Carthusian monks at Valsainte, and the Cistercian nuns at La Fille Dieu and at Maigrauge.