LUCERNE, ID13-sern', Fr. pron. brsftrni. A canton of North Central Switzerland, bounded by the Canton of Aargau on the north, Zug and Unterwalden on the east, and Bern on the south and west. Its area is 579 square miles. The southern part belongs to the great Alpine high land, two spurs of which, the Lucerne Alps. in close the Entlehnch Valley, through which the Little Emme flows into the Reuss after the latter issues from the Lake of Lucerne (q.v.) in the eastern part of the canton. Northward the land slopes into the Cliiu Valley, watered by the Wig ger. the Sulu, and other tributaries of the Aar. Here also arc the two lakes of Bahlegg and Sem 1)116. The great northern valley is essentially an agricultural country, and about four-fifths of the whole canton consists of arable or pasture land. Grain. potatoes. flax, hemp. and fruit are produced: it is one of the foremost stock-raising cantons, especially for cows and goats. Large quantities of milk are yielded, of which about 60 per cent. is used in the manufacture of cheese and condensed milk. Straw-braiding is carried on largely as a house industry, and there are some textile, metal, paper, and tobacco manufac tures, especially in the neighborhood of the city of Lucerne. By the cantonal Constitution of
1875, hut slightly revised since, there is a Legis lature of 55 members elected by the people for four years, and an executive of seven mem bers elected by the Legislature for the same period. The initiative and referendum are in force, and a popular vote can be called by the de mand of 5000 citizens. The canton sends seven members to the National Council. Education is well provided for in primary and secondary schools, a pro-gymnasium, a normal school, and large public libraries. The population, in 1SSS, was 135.360, and in 1900, 140,159. Practically all are German-speaking. The great majority are Roman Catholics.
The history of the canton is largely bound up with that of the city of Lucerne (q.v.). It was the fourth to join the Swiss Confederation, which it did in 1332. During the fourteenth and fif teenth centuries it increased its territory by pur chase and by conquest. Its government was largely an oligarchy in the hands of a few families until the French invasion of 1798, when democratic in stitutions were established.