Talschaft

{{Short description|In Swiss politics, the body of voting population in a certain valley}}{{Politics of Switzerland}}

In Swiss politics and the history of the Old Swiss Confederacy, a {{Lang|de|Talschaft}} is the body of voting population in a certain valley. The grouping of voters by valley rather than municipality is a tradition harking back to before the establishment of the current administrative divisions with the foundation of Switzerland as a federal state in 1848. A {{Lang|de|Talschaft}} will typically include voters of several municipalities. For example, the {{Lang|de|Talschaft}} of Lauterbrunnen Valley includes the voting population of the municipalities of Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Mürren, Stechelberg, Gimmelwald and Isenfluh.

Similarly, the {{Lang|de|Talschaft}} of Hasli consists of six municipalities, Gadmen, Guttannen, Hasliberg, Innertkirchen, Meiringen and Schattenhalb. In this case, the {{Lang|de|Talschaft}} is coterminous with the Bernese district of Oberhasli.

Historically, {{Lang|de|Leute der Talschaft}} is the traditional German translation of the Latin term {{Lang|la|homines vallis}} in the Federal Charter of 1291, literally 'the people of the valley'. Thus, the enumeration of the Confederates,

:{{Lang|la|homines vallis Uranie universitasque vallis de Switz ac communitas hominum Intramontanorum Vallis Inferioris}}

is rendered as

:"the people of the {{Lang|de|Talschaft}} Uri, the entirety of the valley of Schwyz and the community of people of the {{Lang|de|Talschaft}} of Unterwalden"