The largest groups of Swiss descendants and nationals outside Europe are found in the United States, Brazil, and Canada.

The demonym Swiss (formerly in English also called Switzer) and the name of Switzerland ultimately derive from the toponym Schwyz.

The ethno-linguistic composition of the territories of modern Switzerland includes the following components: The core Eight Cantons of the Swiss Confederacy were entirely Alemannic-speaking, and German speakers remain the majority.

However, from as early as the 15th century, parts of French-speaking Vaud and Italian-speaking Ticino were acquired as subject territories by Bern and Uri, respectively.

Switzerland experienced significant immigration from Italy in the very late 19th and early 20th century, such that in 1910 that accounted for some 10% of the Swiss population.

[13] The Swiss populace historically derives from an amalgamation of Gallic (most significant the Helvetians) or Gallo-Roman, Alamannic and Rhaetic stock.

Their cultural history is dominated by the Alps, and the alpine environment is often cited as an important factor in the formation of the Swiss national character.

In early modern Switzerland, the Swiss Confederacy was a pact between independent states within the Holy Roman Empire.

Political allegiance and patriotism was directed towards the cantons, not the federal level, where a spirit of rivalry and competition rather than unity prevailed.

C. G. Jung advanced the view that this system of social order was one of a "chronic state of mitigated civil war" which put Switzerland ahead of the world in a civilizatory process of "introverting" warlike aggression.

[19] A similar view is attributed to Gottfried Keller, who is cited to the effect that the Swiss Confederacy could not exist without the endemic rivalry between cantons.

[20] From the 19th century onwards, there were conscious attempts to foster a federal "Pan-Swiss" national identity that would replace or alleviate the cantonal patriotisms.

These competitions were one of the few recognized symbols of pan-Swiss identity prior to the creation of the 1815 Confederation and traditionally involved men from all levels of society, including the peasants, who in Romantic nationalism had become ideologically synonymous with liberty and nationhood.