Gersau is the sole municipality in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The origin of this privileged position is basically justified in the history of Gersau. Since 1433 it was a scarcely 24 km˛ large realm-free republic at the Lake Lucerne and near-side place to the Swiss Confederation. In 1798 Gersau became allocated to the Helvetic Republic. After the 1803 collapse of the Helvetic Republic, Gersau was still independent for some years, but only until 1817 when it was incorporated by resolution of the state council against its wishes as the sixth and last district of the canton Schwyz.
