Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Valais, Switzerland (1890s)
In the early 17th century, the aristocratic governors of the districts in the Upper Valais pressured the prince-bishop of Sion to abdicate secular power, which was achieved temporarily in 1613 and then permanently in 1634, when the country became the federal Republic of the Seven Tithings under the rule of a Landeshauptmann. The republic in its original form existed until…