Liechtenstein

Abstract

The Principality of Liechtenstein, situated between the Austrian province of Vorarlberg and the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen and Graubünden, is a sovereign state, whose history dates back to 3 May, 1342, when Count Hartmann I became ruler of the Principality of Vaduz. Additions were later on made to the count’s domains, and by 1434 the territory reached its present boundaries. It consists of the two counties of Schellenberg and Vaduz (until 1806 immediate fiefs of the Roman Empire). The former in 1699 and the latter in 1712 came into the possession of the house of Liechtenstein and, by diploma of 23 Jan., 1719, granted by the Emperor Charles VI, the two counties were constituted as the Principality of Liechtenstein.