The canton of Zürich is a Swiss canton in the north-eastern part of the country. Its capital is the city of Zürich. The official language is German. The local Swiss German dialect, called Züritüütsch, is commonly spoken. In English the name of the canton and its capital is often written without an umlaut as Zurich.
The territory of the canton of Zürich corresponds to the lands acquired by the city of Zürich after it became an Imperial Free City in 1218. Zürich pursued a policy of aggressive territorial expansion especially during the century following the revolution of the guilds in 1336. Zürich joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1351.
It issued its own coinage until the formation of the modern federal state of Switzerland in 1848 which imposed a single currency in 1850, replacing all former cantonal currencies. | 
