Occupied since prehistoric times, the canton of Valais saw the rise of an exceptional civilization during the Bronze Age. From the 4th century BC, four Celtic tribes shared its territory, which was incorporated into the Roman Empire by Augustus. The Gallo-Roman Valais, located on the important Great St Bernard Pass, was prosperous. Christianity was first established in 377, and a bishopric was opened in Martigny by 381 at the latest.
With the fall of the Empire, the region became Burgundian, before being integrated into the Carolingian Frankish kingdom. On its demise, it became part of the Transjurane kingdom of Burgundy, of which the abbey of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune was the religious center. The county of Valais became the property of the bishop in 999, upon donation by Rudolph III of Burgundy. In the 11th century, it passed to the Holy Roman Empire, and feudalism fragmented it into numerous seigneuries and territories. The upper part of the territory became Germanized in successive waves between the 9th and 14th centuries, while the influence of the Counts, then Dukes, of Savoy increased in the Lower Valais. At the end of the 14th century, it became an ally of the Swiss cantons, and its border was fixed at the Morge de Conthey. During the Burgundian Wars, the Upper Valais invaded Savoy territories, annexing the Lower Valais as far as Massongex and organizing it as a subject country. In 1569, Chablais Valais was conquered, again to the detriment of Savoy. The Lower Valais remained subject to the Upper Valais, which saw the bishop's power diminish in favor of the Patriotes, who in 1634 formed a genuine federal republic, the Republic of the Seven Tithings.
It wasn't until the French Revolution that the Lower Valais gained its independence. Valais fluctuated between the Helvetic Republic (1798-1802), theoretical independence (1802-1810) and incorporation into the Empire (1810-1813). Following the fall of Napoleon I, the Allies persuaded Helvetia to join the Swiss Confederation in 1815, making it the twentieth canton.
Still torn between the German-speaking upper and French-speaking lower cantons, it came close to splitting into half-cantons (1840). As a member of the Sonderbund (1845-1847), it was defeated. The second half of the 19th century saw the development of transport (rail and road) and the beginnings of tourism, while the early 20th century saw the industrialization of the country (chemicals in Monthey and Visp, aluminum in Chippis) and the exploitation of water resources. From 1950 onwards, mass tourism developed and numerous resorts sprang up.
Prehistory and protohistory
Palaeolithic The Valais has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The only surviving traces of Neanderthals, dating from the Palaeolithic period, were found in the Lake Tanay region and date back some 32,000 years."In the Tanay valley, in the valais canton of Chablais, a small rock shelter at an altitude of 1,800 m has yielded animal bones and a few flint and quartzite flakes, attributed by researchers to Neanderthal man, who lived between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago". (Philippe Curdy, Assises lointaines (50,000 - 15 BC) in Histoire du Valais, Société d'histoire du Valais romand, 2002, tome 1, page 19) The Würm glaciation, when the Rhône glacier covered the whole of the Valais between 25,000 and 19,000 BC, probably irreparably disrupted most of the earlier human traces. After the glacial retreat, hunter-gatherers seem to have colonized the Valais; nevertheless, only the Scex du Châtelard cave has yielded a few remains of these late Paleolithic hunters (-13000)."For this period, the only Paleolithic evidence is found near Villeneuve, in the Scex du Châtelard cave, occupied by hunters around 13,000 BC". (Philippe Curdy, Assises lointaines (50,000 - 15 BC) in Histoire du Valais, Société d'histoire du Valais romand, 2002, tome 1, page 21) By contrast, no traces have been found of the hunter-gatherer cultures that colonized the rest of the Alps at the end of the Palaeolithic, around 10000 BC."At the end of the Palaeolithic, as early as 10,000 BC, hunter-gatherer communities colonized the Alps. Yet, in the Valais, their traces remain to be discovered." (Philippe Curdy, Assises lointaines (50,000 - 15 BC) in Histoire du Valais, Société d'histoire du Valais romand, 2002, tome 1, page 23)
Due to the extension of Lake Geneva, whose surface was at 405 m, which at that time filled the Rhône plain as far as the Saint-Maurice cluse, it seems that reindeer, and hence the Magdalenian culture, did not penetrate the Valais,"The end of Dryas I and the Bölling is characterized by a 405 meter-high lake, probably extending as far as Saint-Maurice (...) We can therefore assume that reindeer never penetrated the Valais. This absence of game, combined with the difficulty of access due to the lake, virtually rules out the Magdalenian presence in Valais". (Gallay 1983, p. 77) although a settlement is attested in the Chablais vaudois at Villeneuve."The nearest pioneer site is the Scé du Châtelard in Villeneuve (410 m), whose existence is compatible with a Lake Geneva of 405 m." (Gallay 1983, p. 77)
The lowering of Lake Geneva's water level during the Epipaleolithic period enabled Azilian culture to spread into the Chablais region, but less probably upstream of the Saint-Maurice cluse."Settlement of the central Valais as far as Brig seems much less likely, as Epipaleolithic settlement is limited to the pre-Alpine massifs." (Gallay 1983, p. 78) Although no remains have been found, camps must have existed on the plains and at high altitudes, for hunting ibex."The settlement of the Chablais by the Azilians seems possible and we can assume, as in the Dauphiné, the presence of base camps on the plains in wooded areas and, at least at the beginning of the Alleröd, seasonal camps on the plateaus and in medium-altitude areas between 100 and 1,500 m (...), camps linked to ibex and marmot hunting in partially uncovered areas." (Gallay 1983, p. 78)
Mesolithic A rock shelter dating from the Mesolithic, around 8,000 BC, has been excavated in the Vionnaz region, associated with the Sauveterrian."For this period, the first strong penetration of Sauveterrian hunters into the Chablais (Vionnaz) and central Valais regions can be assumed". (Gallay 1983, p. 78) Traces of human occupation from the same period have been found near Zermatt, attesting to the presence of humans at altitude from this remote period.
Neolithic
Three elements support the hypothesis of population migration as the source of Neolithization in the Valais, in contrast to the acculturation phenomenon favored in the western Alps. Firstly, the simultaneous disappearance of Mesolithic techniques and the emergence of all Neolithic techniques in the Valais: there is no intermediate state."The synchronous appearance of these elements, combined with the absence of any Mesolithic features, argues in favor of colonization by agropastoral populations who, according to the style of ceramics, would have originated in the Po basin." (Pierre-Yves Nicod, Les premières sociétés agropastorales dans les Alpes occidentales in Premiers bergers des alpes - de la préhistoire à l'Antiquité, Infolio, Gollion, 2008, page 46) Secondly, the absence from the local fauna of the wild ancestors' domesticated species, implying that herds had to be imported. Finally, the absence of any transition between hunting and livestock-based economies."Hunting was no longer more than an incidental activity, if the scarcity of deer, wild boar, bear and wolf bones found is anything to go by" (Philippe Curdy, Assises lointaines (50,000 - 15 BC) in Histoire du Valais, Société d'histoire du Valais romand, 2002, tome 1, page 32). Because of the proximity of ceramics, it is generally accepted that it was shepherds from south of the Alps who,"During the Early Neolithic, the importance of cattle in the table bestiary and, by extension, in the constitution of the herd seems to be the product of an agropastoral tradition specific to a community of breeders whose material culture reveals filiations with a southern alpine facies (Isolino group) close to the cultures of Fiorano, Fagniola, Gaban, and Vho, from the second half of the Early Neolithic in northern Italy" (Hassan Sidi Maamar, Bestiaire de la table, pastoralisme et fétichisme en Valais du néolithique à nos jours in Études rurales, n° 153-154, 2000, archive). guiding their herds through the Alpine passes (Simplon, Theodule, Collon, etc.), brought the new agricultural techniques to the region."We can therefore affirm that Alpine passes played a key role in the Neolithization of the Valais. It is plausible to highlight the Upper Valais passes that directly linked the lake region of western Lombardy to the upper Rhône valley: the Nufenen, the Albrun or perhaps the Simplon, the Antrona or the Monte Moro. However, in the absence of traces dating from the Early Neolithic upstream of the Sédunois region, other more westerly passes, such as the Théodule or Collon, which establish a direct link with the Val d'Aoste, should perhaps be taken into consideration" (Philippe Curdy, Assises lointaines (50,000 - 15 BC) in Histoire du Valais, Société d'histoire du Valais romand, 2002, tome 1, page 29). Villages were located on the plain, on river alluvial fans, on the sunny side of the valley. The site of Sion (Planta) seems to have been well occupied by the 6th millennium BC, and hunting seems to have been no more than a secondary activity. At this time, the livestock seems to have consisted mainly of goats and cattle in roughly equal proportions."Among domestic species, and in terms of how meat resources were acquired, cattle account for 42% of the total, putting them in second place behind goats, which account for 52.4%. (Hassan Sidi Maamar, Bestiaire de la table, pastoralisme et fétichisme en Valais du néolithique à nos jours in Études rurales, n° 153-154, 2000, archive) Wheat and starch were also grown."A few charred seeds attest to the cultivation of wheat and starch". (Philippe Curdy, Assises lointaines (50,000 - 15 BC) in Histoire du Valais, Société d'histoire du Valais romand, 2002, tome 1, page 35) Ceramics, influenced by the southern Alps, are different from those of the Swiss Plateau, and the Valais civilization is referred to as the Early Neolithic culture of the Valais. Some authors see the importance of the region's settlement as a sign of the site's importance in the export throughout Europe of green obsidian polished axes from the southern Alps, at the time a symbol of power throughout Western and Northern Europe.
A new culture appeared at the beginning of the Middle Neolithic (early 5th millennium BC), related to the Early Cortaillod of the Swiss plateau, but with distinct motifs (fluting on ceramics): this was called the Cortaillod ancien valaisan (Early Valais Cortaillod)."Today the complex found at St-Léonard seems to me - apart from a few late intermediate chucks - to be so uniform that I now assume that the fluted decoration at St-Léonard belongs to the 5th century B.C. This would make the fluted decoration a peculiarity of the Valais, which probably influenced the ceramic style over several centuries. Formally, too, these vessels, with their collar rim and the small shoulder heel under which the elongated eyelets are placed, contrast with the forms of the Cortaillod ancien in the Vallon des Vaux. Thus we grasp a cultural boundary between the French-speaking part of Switzerland and the Valais, but much weaker than that with the Ticino. This is also correctly expressed in the cultural names "Cortaillod ancien" for Western Switzerland and "Cortaillod ancien valaisan" for Valais. " (Werner E. Stöckli, Chronologie une Regionalität des jüngeren Neolithikums (4300-2400 B.C.) - Schweizer Mitteland, Süddeutschland und Ostfrankreich, Antiqua 45, Publication d'Archéologie Suisse, Bâle, 2009, pages 47-48).