It is a fact to be specially noticed in the history of the Confederation, that, for nearly a hundred and thirty years, though the territory and the power of the Confederation were constantly increasing, no new states were admitted to the rank of confederate cantons. Before the next group of cantons was admitted, the general state of the Confederation and its European position had greatly changed. It had ceased to be a purely German power. ♦Beginning of Italian dominions.♦ The first extension beyond the original German lands and those Burgundian lands which were practically German began in the direction of Italy. ♦Uri obtains Val Levantina, 1441.♦ Uri had, by the annexation of Urseren, become the neighbour of the Duchy of Milan, and in the middle of the fifteenth century, this canton acquired some rights in the _Val Levantina_ on the Italian side of the Alps. This was the beginning of the extension of the Confederation on Italian ground. But far more important than this was the advance of the Confederates over the Burgundian lands to the west. ♦First Savoyard conquest of Bern. | 1475.♦ The war with Charles of Burgundy enabled Bern to win several detached possessions in the Savoyard lands north and east of the lake, and even on the lower course of the Rhone. ♦Savoyard conquests of Freiburg and Wallis.♦ And, while Bern advanced, some points in the same direction were gained by her allies who are not yet members of the Confederation, by the city of _Freiburg_ and the League of _Wallis_. ♦Growth of Wallis.♦ This last confederation had grown up on the upper course of the Rhone, where the small free lands had gradually displaced the territorial lords. ♦Freiburg and Solothurn become Cantons, 1481.♦ Soon after this came the next admission of new cantons, those of the cities of _Freiburg_ and _Solothurn_, each of them bringing with it its small following of allied and subject territory. ♦Basel and Schaffhausen, 1501.♦ Twenty years later, _Basel_ and _Schaffhausen_, the latter being the only canton north of the Rhine, were admitted with their following of the like kind. ♦Appenzell, 1513.♦ Twelve years later, _Appenzell_, a little land which had set itself free from the rule of the abbots of _Saint Gallen_, after having long been in alliance with the Confederates, was admitted to the rank of a canton. ♦The Thirteen Cantons, 1513-1798.♦ Thus was made up the full number of Thirteen Cantons, which remained unchanged down to the wars of the French Revolution.