Niederhünigen is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the
Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the
canton of
Bern in
Switzerland.
History
Niederhünigen is first mentioned in 1148 as ''Huningen inferior''.
[
During the Middle Ages, Niederhünigen village was part of the '']Herrschaft
The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...
'' of Hünigen. It was originally ruled by the Ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) family of Senn von Münsingen
Münsingen ( Highest Alemannic: ''Münsige'') is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Trimstein merged into Münsingen, and on 1 Jan ...
. By 1380 or 1393 the village was owned by the Bokess family from Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thou ...
. After they sold it in 1421, it passed through a number of owners. In the 16th century the medieval Hünigen water castle outside the village was destroyed in a fire. In 1554, Niklaus von Scharnachtal had a new Hünigen Castle built near the mill at Stalden. In 1588, the Bernese patrician
Patrician may refer to:
* Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage
* Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
von May family acquired the village and castle, which they occupied until 1922. The von May family also ruled the village until the 1798 French invasion and the creation of the Helvetic Republic. In 1933, the village of Stalden, with the castle, merged with Gysenstein to form Konolfingen
Konolfingen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Konolfingen village is first mentioned in 1148 as ''Chonolfingen''. It is a relatively new municipality, having been f ...
. Niederhünigen has remained generally rural and agricultural into the 21st century.[
Niederhünigen was part of the ]parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
of Münsingen until 1911 when the parish of Stalden was formed. In the following year, the parish was renamed to Konolfingen and Niederhünigen remained a part of the new parish.[
]
Geography
Niederhünigen has an area of . Of this area, or 51.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.1% is settled (buildings or roads).[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 28.3% is used for growing crops and 20.7% is pastures, while 2.2% is used for orchards or vine crops.[
The municipality is located on the Kurzenberg and includes the village of Niederhünigen, the scattered settlement of Holz and part of the Kiesental (Kiesen Valley).
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Konolfingen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.]
accessed 4 April 2011
Coat of arms
The blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
is ''Gules two Swan Heads addorsed couped Argent beaked Or and in a Chief of the second a Mullet of the first.''
Demographics
Niederhünigen has a population () of . , 3.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -2%. Migration accounted for -3.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.2%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 6 May 2013
Most of the population () speaks German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(589 or 95.9%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (13 or 2.1%) and French is the third (3 or 0.5%).[
, the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 298 Swiss men (46.1% of the population) and 13 (2.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 327 Swiss women (50.6%) and 8 (1.2%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 176 or about 28.7% were born in Niederhünigen and lived there in 2000. There were 333 or 54.2% who were born in the same canton, while 51 or 8.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 39 or 6.4% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12%.][
, there were 300 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 277 married individuals, 23 widows or widowers and 14 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 59 households that consist of only one person and 28 households with five or more people. , a total of 216 apartments (87.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 18 apartments (7.3%) were seasonally occupied and 13 apartments (5.3%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.1 new units per 1000 residents.[
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 31.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (16.4%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (15%) and the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (8.7%). In the federal election, a total of 262 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...
was 53.5%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Niederhünigen had an unemployment rate of 0.94%. , there were a total of 115 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 54 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 20 businesses involved in this sector. 38 people were employed in the secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...
and there were 8 businesses in this sector. 23 people were employed in the tertiary sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
, with 6 businesses in this sector.[ There were 332 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.1% of the workforce.
there were a total of 83 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...
jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 34, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 34 of which 13 or (38.2%) were in manufacturing and 21 (61.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 15. In the tertiary sector; 1 was in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles and 10 or 66.7% were in education.
, there were 25 workers who commuted into the municipality and 276 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 11.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 19.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.1% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 493 or 80.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 27 or 4.4% were Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 84 individuals (or about 13.68% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 13 (or about 2.12% of the population) who were Islamic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 5 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
. 21 (or about 3.42% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 11 individuals (or about 1.79% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Niederhünigen about 248 or (40.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 62 or (10.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 62 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.6% were Swiss men, 19.4% were Swiss women.[
The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
.[Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document]
accessed 4 January 2012
, there were 13 students in Niederhünigen who came from another municipality, while 31 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niederhunigen
Municipalities of the canton of Bern