Aussersihl is a district in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

city of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Known officially as District number 4, the district is known as colloquially ''Chreis Cheib'', ''cheib'' being the Zürich German word for an animal cadaver. It earned the name as the area historically contained pits for the deposition of dead animals. It comprises the quarters Werd, Langstrasse and Hard.

History

The area of Aussersihl together with that of District 5 historically corresponds to the ''Sihlfeld'', the pastures and fields between the village of Wiedikon (now district 3) and the Limmat. The area was built up during the 18th century was separated from Wiedikon as the Aussersihl municipality on 27 March 1787. Aussersihl quickly grew into a town during

industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...

, mostly inhabited by factory workers, at times counting more inhabitants than the city itself. The municipality could not cope with its rapid growth and went bankrupt. It was incorporated into the Zürich municipality together with Wiedikon as ''Stadtkreis III'' in 1893. The separation into the current districts 3, 4 and 5 dates to 1913. Historically inhabited by

migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who Human migration, migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers ...

s, the Aussersihl district, especially its Langstrasse quarter, remains notorious for a high

crime rate In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

and drug dealing. The first project of pastor Ernst Sieber's Sozialwerke Pfarrer Sieber for homeless people started at Helvetiaplatz in winter 1963; the foundation is still based in Aussersihl.

Archaeological findings

A female who died in about 200 B.C found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl. Archaeologists revealed that she was approximately 40 years old when she died and likely carried out little physical labor when she was alive. A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf and a pendant made of glass and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.

References

Former municipalities of the canton of Zürich 4 {{Zurich-geo-stub

History

Archaeological findings

See also

References