Bleienbach is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Oberaargau administrative district in the
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative divisions
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and entertainment
* Canton (band), an It ...
of
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
History
Bleienbach is first mentioned in 1194 as ''Blaichinbach''.
[
Evidence of prehistoric settlements near Bleienbach include a ]Hallstatt
Hallstatt () is a small town in the district of Gmunden District, Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Sa ...
grave mound
A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. ...
in Oberbützberg, a High Medieval
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...
earthen fortress in Eggwald, and an ancient road near the village church. The low court and right to appoint priests to the village church were originally 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 Langenstein- Grünenberg. In 1331 Johann of Aarwangen purchased a half share in the rights to the village. In 1432 some of the rights went to Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. The remaining rights followed in either 1443 or 1455. Under Bernese control, the village was assigned to the bailiwick
A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ.
In English, the original French combi ...
of Aarwangen
Aarwangen is a village and a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Aarwangen is first mentioned in 1255 as ''villa Arwangen''.
Aarwangen grew from a fortified toll crossing over th ...
. In 1826, fire destroyed the center of the village, though it was quickly rebuilt.[
The first village church was, probably, a wooden church from the 8th or 9th centuries. It was replaced with a stone church built in the 9th or 10th century, which was first mentioned in 1194. That stone church was replaced by another church in the 13th century. The current building was built in 1732-34.][
The local economy was traditionally based on local agriculture. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this was supplemented by the home weaving industry. The municipality's proximity to the ]Langenthal
Langenthal is a town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Oberaargau (administrative district), Oberaargau in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipality of Untersteckholz merged into the ...
region inhibited industrialization but allowed many residents to become commuters to the factories in Langenthal. In 1935, a private airstrip for recreational flying opened outside the village.[
]
Geography
Bleienbach has an area of . Of this area, or 57.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 8.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.6% is either rivers or lakes.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 41.1% is used for growing crops and 14.6% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.7% is in lakes and 0.9% is in rivers and streams.[
The municipality consists of the village of Bleienbach and the ]hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
of Oberbützberg.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Aarwangen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. This was followed by the municipality joining the new Verwaltungskreis Oberaargau on 1 January 2010.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Impalled Sable in chief a Fish embowed Argent and in base a Trefoil Vert and of the second a Bar of the first.'' This may be an example of canting arms
Canting arms are heraldry, heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus.
The expression derives from the latin ''cantare'' (to sing).
French heralds used the term (), ...
since the German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
word ''Blei'' is a name for a type of fish, the Bream
Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...
.
Demographics
Bleienbach has a population () of . , 5.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of -7%. Migration accounted for 0.4%, while births and deaths accounted for -2.7%.
accessed 16-May-2012German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
(691 or 95.7%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
is the second most common (6 or 0.8%) and French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
is the third (5 or 0.7%). There are 5 people who speak Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
.[
, the population was 50.8% male and 49.2% female. The population was made up of 308 Swiss men (47.0% of the population) and 25 (3.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 313 Swiss women (47.8%) and 9 (1.4%) non-Swiss women.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 16.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18%.][
, there were 308 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 361 married individuals, 35 widows or widowers and 18 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 82 households that consist of only one person and 20 households with five or more people. , a total of 283 apartments (91.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (4.2%) were seasonally occupied and 13 apartments (4.2%) 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 15.3 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.35%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Sights
The entire village of Bleienbach is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 47.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (18.6%), the BDP Party (13%) and the FDP (6.4%). In the federal election, a total of 300 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 55.7%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Bleienbach had an unemployment rate of 0.56%. , there were a total of 646 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 51 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 19 businesses involved in this sector. 431 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 13 businesses in this sector. 164 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 ...
, with 18 businesses in this sector.[
there were a total of 569 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement 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 use ...
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 415 of which 412 or (99.3%) were in manufacturing and 3 (0.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 120. In the tertiary sector; 7 or 5.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 1.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 16 or 13.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 47 or 39.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 7 or 5.8% were in education and 35 or 29.2% were in health care.
, there were 527 workers who commuted into the municipality and 252 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 7.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 56% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 73 or 10.1% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 579 or 80.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.28% of the population), and there were 16 individuals (or about 2.22% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, and 10 (or about 1.39% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. 39 (or about 5.40% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 10 individuals (or about 1.39% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Bleienbach about 311 or (43.1%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
, and 72 or (10.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the 72 who completed tertiary schooling, 66.7% were Swiss men, 19.4% were Swiss women, 12.5% were non-Swiss men.[
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 cen ...
, 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 potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
.[
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern