Cortaillod 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

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 ...

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

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 ...

. The

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Cortaillod culture The Cortaillod culture is one of several archaeologically defined cultures belonging to the Neolithic period of Switzerland. The ''Cortaillod'' Culture in the west of the region is contemporary with the Pfyn Culture in the east and dates from b ...

was named after Cortaillod, where four Neolithic villages have been discovered.

History

Cortaillod is first mentioned in 1311 as ''Cortaillot''.

Neolithic settlements

Cortaillod gave its name to the

, a

culture in Switzerland and surrounding areas. There are four Neolithic sites along the lake shore at Cortaillod; La Fabrique or Le Vivier which is now eroding, Les Cotes which was almost completely washed out in 1880, Petit-Cortaillod and La Tuillières. At La Tuillières several large

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

and stone axes were found. Petit-Cortaillod is the largest and most productive. It is about and is between thick. These sites were originally underwater, but were discovered when the water level of Lake Neuchâtel dropped. Because they were no longer flooded, between 1876 and 1879 the sites were looted. Many items were bought by museums or private collectors with limited study and documentation. The first scientific study was done in 1878 by Albert Vouga and Fritz Borel at the Petit-Cortaillod site. Their first excavations went down to a chalk layer at a depth of . The list of objects excavated on this occasion is impressive: thousands of flints and awls made of bone, 3,000 ax shafts, and about 2,000 smaller axes and hatchets.

Bronze age settlements

Ferdinand Keller and Frederic Troyon reported the discovery of lake shore settlements from the Late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

(1250-800 BC) in 1858. Friedrich Schwab and Edouard Desor's archeological excavations found many bronze items. One of the most striking items, a wheel spoke made of bronze and oak wood with a diameter of , was discovered in 1862. Other finds included axes, sickles and needles as well as bronze swords and hundreds of vases. There were also a number of crescent-shaped earthenware objects called d'argile croissants. The d'argile croissants are about long and may represent constellations. After the first

Jura water correction The correction of the waters of the Swiss Jura consisted of a wide series of hydrological undertakings carried out in Switzerland in the region of the three lakes: Lake Murten connected to Lake Neuchatel by the Broye Canal, the latter connec ...

dropped the water levels by , the sites began to erode. In 1925 Paul Vouga took soundings to study the

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

of the site. At his request, the Army made a series of aerial photographs in 1927, which provided a number of fundamental insights into these villages from the Bronze Age. The settlement at Cortaillod-Est was explored by divers in 1981–84. They were able to use

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, ...

to determine that the settlement was inhabited between 1010 and 955 BC. At its largest, it consisted of eight parallel rows of houses (total 22 houses), which were separated by straight-line paths. The houses were built on dry stone foundations. It was enclosed by a fence that was built in a semicircular arc and covered an area of about . Cortaillod-Plage, the extension of the village to the north-east was inhabited between 968 and 954 BC. The settlement was built on an area of approximately . The village of Cortaillod Les Esserts was surrounded by a long, three layer

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

. Cortaillod Les Esserts was inhabited between 870 and 850 BC and had an area of between . It had a road running through the center of the village with houses on both sides. La Fabrique or Le Vivier, the other Bronze Age site, is located above the Neolithic site. During the construction of the A1 motorway in 1993–98, the site was explored. In 1993 in Murgiers, two cremation graves from the Late Bronze Age ( Hallstatt A 1) were discovered. One of the graves contained both offerings and a ceramic jar containing the cremated bones of a person. The other grave had fine pottery including vases with a decorative edge. The excavations at Petit Ruz in 1995-97 discovered many traces of a Bronze Age settlement, including some 300 post holes, numerous pits and hearths, and a gravel road. An excavation at Champ Basset in 1996 discovered a circular pit in diameter. This pit contained of very well preserved pottery from the Hallstatt period. Other sites in Cortaillod include postholes, burials, hearths and pottery at Tolay, in Champ Barrett, Rochettes in Chanélaz and at Tilles as well as a number of tombs from the

La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

at Courbes Rayes.

Medieval town

Part of Cortaillod was given in 1311 to Peter Stäffis, Lord of Gorgier as a result of an exchange that he made with Count Rudolph IV of Neuchâtel. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

the ownership of the village was quite complicated. Members of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es of Pontareuse and Bevaix both lived there. The municipal community consisted of citizens of

Boudry Boudry is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel in Switzerland. History Boudry is first mentioned in 1278 as ''Baudri''. There are numerous prehistoric settlemen ...

(who were under the Lord of Gorgier) and also subjects of the priory of Bevaix. Each

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

lord had a

bailiff A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

or magistrate to represent him in the village. There was only a

civil court Civil law may refer to: * Civil law (common law), the part of law that concerns private citizens and legal persons * Civil law (legal system), or continental law, a legal system originating in continental Europe and based on Roman law ** Private la ...

in Cortaillod, criminal cases were heard by one of the feudal lords. Starting in 1379 the inhabitants of the municipal community, owned their own pastures. In 1499 Philip of Hochberg, Count of Neuchatel, allowed them the right to farm the sandy shoreline. Between 1541 and 1545, the Lord of Colombier bought Cortaillod from the two preceding feudal lords. However, Cortaillod was sold to the Count of Neuchâtel in 1564, and became part of the County of Neuchâtel. The inhabitants then called themselves citizens of Boudry, but they did not enjoy all the citizenship rights.

Early modern and modern Cortaillod

Cortaillod La Fabrique Neuve 20110830 1760

During the 15th to 19th centuries, there were repeated disputes between Cortaillod and the municipal community of Boudry. The disputes were over the division of the common pastures and forests and a special tax (Eminem de la porte), which had to be paid by the residents of Cortaillod but only benefited Boudry. This tax was abolished in 1813. In 1503, the

Bishop of Lausanne The Bishop of Lausanne (French: ''Évêque de Lausanne'') was the principal ecclesiastical authority of the Catholic Diocese of Lausanne (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lausannensis''). History King Rudolphe I of Burgundy granted the Church of Lausanne ...

allowed the villagers to establish a chapel. The Chapel of St. Nicholas was consecrated two years later. Until 1524 the pastor of Pontareuse and Bevaix protested against the permanent presence of a priest in Cortaillod. The village finally became an important parish when it accepted the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

. In 1537 it became an independent parish. The first weaving mill in Cortaillod opened in 1731 and was open for about 30 years. In 1752 the famous Fabrique-Neuve de Cortaillod mill opened near the other mills. It remained in operation until 1854. The building was then acquired in 1879 by Câbles Cortaillod. The company remained one of the most important companies in the municipality, even after it was acquired in 2001 by Nexans Schweiz AG. Between 1855 and 1885 there was a watch factory in Cortaillod. The European manufacturing and technology center of

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

settled in Cortaillod in 1992. However, this plant, which employed about 300 people, closed in 2001.

Viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

remains a significant part of the local economy, and the wines of Cortaillod enjoy a good reputation.

Geography

Cortaillod has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 11.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 40.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 20.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 6.0% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.4%. Out of the forested land, 9.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 23.0% is used for growing crops and 4.6% is pastures, while 19.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality was located in the Boudry district until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018. It is on a hillside above a steep drop into

Lake Neuchatel A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

. It consists of the village of Cortaillod above the lake, a residential development on the lake shore at Petit Cortaillod harbor and the largest forest on the Boudry hills. The proposed merger of the municipalities of

Bevaix Bevaix is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Boudry (district), Boudry in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipalities of Bev ...

, Boudry and Cortaillod was rejected by the residents.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 17 February 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 ''Vert, a Cross patte Argent ensigned with a Crescent increscent Or.''

Demographics

Cortaillod has a population () of . , 19.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 3.9%. It has changed at a rate of 0.6% due to migration and at a rate of 3.4% due to births and deaths.
accessed 19-October-2011 Most of the population () speaks

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), ...

(3,800 or 86.9%) as their first language,

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 ...

is the second most common (171 or 3.9%) and

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 ...

is the third (122 or 2.8%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The population was made up of 1,734 Swiss men (38.4% of the population) and 466 (10.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,956 Swiss women (43.3%) and 362 (8.0%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Neuchatel Statistics
''République et canton de Neuchâtel - Recensement annuel de la population'' accessed 13 October 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 935 or about 21.4% were born in Cortaillod and lived there in 2000. There were 1,461 or 33.4% who were born in the same canton, while 917 or 21.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 997 or 22.8% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.9%. , there were 1,666 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,212 married individuals, 236 widows or widowers and 259 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 1,851 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 599 households that consist of only one person and 93 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,794 apartments (90.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 147 apartments (7.4%) were seasonally occupied and 45 apartments (2.3%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.19%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:4400 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:900 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:180 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1750 from:start till:521 text:"521" bar:1850 from:start till:1110 text:"1,110" bar:1860 from:start till:1184 text:"1,184" bar:1870 from:start till:1218 text:"1,218" bar:1880 from:start till:1286 text:"1,286" bar:1888 from:start till:1291 text:"1,291" bar:1900 from:start till:1299 text:"1,299" bar:1910 from:start till:1202 text:"1,202" bar:1920 from:start till:1250 text:"1,250" bar:1930 from:start till:1309 text:"1,309" bar:1941 from:start till:1361 text:"1,361" bar:1950 from:start till:1561 text:"1,561" bar:1960 from:start till:1768 text:"1,768" bar:1970 from:start till:3063 text:"3,063" bar:1980 from:start till:3603 text:"3,603" bar:1990 from:start till:4119 text:"4,119" bar:2000 from:start till:4373 text:"4,373"

Heritage sites of national significance

The La Fabrique Neuve and the prehistoric lake shore settlement of Le Petit Cortaillod are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The village of Cortaillod is 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 ...

. File:Cortaillod La Fabrique Neuve 20110830 1763.jpg, La Fabrique Neuve File:Cortaillod gobelet IMG 6640.jpg, Goblet made from deer antler from Cortaillod

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 26.02% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (23.46%), the LPS Party (16.01%) and the FDP (14.87%). In the federal election, a total of 1,408 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 48.8%.

Economy

, Cortaillod had an unemployment rate of 4.7%. , there were 33 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 858 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 27 businesses in this sector. 662 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 122 businesses in this sector. There were 2,236 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.3% of the workforce. the total number of

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 was 1,407. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 26, of which 23 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 818 of which 747 or (91.3%) were in manufacturing and 71 (8.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 563. In the tertiary sector; 231 or 41.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 33 or 5.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 70 or 12.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 37 or 6.6% were in the information industry, 4 or 0.7% were the insurance or financial industry, 60 or 10.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 22 or 3.9% were in education and 53 or 9.4% were in health care. , there were 1,319 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,552 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 1.7% of the workforce coming into Cortaillod are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.6% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 1,364 or 31.2% 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 1,584 or 36.2% 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 56 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.28% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.11% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 295 individuals (or about 6.75% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 individuals (or about 0.05% of the population) who were

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 66 (or about 1.51% 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. There were 2 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, 1 person who was

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and 8 individuals who belonged to another church. 993 (or about 22.71% 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 ...

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 144 individuals (or about 3.29% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Cortaillod about 1,670 or (38.2%) 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 610 or (13.9%) 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 610 who completed tertiary schooling, 57.5% were Swiss men, 24.6% were Swiss women, 11.1% were non-Swiss men and 6.7% were non-Swiss women. In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory

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 five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010–11 school year, there were 5 kindergarten classes with a total of 94 students in Cortaillod. In the same year, there were 12 primary classes with a total of 236 students. , there were 5 students in Cortaillod who came from another municipality, while 377 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Wine

Pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

from this region is commonly bottled under the ''Cortaillod'' label.Jancis Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 86 Octopus Publishing 1986

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Neuchâtel Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Neuchâtel Populated places on Lake Neuchâtel