Eggiwil 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 administrative district of

Emmental The Emmental (, ) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming. The ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

Eggiwil is first mentioned in 1323 as ''Eggenwile''. The village was probably settled in the 14th century. The Kyburg

Ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

(unfree knights in the service of a

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 ...

overlord) family of Eggiwil first appears around the same time. The villagers bought the land from the

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

von Schweinsberg in 1372 and later bought the right to hold court over themselves. While they were still part of 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 ...

and

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 ...

Signau Signau is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Emmental (administrative district), Emmental in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. History Signau is first mentione ...

, on all local matters they were independent. In 1528 the city of

adopted the new faith of 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 ...

and converted the surrounding area, including Eggiwil. In the following year, Bern brought the entire Signau area under their control. In the years following the Reformation in Bern,

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

s began to settle in Eggiwil. In 1630-32 Bern built a

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 ...

in the village to try to restrain the Anabaptists. In 1648, this church became the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of the Eggiwil parish. The village is surrounded by a number of alpine meadows and much of the local economy depended on raising cattle in the meadows or harvesting timber from the surrounding forests. Deforestation from grazing and timber production caused a number of floods which damaged farm land and houses around the village and in the 19th century encouraged the villagers to reforest the surrounding mountains. Until the 1830 construction of a road to

Schüpbach Schüpbach is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Gertrud Schüpbach (born 1950), Swiss-American molecular biologist *Hannes Schüpbach (born 1965), Swiss artist See also *Schubach, a variant {{Short pages monitor As of 2012, a total of or 53.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 41.1% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 3.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.5% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 During the same year, housing and buildings made up 1.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.4%. A total of 38.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.2% is used for growing crops and 35.8% is pasturage and 13.0% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality has a number of settlements scattered throughout its borders. The village Eggiwil is located near the

Emme River The Emme () is a Rivers of Switzerland, river in Switzerland. It rises in the Alps between the peaks of Hohgant and Augstmatthorn in the canton of Bern. The Emme is long and flows through the Emmental and between Zuchwil and Luterbach into the Aar ...

. The village of Heidbühl is near the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the Emme and Röthenbach rivers. Most of the smaller

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

(Äschau, Neuenschwand, Horben and Dieboldswil) are located on a terrace, known as ''Eggen'', above the rivers. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Signau, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.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 ''Gules a Fir Tree eradicated Vert between in chief two Mullets Or.''

Demographics

Eggiwil has a population () of . , 1.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010-2012) the population changed at a rate of -1.4%. Migration accounted for -2.2%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.7%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 7 May 2014 Most of the population () speaks

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 ...

(2,451 or 98.0%) as their first language,

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

is the second most common (14 or 0.6%) and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

is the third (4 or 0.2%). There is 1 person who 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), ...

. , the population was 51.8% male and 48.2% female. The population was made up of 1,260 Swiss men (51.2% of the population) and 15 (0.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,167 Swiss women (47.4%) and 19 (0.8%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 1,463 or about 58.5% were born in Eggiwil and lived there in 2000. There were 754 or 30.1% who were born in the same canton, while 131 or 5.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 63 or 2.5% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.6%. , there were 1,150 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,174 married individuals, 144 widows or widowers and 33 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 234 households that consist of only one person and 123 households with five or more people. , a total of 799 apartments (82.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 119 apartments (12.3%) were seasonally occupied and 48 apartments (5.0%) 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 0.8 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 3.0%. In 2011, single family homes made up 27.1% of the total housing in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:3300 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:700 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:140 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:1709 text:"1,709" bar:1850 from:start till:2843 text:"2,843" bar:1860 from:start till:3053 text:"3,053" bar:1870 from:start till:3117 text:"3,117" bar:1880 from:start till:3175 text:"3,175" bar:1888 from:start till:3215 text:"3,215" bar:1900 from:start till:3043 text:"3,043" bar:1910 from:start till:2923 text:"2,923" bar:1920 from:start till:2787 text:"2,787" bar:1930 from:start till:2634 text:"2,634" bar:1941 from:start till:2579 text:"2,579" bar:1950 from:start till:2677 text:"2,677" bar:1960 from:start till:2591 text:"2,591" bar:1970 from:start till:2391 text:"2,391" bar:1980 from:start till:2323 text:"2,323" bar:1990 from:start till:2515 text:"2,515" bar:2000 from:start till:2501 text:"2,501" bar:2010 from:start till:2405 text:"2,405"

Heritage sites of national significance

The Farm House Inner-Zimmertsei and the ''Schweinsberg'', which is an earthwork from an undetermined era, are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 64.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (14.5%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (4.8%) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) (4.3%). In the federal election, a total of 960 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 48.3%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Eggiwil had an unemployment rate of 0.78%. , there were a total of 1,377 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 637 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 204 businesses involved in this sector. 358 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 32 businesses in this sector. 382 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 84 businesses in this sector. There were 1,303 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.1% of the workforce. there were a total of 872

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 414, of which 410 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 302 of which 164 or (54.3%) were in manufacturing and 139 (46.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 156. In the tertiary sector; 37 or 23.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 32 or 20.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 37 or 23.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 2.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 3.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 23 or 14.7% were in education and 6 or 3.8% were in health care. , there were 222 workers who commuted into the municipality and 571 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 732 workers (76.7% of the 954 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Eggiwil.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 8.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 52% used a private car. In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Eggiwil making 150,000 CHF was 12.8%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 18.8%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2009 there were a total of 953 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 150 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 22 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 267, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Eggiwil was 106,355 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF. In 2011 a total of 1.4% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Religion

From the , 2,208 or 88.3% belonged to the

, while 77 or 3.1% 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 ...

. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 55 individuals (or about 2.20% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 22 (or about 0.88% of the population) who were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. 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 ...

and 7 individuals who were

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 ...

. 43 (or about 1.72% 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 86 individuals (or about 3.44% of the population) did not answer the question. During and after the Reformation time the persecuted Anabaptist met for several hundred years in hideouts and farm houses in the Eggiwil area. The Räblochhöhle, also called the Yoder-Cave was one hideout where they could meet without being detected be their persecutors.

Education

In Eggiwil about 48.6% 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 10.6% 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 139 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 74.8% were Swiss men, 23.7% 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 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 ...

. During the 2011–12 school year, there were a total of 247 students attending classes in Eggiwil. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 45 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 2.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens). The municipality had 6 primary classes and 158 students. During the same year, there were 6 lower secondary classes with a total of 35 students. The remainder of the students attend a private or special school.Schuljahr 2011/12 pdf document
accessed 9 May 2013 , there were a total of 364 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 316 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 48 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 99 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Eggiwil is home to the ''Jugend- und Volksbibliothek Eggiwil'' library. The library has () 6,502 books or other media, and loaned out 29,721 items in the same year. It was open a total of 161 days with average of 5 hours per week during that year.
accessed 14 May 2010

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern