Meinisberg 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 Biel/Bienne administrative district in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of Bern in Switzerland.

History

Meinisberg is first mentioned in 1332 as ''Meynesberg''. The municipality was formerly known by its French name ''Montmenil'', however, that name is no longer used. The area has been settled since the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

and

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...

ages, as finds near the Scheidwegen section of Meinisberg indicate. La Tène and

Roman 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 lett ...

artifacts have been found near the Steinen section and a

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD ...

wooden castle was found near Reibenwald. From the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...

Meinisberg was ruled from Pieterlen which was under the authority of the Prince-Bishop of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS) ...

. In 1816, it came under the authority of Bern and in 1833 became an independent community. At this time it was still 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 or ...

of Pieterlen. When the Nidau-Büren canal was built (1865–75), the

Aare River The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descend ...

now ran past Meinisberg. The community grew due to its location on the edge of the ''Naturschutzgebiets Häftli'' (Natural Park) and ease of reaching Biel/Bienne from Meinisberg.

Geography

2012-05-26-Seeland (Foto Dietrich Michael Weidmann) 097

Meinisberg has an area of . Of this area, or 54.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 14.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 5.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.9% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.2%. Out of the forested land, all the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 45.5% is used for growing crops and 7.2% is pastures, while 1.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 5.0% is in lakes and 0.2% is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located at the foot of the Büttenberg mountain along the old

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it desce ...

river course. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Büren, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Biel/Bienne.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 the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visua ...

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 it ...

Demographics

2012-05-26-Seeland (Foto Dietrich Michael Weidmann) 105

2012-05-26-Seeland (Foto Dietrich Michael Weidmann) 099

Meinisberg has a population () of . , 10.4% 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 6.7%. Migration accounted for 4.2%, while births and deaths accounted for 3%.
accessed 21-August-2012 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 **Ger ...

(1,070 or 90.0%) as their first language,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

is the second most common (46 or 3.9%) and Albanian is the third (18 or 1.5%). There are 7 people who speak Italian. , the population was 50.4% male and 49.6% female. The population was made up of 564 Swiss men (44.4% of the population) and 76 (6.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 575 Swiss women (45.2%) and 5 (0.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 328 or about 27.6% were born in Meinisberg and lived there in 2000. There were 515 or 43.3% who were born in the same canton, while 190 or 16.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 127 or 10.7% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19.7%. , there were 450 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 646 married individuals, 49 widows or widowers and 44 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 97 households that consist of only one person and 30 households with five or more people. , a total of 460 apartments (93.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 15 apartments (3.1%) were seasonally occupied and 16 apartments (3.3%) 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 3.9 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.96%. 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 = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1200 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:245 text:"245" bar:1850 from:start till:493 text:"493" bar:1860 from:start till:494 text:"494" bar:1870 from:start till:512 text:"512" bar:1880 from:start till:528 text:"528" bar:1888 from:start till:505 text:"505" bar:1900 from:start till:532 text:"532" bar:1910 from:start till:590 text:"590" bar:1920 from:start till:609 text:"609" bar:1930 from:start till:581 text:"581" bar:1941 from:start till:547 text:"547" bar:1950 from:start till:675 text:"675" bar:1960 from:start till:759 text:"759" bar:1970 from:start till:980 text:"980" bar:1980 from:start till:1063 text:"1,063" bar:1990 from:start till:1060 text:"1,060" bar:2000 from:start till:1189 text:"1,189"

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the BDP Party (21.6%), the SPS (18.7%) and the FDP (5.9%). In the federal election, a total of 482 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 51.9%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Meinisberg had an unemployment rate of 1.31%. , there were a total of 218 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 26 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 71 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 constructio ...

and there were 11 businesses in this sector. 121 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 secon ...

, with 32 businesses in this sector. there were a total of 179

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 15, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 67 of which 21 or (31.3%) were in manufacturing and 46 (68.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 97. In the tertiary sector; 46 or 47.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 9 or 9.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 18 or 18.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 3.1% were in the information industry, 6 or 6.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 7 or 7.2% were in education. , there were 103 workers who commuted into the municipality and 537 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 14% used public transportation to get to work, and 60.2% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 137 or 11.5% 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 letter ...

, while 820 or 69.0% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 15 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.26% of the population), there were 3 individuals (or about 0.25% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 102 individuals (or about 8.58% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 32 (or about 2.69% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 3 individuals who were

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 ...

. 86 (or about 7.23% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficie ...

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 41 individuals (or about 3.45% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Meinisberg about 539 or (45.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

, and 143 or (12.0%) 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. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied ar ...

''). Of the 143 who completed tertiary schooling, 70.6% were Swiss men, 18.9% were Swiss women, 5.6% were non-Swiss men and 4.9% were non-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 cent ...

, 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 ...

. During the 2009-10 school year, there were a total of 117 students attending classes in Meinisberg. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 29 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, and 13.8% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 4 primary classes and 88 students. Of the primary students, 14.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 15.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 5 students in Meinisberg who came from another municipality, while 73 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern