Obfelden (

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

: ''Obfälde'') 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 district of Affoltern in the canton 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 ...

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

Politically, Obfelden is the youngest municipality in Affoltern, though settlements in the area date back to the Alemannic-Franconian period in the 5th century AD. Early activity coalesced around five hamlets: Bickwil (first mentioned in 1246 as ''Bickewilare''), Oberlunnern and Unterlunnern (1257 ''Lundenerun'' and ''Lunderun inferioris''), Wolsen (1311 ''Wolunsun''), and Toussen (1325 ''Thunsen''). These five hamlets were known collectively as being ''ob dem Feld'' ("over the field") from neighbouring Ottenbach; most fell under the jurisdiction of Maschwanden, although Toussen and part of Unterlunnern came under the Zürich

Freiamt Freiamt is a town in the district of EmmendingenFreiamt', alemannische-seiten.de in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the ...

. Both of these areas were merged into Knonau (today's

Affoltern district Affoltern District (also known as Knonaueramt or Säuliamt) is one of the twelve districts of the German language, German-speaking canton of Zürich, Switzerland. Its capital is the city of Affoltern am Albis. Municipalities Affoltern contains a ...

) in the sixteenth century, when the hamlets of Obfelden became a part of the nearby parish of Ottenbach. In the nineteenth century, local authorities began to take steps toward creating their own separate community, and an independent ecclesiastical and municipal entity was formally created in 1847 under a new village church completed the following year. The original separate hamlet councils were officially dissolved in 1877. The town's coat of arms commemorates this history, with five ears of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

symbolising the five hamlets, held together by a band representing their union to the new church.

Geography

Obfelden has an area of . Of this area, 54.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 22.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 20.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located on the

Reuss River The Reuss (; ) is a river in Switzerland. With a length of and a drainage basin of , it is the fourth largest List of rivers of Switzerland, river in Switzerland (after the Rhine, Aare and Rhône). The upper Reuss forms the main valley of the ca ...

and on the border with the

Canton of Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most northerly cantons of Switzerland, by th ...

. It consists of five smaller communities; Bickwil, Ober-, Unterlunnern, Wolsen and Toussen.

Demographics

Obfelden has a population (as of ) of . , 16.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.6%. Most of the population () speaks German (89.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 3.9%) and Albanian being third ( 1.7%). In the 2007 election, the most popular party was the SVP which received 38% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (15.6%), the FDP (12%) and the CSP (11.5%). The age distribution of the population ()is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.7%. In Obfelden about 78.4% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either 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 ...

or additional higher education (either university 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 ...

''). Obfelden has an unemployment rate of 2%. , there were 90 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 26 businesses involved in this sector. 334 people are 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 are 57 businesses in this sector. 659 people are 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 130 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 24-Jul-2009 The historical population is given in the following table:

History

Geography

Demographics

Notable residents

References

External links