Rütschelen 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 of
Bern in
Switzerland.
History
Rütschelen is first mentioned in 1273 as ''Ruschole''.
[
Rütschelen ruled by the ]Counts of Kyburg
The Kyburg family (; ; also Kiburg) was a noble family of '' grafen'' ( counts) in the Duchy of Swabia, a cadet line of the counts of Dillingen, who in the late 12th and early 13th centuries ruled the County of Kyburg, corresponding to much of wh ...
, though St. Urban's Abbey
St. Urban's Abbey (german: Kloster Sankt Urban) is a former Cistercian monastery in the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of Pfaffnau in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. It is a Swiss Swiss ...
and the Thunstetten Commandery The Thunstetten Commandery was a medieval monastery of the Knights Hospitaller in the Swiss municipality of Thunstetten in the Canton of Bern. Today the lands house Thunstetten Castle, which is a national landmark of Switzerland.
History
Comman ...
were also important landholders. In 1385, the low court was pledged to the Rohrmoos and Mattstetten families, former Kyburg Ministerialis
The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire.
The word and its German translations, ''Minist ...
(unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) families. However, in the following decades they were forced, in turn, to pledge the low court to the town of Burgdorf in 1394 and 1402. In 1400 Burgdorf acquired some neighboring land from Goetz von Hünenberg and later combined both into a single 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. The bailiwick is probably modelled on t ...
of Lotzwil.[
Around 1600, the village divided up the ]common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person who has ...
to make private land. Then, in 1616, a shared grazing agreement between Bleienbach and Wil was abolished. This loss of common grazing land hurt many farmers economically and throughout the 17th and 18th centuries they fought among themselves and against the village council for the use of the remaining common land. Starting in the 18th century, cottage industries
The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...
such as linen weaving and stocking knitting began to supplement the local economy. After 1850, agriculture became increasingly mechanized and required fewer farm workers. The resulting lack of jobs forced many residents to migrate to the cities. Agriculture remains very important and in 2005, over half of all jobs in Rütschelen were in that sector.[
]
Geography
Rütschelen has an area of . Of this area, or 56.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 36.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.0% is settled (buildings or roads).[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.3%. Out of the forested land, 35.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 38.2% is used for growing crops and 16.8% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops.[
The municipality is located on the western edge of the Langeten valley. It consists of the ]linear village
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...
of Rütschelen with the village sections of Dorf, Flösch, Wil and Spiegelberg, the new development of Berg and scattered farm houses.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Aarwangen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Oberaargau.[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 ...
is ''Per fess Argent a Semi Bear rampant issuant Sable langued Gules and of the last.''
Demographics
Rütschelen has a population () of . , 3.1% 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 4.9%. Migration accounted for 6%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.2%.
accessed 11-June-2012German
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 ...
(525 or 99.1%) as their first language, with the rest speaking French or English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
.[
, the population was 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The population was made up of 271 Swiss men (46.9% of the population) and 11 (1.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 289 Swiss women (50.0%) and 7 (1.2%) non-Swiss women.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.6%.][
, there were 218 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 262 married individuals, 31 widows or widowers and 19 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 47 households that consist of only one person and 18 households with five or more people. , a total of 196 apartments (84.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 30 apartments (12.9%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (3.0%) 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 3.5 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.6%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 39.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the BDP Party (19.4%), the SPS (16%) and the FDP (8.2%). In the federal election, a total of 218 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 49.5%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Rütschelen had an unemployment rate of 1.29%. , there were a total of 73 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 40 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 4 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 3 businesses in this sector. 29 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 8 businesses in this sector.[
there were a total of 51 ]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 28, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 4 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 3 were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 19. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 21.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in the movement and storage of goods, 3 or 15.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 6 or 31.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 21.1% were in education.
, there were 15 workers who commuted into the municipality and 177 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 11.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 5.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 58.4% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 33 or 6.2% 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 432 or 81.5% 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 individuals (or about 2.83% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 34 (or about 6.42% 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 ...
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 23 individuals (or about 4.34% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Rütschelen about 227 or (42.8%) 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 57 or (10.8%) 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 57 who completed tertiary schooling, 78.9% were Swiss men, 19.3% 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 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 ...
.[Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document]
accessed 4 January 2012
, there were 33 students from Rütschelen who attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutschelen
Municipalities of the canton of Bern