Böckten 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

Sissach Sissach () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and the capital of the district of Sissach (district), Sissach in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country, Switzerland. History Sissach is first mentioned around 1225-26 as ' ...

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 ...

Basel-Country Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital city is Liestal. It is traditional ...

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 ...

Geography

Böckten has an area, , of . Of this area, or 43.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 41.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 14.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.3%. Out of the forested land, 39.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 20.6% is used for growing crops and 18.9% is pastures, while 3.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Böckten is situated in the Ergolz valley. This valley is named after Basel-Country's main river, the

Ergolz The Ergolz is the main river in the canton of Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland. It rises on Mount Geisflue in the Faltenjura mountains in the upper region of Basel-Landschaft, on the border with Aargau and Solothurn, and joins the Rhine at Augst ...

, which flows into the Rhine before Basel and was already a drinking water source for the Romans. In this valley, Böckten lies between its two main neighbouring municipalities

(located westward, towards

Liestal Liestal (, Standard ), formerly spelled Liesthal, is the capital of Liestal District and the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, south of Basel. Liestal is an industrial town with a Cobbled street, cobbled-street ...

and

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

) and

Gelterkinden Gelterkinden is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Gelterkinden is first mentioned between 1101–03 as ''Gelterkingen''. Geography Gelterkinden has an area, , of . Of this ar ...

(located eastward, towards

Olten Olten (; High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten grew into a town during the Middle Ages at the location of a bridge over the Aare. After a period of de ...

). Böckten's remaining two neighbouring municipalities – apart from the before mentioned Sissach and Gelterkinden – are the smaller

Thürnen Thürnen is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. Geography Thürnen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.3% is forested. Of the rest of ...

and Rickenbach, which lead into separate smaller valleys. The latter is the first municipality of the Homburg valley, which leads towards the Hauenstein hills. Böckten's center lies 385 meters above sea level. However, its hills (in the forests) reach up to 740 meters.

General information

While Böckten has grown together with Gelterkinden during the 1980s and 1990s, it remains separate from Sissach to this day. Nevertheless, it is mainly attached to Sissach in administrative matters (e.g. school system, church). Its location between these bigger municipalities, that both possess an express train railway station, makes Böckten much more connected to the nearby centers (most notably Basel and Liestal) than most other localities of comparable size. Unlike in neighbouring Sissach and Gelterkinden, there are no church bells in Böckten to wake you at 6am.

History

Böckten was first mentioned as ''Bettinghofen'', which became simplified to ''Bettinchon'' (first mentioned in 1246), which in turn changed to ''Betkon'' (first mentioned in 1339). In the Middle Ages Böckten belonged to the earl of Homburg. Its governance changed several times until it came to Basel in 1467. After the establishing of the

Gotthard Pass The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass (; ) at is a mountain pass in the Alps traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif and connecting northern Switzerland with southern Switzerland. The pass lies between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ti ...

, the ''Bischofstein'' castle was built and completed in 1311 in order to secure the region. It was destroyed due to the

1356 Basel earthquake The 1356 Basel earthquake is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history and had a moment magnitude in the range of 6.0–7.1.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981–2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 12.1%.
accessed 4 March 2011 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 ...

(605 or 90.4%), with

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 ...

being second most common (13 or 1.9%) and

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

being third (12 or 1.8%). There are 8 people who speak

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), ...

and 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 715 Swiss citizens (91.7% of the population), and 65 non-Swiss residents (8.3%) Of the population in the municipality 199 or about 29.7% were born in Böckten and lived there in 2000. There were 226 or 33.8% who were born in the same canton, while 159 or 23.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 72 or 10.8% were born outside of Switzerland. In there were 10 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 5 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 14 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 2 people. This represents a

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

of 1.6%. The age distribution, , in Böckten is; 64 children or 8.2% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 92 teenagers or 11.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 88 people or 11.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 129 people or 16.5% are between 30 and 39, 118 people or 15.1% are between 40 and 49, and 171 people or 21.9% are between 50 and 64. The senior population distribution is 82 people or 10.5% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 36 people or 4.6% who are over 80.Canton of Basel-Land Statistics
''Wohnbevölkerung nach Nationalität und Konfession per 30. September 2010'' accessed 16 February 2011 , there were 253 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 353 married individuals, 35 widows or widowers and 28 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 270 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 68 households that consist of only one person and 16 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 277 households that answered this question, 24.5% were households made up of just one person and 1 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 95 married couples without children, 94 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up unrelated people and 7 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 133 single family homes (or 68.2% of the total) out of a total of 195 inhabited buildings. There were 33 multi-family buildings (16.9%), along with 20 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (10.3%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.6%). Of the single family homes 20 were built before 1919, while 23 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (36) were built between 1971 and 1980.Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 there were 292 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 96. There were 11 single room apartments and 97 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 267 apartments (91.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (4.5%) were seasonally occupied and 12 apartments (4.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.6 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent a two-room apartment was about 761.00 CHF (US$610, £340, €490), a three-room apartment was about 1001.00 CHF (US$800, £450, €640) and a four-room apartment cost an average of 1409.00 CHF (US$1130, £630, €900).Canton of Basel-Land Statistics
, ''Mieter- und Genossenschafterwohnungen1 nach Zimmerzahl und Mietpreis 2000'' accessed 20 February 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:710 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1680 from:start till:115 text:"115" bar:1798 from:start till:236 text:"236" bar:1850 from:start till:316 text:"316" bar:1860 from:start till:300 text:"300" bar:1870 from:start till:292 text:"292" bar:1880 from:start till:364 text:"364" bar:1888 from:start till:407 text:"407" bar:1900 from:start till:393 text:"393" bar:1910 from:start till:363 text:"363" bar:1920 from:start till:394 text:"394" bar:1930 from:start till:376 text:"376" bar:1941 from:start till:351 text:"351" bar:1950 from:start till:420 text:"420" bar:1960 from:start till:539 text:"539" bar:1970 from:start till:556 text:"556" bar:1980 from:start till:547 text:"547" bar:1990 from:start till:704 text:"704" bar:2000 from:start till:669 text:"669"

Economy

Besides several typical small-scale enterprises, Böckten is the site of a factory of the Swiss comestible goods chain ''Le Patron''. , Böckten had an unemployment rate of 2.17%. , there were 17 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 334 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 13 businesses in this sector. 62 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 16 businesses in this sector. There were 352 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.9% of the workforce. the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 383. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 9, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 333, of which 308 or (92.5%) were in manufacturing and 25 (7.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 41. In the tertiary sector; 12 or 29.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 12.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 7.3% were in the information industry, 2 or 4.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 7.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 9.8% were in education and 1 or 2.4% were in health care. , there were 321 workers who commuted into the municipality and 279 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 5.0% of the workforce coming into Böckten are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 20.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 46.9% used a private car.

Transportation

Böckten is the midpoint on the 105 bus route between Sissach train station and Gelterkinden centre which are each only a few minutes away. Both Sissach and Gelterkinden have regular trains to Basel (17 mins) and to Zurich, Bern and Luzern via Olten. Gelterkinden's station lies near its border with Böckten and is easily reachable on foot. Sissach's express railway station can be easily reached by bike. The Swiss automobile highway system can be joined in Sissach in an approximate distance of four kilometers. From 1891 on, Böckten harbored a station of the electronic tramway that commuted between Sissach and Gelterkinden. This railway line became obsolete and inactive with the installment of the federal railway line Basel-Olten on 8 January 1916.

Religion

From the , 113 or 16.9% 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 389 or 58.1% 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 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.30% of the population), there were 6 individuals (or about 0.90% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 21 individuals (or about 3.14% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 33 (or about 4.93% 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. 89 (or about 13.30% 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 15 individuals (or about 2.24% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

Böckten has its own primary school (5 school years, from age 7 on) and kindergarten (2 school years, from age 5 on). From secondary school level on (4 school years, from age 12 on), students have to commute to Sissach (by bicycle or bus). For facultative higher school education (as grammar school), students have to commute to Liestal (by train). The closest university is the one in Basel. In Böckten about 279 or (41.7%) 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 80 or (12.0%) 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 80 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.0% were Swiss men, 17.5% were Swiss women. , there were 55 students from Böckten who attended schools outside the municipality.

Social life

Typical for Swiss localities, Böckten has several clubs. The most notable of them are the different sport clubs for men, women, boys and girls. Besides that there are clubs for carnival, culture (in general), fishing, shooting, tennis, and viniculture, as well as a women's club.

Politics

In the 2019 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 30.0% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (19.4%), the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(18.1%) and the FDP (15.4%). In the federal election, a total of 286 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 49.0%. The municipal council consists of five members. They get elected by the local residents on a periodical basis. Each of them is responsible for a different department. Its current members (as of January 2007) as well as their respective departments are as follows: * Mr Ulrich Altaus (municipal president): Architecture, police, economics (agriculture and forestry), hunting, fishery * Mr Peter Fiechter (vice president): Sewage, water supply, municipally owned real estate * Mrs Trudy Bruttel: Education, culture (kindergarten, schools, youth music school, churches, cultural promotion, recreational time, sports), social security, health care, social welfare * Mr Ralph Thurnherr:

Land use planning Land use planning or ''Land-use regulation'' is the process of regulating the Land use, use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient resource u ...

and regulation, road administration, public transportation, environmental protection, cemetery, public security (military, fire department, civil defense) * Mr Elmar Gürtler: Finances, accounting, taxing, insurances, general administration

Places of interest

* '' Bischofstein'' ruin, located at approximately above sea level, with view towards Sissach * Lookout point with fireplace in the forest with view towards Böckten

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 ''Barry of Six Argent and Azure.''Flags of the World.com
accessed 4 March 2011 This is the emblem of the last nobility that possessed Böckten, the ''Truchsessen'' of Rheinfelden.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bockten Municipalities of Basel-Landschaft