Châtelat () was a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the Jura bernois administrative district in the

canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It is located in the French-speaking

Bernese Jura Bernese Jura (french: Jura bernois, ) is the name for the French-speaking area of the Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of ten administrative divisions of the canton. Comprising the three French-speaking districts in the northern part of the ...

(''Jura Bernois''), however a majority of the residents in Châtelat are German speaking. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Châtelat,

Monible Monible is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Châtelat, Monible, ...

Sornetan Sornetan is a former municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Châtelat, ...

and

Souboz Souboz is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Châtelat, Monible, ...

merged to form the new municipality of

Petit-Val Petit-Val is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Châtelat, Moni ...

.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 2 January 2013

History

Châtelat is first mentioned in 1335 as ''Schestellat''. For most of the village's history, it belonged to the court and

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 m ...

under the provost of

Moutier-Grandval Abbey Moutier-Grandval Abbey was a Benedictine abbey near the villages of Moutier and Grandval in today's Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It was founded around 640, when Grandval already existed; Moutier grew ...

. Châtelat remained part of the parish after they both converted to the new faith during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in 1531. In the following years, a colony of

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

was established in the village of Moron on the slopes of the Moron mountain. Moron was located at the far end of the valley, at an elevation of and like many Mennonite settlements was in a poorly accessible location. After the 1797 French victory and the

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The treat ...

, Châtelat became part of the French

Département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

Mont-Terrible Mont-Terrible was a department of the First French Republic, with its seat at Porrentruy. The Mont Terrible for which the department was named is now known as , a peak of 804 metres near Courgenay (now in the canton of Jura, Switzerland). The ...

. Three years later, in 1800 it became part of the Département of

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is the ...

. After

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's defeat and the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

, Châtelat was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. During the period of French control, the village of Fornet-Dessous was an independent municipality. At some point after Bern assumed control, it was integrated into the Châtelat municipality. In 1829 the village of Fornet-Dessous was completely destroyed in a fire. Today, the village remains fairly rural and agrarian. About two-thirds of the workers work in the municipality and about two-thirds of the jobs in the municipality are in agriculture.

Geography

Before the merger, Châtelat had a total area of . As of 2012, a total of or 54.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 2.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 During the same year, housing and buildings made up 1.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.0%. Out of the forested land, 32.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 9.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.2% is used for growing crops and 31.8% is pastures and 20.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The former municipality is located in the Moutier district in the Petit Val. The main village is split in half by the Pichoux-Strasse. It consists of the villages of Châtelat, Moron and Fornet-Dessous. The nearby village of Fornet-Dessus belongs to the municipality of Lajoux. On 31 December 2009 District de Moutier, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.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 vis ...

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 latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is ''Argent a Tower embattled Sable issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert between three Mullets Gules.'' The coat of arms of Châtelat is an example of

canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely '' batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional ''T ...

since the tower is a castle (french: château). The threes stars represent the three parts of the municipality, le Châtelat, le Fornet and Moron.

Demographics

Châtelat had a population (as of 2013) of 105.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 15 January 2015 , 2.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 0%. Migration accounted for -3.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 0%.
accessed 10 June 2013 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 ...

(78 or 63.9%) as their first language with the rest speaking

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 ...

. , the population was 50.5% male and 49.5% female. The population was made up of 55 Swiss men (49.5% of the population) and 1 (0.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 53 Swiss women (47.7%) and 2 (1.8%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 71 or about 58.2% were born in Châtelat and lived there in 2000. There were 31 or 25.4% who were born in the same canton, while 14 or 11.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3 or 2.5% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 49.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 23.4%. , there were 52 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 65 married individuals, 5 widows or widowers and individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 9 households that consist of only one person and 6 households with five or more people. , a total of 39 apartments (84.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 5 apartments (10.9%) were seasonally occupied and 2 apartments (4.3%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2%. 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:35 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:220 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:40 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:8 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:153 text:"153" bar:1860 from:start till:195 text:"195" bar:1870 from:start till:195 text:"195" bar:1880 from:start till:188 text:"188" bar:1888 from:start till:164 text:"164" bar:1900 from:start till:173 text:"173" bar:1910 from:start till:213 text:"213" bar:1920 from:start till:199 text:"199" bar:1930 from:start till:179 text:"179" bar:1941 from:start till:174 text:"174" bar:1950 from:start till:192 text:"192" bar:1960 from:start till:179 text:"179" bar:1970 from:start till:172 text:"172" bar:1980 from:start till:167 text:"167" bar:1990 from:start till:128 text:"128" bar:2000 from:start till:122 text:"122"

Sights

The entire village of Châtelat is designated as part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 46.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (22%), the Christian Social Party (CSP) (22%) and the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (11.4%). In the federal election, a total of 48 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 Unive ...

was 53.9%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Châtelat had an unemployment rate of 0.49%. , there were a total of 61 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 40 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 15 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 construction. ...

and there was 1 business in this sector. 6 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 second ...

, with 2 businesses in this sector. There were 68 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 36.8% of the workforce. there were a total of 44

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...

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 12, all of which were in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 4. In the tertiary sector; 2 were technical professionals or scientists and 2 were in education. , there were 7 workers who commuted into the municipality and 19 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 49 workers (87.5% of the 56 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Châtelat.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident of Châtelat making 150,000 CHF was 13%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 19.1%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in 2006 was 13.9% and the nationwide rate was 11.6%.Regionale Disparitäten in der Schweiz - Schlüsselindikatoren
accessed 15 May 2013 In 2009 there were a total of 37 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 8 made over 75,000 CHF per year. The greatest number of workers, 10, made between 20 and 30 thousand CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Châtelat was 87,463 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF.

Religion

From the , 29 or 23.8% 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 ...

, while 4 or 3.3% 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 lette ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 75 individuals (or about 61.48% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 6 (or about 4.92% 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 sufficient ...

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 8 individuals (or about 6.56% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Châtelat about 47.7% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 12.3% 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. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

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 arts ...

''). Of the 9 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 44.4% were Swiss men, 55.6% 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 Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

. During the 2011-12 school year, there were a total of 20 students attending classes in Châtelat. There were no kindergarten classes and one primary class with 20 students.Schuljahr 2011/12 pdf document
accessed 9 May 2013 , there were a total of 9 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 2 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 7 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 14 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20070311081708/http://www.chatelat.ch/ * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatelat Former municipalities of the canton of Bern