Giswil is 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 canton of Obwalden in Switzerland.

History

Giswil is first mentioned in the 11th century, as ''Kisevilare''.

Geography

The municipality is located on the southern end of

Lake Sarnen Lake Sarnen (German: ''Sarnersee'') is a lake in the Swiss canton of Obwalden. The lake is on the Sarner Aa, which flows out of the Lake Lungern, through the Lake Sarnen, and into Lake Lucerne. The municipalities of Sarnen and Sachseln are located ...

. It consists of the village sections of Grossteil, Kleinteil, Rudenz and Diechtersmatt, as well as scattered farm houses and

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

. To the south-west, the municipality rises up to the summits of the Giswilerstock,

Brienzer Rothorn The Brienzer Rothorn is a mountain of the Emmental Alps, in Switzerland. With an elevation of above sea level, the Brienzer Rothorn is the highest summit of the range. To its west lies the Tannhorn, whilst to its east are Arnihaaggen, Höch Gumme ...

, Arnihaaggen and Höch Gumme. The Glaubenbielen Pass crosses to

Sörenberg Sörenberg is a village in the Swiss Alps, located in the southern part of the canton of Lucerne. The village lies in the municipality of Flühli in the Entlebuch region, near the upper end of the Waldemme valley. Sörenberg lies at an altitude ...

in the

Entlebuch region Entlebuch District is one of six districts (german: Wahlkreise) of the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. Its administrative center is the village of Schüpfheim. Entlebuch District roughly corresponds to the basin of the river Kleine Emme. The distri ...

of the canton of Lucerne. Giswil09

Giswil has an area, , of . Of this area, 35.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 53.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (8.7%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers , or mountains).

Demographics

Giswil has a population (as of ) of . , 8.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.Canton Obwalden Statistics
accessed 2 September 2009 After a period of poverty and emigration in the late 19th century, where the population stagnated at about 1600 persons, the population increased quite continuously in the 20th century. Over the past 40 years the population has increased by 38%, mainly because economic conditions in the region and public transport to Luzern have improved so that the migration balance definitely changed its sense towards immigration. Most of the population () speaks German (95.5%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 1.0%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.8%).
accessed 03-Sep-2009 the gender distribution of the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. there are 1,250 households in Giswil. In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (26.2%), the SPS (19.4%) and the rest of the votes went to other parties (18.6%). In Giswil about 68.2% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a '' Fachhochschule''). Giswil has an unemployment rate of 1.24%. , there were 329 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 125 businesses involved in this sector. 335 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 53 businesses in this sector. 467 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 second ...

, with 84 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

Transport

Giswil is served by Giswil station on the Brünig line, an inter-regional

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

from

Interlaken Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss A ...

to Lucerne. The hourly InterRegio train between Interlaken and Lucerne stops at the station, which is also the terminus of the half-hourly

Lucerne S-Bahn The Lucerne S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Luzern) is an S-Bahn-style commuter rail network focusing on Lucerne, Switzerland. Opened on 12 December 2004, the network forms part of the Central Switzerland S-Bahn project (german: S-Bahn Zentralschweiz, lin ...

S5 service from Lucerne. The A8 motorway passes to the south of the town, through the

Giswil Tunnel The Giswil Tunnel is a tunnel in central Switzerland. The tunnel bypasses the town of Giswil in the canton of Obwalden Obwalden, also Obwald (german: Kanton Obwalden, rm, Chantun Sursilvania; french: Canton d'Obwald; it, Canton Obvaldo), is on ...

Sights

The main sights of Giswil are two ruins ('' Rosenberg'' and '' Rudenz''), as well as traditional farmhouses in the scattered settlement ''Grossteil''.

Weather

Giswil has an average of 144.1 days of rain per year and on average receives of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

. The wettest month is August during which time Giswil receives an average of of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 14.4 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 14.4, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year is January with an average of of precipitation over 14.4 days., the weather station elevation is 489 meters above sea level.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of Obwalden