Leuzigen 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 Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The village is situated between the cities

Biel/Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) ...

and

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissens ...

and borders on the river

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descen ...

History

Leuzigen is first mentioned in 1235 as ''Loxingen''. In 1270 it was mentioned as ''Loexigen''. In old documents, the village was referred to as Loichfingen (1224), Loenzingen (1522) und Leutzigen (1661) and Leuzingen. Archaeological excavations in the late 19th and early 20th century suggested that the area in and around Leuzigen was already populated by

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

and

Romans 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 ...

more than 2000 years ago. In Roman times, the strategically important road connecting Avanches and

crossed present-day Leuzigen close to the old railway line. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, monks founded a priory on the site where the village church is now. In 1662, a school building made of stone was constructed in the middle of the village. Although the building has long since ceased to function as a school, it is still preserved today as one of the oldest buildings in Leuzigen. Before its integration with the canton of Bern, Leuzigen's fate was repeatedly troubled by struggles for territory amongst dukedoms and principalities, and it changed rulers a number of times. In 1876, the railway line between

Lyss Lyss () is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2011, the former municipality of Busswil bei Büren was merged with Lyss.Büren a. A. and Solothurn was shut down due to insufficient profitability and replaced by a bus line. Before 1900, Leuzigen was one of the largest villages in the area. Although many surrounding villages have grown considerably since the 1960s, Leuzigen's population size has largely been stable for more than a century now. In the period of economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s, expanding industries in the region, such as watchmaking in

Grenchen Grenchen (french: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel/Bienne, approximately north of Bern. With over 16,000 i ...

, attracted many workers. However, it had little impact on Leuzigen, which remained predominantly rural.

Geography

Leuzigen has an area of . Of this area, or 45.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 39.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 11.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 3.3% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.3% of the area Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 34.0% is used for growing crops and 9.6% is pastures, while 1.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located on the right bank of the

river on the northern slope of the Bucheggberg plateau. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Büren, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Seeland.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 vi ...

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 its ...

is ''Azure two lions rampant combatant Or.'' The design dates back to at least 1833. Contrary to popular belief, the name "Leuzigen" was not derived from the word "Löwen" (German for 'lion'), but is thought to have been derived from a Germanic last name. The name underwent a number of changes until it assumed its modern spelling.

Demographics

Leuzigen has a population () of . , 4.1% 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 2.8%. Migration accounted for 1.5%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.9%.
accessed 21-August-2012 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 **Ge ...

(1,123 or 96.8%) as their first language, French is the second most common (11 or 0.9%) and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

is the third (7 or 0.6%). , the population was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. The population was made up of 545 Swiss men (45.7% of the population) and 32 (2.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 599 Swiss women (50.2%) and 1 (0.1%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 555 or about 47.8% were born in Leuzigen and lived there in 2000. There were 268 or 23.1% who were born in the same canton, while 252 or 21.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 51 or 4.4% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19.4%. , there were 490 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 537 married individuals, 106 widows or widowers and 27 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 126 households that consist of only one person and 39 households with five or more people. , a total of 452 apartments (91.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 22 apartments (4.5%) were seasonally occupied and 19 apartments (3.9%) 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 2.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.71%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1200 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:518 text:"518" bar:1850 from:start till:1107 text:"1,107" bar:1860 from:start till:1009 text:"1,009" bar:1870 from:start till:994 text:"994" bar:1880 from:start till:985 text:"985" bar:1888 from:start till:947 text:"947" bar:1900 from:start till:947 text:"947" bar:1910 from:start till:968 text:"968" bar:1920 from:start till:1048 text:"1,048" bar:1930 from:start till:1084 text:"1,084" bar:1941 from:start till:1060 text:"1,060" bar:1950 from:start till:1145 text:"1,145" bar:1960 from:start till:1193 text:"1,193" bar:1970 from:start till:1143 text:"1,143" bar:1980 from:start till:1128 text:"1,128" bar:1990 from:start till:1122 text:"1,122" bar:2000 from:start till:1160 text:"1,160"

Sights

The entire village of Leuzigen is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 30.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the BDP Party (26.4%), the SPS (13.8%) and the FDP (12.7%). In the federal election, a total of 407 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 43.3%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

In the Middle Ages, the population of Leuzigen mainly lived on agricultural produce and the sale of tuff stone and

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

. The excavation of tuff stone lost importance when it was gradually supplanted by brick stone. On the other hand, agriculture has remained important for Leuzigen until today. There are still a sizable number of farms in the village. Apart from small local businesses, such as workpiece suppliers for appliances, there are no large industries located in Leuzigen. About 75 percent of the people work outside of the village, as it is relatively close to cities such as Grenchen, Solothurn and Biel/Bienne. In addition, a junction of the motorway A5 is in close proximity and allows one to reach the capital Bern in half an hour by car. , Leuzigen had an unemployment rate of 1.53%. , there were a total of 263 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 115 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 31 businesses involved in this sector. 62 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 14 businesses in this sector. 86 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 28 businesses in this sector. there were a total of 191

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 80, of which 62 were in agriculture and 19 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 50 of which 39 or (78.0%) were in manufacturing and 11 (22.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 61. In the tertiary sector; 22 or 36.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 13.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 6 or 9.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 9 or 14.8% were in education and 4 or 6.6% were in health care. , there were 71 workers who commuted into the municipality and 430 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 11.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 62.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 139 or 12.0% 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 let ...

, while 871 or 75.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 3 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.26% of the population), there were 8 individuals (or about 0.69% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 38 individuals (or about 3.28% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and 5 (or about 0.43% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 5 individuals who were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 72 (or about 6.21% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 36 individuals (or about 3.10% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Leuzigen about 493 or (42.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 101 or (8.7%) 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 ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 101 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.2% were Swiss men, 21.8% 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 ce ...

, 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 ...

. During the 2009-10 school year, there were a total of 93 students attending classes in Leuzigen. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 25 students in the municipality. The municipality had 4 primary classes and 68 students. Of the primary students, 4.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 2.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 23 students in Leuzigen who came from another municipality, while 75 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

*
Homepage of the Municipal CouncilHomepage of the sports club
{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern