Merzligen 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 german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

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 ...

History

Merzligen is first mentioned in 1278 as ''Merzelingen''. The oldest trace of settlement in the area is the remains of a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

which was discovered near the Kühmatt section. By the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

a number of local nobles and monasteries owned land in the village. In 1398 it was acquired by the city of

and incorporated into 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 th ...

Nidau Nidau is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Nidau is first mentioned in 1196 as ''Nidowe''. In 1352, it was recorded in Latin as ''Nydow''. The remains of a number of sti ...

. The

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of St. Niklaus was named after a small chapel and hermitage. By 1480 the hermitage had grown into a small monastery. When Bern adopted the new faith of 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 1528, the monastery was closed. During the 1798 French invasion, on 5 March 1798, a small battle was fought outside St. Niklaus. The Swiss forces had 16 men killed in the battle, all of whom were buried there and a small memorial was erected. In 1824 the original monument was replaced with the current obelisk. For most of its history, it was part of the

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 ...

of Bürglen. In 1674, the residents built their own church and unsuccessfully attempted to split away from the Bürglen parish. Other attempts in 1724, 1776 and 1932 was also unsuccessful. In 1947 it joined the parish of

Worben Worben is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Worben is first mentioned in 1228 as ''apud Worbun''. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a single Neolithic artifact d ...

Geography

Merzligen has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 71.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 16.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 10.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.4% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 During the same year, housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.5%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 61.8% is used for growing crops and 5.7% is pastures, while 3.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. Merzligen is located on the heights between

Lake Biel __NOTOC__ Lake Bienne or Lake Biel (french: Lac de Bienne ; german: Bielersee) is a lake in western Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies approxima ...

and the Bernese Seeland. It includes the village of Merzligen and part of the

of St. Niklaus (the other part belongs to

Bellmund Bellmund (french: Belmont) is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Bellmund is first mentioned in 1107 as ''Bellus mons''. In 1228 it was mentioned as ''Belmunt''. The municip ...

). On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Nidau, 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 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 Linden Tree Vert issuant from a Base of the same.''

Demographics

Merzligen has a population () of . , 5.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 1%. Migration accounted for 1.2%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.2%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 12 August 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 ...

(376 or 91.5%) as their first language, French is the second most common (25 or 6.1%) 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 (2 or 0.5%). , the population was 49.8% male and 50.2% female. The population was made up of 189 Swiss men (46.6% of the population) and 13 (3.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 193 Swiss women (47.5%) and 1 (0.2%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 131 or about 31.9% were born in Merzligen and lived there in 2000. There were 199 or 48.4% who were born in the same canton, while 53 or 12.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 25 or 6.1% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 54.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 26.3%. , there were 155 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 224 married individuals, 22 widows or widowers and 10 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 31 households that consist of only one person and 12 households with five or more people. , a total of 150 apartments (94.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3 apartments (1.9%) were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments (3.8%) 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 4.9 new units per 1000 residents. In 2011, single family homes made up 66.9% of the total housing in the municipality. 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:420 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:80 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:16 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:97 text:"97" bar:1850 from:start till:198 text:"198" bar:1860 from:start till:209 text:"209" bar:1870 from:start till:199 text:"199" bar:1880 from:start till:200 text:"200" bar:1888 from:start till:217 text:"217" bar:1900 from:start till:210 text:"210" bar:1910 from:start till:213 text:"213" bar:1920 from:start till:223 text:"223" bar:1930 from:start till:208 text:"208" bar:1941 from:start till:203 text:"203" bar:1950 from:start till:230 text:"230" bar:1960 from:start till:223 text:"223" bar:1970 from:start till:309 text:"309" bar:1980 from:start till:364 text:"364" bar:1990 from:start till:393 text:"393" bar:2000 from:start till:411 text:"411"

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 23.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (23.6%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (20.4%) and the

FDP.The Liberals french: PLR.Les Libéraux-Radicaux it, PLR.I Liberali Radicali rm, PLD.Ils Liberals , logo = , caption = Logo of the party in French, German, and Italian , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Thierry Burkart ...

(10.6%). In the federal election, a total of 184 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 56.6%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Merzligen had an unemployment rate of 0.42%. , there were a total of 40 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 23 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 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 construction. ...

and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 13 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 7 businesses in this sector. There were 214 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.1% of the workforce. there were a total of 25

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 11, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 2 were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 11. In the tertiary sector; 3 or 27.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 3 or 27.3% were technical professionals or scientists and 3 or 27.3% were in health care. , there were 8 workers who commuted into the municipality and 175 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 21.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 39 workers (83.0% of the 47 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Merzligen.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 11.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 65.9% used a private car. In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Merzligen making 150,000 CHF was 12.4%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 18.2%. For comparison, the rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide rate was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2009 there were a total of 187 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 72 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 4 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Merzligen was 115,099 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF. In 2011 a total of 0.5% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.Statistischer Atlas der Schweiz - Bezüger/-innen von Sozialhilfeleistungen (Sozialhilfeempfänger/-innen), 2011
accessed 18 June 2013

Religion

From the , 306 or 74.5% 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 ...

, while 33 or 8.0% 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 lette ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 17 individuals (or about 4.14% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic. There were 2 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and 6 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 ...

. 41 (or about 9.98% 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 5 individuals (or about 1.22% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Merzligen about 58.2% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 22.6% 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 59 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 74.6% were Swiss men, 23.7% were Swiss women. , there was one student living in Merzligen and attending some form of schooling in the municipality. A total of 61 students from Merzligen attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern