Müntschemier (french: Monsmier) 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.
History
Müntschemier is first mentioned in 1185 as ''Munchimur''.
[
The earliest traces of a settlement in the area are some Mesolithic flint tools which were found at Baholz-Oberfeld. Other prehistoric traces include a ]Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
grave or ruins of a settlement at Müntschemier marsh and a Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
burial site at Gugleracker. In 1185 the Abbey of St. Johannsen began ruling over the village. In 1474 the entire ''Herrschaft
The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...
'' of Erlach, including Müntschemier, was acquired by Bern. It became part of the Bernese court of Ins in the bailiwick of Erlach. In addition to belonging to the court, Müntschemier has always been 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 o ...
of Ins. In 1827, part of the village was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt in the following years. The cost of the 1874-83 Jura water correction project forced the Bürgergemeinde to sell the common fields or ''Allmend''. In 1876, the Bürgergemeinde no longer had a purpose and was dissolved. The Jura water correction helped drain the Grand Marais marsh and allowed the village to spread into the rich farmland left behind. In 1858-63 a major highway through le Grand Marais connected the village with the rest of the country. In 1902 the Bern- Neuchatel railway provided another route into the village. The easy transportation links led to population growth. In 1956 a freight yard and warehouses turned Müntschemier into a center for vegetable production and shipping in Switzerland.[
]
Geography
Müntschemier has an area of . Of this area, or 77.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 1.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 18.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 1.0% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 5.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.2% of the area. Out of the forested land, 0.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 70.9% is used for growing crops and 4.5% is pastures, while 2.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 0.4% is in rivers and streams.[
Müntschemier lies in the Grand Marais, a particularly productive area with nearly black soil in the Bernese Seeland.
Müntschemier lies on the railroad line between Neuchâtel and Bern. The S5 stops there.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Erlach, 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 ''Per Pale Or and Argent overall a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Gules and in dexter issuant an Alder Tree Vert trunked Argent and in sinister issuant an Ear Or.''
Demographics
Müntschemier has a population () of . , 27.0% 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 17.7%. Migration accounted for 13.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 3.8%.
accessed 12 November 2012German
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 ...
(904 or 81.7%) as their first language, Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
is the second most common (106 or 9.6%) and French is the third (37 or 3.3%). There are 11 people who speak 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 ...
.[
, the population was 51.1% male and 48.9% female. The population was made up of 468 Swiss men (36.3% of the population) and 190 (14.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 472 Swiss women (36.6%) and 15 (1.2%) non-Swiss women.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.9%.][
, there were 442 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 568 married individuals, 59 widows or widowers and 38 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 121 households that consist of only one person and 26 households with five or more people. , a total of 438 apartments (89.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 22 apartments (4.5%) were seasonally occupied and 29 apartments (5.9%) 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 3.9 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.51%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (20.9%), the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (9.7%) and the Christian Social Party (CSP) (9.7%). In the federal election, a total of 416 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 52.5%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Müntschemier had an unemployment rate of 1.84%. , there were a total of 926 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 115 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 30 businesses involved in this sector. 193 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 15 businesses in this sector. 618 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 34 businesses in this sector.[ There were 625 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.0% of the workforce.
there were a total of 832 ]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 90, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 182 of which 164 or (90.1%) were in manufacturing and 19 (10.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 560. In the tertiary sector; 476 or 85.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 42 or 7.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 12 or 2.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 8 or 1.4% were in education and 3 or 0.5% were in health care.
, there were 284 workers who commuted into the municipality and 294 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 12.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 41.3% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 221 or 20.0% 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 788 or 71.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.36% of the population), and there were 38 individuals (or about 3.43% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 13 (or about 1.17% of the population) who were Islamic. There was 1 person who was 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 12 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 ...
. 31 (or about 2.80% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 18 individuals (or about 1.63% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Müntschemier about 382 or (34.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 76 or (6.9%) 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 76 who completed tertiary schooling, 76.3% were Swiss men, 17.1% 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 ...
.[Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document]
accessed 4 January 2012
, there were 6 students in Müntschemier who came from another municipality, while 63 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Müntschemier is twinned with:
Hardheim
Hardheim is a municipality in the district of Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in E ...
, Germany
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muntschemier
Muntscheimer