Schelten (La Scheulte in French) 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
Jura bernois administrative district in the
canton of
Bern in
Switzerland. This is one of two German speaking municipalities located in the majority 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''). The other is
Seehof.
History
Schelten is first mentioned in 1563 as ''la Schilt''. In 1914 it was mentioned as ''Schelten''.
[
For most of its history it was owned by the provost of ]Moutier-Grandval
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 g ...
under the Prince-Bishop of Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
. When many of the nearby cities and towns converted to 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 ...
, Schelten remained Catholic along with the ''sous les Roches'' region. 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 trea ...
, Schelten 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 collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...
of 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 th ...
. 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 ...
, Schelten was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.[
The village is 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 Mervelier
Mervelier is a municipality in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.
History
Mervelier is first mentioned about 1184 as ''Morswilre''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name ''Morschwil'', however, th ...
. In 1861 the Chapel of St. Anthony was built in the village. The chapel was restored in 1985–87.[
Traditionally the village was French speaking, but after it became a part of the Canton of Bern in 1815 the number of German speakers increased. In 1914 its name changed from La Scheulte to Schelten to reflect the growing German speaking population. The village became a stronghold of German culture and generally opposed Jurassic separatism. In the referendums of 1974-75 the population of Schelten voted remain with Bern in contrast to the rest of the neighboring municipalities in the Val Terbi who chose to join the ]Canton of Jura
The Republic and Canton of Jura (french: République et canton du Jura), less formally the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura ( , ), is the newest (founded in 1979) of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital ...
.[
]
Geography
Schelten has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 38.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 59.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 2.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% 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 0.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 55.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 11.5% is pastures and 26.6% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality is located at the foot of the Schelten Pass along the ]Delémont
Delémont (; fc, D'lémont; german: Delsberg, ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 12,000 inhabitants .
History
The area of the municipality was already settled in the middle Bronze Age. Fifteen urn buria ...
-Balsthal
Balsthal is a municipality in the district of Thal in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.
History
Balsthal is first mentioned in 968 as ''Palcivallis''. In 1255 it was mentioned as ''Balcetal''.
Geography
Balsthal has an area, , of . Of ...
road. It is the northernmost municipality in the Canton of Bern.
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 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 ''Argent an Oak Tree Vert fructed Gules issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second and overall a Bend wavy Azure.''
Demographics
Schelten has a population () of , all Swiss citizens. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -4.9%. Migration accounted for -7.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 0%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 18 July 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
**Ge ...
(43 or 82.7%) as their first language, French is the second most common (8 or 15.4%) and Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
is the third (1 or 1.9%).[
, the population was 46.3% male and 53.7% female. The population was made up of 19 Swiss men (46.3% of the population) and (0.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 22 Swiss women (53.7%) and (0.0%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 16 or about 30.8% were born in Schelten and lived there in 2000. There were 12 or 23.1% who were born in the same canton, while 21 or 40.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2 or 3.8% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 35.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 46.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.9%.][ , there were 27 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 22 married individuals, 2 widows or widowers and 1 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 3 households that consist of only one person and 3 households with five or more people. , a total of 16 apartments (88.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2 apartments (11.1%) were seasonally occupied.[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 5.88%. In 2011, single family homes made up 0.0% of the total housing in the municipality.
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 43.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (34.8%), the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
(9.8%) 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 ...
(5.1%). In the federal election, a total of 21 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 42.9%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Schelten had an unemployment rate of 0%. , there were a total of 25 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 25 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. No one was 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 ...
or 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 ...
.[ There were 26 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.3% of the workforce.
there were a total of 19 ]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, all of which were in agriculture.
, there were 3 workers who commuted into the municipality and 2 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.5 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. A total of 24 workers (88.9% of the 27 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Schelten.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 7.7% used a private car.[
In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Schelten making 150,000 CHF was 13.6%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 20%. 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 11 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 2 made over 75,000 CHF per year. The greatest number of workers, 6, made between 20,000 and 30,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Schelten was 121,700 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF.
]
Religion
From the , 26 or 50.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 16 or 30.8% 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 ...
. 5 (or about 9.62% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 5 individuals (or about 9.62% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Schelten about 41.4% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 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'').[ A total of 2 Swiss men in the municipality had completed some form of tertiary schooling.][
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 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, 5 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern