Steffisburg 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 ...

in the administrative district of

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thou ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

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 ...

. On 1 January 2020 the former municipality of Schwendibach merged into the municipality of Steffisburg.

History

Steffisburg is first mentioned in 1133 as ''Stevensburc''. The municipality was formerly known by its French name ''Steffisbourg'', however, that name is no longer used. The area around Steffisburg has been inhabited since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

era and remained occupied during the

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 pri ...

. Traces of a

Roman 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 lett ...

site were discovered in Schwäbis.

Early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

graves have been discovered at Zelgmatte and Klosterhubel. By the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

the entire Zulgtal, including Steffisburg, was owned by the local

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...

von Heimberg family. Under the Zähringer family, the

Graf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as " count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is " ...

schaft of

expanded to include the village. When they died out in 1218 it passed to the Kyburgs, who made Steffisburg a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

for several different

Ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minis ...

(unfree knights in the service of a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

overlord) families. One of these families, the von Kien, built what became known as the Kleine Höchhus in the 14th century, when they administered the municipality. Today, the Kleine Höchhus is one of the oldest buildings in the municipality. Steffisburg became the center of a local court

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

. Over the following years portions of the village and surrounding farms were donated to several local monasteries. On 11 November 1382, Rudolf II von Kyburg, attempted unsuccessfully to attack

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 ...

. His attack started the ''

Burgdorferkrieg The Burgdorferkrieg (german: Burgdorf war) or Kyburgerkrieg (german: Kyburg war) was a war in 1383-84 between the counts of Neu-Kyburg and the city of Bern for supremacy in the County of Burgundy in what is now Switzerland. History The counts of ...

'' (also ''Kyburgerkrieg'') with the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th centur ...

used the war to expand north into the

Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capit ...

and south into the Oberland. As part of the peace treaty, Bern bought the city of Thun and all its surrounding lands including Steffisburg. By the 15th century ownership of the town passed from former Kyburg nobles to Bernese

patricians The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

. In 1480 the Bernese Schultheiss Heinrich Matter built the Grosse Höchhus near the Kleine Höchhus and on the ruins of ''Stevensburc'' castle. While the Höchhus was rebuilt several times over the centuries it remained essentially unchanged. Under Bernese rule, the town remained the center of a court. The court house was built in 1543 and in 1549 it became a tavern in addition to being the courthouse. While it was part of the District of Thun, Steffisburg retained a measure of independence. They had their own laws, which were first codified in 1405 and remained in effect until 1834. In 1476 they raised their own company of soldiers who marched under their own

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

but were under Thun's overall command. In 1553 they raised a company of riflemen who drilled in Steffisburg, separate from Thun's military. During the 1641 and 1653 peasant revolts the soldiers from Steffisburg rose up against the cities of Thun and Bern. Though the revolt was unsuccessful, Steffisburg retained its position as a regional center and court. A leader of the revolt, Hans Berger from Steffisburg, fled the country to escape execution for his role in the uprising. Following the 1798 French invasion, Steffisburg became the capital of the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (, , ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, m ...

Steffisburg district. After the collapse of the Republic and 1803

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasi ...

it joined the newly created

Thun District Thun District was one of the 25 administrative districts in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. Its capital was the municipality of Thun. The district had an area of 285 km2 and consists of 27 municipalities A municipality is usually a singl ...

. The town's

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

was first built in the late 7th or early 8th century. It was replaced with a new building in the 9th or 10th century. It was first mentioned in 1224 as the Church of St. Stephan, which was the center of a large

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 ...

which covered the entire Zulg river valley (Zulgtal). The bell tower was added between 1320 and 1500. In 1528, 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 i ...

and the church at Steffisburg converted. The attached

ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

chapel was demolished soon there after. In the following century the

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

faith became popular in the upper Zulgtal. To help curb this faith's popularity, in 1693 a large parish church was built in Schwarzenegg (now part of

Oberlangenegg Oberlangenegg is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Oberlangenegg is first mentioned in 1308 as ''Langonegga''. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a Bronze Age dagger ...

) and the Steffisburg parish divided. In 1681 the current church building was built in Steffisburg, incorporating elements from the 9th or 10th century building. Traditionally the local economy was fairly diverse. The farmers raised crops on the valley floor and raised livestock in alpine meadows during the summer before bringing them down for the winter. By the 14th century there were

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyard ...

s on the sunny south facing mountain slopes. The Zulg river provided power for a number of grain mills, saw mills,

fulling Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to eli ...

mills and later

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). T ...

mills. In the 1700s pottery factories and several brick factories opened in the town. In 1809 a brewery opened, followed by a second in 1818. During the 19th century the Aare and Zulg river correction projects helped drain swampy land and protected the growing town from flooding. The town was located on the Bern-Thun road, which was expanded in the 19th century bringing additional business to the area. The completion of a road to the upper

Emmental The Emmental ( en, Emme Valley) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dair ...

which passed through Steffisburg in 1895–1900 brought more traffic and money, as did the Burgdorf-Thun railroad on 1899 and the Steffisburg-Thun-

Interlaken , neighboring_municipalities= Bönigen, Därligen, Matten bei Interlaken, Ringgenberg, Unterseen , twintowns = Scottsdale (USA), Ōtsu (Japan), Třeboň (Czech Republic) Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and mun ...

tram in 1913. Since 1900, the town has experienced several housing booms as commuters move to Steffisburg to be close to jobs in Thun. In 1850 the Swiss Federal Government built the ''Regie'' in Schwäbis to house horses for cavalry for the Swiss Army. It was converted into a warehouse for military vehicles in 1982 and in 2008 became a museum that housed historic army equipment. Steffisburg has ten kindergartens, eight primary schools and two secondary schools in a single school district.

Geography

Steffisburg has an area of . As of the 2004 survey, a total of or 42.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 29.3% is forested. Of rest of the municipality or 27.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 27 August 2014 From the same survey, industrial buildings made up 2.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 17.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.9%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.1%. All of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 21.7% is used for growing crops and 17.7% is pasturage, while 3.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the lower Zulg river valley (Zulgtal) and along the right bank of the

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 descend ...

river. It consists of the town of Steffisburg which is divided into the medieval old village and the Au, Schwäbis, Bernstrasse, Glockenthal, Hübeli, Flühli and Hardegg neighborhoods. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Thun, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Thun.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 ''Gules a Castle Argent on a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.''

Demographics

Steffisburg has a population () of . , 10.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010-2012) the population changed at a rate of 0.5%. Migration accounted for 0.6%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.1%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 29 September 2014 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 ...

(13,274 or 92.5%) as their first language,

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 second most common (179 or 1.2%) and

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

is the third (166 or 1.2%). There are 122 people who speak French and 6 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 47.8% male and 52.2% female. The population was made up of 6,614 Swiss men (42.9% of the population) and 767 (5.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 7,304 Swiss women (47.3%) and 746 (4.8%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 3,657 or about 25.5% were born in Steffisburg and lived there in 2000. There were 6,467 or 45.1% who were born in the same canton, while 1,904 or 13.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,611 or 11.2% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 18.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.0% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.3%. , there were 5,813 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,817 married individuals, 997 widows or widowers and 722 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 2,422 households that consist of only one person and 329 households with five or more people. , a total of 6,157 apartments (91.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 408 apartments (6.1%) were seasonally occupied and 147 apartments (2.2%) 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 5.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.3%. In 2012, single family homes made up 55.1% 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:40 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:16000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:3000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:600 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:924 text:"924" bar:1850 from:start till:3166 text:"3,166" bar:1860 from:start till:3069 text:"3,069" bar:1870 from:start till:3453 text:"3,453" bar:1880 from:start till:3898 text:"3,898" bar:1888 from:start till:3880 text:"3,880" bar:1900 from:start till:4829 text:"4,829" bar:1910 from:start till:5830 text:"5,830" bar:1920 from:start till:6682 text:"6,682" bar:1930 from:start till:6755 text:"6,755" bar:1941 from:start till:8009 text:"8,009" bar:1950 from:start till:8941 text:"8,941" bar:1960 from:start till:10757 text:"10,757" bar:1970 from:start till:12621 text:"12,621" bar:1980 from:start till:12539 text:"12,539" bar:1990 from:start till:13522 text:"13,522" bar:2000 from:start till:14349 text:"14,349" bar:2010 from:start till:15135 text:"15,135"

Economy

, Steffisburg had an unemployment rate of 1.98%. , there were a total of 5,673 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 164 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 54 businesses involved in this sector. 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 ...

employs 1,834 people and there were 142 businesses in this sector. 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 ...

employs 3,675 people, with 631 businesses in this sector. There were 7,364 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.7% of the workforce. there were a total of 4,000

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 98, of which 95 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 1,821 of which 1,380 or (75.8%) were in manufacturing and 372 (20.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 2,081. In the tertiary sector; 666 or 32.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 35 or 1.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 151 or 7.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 32 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 59 or 2.8% were the insurance or financial industry, 133 or 6.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 169 or 8.1% were in education and 525 or 25.2% were in health care. , there were 2,710 workers who commuted into the municipality and 5,328 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 2,034 workers (42.9% of the 4,744 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Steffisburg.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 19.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 47.1% used a private car. The local and cantonal tax rate in Steffisburg is one of the lowest in the canton. In 2012 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Steffisburg making 150,000 CHF was 12%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 17.9%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in 2011, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2010 there were a total of 7,299 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 2,371 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 50 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Steffisburg was 115,452 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 131,244 CHF. In 2011 a total of 2.2% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Heritage sites of national significance

The Former ''Regie'' of Steffisburg is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 28.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (15.5%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (15.2%) and the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (8.1%). In the federal election, a total of 5,925 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 50.7%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012 The ''Gemeinderat'' is the

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

branch of the municipality of Steffisburg. Between 2011-2014 the break down by party was: 3 from the SVP, 2 from the SP, 1 from the FDP and 1 from the EVP. The mayor () is Jürg Marti (SVP). The ''Grosse Gemeinderat'' is the

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

branch of the municipality. It is composed of 34 members and is elected by the voters every four years. The chart below shows the current distribution of seats of the community council (as of September 2014). , - !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left" colspan=2, Parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="left", Ideology !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="right", Seats , - , style="background-color: " , , align="left",

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SP) , align="left",

Social democracy Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

, align="right", 7 , - , style="background-color: " , , align="left",

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

(SVP) , align="left",

National conservatism National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...

, align="right", 10 , - , style="background-color: " , , align="left",

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 ...

(FDP) , align="left",

Classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture. Definition Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...

, align="right", 5 , - , width=5px style="background-color: " , , align="left", Evangelical People's Party (EVP) , align="left",

Christian democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

, align="right", 3 , - , width=5px style="background-color: " , , align="left",

Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland The Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (German: ''Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union'', EDU; French: ''Union Démocratique Fédérale'', UDF; Italian: ''Unione Democratica Federale'', UDF; Romansch: ''Uniun Democrata Federala'', UDF) is a na ...

(EDU) , align="left",

Christian right The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with t ...

, align="right", 3 , - , style="background-color: " , , align="left", Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) , align="left",

Conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

Economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

, align="right", 3 , - , style="background-color: " , , align="left", Green Liberal Party (GLP) , align="left",

Green liberalism Green liberalism, or liberal environmentalism, is liberalism that includes green politics in its ideology. Green liberals are usually liberal on social issues and "green" on economic issues. The term "green liberalism" was coined by political phi ...

, align="right", 2 , - , style="background-color: " , , align="left",

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 ...

(GPS) , align="left",

Green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It b ...

, align="right", 1 , - , align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan=3, Total , width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 34 , - , colspan=4 align="left", Source:

Religion

From the , 9,786 or 68.2% 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 1,778 or 12.4% 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 136 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.95% of the population), there were 18 individuals (or about 0.13% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 806 individuals (or about 5.62% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 8 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who were

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 333 (or about 2.32% of the population) who were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. There were 37 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 ...

, 49 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 20 individuals who belonged to another church. 923 (or about 6.43% 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 455 individuals (or about 3.17% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Steffisburg about 59.6% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 17.7% 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, 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 1,606 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 75.7% were Swiss men, 18.9% were Swiss women, 4.0% were non-Swiss men and 1.4% were non-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 cent ...

, 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 Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

. During the 2012–13 school year, there were a total of 1,603 students attending classes in Steffisburg. There were a total of 236 students in the German language kindergarten classes in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 13.1% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 17.8% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality's primary school had 882 students in German language classes. Of the primary students, 14.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 16.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, the lower secondary school had a total of 485 students. There were 11.8% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 17.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Datei der Gemeinde- und Schultabellen
accessed 23 July 2014 , there were a total of 1,739 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 1,481 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 258 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 309 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Steffisburg is home to the ''Gemeindebiblothek'' library. The library has () 10,373 books or other media, and loaned out 31,200 items in the same year. It was open a total of 260 days with average of 15 hours per week during that year.
accessed 14 May 2010

Transportation

The municipality has two railway stations, and , on the Burgdorf–Thun line. Between them there is regular service to , , and .

Notable people

Otto Lanz Otto Lanz (14 October 1865, in Steffisburg – 23 March 1935, in Amsterdam) was a Swiss surgeon. He studied medicine at several universities in Europe, and in 1890–92 served as an assistant to Theodor Kocher at the University of Bern. After ...

(1865 in Steffisburg – 1935) a Swiss surgeon, specialised in the thyroid gland and with appendicitis *

Ana-Maria Crnogorčević Ana-Maria Crnogorčević (born 3 October 1990) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger or a right-back for Spanish Liga F club FC Barcelona and the Switzerland national team. A fast player with good heading ability, she is con ...

(born 1990 in Steffisburg) a Swiss footballer * Colin Trachsel (born 1997 in Steffisburg) a Swiss footballer who plays for FC Thun II

References

External links

* http://www.steffisburg.ch * {{Authority control Cities in Switzerland Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern