Weiach 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 district of
Dielsdorf
Dielsdorf is a municipality, seat of the district of Dielsdorf in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.
History
Dielsdorf is first mentioned in 861 as ''Theolvesthoruf''. The name means ''estate or farm of Theolf'' which is supposed to have ...
in the
canton of
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
in Switzerland.
History
Weiach is first mentioned in 1271. It has belonged to
Swiss Confederation
). 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 ...
since 1424. Since 1962 there has been a gravel industry located in Weiach. On 14 November 1990,
Alitalia Flight 404 crashed into Stadlerberg Mountain near Weiach while attempting to land at
Zurich Airport
Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switze ...
. The crash, which was caused by a faulty navigation system, killed all 40 passengers and 6 crew.
[http://www.airsafe.com/events/reports/alitalia-dc9-1990.pdf, Final Report of the Federal Aircraft Accidents Inquiry Board concerning Alitalia Flight 404, 1990.]
Geography
Weiach has an area of . Of this area, 36.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 11.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
[
Weiach (dialect: «Weych») is situated at approximately 390 metres above ]sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
in the northwestern corner of the Zürich Lowlands («Zuercher Unterland»), at the cantonal boundary between Zürich and Aargau. The River Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
, flows some 100 meters north of the village and forms the natural border line to Germany, marking the lowest spot in the canton of Zürich (332 meters above sea level).
Population
The Zürich Tax Records (''Zürcher Steuerbücher'') of 1470 only contains a record of the manor of Weiach. At the time, the village comprised 16 households, with 48 inhabitants over the age of 15 liable to pay tax. Between 1634 and 1760, having been requested to do so by the Zürich authorities, the priests kept detailed records of population size, albeit with sporadic intervals. Later figures have been taken from the following sources: 1790 Werdmüller's Memorabilia Tigurina, 1799 Priests' Inquiry of the Helvetian Government, 1820 Erni's Memorabilia Tigurina, 1827 Lutz's ''Vollständige Beschreibung des Schweizerlandes''. The figure for 1836 is based on the Zürich cantonal census. Figures from 1850 onwards have been taken from the Confederational Census. (The criteria for recording population data have changed considerably over the centuries. Each interpretation can cause the figures to vary considerably. The figures are taken from different sources. For the years 1710 to 1820, data are hardly available.)
Over the centuries, the population size has been closely linked to the profitability of the land, since exports were rare. The resident population oscillated between 500 and 750 persons, making Weiach the largest parish in Neuamt. From the end of the 17th Century onwards, many began to look for work outside Weiach, resulting in emigration. This emigration was often to the United States. Many of the forefathers of Americans with the surname ''Baumgardner'' were originally from Weiach.
By the 1960s and 1970s, a few new apartment blocks had been built here and there. In the wake of the agglomeration
Agglomeration may refer to:
* Urban agglomeration, in standard English
* Megalopolis, in Chinese English, as defined in China's ''Standard for basic terminology of urban planning'' (GB/T 50280—98). Also known as " city cluster".
* Economies of ag ...
of Zürich, Weiach became subsumed by the city in the mid 1980s. New residential areas were designated according to the ''Quartierpläne''. This triggered a construction boom, beginning on the edge of Sanzenberg. 30 per cent of the apartments which existed in 2000 had been built in the previous ten years. The population grew by over 35 per cent thanks to the building of 80 new apartment blocks between 1991 and 2000. Never before had so many people lived simultaneously in the parish of Weiach. The start of urbanisation
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...
can be seen from the explosion in the number of single person households from 1990 (an increase of 132 per cent).
A large-scale construction project was planned at the end of 2007 to build a further 55 apartment blocks in the Bedmen area. If this goes ahead, the population figure will again pass the 1000 mark.
Demographics
Weiach has a population (as of ) of . , 10.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 6.9%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.6%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.5%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 1.2%).
In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 54.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS
SPS may refer to:
Law and government
* Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO
* NATO Science for Peace and Security
* Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy
* The Standard Procurement System, fo ...
(12.9%), the CSP (9.4%) and the FDP (8%).
The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.4%. In Weiach about 80.4% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university 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 ...
'').
Weiach has an unemployment rate of 2.46%. , there were 47 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 120 people are 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 are 16 businesses in this sector. 96 people are 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 27 businesses in this sector.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 04-Aug-2009
References
External links
* http://www.weiach.ch
Municipalities of the canton of Zürich
{{Authority control