Freimettigen 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
Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the
canton of
Bern in
Switzerland.
History
Freimettigen is first mentioned in 1282 as ''Vrimuotingen''.
[
The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a hoard of ]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 ...
jewelry which was discovered in 1910. During the Middle Ages it was part of the Twingherrschaft of Hünigen. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Interlaken
Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss A ...
and Fraubrunnen Abbey
Fraubrunnen Abbey (german: Kloster Fraubrunnen; la, Fons beatae Mariae; in English, "spring, or well, or fountain of urLady" and "of the Blessed irginMary" respectively) is a former Cistercian nunnery in the municipality of Fraubrunnen in the ...
s acquired bits of land in the village. These were probably taken by the city of Bern in 1528 when it secularized the Abbeys.[
Freimettigen 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 Oberdiessbach.[
The village has remained generally rural with a number of dairy farmers. The Burgdorf-]Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thou ...
railway station provides transportation for workers who commute to Bern or Thun for jobs.[
]
Geography
Freimettigen has an area of . Of this area, or 63.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 29.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.8% is settled (buildings or roads).[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.0%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 35.9% is used for growing crops and 26.4% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops.[
The municipality is located on the north-west slope of the Kurzenberg, and a portion is in the Kiesen Valley. It includes the village of Freimettigen, 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 ...
Dessikofen and scattered individual farm houses.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Konolfingen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.[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 ''Gules a Cross crosslet in Saltire Argent.''
Demographics
Freimettigen has a population () of . , 6.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 0.5%. Migration accounted for 0%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.2%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 22 April 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 ...
(367 or 94.1%) as their first language, 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 second most common (11 or 2.8%) and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
is the third (6 or 1.5%). There is 1 person who speaks French.[
, the population was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. The population was made up of 195 Swiss men (45.1% of the population) and 14 (3.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 210 Swiss women (48.6%) and 13 (3.0%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 122 or about 31.3% were born in Freimettigen and lived there in 2000. There were 201 or 51.5% who were born in the same canton, while 34 or 8.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 28 or 7.2% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.9%.][
, there were 181 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 189 married individuals, 14 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 37 households that consist of only one person and 18 households with five or more people. , a total of 143 apartments (93.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3 apartments (2.0%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (4.6%) 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 9.3 new units per 1000 residents.[
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 30.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (16.4%), the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (13.3%) and the Christian Social Party (CSP) (13.3%). In the federal election, a total of 166 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 50.6%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Freimettigen had an unemployment rate of 0.75%. , there were a total of 57 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 36 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 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 ...
. 21 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 6 businesses in this sector.[ There were 209 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.8% of the workforce.
there were a total of 37 ]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 22, all of which were in agriculture. There were no jobs in the secondary sector. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 15. In the tertiary sector; 1 was in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 26.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 3 or 20.0% were in education.
, there were 8 workers who commuted into the municipality and 157 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 19.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 48.8% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 306 or 78.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 24 or 6.2% 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 ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 72 individuals (or about 18.46% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 4 (or about 1.03% of the population) who were Islamic. 14 (or about 3.59% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 6 individuals (or about 1.54% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Freimettigen about 160 or (41.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 65 or (16.7%) 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 ...
or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 65 who completed tertiary schooling, 64.6% were Swiss men, 24.6% 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 66 students from Freimettigen who attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern