Herzogenbuchsee 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 Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The population is 7055 (2011), counting the villages in the

Oberaargau The Oberaargau is the region that encompasses the upper watershed of the Aar River in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On the north, lie the Jura Mountains, and on the south the hills leading to the Emmental. Administratively, the Oberaargau fo ...

. The traditional name was ''Buchsi''.

History

Herzogenbuchsee is built on a moraine of the Rhone Glacier. The area has been settled for at least 10,000 years, with ancient settlements around the

Inkwilersee Inkwilersee is a small lake on the border of the municipalities of Inkwil, Canton of Berne, and Bolken, Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are inst ...

and Burgäschisee. There is also evidence of Roman buildings from approximately 200 CE near the current Reformed Church. The first documented use of the name ''puhsa'' (pronounced ''Buchsa'', in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''buxum'', meaning "

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

") is found in the writings of

Saint Gall Gall ( la, Gallus; 550 646) according to hagiographic tradition was a disciple and one of the traditional twelve companions of Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. Deicolus was the elder brother of Gall. Biography The ...

us in 886 CE. In 1220 it was mentioned as ''Buchse'' and to distinguish it from

Münchenbuchsee Münchenbuchsee is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is famous as the birthplace of the painter Paul Klee. On 1 January 2023 the former municipality of Diemerswil merged to f ...

, in 1301 it was first mentioned as ''Herzogenbuchze''. It was ruled by Burgundy, the Zähringer, the Kyburger, and finally, brought under the Altberni sovereignty. On January 1, 2008, the municipality of Oberönz became part of the municipality of Herzogenbuchsee.BSG 152.01 / BAG 07-139
''Die Justizkommission des Grossen Rats des Kantons Bern'' (Justice Commission of the High Council of Canton Bern) decision of 16 October 2007. accessed 16 July 2009

Geography

Before the merger, Herzogenbuchsee had an area of . Of this area, 35.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 35% is forested. The rest of the land, (29.9%) is settled. Following the merger of Oberönz into Herzogenbuchsee, the new municipality has an area, , of . Of this area, or 37.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 27.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.6% is unproductive land.
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 14.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.5%. 34.0% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 30.9% is used for growing crops and 6.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. The elevation of the train station is .

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 on a Bend Argent six Box Leaves Vert and in chief a Crown Or''.

Demographics

Herzogenbuchsee has a population (as of ) of . , 1,036 are foreign nationals.Herzogenbuchsee Website-Numbers
accessed 21 July 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 6.1%. Most of the population () speaks German (88.9%), with Italian being second most common ( 3.5%) and Albanian being third ( 2.6%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (23.2%), the FDP (20.8%) and 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 ...

(9.5%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.4%. In Herzogenbuchsee about 71.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a '' Fachhochschule''). Herzogenbuchsee has an unemployment rate of 1.88%. , there were 31 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 1344 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 78 businesses in this sector. 1931 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 249 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 21-Jul-2009 The historical population is given in the following table:

Transportation

The municipality has a railway station, , on the Olten–Bern line. It has regular service to

Zürich Hauptbahnhof Zürich Hauptbahnhof (often shortened to Zürich HB, or just HB; ''Zürich Main Station'' or ''Zürich Central Station'') is the largest railway station in Switzerland. Zürich is a major railway hub, with services to and from across Switzerland ...

, , and .

Notable people

* Pierre du Bois de Dunilac (1943 at Herzogenbuchsee – 2007 in Pully), a Swiss writer, political scientist, philanthropist and humanist * Simon Berger (born 1976), a Swiss contemporary visual artist.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern