Seeland District in the

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Seeland administrative region. It contains 42 municipalities with an area of and a population () of .

Municipalities

Mergers and name changes

On 1 January 2011 the municipality of

Busswil bei Büren Busswil bei Büren is a former municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2011 it was merged with the municipality of Lyss. Geography Busswil is located on the old Aare river, the pa ...

merged into the municipality of Lyss.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 4 April 2011 On 1 January 2013 the municipality of

Niederried bei Kallnach Niederried bei Kallnach is a former municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. To the southeast of the municipality lies the Niederried reservoir. It is a refuge of international importance for w ...

merged into Kallnach. The municipality of

Ruppoldsried Ruppoldsried is a former municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 Ruppoldsried merged into Rapperswil.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 17 April 2013 On 1 January 2016 the municipality of Bangerten merged into Rapperswil. On 1 January 2019 the former municipality of Golaten merged into Kallnach.

History

During the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

Bern acquired the rural

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

s or counties of Aarberg,

Buren Buren () is a town and municipality in the Betuwe region of the Netherlands. Buren has 27,168 inhabitants as of 1 January 2022. Geography Buren is located in Gelderland, a province of the Netherlands. It is part of the landscape of Betuwe, a ...

, Erlach and

Nidau Nidau is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Nidau is first mentioned in 1196 as ''Nidowe''. In 1352, it was recorded in Latin as ''Nydow''. The remains of a number of st ...

from the estates of the Lords of Aarberg-Valangin, Strassberg-Büren, Nidau and the Counts of Neuchâtel. Between 1595 and 1628 they were combined militarily into the so-called ''Seefähnchen''. However, they were politically separate. It was not until 1783-84 that Johann Friedrich von Ryhiner's administrative compendium of the Bernese State presented the four counties as a united region. During 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 ...

(1798-1803), the borders of the Seeland shrunk to the

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

of Erlach and portions of the Amts of Nidau and Aarberg. Between 1803 and 1815 it was a Grand Council of Bern election district with the Amts of

Fraubrunnen Fraubrunnen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Büren zum Hof, Etzelkofen, Grafenried, Limpach, Mülchi, Schalunen and Zaug ...

and Wangen and portions of the Amts of Bern and Burgdorf. Between 1850 and 1918 it formed a

National Council of Switzerland The National Council (german: Nationalrat; french: Conseil national; it, Consiglio nazionale; rm, Cussegl naziunal) is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, the upper house being the Council of States. With 200 seats, th ...

constituency, made up of Laupen and Biel. From 1869 to 1921 it was again a Grand Council of Bern election district made up of the Amts of Biel, Aarberg, Laupen and the northern portion of Bern. In 2010, the Seeland region was created with the Districts of Biel and Seeland. The new Seeland district (''Verwaltungskreise'') was made up of all or part of the former districts of Aarberg, Büren, Erlach and

The Bernese Seeland consists of two differing landscapes. The lake shore areas were occupied as far back as 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 ...

, such as the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

pile dwellings Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. The ...

at Twann from about 3800 BC. The lake shore areas were easily settled and fishing dominated the local economies. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

vineyards 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. Vineyards ...

were added on the slopes of the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Fre ...

above the lakes. In contrast, the plains and the ''Grosses Moos'' swamp were crossed by meandering rivers like the Aare and Zihl/Thielle which frequently flooded making the land hostile to settlements. The villages on the edges of the swamp, used the swamp mainly for grazing. However, following the Jura water correction projects the bogs were drained and the formerly useless swamps became excellent farming land.

Demographics

Seeland has a population () of . , the population was 49.4% male and 50.6% female. The population was made up of 30,045 Swiss men (44.0% of the population) and 3,719 (5.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 31,406 Swiss women (46.0%) and 311 (0.5%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012

References

{{Authority control Districts of the canton of Bern