Gals () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the Seeland administrative district in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Gals is first mentioned in 1185 as ''Galles''. In French it was known as ''Chules''. The area around Gals has been inhabited for thousands of years. Some of the earliest archeological discoveries include a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

dug out canoe,

Hallstatt Hallstatt () is a small town in the district of Gmunden District, Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Sa ...

grave mounds, La Tène and a

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

wall. The recorded settlement was a large farm or estate that was built by the Counts of

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

. The village gradually grew up around the farm. During the 12th or 13th century the village was acquired by the

Bernese Bernese is the adjectival form for the canton of Bern or for Bern. Bernese may also refer to: * Bernese German, a Swiss German dialect of Alemannic origin generally spoken in the canton of Bern and its capital, and in some neighbouring regions * ...

Abbey of St. Johannsen. It remained part of the Abbey's land until the Abbey was secularized in 1528 during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

. Gals became part of the Bernese

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. In English, the original French combi ...

of Erlach.

Serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

was abolished relatively late, in 1551. The village first received a village charter in 1652. In the years 1746, 1837, 1852 and 1869, large fires ravaged the village. Between 1874 and 1883 the Zihl canal was built through the region. The canal allowed the villagers to drain the Grissachmoos marsh, which became rich farmland for sugar beets and other crops. In 1894 the village of Zihlbrücke was incorporated into Gals when the border between the Cantons of Bern and

was moved. A brickyard was in operation in the village from 1658 until 1960. In the 19th century a watch parts factory opened, which provided manufacturing jobs. In 1960 the Compagnie Industrielle Radioélectrique opened a factory in Gals. In 1998 it was acquired by

Alcatel Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...

SA. In 1883, the Canton of Bern bought and converted the Abbey of St. Johannsen into a prison, which still continues to provide jobs for the municipality.

Geography

Gals has an area of . Of this area, or 53.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 8.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 5.1% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.4%. Out of the forested land, 32.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 46.1% is used for growing crops and 5.5% is pastures, while 1.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality lies between the Zihl Canal (Thielle),

Lake Biel __NOTOC__ Lake Biel or Lake Bienne (; ) is a lake in western Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies on the language boundary between German and F ...

and Jolimont. It includes the sections Bethlehem, Zihlbrücke and the ''Massnahmenzentrum St. Johannsen''. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Erlach, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Seeland.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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Gules on a Bend Argent three Fleurs-de-lis Azure.''

Demographics

Gals has a population () of . , 8.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 10.4%. Migration accounted for 11.5%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.5%.
accessed 31 October 2012 Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(544 or 79.0%) as their first language,

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

is the second most common (107 or 15.5%) and

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

is the third (5 or 0.7%). There are 2 people who speak

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. , the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 306 Swiss men (42.6% of the population) and 38 (5.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 351 Swiss women (48.9%) and 2 (0.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 202 or about 29.3% were born in Gals and lived there in 2000. There were 205 or 29.8% who were born in the same canton, while 176 or 25.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 90 or 13.1% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.7%. , there were 270 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 359 married individuals, 33 widows or widowers and 27 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 82 households that consist of only one person and 15 households with five or more people. , a total of 266 apartments (90.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 19 apartments (6.4%) were seasonally occupied and 10 apartments (3.4%) 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 1.4 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.85%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:760 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:221 text:"221" bar:1850 from:start till:476 text:"476" bar:1860 from:start till:462 text:"462" bar:1870 from:start till:441 text:"441" bar:1880 from:start till:508 text:"508" bar:1888 from:start till:602 text:"602" bar:1900 from:start till:637 text:"637" bar:1910 from:start till:675 text:"675" bar:1920 from:start till:757 text:"757" bar:1930 from:start till:694 text:"694" bar:1941 from:start till:655 text:"655" bar:1950 from:start till:636 text:"636" bar:1960 from:start till:619 text:"619" bar:1970 from:start till:690 text:"690" bar:1980 from:start till:590 text:"590" bar:1990 from:start till:686 text:"686" bar:2000 from:start till:689 text:"689"

Heritage sites of national significance

The prehistoric

burial mounds A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. ...

of ''Jolimont'' & ''Chlosterwald'' and the Jolimont-Gut manor house are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Gals and the Jolimont-Gut estate are part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

. The Jolimont-Gut manor house was originally a farm house and estate for the Abbey of St. Johannsen. By 1570 it was owned by a noble family. The estate continued to pass through numerous noble families until 1793 when it was acquired by Henri-Louis Borle who modernized the estate and farm. In 1824 it was reorganized by Frédéric de Pourtalès-Castellane into a prestigious country estate. Edouard de Pury-Wavre renovated and altered the building in 1888. The manor house was built of stone in 1600 in the late-

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

style. The wooden porch and

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

round towers were added in 1835. The interior was renovated and modernized in 1890 and again in 1930. The nearby tenant's house was built before 1800 and was rebuilt following a fire in 1979. The stable with an attached apartment was built on the site of an older tenant's house. It was built in 1894 by Léo Châtelain and was originally designed as a guest house.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 32% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (21.3%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (17.2%) and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(6.7%). In the federal election, a total of 255 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 47.3%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Gals had an unemployment rate of 1.71%. , there were a total of 545 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 74 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 308 people were 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 were 11 businesses in this sector. 163 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 ...

, with 22 businesses in this sector. There were 394 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.4% of the workforce. there were a total of 465

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement 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 use ...

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 51, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 280 of which 269 or (96.1%) were in manufacturing and 12 (4.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 134. In the tertiary sector; 62 or 46.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 31 or 23.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 12 or 9.0% were in education and 1 was in health care. , there were 176 workers who commuted into the municipality and 231 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 7.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.8% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 106 or 15.4% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 434 or 63.0% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 11 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.60% of the population), and there were 43 individuals (or about 6.24% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and 13 (or about 1.89% of the population) who were

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. There were 3 individuals who were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

. 89 (or about 12.92% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

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 10 individuals (or about 1.45% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Gals about 286 or (41.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

, and 88 or (12.8%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the 88 who completed tertiary schooling, 56.8% were Swiss men, 27.3% were Swiss women, 6.8% were non-Swiss men and 9.1% 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 cen ...

, 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 potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

. During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 50 students attending classes in Gals. There were no kindergarten classes but there were 3 primary classes and 50 students. Of the primary students, 38.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 2 students in Gals who came from another municipality, while 44 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern