Oberburg 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 administrative district of

Emmental The Emmental (, ) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming. The ...

in the canton of

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

Oberburg is first mentioned in 1240 as ''Obrunburc''. The oldest evidence of a settlement in the area are some

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 ...

coins which were found at Pfaugarten. Other traces of settlements include a fortification at Bachholen, a pass road from the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

valley into the Emme valley and earthworks at Waldbrueder. While these three sides predate surviving records, their exact age is unknown. The village took its name from the ''upper castle'' () which stood on the Rothöchi. The castle probably got its name to distinguish it from the ''lower castle'' at Burgdorf. The castle was probably the seat of a

ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

(unfree knights in the service of a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

overlord) family in the service of the Counts of Kyburg. The ministerialis family might have been the Lords of Oberburg who were mentioned in the 13th century or the Lords of Rohrmoos, a family that existed from 1241 until 1402. By the 14th century, the village was directly owned by the Kyburgs. During the Burgdorf war of 1383–84,

captured the village from the Kyburgs and in 1408 integrated it into the Bernese district court of Ranflüh. By 1431, it was treated as an associated village of the town of Burgdorf and in 1525 Bern placed the village under the authority of the mayor of Burgdorf. In 1803 it became part of the district of Burgdorf. The village church of

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

was first mentioned in 1242. The current

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was built in 1497, while the

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

dates from 1510. After Bern accepted 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 ...

in 1528, the

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

right passed to the city of Bern. Originally, the church was a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

over a large

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

that included Burgdorf, Heimiswil and parts of Hasle. The town church of Burgdorf was originally a

filial church A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin ''filialis'', from ''filia'', “daughter”. Description The term ''fi ...

of Oberburg, but in 1401 it broke away to form its own parish. During the Middle Ages, the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Tschamerii had the Chapel of St. Mary, but the building was later demolished and no trace remains. For much of its history, the hills above Oberburg were filled with isolated small farms, while the village was surrounded with large farms practicing three field crop rotation. The village had

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

along the Emme river which was shared with Burgdorf and Hasle. Beginning in the 16th century, this shared common land became a constant source of conflict. Oberburg quarreled with Hasle in 1534-35 and again in 1545, but the majority of conflicts were with Burgdorf. Burgdorf attempted to annex the fields in 1520–21, again in 1546 and once again in 1608. They tried to turn it into forests in 1635 and over exploited it in 1619. The three communities continued to quarrel until 1700-04 when all three finally agreed on a scheme to divide the land between them. The main road through the Emmental passed through Oberburg and brought businesses and industry to the village. It was home to a

hammer mill A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The featur ...

in the 17th century, wire mills in 1672 and 1761, a

scythe A scythe (, rhyming with ''writhe'') is an agriculture, agricultural hand-tool for mowing grass or Harvest, harvesting Crop, crops. It was historically used to cut down or reaping, reap edible grain, grains before they underwent the process of ...

factory in 1771 and a

fulling Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...

factory in 1787. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Burgdorf made it very difficult for non-citizens of the town to settle or open businesses, so many entrepreneurs settled in Oberburg instead. In response, Burgdorf attempted to suppress businesses and industry in Oberburg. In 1698 they tried to close the hammer mill and in 1736 and 1752 they prohibited a butcher's shop and a general store, respectively, from opening. However, in the 19th century a number of new factories opened, including weaving factories, foundries, a paint factory, a

machine factory A machine factory is a company that produces machines. These companies traditionally belong to the heavy industry sector in comparison to a more consumer oriented and less capital intensive light industry. Today many companies make more sophistica ...

, a furniture factory and a brickyard. In 1881, the Emmental Railway opened a station between Oberburg and Burgdorf which further encouraged development. By the 21st century it was a mostly commercial and industrial village surrounded by small hamlets and individual farms which remained primarily agricultural. Starting in the 1960s many residents commuted to jobs in Burgdorf or Bern. The village has three school buildings and it forms a school district with parts of Mötschwil and Lützelflüh. The secondary school opened in 1913. In 1985 the Obernburg workshop for the handicapped opened in the municipality.

Geography

Oberburg has an area of . Of this area, or 55.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 10.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.4% 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 4.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.8%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.1%. Out of the forested land, 32.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 19.8% is used for growing crops and 34.3% is pastures, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The village stretches along the left bank of the

Emme River The Emme () is a Rivers of Switzerland, river in Switzerland. It rises in the Alps between the peaks of Hohgant and Augstmatthorn in the canton of Bern. The Emme is long and flows through the Emmental and between Zuchwil and Luterbach into the Aar ...

(except for Schachen- and Uferanteil) in the ''Luterbachgraben'' (Luter creek valley) in includes the villages of Oberburg, Weiler, several individual farms and the

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

s of Rohrmoos and Tannen. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Burgdorf, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.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 ''Sable a Castle Argent with a tower embattled, a tower roofed Gules and two Houses roofed Gules on a Mount of 3 Coupeaux vert.'' The castle () over or above () the mountain makes this an example of

canting arms Canting arms are heraldry, heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. The expression derives from the latin ''cantare'' (to sing). French heralds used the term (), ...

Demographics

Oberburg has a population () of . , 15.3% 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 3.3%. Migration accounted for 1.9%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.1%.
accessed 18-September-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 ...

(2,459 or 89.7%) as their first language,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

is the second most common (82 or 3.0%) and

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 ...

is the third (57 or 2.1%). There are 12 people who speak

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), ...

and 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The population was made up of 1,176 Swiss men (40.8% of the population) and 226 (7.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,264 Swiss women (43.9%) and 215 (7.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 842 or about 30.7% were born in Oberburg and lived there in 2000. There were 1,170 or 42.7% who were born in the same canton, while 259 or 9.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 373 or 13.6% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.4%. , there were 1,134 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,326 married individuals, 173 widows or widowers and 107 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 322 households that consist of only one person and 91 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,079 apartments (89.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 71 apartments (5.9%) were seasonally occupied and 57 apartments (4.7%) 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 7.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.39%. 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:3100 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:600 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:120 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:799 text:"799" bar:1850 from:start till:2200 text:"2,200" bar:1860 from:start till:2303 text:"2,303" bar:1870 from:start till:2528 text:"2,528" bar:1880 from:start till:2594 text:"2,594" bar:1888 from:start till:2537 text:"2,537" bar:1900 from:start till:2745 text:"2,745" bar:1910 from:start till:3041 text:"3,041" bar:1920 from:start till:3025 text:"3,025" bar:1930 from:start till:2930 text:"2,930" bar:1941 from:start till:2923 text:"2,923" bar:1950 from:start till:2990 text:"2,990" bar:1960 from:start till:3030 text:"3,030" bar:1970 from:start till:3015 text:"3,015" bar:1980 from:start till:2869 text:"2,869" bar:1990 from:start till:2918 text:"2,918" bar:2000 from:start till:2740 text:"2,740"

Heritage sites of national significance

The Staldenhof house at Untere Oschwandstrasse 38 is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Brittenwald and Rohrmoos 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 ...

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 41.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (16.2%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (15.3%) 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 ...

(5.4%). In the federal election, a total of 943 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 46.3%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Oberburg had an unemployment rate of 3.37%. , there were a total of 1,218 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 148 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 54 businesses involved in this sector. 465 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 34 businesses in this sector. 605 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 72 businesses in this sector. there were a total of 993

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 103, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 438 of which 304 or (69.4%) were in manufacturing and 126 (28.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 452. In the tertiary sector; 103 or 22.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 38 or 8.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 25 or 5.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 13 or 2.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 35 or 7.7% were in education and 176 or 38.9% were in health care. , there were 836 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,038 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 12.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 48.4% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 219 or 8.0% 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 1,915 or 69.9% 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 112 members of an Orthodox church (or about 4.09% of the population), and there were 211 individuals (or about 7.70% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 125 (or about 4.56% 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 was 1 person who was

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, 22 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 ...

and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 132 (or about 4.82% 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 104 individuals (or about 3.80% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Oberburg about 1,048 or (38.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 267 or (9.7%) 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 267 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.5% were Swiss men, 21.7% were Swiss women, 5.2% were non-Swiss men. 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 330 students attending classes in Oberburg. There were 3 kindergarten classes with a total of 54 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 18.5% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 29.6% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 9 primary classes and 174 students. Of the primary students, 20.7% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 27.6% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 6 lower secondary classes with a total of 102 students. There were 21.6% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 28.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 11 students in Oberburg who came from another municipality, while 49 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

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