Simplon (; ; ), earlier known as Simpeln, 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 district of

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

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 ...

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

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

The area was part of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

since the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, but it was colonized by the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

after 1000 AD, so the

Bishop of Sion The Diocese of Sion (, , ) is a Latin Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is the oldest bishopric in the country and one of the oldest north of the Alps. The history of the Bishops of Sion, of the Abbey of ...

bought it from the counts of

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

in 1291. Simplon is first mentioned in 1267 as ''Simpilion''. In 1285 it was mentioned as ''Xeinplon''.

Geography

Simplon has an area, , of . Of this area, 21.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 12.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.0% is settled (buildings or roads) and 65.2% is unproductive land. The municipality is located in the Brig district, on the south side of the

Simplon Pass The Simplon Pass (; ; ; ; ; ) is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig, Switzerland, Brig in the canton of Valais with Domodossola in Piedmont (Italy). The pass itself and the villag ...

near the

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 ...

border. It consists of the village of Simplon and 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 Gabi, Egga and Maschihüs as well as the ''Hospiz'' (Hospice) in the Simplon Pass.

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 ''Argent, a bicephalous Eagle displayed Sable, crowned each Or and another Or ribboned Sable, langued and membered Gules, holding in dexter a Sword and in sinister a Sabre both Or, escutcheon Sable bordure Argent.''

Demographics

Simplon has a population () of . , 2.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -6.2%. It has changed at a rate of -4.6% due to migration and at a rate of -3.2% due to births and deaths.
accessed 28-August-2011 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 ...

(322 or 96.7%) 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 (4 or 1.2%) and

is the third (3 or 0.9%). , the gender distribution of the population was 47.0% male and 53.0% female. The population was made up of 159 Swiss men (45.6% of the population) and 5 (1.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 177 Swiss women (50.7%) and 8 (2.3%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality 246 or about 73.9% were born in Simplon and lived there in 2000. There were 64 or 19.2% who were born in the same canton, while 13 or 3.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7 or 2.1% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.1%. , there were 146 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 164 married individuals, 19 widows or widowers and 4 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 116 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 29 households that consist of only one person and 14 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 118 households that answered this question, 24.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 3 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 21 married couples without children, 56 married couples with children. There were 4 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 2 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 88 single family homes (or 60.7% of the total) out of a total of 145 inhabited buildings. There were 30 multi-family buildings (20.7%), along with 12 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (8.3%) and 15 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (10.3%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , a total of 108 apartments (55.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 73 apartments (37.6%) were seasonally occupied and 13 apartments (6.7%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.49%. 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 = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:460 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:90 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:18 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1798 from:start till:250 text:"250" bar:1850 from:start till:364 text:"364" bar:1860 from:start till:385 text:"385" bar:1870 from:start till:414 text:"414" bar:1880 from:start till:435 text:"435" bar:1888 from:start till:377 text:"377" bar:1900 from:start till:357 text:"357" bar:1910 from:start till:318 text:"318" bar:1920 from:start till:333 text:"333" bar:1930 from:start till:375 text:"375" bar:1941 from:start till:434 text:"434" bar:1950 from:start till:451 text:"451" bar:1960 from:start till:418 text:"418" bar:1970 from:start till:352 text:"352" bar:1980 from:start till:328 text:"328" bar:1990 from:start till:308 text:"308" bar:2000 from:start till:333 text:"333"

Heritage sites of national significance

The old ''Hospice'' (Hospice for travelers over the

) is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The village of Simplon, the hamlet of Eggen and the Simplon Pass area are all 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 ...

. File:Altes Hospiz (3) 2019.jpg, The ''Old Hospice'' The ''

Simplon Hospice The Simplon Hospice is a large building where travellers and merchants can get food, accommodation and shelter from the harsh climate. In a decree of 21 February 1801 Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte commissioned the building of a hospice on top of th ...

'' was begun in 1801 on orders from

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, but was not finished until 30 years later with the support of the Canons of Great Saint Bernard. File:Simplon Hospiz Februar 2023.jpg, Simplon Hospice in wintertime File:Simplon Hospiz.jpg, The Hospice in the Simplon Pass File:Sommer, Giorgio (1834-1914) - n. 13541 Simplonstrasse.jpg, Early 20th Century picture of the Simplon Hospice

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 69.29% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (14.9%), the SVP (12.97%) and the FDP (1.67%). In the federal election, a total of 175 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 65.8%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 192 votes were cast, of which 9 or about 4.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 71.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 174 votes were cast, of which 4 or about 2.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 67.2%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

, Simplon had an unemployment rate of 0.2%. , there were 42 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 59 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 7 businesses in this sector. 78 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 19 businesses in this sector. There were 175 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.9% of the workforce. the total number of

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 was 142. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 24, of which 19 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 58 of which 15 or (25.9%) were in manufacturing and 43 (74.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 60. In the tertiary sector; 7 or 11.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 6.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 31 or 51.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 8.3% were in education. , there were 74 workers who commuted into the municipality and 43 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.7 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 43.2% of the workforce coming into Simplon are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 31.4% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 319 or 95.8% 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 7 or 2.1% 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 ...

. 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 there was 1 individual who was

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. 2 (or about 0.60% 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 3 individuals (or about 0.90% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Simplon about 97 or (29.1%) 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 15 or (4.5%) 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 15 who completed tertiary schooling, 73.3% were Swiss men, 26.7% were Swiss women. During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 13 students in the Simplon school system. The

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend 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 ...

. During that school year, there were no kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and there were no kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. In Simplon there were a total of 2 classes and 13 students in the primary school. The

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Simplon attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Obligatorische Schulzeit
accessed 24 August 2011 All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality. , there was one student in Simplon who came from another municipality, while 2 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Notable residents

The former member of the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

Josef Escher Josef Escher (17 September 1885, in Simplon – 9 December 1954) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1950–1954). He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 14 September 1950 resigned on 26 November 1 ...

was born in Simplon.

References

{{Authority control Cultural property of national significance in Valais