Tüscherz-Alfermée, Daucher-Alfermée in French, was 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

Nidau Nidau is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Biel/Bienne (administrative district), Biel/Bienne administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. History Nidau is first mentio ...

in the Swiss

canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Tüscherz-Alfermée and

Twann Twann ( ) was a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Nidau (district), Nidau in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Tüscherz-Alfermée and Twa ...

merged into the municipality of

Twann-Tüscherz Twann-Tüscherz or Douanne-Daucher in French is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Tüscherz-Alfermée and Twann merged into the municipality o ...

History

Tüscherz is first mentioned in 1230 as ''Tusschiers''. In 1267 it was mentioned as ''Tuschers''. Alfermée is first mentioned in 1276 as ''Alphermme''. Tüscherz and Alfermée were part of the lands of the Counts of Neuchatel-Nidau, until 1388 when the counts died out and the land was acquired by Bern. Originally it was part of the

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 ...

of Sutz which was located on the opposite side of the lake. The priest at Sutz allowed the

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

to be read in the chapel above Tüscherz. After 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 ...

the chapel was closed, but it remained part of the Sutz parish until the parish was dissolved in 1876. Tüscherz and Alfermée then became part of the parish of Twann. In 2010 the parishes of Twann / Tüscherz-Alfermée and Ligerz merged to become the Pilgerweg Bielersee parish. Viticulture and fishing dominated the villages, because there was little land for growing grain. Some of the residents even rented fields across the lake in Sutz. Many of the vineyards were owned by monasteries, hospitals and lower nobility or burghers of Bern, Biel/Bienne and Nidau. Several vineyard estates were owned by St. Urban's Abbey, including the Schünen estate which was bought in 1256 and later abandoned and the Convalet estate which was owned by the Abbey until 1848. In the 18th century it was expanded into a large manor house but it was demolished in 1859. The Biel/Bienne road (built in 1838), the Biel-Neuchatel railroad (built 1860) and the A5 motorway (1973) isolate the villages from the lake. The lower village of Alfermée was built on land won from the lake after the

Jura water correction The correction of the waters of the Swiss Jura consisted of a wide series of hydrological undertakings carried out in Switzerland in the region of the three lakes: Lake Murten connected to Lake Neuchatel by the Broye Canal, the latter connec ...

in 1868-91 but was demolished in 1969 to clear land for the motorway. Until 1973 the primary school was located in the municipality, then it relocated to Twann. The vineyards are still an important industry, though now about two-thirds of the working population commute to Biel/Bienne for work.

Geography

Tüscherz-Alfermée has an area of . Of this area, 6.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 84.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 7.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.5%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Demographics

Tüscherz-Alfermée has a population () of 309, of which 8.4% are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 11.2%. Most of the population () speaks German (87.3%), with French being second most common (9.5%) and Portuguese being third (1.4%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the FDP which received 30% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (28.5%), the SPS (22%) 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 ...

(6.6%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 15.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 23.7%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Tüscherz-Alfermée about 75.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either 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 ...

or additional higher education (either University 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 ...

''). Tüscherz-Alfermée has an unemployment rate of 1.58%. , there were 33 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 6 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 2 businesses in this sector. 20 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 ...

, with 7 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 09-Jul-2009 The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuscherz-Alfermee Former municipalities of the canton of Bern Populated places on Lake Biel Populated places disestablished in 2010