Val-de-Travers 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

canton of Neuchâtel The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (; ; ; ) is a mostly French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 (or 23.4%) were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel. History County of Neuchâtel ...

in Switzerland. It was created on 1 January 2009, when the former municipalities of

Boveresse Boveresse was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier Fleurier was a Municipalities of Switzerland, muni ...

Buttes In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French word , meaning 'k ...

Couvet Couvet was a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers (district), Val-de-Travers in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipal ...

Fleurier Fleurier was a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers (district), Val-de-Travers in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municip ...

Les Bayards Les Bayards was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice ...

, Môtiers,

Noiraigue Noiraigue or Noiraigue-Les Œillons was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, ...

, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010 The region is known for its production of

absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavored Liquor, spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. His ...

History

Val-de-Travers is first mentioned in 1150 as '.

Geography

Val-de-Travers has an area of . Of this area, in 2009 or 42.4% was used for agricultural purposes, while or 50.6% was forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% 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 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.5%. Out of the forested land, 46.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.0% is used for growing crops and 23.9% is pastures and 13.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in a valley in the Neuchâtel Jura. The valley provides a connection between the Swiss Plateau and

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...

. The river L'Areuse (previous called La Reuse, the name morphed into Areuse), flows lengthways of the valley, most of this river is a shallow river, and about 10 meters wide, it narrows into a gorge near

. Historically, this river provided much of the water and fish for the valley. The municipality was located in the

Val-de-Travers District Val-de-Travers District was one of the six districts of the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018. It is famous for its clock industry. The Canton is largely rural and farming remains importa ...

, until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018. Môtiers is the main village.

Demographics

Val-de-Travers had a population () of . , 18.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 In the 10 years (2000–2010) the population decreased by 2.5%. Migration accounted for -1.8% whilst births and deaths accounted for -1.6%.
accessed 3 November 2011 Most of the population () speaks French (88.9%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (3.0%) and German is the third (2.7%). the population was 48.6% male and 51.4% female. The population was made up of 4,161 Swiss men (38.4% of the population) and 1,103 (10.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,677 Swiss women (43.2%) and 891 (8.2%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Neuchatel Statistics
, ''République et canton de Neuchâtel – Recensement annuel de la population'' accessed 13 October 2011 , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 55.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19.1%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.39%.

Heritage sites of national significance

The Farm House no. 1201 or Monlési, the Maison des Chats or Petitpierre, the Séchoir à absinthe, Ivernois Castle and the Maison Boy de la Tour, the Hôtel des Six-Communes, the medieval church of St-Pierre, the Temple in Môtiers and Areuse Bridge are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The villages of Buttes, Les Verrières, Môtiers, Couvet, Fleurier and Travers 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:Boveresse, ferme du Monlési (Nr 1201) 1.JPG, Farm House no. 1201 or Monlési File:Maison des chats 3.jpg, Maison des chats File:Boveresse-Sechoir.jpg, Séchoir à absinthe in

File:MotierIvernois.jpg , Château d'Ivernois File:Motiers-Hotel-Six-Communes.jpg, Motiers-Hotel-Six-Communes, previously a midway station File:Motiers-Prieure.jpg, Medieval church of St-Pierre File:Temple Môtiers.jpg, Temple of Môtiers File:Travers - Pont sur l'Areuse.jpg, Areuse Bridge

Economy

, Val-de-Travers had an unemployment rate of 6.6%. , there were 322 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 139 businesses involved in this sector. 1,980 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 162 businesses in this sector. 2,188 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 374 businesses in this sector. There were residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity. Of the working population, 13.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.3% used a private car. Asphalt was exploited until 1986 at La Presta Asphalt Mine. It is nowadays a museum.

Education

In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory

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 five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010–11 school year, there were 10.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 198 students in Val-de-Travers. In the same year, there were 29 primary classes with a total of 528 students.Statistical Department of the Canton of Neuchâtel
Mémento de l'année scolaire 2010/2011 accessed 17 October 2011

Transportation

The municipality has seven railway stations. Two, and , are located on the Neuchâtel–Pontarlier line with service to and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The other five are located on the Travers–Buttes line, which also serves Travers.

Notable people

Emer de Vattel Emmerich de Vattel ( 25 April 171428 December 1767) was a philosopher, diplomat, and jurist. Vattel's work profoundly influenced the development of international law. He is most famous for his 1758 work ''The Law of Nations''. This work was his ...

(1714 in Couvet – 1767) an international lawyer *

Ferdinand Berthoud Ferdinand Berthoud (; born 18 March 1727, in Couvet, Plancemont-sur-Couvet, Principality of Neuchâtel; died 20 June 1807, in Groslay, Val d'Oise), was a scientist and watchmaker. He became master watchmaker in Paris in 1753. Berthoud, who held ...

(1727 in Plancemont-sur-Couvet – 1807) a scientist and watchmaker *

Jonas de Gélieu Jonas de Gélieu (21 August 1740, in Les Bayards – 17 October 1827, in Colombier, Neuchâtel, Colombier) was a Swiss pastor and beekeeper, notable for his contact with Jean Jacques Rousseau and Isabelle de Charrière. Archive Sources * Extern ...

(1740 in Les Bayards – 1827) a Swiss pastor and beekeeper * Salomé de Gélieu (1742 in Les Bayards – 1820) a Swiss educator and governess to several members of princely courts in Europe * Léo Lesquereux (1806 in Fleurier – 1889) a Swiss bryologist and a pioneer of American

paleobotany Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments ( pal ...

Édouard Piaget Édouard Piaget (3 November 1817 in Les Bayards – 10 September 1910 in Couvet) was a Swiss entomologist who specialised in lice (''Phthiraptera''). Life As a young man, Piaget became a teacher of French at Mr. de Raedt's , an upper class b ...

(1817 in Les Bayards – 1910) a Swiss

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

who specialised in lice *

Charles Édouard Guillaume Charles Édouard Guillaume (; 15 February 1861 – 13 June 1938) was a Swiss physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920 "for the service he had rendered to precision measurements in physics by his discovery of anomalies in nickel ...

(1861 in Fleurier – 1938) a Swiss physicist who received the

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

in 1920 * Édouard Bovet (1797 in Fleurier – 1849) a Swiss watchmaker and founder of the Bovet Fleurier watch company *

Denis de Rougemont Denys Louis de Rougemont (September 8, 1906 – December 6, 1985), known as Denis de Rougemont (), was a Swiss writer and cultural theorist who wrote in French. One of the non-conformists of the 1930s, he addressed the perils of totalitaria ...

(1906 in Couvet – 1985) a Swiss writer and cultural theorist *

Daniel Bovet Daniel Bovet (23 March 1907 – 8 April 1992) was a Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of drugs that block the actions of specific neurotransmitters. He is best known for hi ...

(1907 in Fleurier – 1992) a Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist who won the 1957

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

for his discovery of drugs that block the actions of specific

neurotransmitter A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a Chemical synapse, synapse. The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell. Neurotra ...

s * Fritz Tschannen (1920 – 2011 in Val-de-Travers) a Swiss accordion player, former ski jumper who competed at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (; ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the ...

and a conductor until 1999, when he retired to Fleurier

References

External links

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