Kaiseraugst

History

Kaiseraugst’s origins trace to the Roman city of Augusta Raurica, established around 45 BC by the Raurici tribe and Roman authorities, making it Switzerland’s oldest Roman settlement. Around AD 100, a lower town developed on the Rhine, within modern Kaiseraugst, featuring a river port, artisan quarters, and commercial facilities. After the Alamanni destroyed Augusta Raurica’s upper town around 273–274, and the loss of the Limes Germanicus and the right bank of the Rhine, the Roman army built Castrum Rauracense, a fort in the lower town, around AD 300 to protect a ford over the Rhine and serve as headquarters of the legio I Martia. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire the fort remained occupied as local Germanic tribes moved in. The fort and neighboring church became the seat of a bishop during the 4th century, with the bishop first being mentioned in 346. In the early 1960s, the Kaiseraugst nuclear power plant construction project was met with strong opposition from the population, who occupied the site in 1975. After the Chernobyl disaster, the Swiss government and Kaiseraugst Nuclear Energy AG agreed to abandon the project.

Geography

Kaiseraugst has an area, , of . Of this area, or 20.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 32.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 40.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 6.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.4% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 7.5% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 11.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 14.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.3% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, 30.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 13.6% is used for growing crops and 4.1% is pastures, while 2.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located in the Rheinfelden district, along the Rhine river.

Most-observed species

• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  11,119
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,335
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,271
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,778
• Yellow-legged hornet

  Vespa velutina Lepeletier, 1836 · Insecta
  8,951
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,612
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8,178
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,310

Most recent

• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 4.1 — 2021-12-24
  2 km WSW of Blamont, France
• M 3.1 — 2018-05-04
  2 km W of Schliengen, Germany