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Wattenwil
Bernvillage
Total population
3,198
Demographic figures from Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.
City facts
Facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Overview
Wattenwil is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Read more on WikipediaHistory & geography
History
Wattenwil is first mentioned in 1226 as Watenwile. The oldest traces of a settlement in the area are several Bronze Age graves around Vorderrainstrasse and Höstettli. During the Middle Ages Wattenwil was owned by the Counts of Neuchâtel-Nidau. After the murder of Albert I of Germany in 1308 by Duke John Parricida, the area was sold or pledged to the Barons of Strättligen. The Barons held the villages until the extinction of their line in 1349, after which it was inherited by the Lords of Burgistein. The three settlements that today make up Wattenwil never had a central village, castle or manor house. However, it was the center of a high court with gallows. In 1376, the city-state of Bern acquired control of the nearby city of Nidau and began expanding their power over the region. In 1388 Bern acquired rights over the Wattenwil area, however the high court and gallows remained under the authority of local nobles who opposed Bernese expansion. Bern created the Seftigen District court to oppose the Wattenwil court and expand their power in the region. Partially in 1499 and more fully in 1516 the Bernese citizen Bartholomew May acquired the Strättligen lands and ownership of Wattenwil. Over the following century it was bought and inherited several times, until 1641 when the farmers of Wattenwil bought the right to self-government. However, in the following year, they sold the right to Bern for 1000 pounds and became part of the District of Seftigen. For much of the history of the villages, they were part of the parish of Thurnen with a local chapel. In 1659 they broke away from Thurnen to become an independent parish. In 1683 the chapel was replaced with a larger parish church, which still stands today. In 1887 a hospital opened in the municipality. It…
Geography
Wattenwil has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 40.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 49.4% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 7.8% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.4% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 4.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.0%. A total of 47.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 13.1% is used for growing crops and 25.9% is pasturage, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Excerpted from the corresponding Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).
Geography
Coordinates & boundaries from the US Census TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Climate
Air quality
Walkability
Amenities nearby
Wildlife & biodiversity
Earthquake history
Photos
Sights & places nearby
Notable people from here
People born within ~10 km, from Wikidata (CC0). Click any name for their Wikipedia article.
Geography & sun
Elevation, sunrise/sunset and daylight from Open-Meteo. Solar climatology from NASA POWER.
Nearby airports
Public attention
Pageview totals from the Wikimedia Pageviews API.
Books about this place
Recent natural events nearby
Ground air-quality sensors
Recently spotted species
Events
Gallery
Official Identifiers
BFS — Swiss Federal Statistical Office
- BFS-Nr
- 886
- Population (Wikidata)
- 2,935
- Wikidata
- Q65492
Gemeindenummer via Wikidata P771
Sources
- • Wikipedia
- • Wikidata
- • Open-Meteo / sunrise-sunset.org
- • Wikipedia Pageviews API
- • Wikidata SPARQL (CC0) — population, area, elevation, inception, head of government, Commons image
- • BFS — Swiss Federal Statistical Office — Gemeindenummer via Wikidata P771