Aubonne
Encyclopedia
Aubonne is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Morges in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...

 in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

History

The municipality was settled very early. The oldest remains are from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

. From Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times, there remain foundations of villas, and from early medieval times, graves.

The first documentation of the municipality is from 1177 under the name of Albona. In the first half of the 13th century, a defensive wall was built around the town. In 1255, the town was sold to Count Peter II of Savoy. He gave the governing of the town over to the family of Thoire-Villars. Aubonne was the most important town on the north side of the lake between Lausanne and Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 until the second half of the 15th century. Since the 13th century, it had weekly markets, and starting in 1487 semi-annual three-day markets.

The Count of Greyerz acquired Aubonne in 1393. Since he was allied with the Eidgenossen, the municipality was spared the ravages of the Burgundian Wars
Burgundian Wars
The Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, later involving the Old Swiss Confederacy, which would play a decisive role. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the...

 in 1476. When the canton of Vaud was conquered by Bern in 1536, Aubonne came under Bernese domination, but still belonged to the Count of Greyerz until 1553.

In 1670, the city was bought by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a French traveller and pioneer of trade with India, and travels through Persia , most known for works in two quarto volumes, Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and diamond merchant for some important diamonds of the century...

, and in 1685 by Henri Duquesne, who sold it to Bern again in 1701. From 1798 to 1803 it belonged to the canton of Léman
Canton of Léman
Léman was the name of a canton of the Helvetic Republic from 1798 to 1803, corresponding to the territory of modern Vaud. As a former subject territory of Bern, Vaud had been independent for only four months in 1798 as the Lemanic Republic before it was incorporated in the centralist Helvetic...

 in the Helvetic Republic
Helvetic Republic
In Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...

, which, through the mediation of Napoleon became the canton of Vaud. Aubonne was the capital of its district from 1803 until 2006.

Geography

Aubonne lies at an elevation of 508 m (1,666.7 ft). 19 km (12 mi) west of Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

. It is spread in the valley of the Aubonne River, on the edge of the Jura
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...

 foothill plateau, about 130 m (426.5 ft) above the surface of Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...

.

The highest point in the municipality is at an elevation of 643 m (2,109.6 ft)

The villages of Trévelin and Bougy-Saint-Martin belong to the municipality. The surrounding municipalities are Allaman
Allaman
Allaman is a municipality in the district of Morges in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.The village is famous for the medieval Allaman Castle , built by the Count of Vaud in 1253.-Allaman Castle:...

, Féchy
Féchy
Féchy is a municipality located in the district of Morges of the Swiss canton of Vaud, in Romandy, the French-speaking part of the country.-Geography:...

, Pizy
Pizy
Pizy is a former municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It is located in the district of Morges. On July 1, 2011 it was merged into Aubonne.-Geography:...

, Montherod
Montherod
Montherod is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It is located in the district of Morges.-Geography:Montherod has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 45.5% is forested...

, Saint-Livres
Saint-Livres
Saint-Livres is a municipality in the district of Morges in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Saint-Livres has an area, , of . Of this area, or 49.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.9% is forested...

, Lavigny
Lavigny
Lavigny is the name of several places:*in France:**Lavigny, a commune of the Jura département*in Switzerland:**Lavigny, a Swiss commune in the canton of Vaud...

, and Etoy
Etoy, Switzerland
Etoy is a municipality of the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, located in the district of Morges.-Geography:Etoy has an area, , of . Of this area, or 67.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 6.7% is forested...

.

Aubonne has an area, , of 6.87 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi). Of this area, 4.35 km² (1.7 sq mi) or 63.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.97 km² (0.374519093834759 sq mi) or 14.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.52 km² (0.586875281060653 sq mi) or 22.1% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.05 km² (12.4 acre) or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes and 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.4% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 9.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.6% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.2%. Out of the forested land, 11.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 33.2% is used for growing crops and 8.3% is pastures, while 21.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality was the capital of the Aubonne District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Aubonne became part of the new district of Morges.

The municipality of Pizy
Pizy
Pizy is a former municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It is located in the district of Morges. On July 1, 2011 it was merged into Aubonne.-Geography:...

 will merge on 1 July 2011 into the municipality of Aubonne.

Demographics

Aubonne has a population of . , 24.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 5.9%. It has changed at a rate of 2.3% due to migration and at a rate of 3.8% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 (2,160 or 84.0%), with German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 being second most common (133 or 5.2%) and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 being third (93 or 3.6%). There are 86 people who speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 and 4 people who speak Romansh.

Of the population in the municipality 623 or about 24.2% were born in Aubonne and lived there in 2000. There were 842 or 32.8% who were born in the same canton, while 456 or 17.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 563 or 21.9% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 17 live births to Swiss citizens and 8 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 15 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 2 while the foreign population increased by 7. There were 6 Swiss men and 5 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 26 non-Swiss men and 36 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 11 and the non-Swiss population increased by 41 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.9%.

The age distribution, , in Aubonne is; 301 children or 11.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 345 teenagers or 12.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 266 people or 9.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 374 people or 13.7% are between 30 and 39, 471 people or 17.2% are between 40 and 49, and 381 people or 13.9% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 292 people or 10.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 164 people or 6.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 117 people or 4.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 22 people or 0.8% who are 90 and older.

, there were 1,048 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,258 married individuals, 150 widows or widowers and 114 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.56 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 38.5% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 1,102 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 379 households that consist of only one person and 67 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,128 households that answered this question, 33.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 9 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 306 married couples without children, 342 married couples with children There were 54 single parents with a child or children. There were 12 households that were made up of unrelated people and 26 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 271 single family homes (or 47.9% of the total) out of a total of 566 inhabited buildings. There were 138 multi-family buildings (24.4%), along with 110 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (19.4%) and 47 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (8.3%). Of the single family homes 80 were built before 1919, while 28 were built between 1990 and 2000. The most multi-family homes (70) were built before 1919 and the next most (22) were built between 1981 and 1990. There was 1 multi-family house built between 1996 and 2000.

there were 1,252 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 375. There were 76 single room apartments and 336 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,075 apartments (85.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 145 apartments (11.6%) were seasonally occupied and 32 apartments (2.6%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.9 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.2%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance

The Former Federal Powder Mill, Aubonne Castle
Aubonne Castle
Aubonne Castle is a castle in the municipality of Aubonne of the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance....

, the City Hall
City hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...

 and grenette, the D’Aspre House with Orangery
Orangery
An orangery was a building in the grounds of fashionable residences from the 17th to the 19th centuries and given a classicising architectural form. The orangery was similar to a greenhouse or conservatory...

, the Manoir et manège are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...

. The entire town of Aubonne and the Federal Powder Mill are listed as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites 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:...

.

Tourism

A wood museum was opened in 1967. The first arboretum in the canton of Vaud was established in 1963 in Aubonne. It has an area of about 200 hectares and features both native and imported trees.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 which received 21.08% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 (17.1%), the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....

 (15.81%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (13.72%). In the federal election, a total of 861 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 52.6%.

Economy

Aubonne was long an agricultural town. Today, however, agriculture plays a secondary role. Agricultural products of the region include wine.

Because Aubonne does not lie on the Lausanne-Geneva railway built in the 19th century, industrialization began relatively late. The first factory, a gun powder factory, was built in 1853. In the 20th century, a precision machine shop,, laboratories, furniture manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies have come to Aubonne.

Today, the majority of jobs are in the service sector.

, Aubonne had an unemployment rate of 3%. , there were 110 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 623 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 39 businesses in this sector. 1,591 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 191 businesses in this sector. There were 1,335 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.9% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...

 jobs was 1,882. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 70, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 579 of which 404 or (69.8%) were in manufacturing and 137 (23.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 1,233. In the tertiary sector; 610 or 49.5% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 42 or 3.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 39 or 3.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 46 or 3.7% were in the information industry, 18 or 1.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 108 or 8.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 54 or 4.4% were in education and 185 or 15.0% were in health care.

, there were 1,533 workers who commuted into the municipality and 799 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.9 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 3.9% of the workforce coming into Aubonne are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 62.4% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 761 or 29.6% were Roman Catholic, while 1,085 or 42.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 13 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

 (or about 0.51% of the population), and there were 156 individuals (or about 6.07% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 individuals (or about 0.12% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 33 (or about 1.28% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There were 4 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, 1 person who was Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 and 8 individuals who belonged to another church. 389 (or about 15.14% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 117 individuals (or about 4.55% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Aubonne about 843 or (32.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 522 or (20.3%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Of the 522 who completed tertiary schooling, 52.3% were Swiss men, 31.0% were Swiss women, 10.3% were non-Swiss men and 6.3% were non-Swiss women.

In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 341 students in the Aubonne school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 631 children of which 203 children (32.2%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 179 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 157 students in those schools. There were also 5 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 412 students in Aubonne who came from another municipality, while 184 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Transportation

Aubonne lies at the crossroads of the highway between Rolle
Rolle
Rolle is a municipality in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It was the seat of the district of Rolle until 2006, when it became part of the district of Nyon. It is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Geneva between Nyon and Lausanne...

 and Cossonay
Cossonay
Cossonay is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district of Morges.-History:Cossonay has both Roman ruins and medieval graves. The first documentation of the settlement dates from 1096 under the name Cochoniacum...

 and the highway between Allaman
Allaman
Allaman is a municipality in the district of Morges in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.The village is famous for the medieval Allaman Castle , built by the Count of Vaud in 1253.-Allaman Castle:...

 and Gimel
Gimel, Switzerland
Gimel is a municipality in the Swiss the canton Vaud, located in the district of Morges.-Geography:Gimel has an area, , of . Of this area, or 32.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 61.7% is forested...

. The entrance to the A1 motorway was opened in 1964 and is only about 2 km (1 mi) from the center.

The train station of the Lausanne-Geneva railway was opened on April 14, 1858 and lies just outside the municipality in Allaman. From 1896 to 1952, there was an electric tram from Allaman to Aubonne. Today, Aubonne is served by the bus line Allaman – Aubonne – Gimel. There are also postal buses to Rolle and Etoy.

Personalities

  • Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
    Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
    Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer.He was born in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud and educated at the University of Lausanne. He taught briefly in nearby Aubonne, and then in Weimar, Germany. In 1903, he left for Paris and remained there until World War I, with frequent...

    , writer
    Writer
    A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

    , studied there.
  • Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
    Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
    Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a French traveller and pioneer of trade with India, and travels through Persia , most known for works in two quarto volumes, Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and diamond merchant for some important diamonds of the century...

    , traveller, owner of the seigneurery of Aubonne from 1670 to 1685.
  • Georges de Mestral
    Georges de Mestral
    George de Mestral was an electrical engineer who invented Velcro.-Biography:He was born to Albert de Mestral, an agricultural engineer, and Marthe de Goumoëns in Colombier, near Lausanne, Switzerland. De Mestral designed a toy airplane at age twelve and patented it. He attended the École...

    , electrical engineer who invented Velcro
    Velcro
    Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...

    , lived there.
  • Alexandre Yersin
    Alexandre Yersin
    Alexandre Emile Jean Yersin was a Swiss and French physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague or pest, which was later re-named in his honour .Yersin was born in 1863 in Aubonne, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, to a family...

    , bacteriologist who discovered the bacillus of the plague or pest, lived there.
  • Sibylle Blanc
    Sibylle Blanc
    Sibylle Blanc is a French-speaking Swiss actress who is actively involved in theatrical, film, television and radio productions in her native Switzerland as well as in nearby France....

    , actrice, born there
  • Michael I of Romania
    Michael I of Romania
    Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

    , former king, has a residence there.

External links

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