Berg, Thurgau
Encyclopedia
Berg 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 Weinfelden
Weinfelden (district)
Weinfelden District is one of the five districts of the canton of Thurgau, Switzerland. It has a population of . Its capital is the town of Weinfelden.The district contains the following municipalities:...

 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 Thurgau
Thurgau
Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...

 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 earliest traces of human settlement come from the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...

 and there are scattered 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...

 items around Berg. The modern village of Berg is first mentioned in 796 as Berga. In the Early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...

, Berg and the surrounding land were in the possession of the Bishop of Constance and were on the southern border of the Bishop's land. A fortress was first built in the 12th-13th Century, which was replaced in 1600 by a castle. The castle and the rights to rule over the villages of Berg, Andhausen, Donzhausen and parts of Andwil (TG), Mauren and Mattwil were rented out by the Cathedral of Constance (not the Bishop) until 1798. The circumstances behind the removal of the diocese's administration and the emergence of the court in 1386 are unclear. Some of the owners of the village included Egli von Zug (1518–67), Brümsi von Herblingen (1586-1653/56) and the von Thurn-Valsassina family (1676–1798).

The village chapel was probably built in the 11th Century. In 1506 a benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

 was donated, so that a chaplain could be supported in the village. The chapel remained a filial church
Filial church
A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin filialis, from filia, daughter....

 of Sulgen. During the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 in 1529, the village converted to the new religion, while the court and ruler remained Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

. Due to the religious tension, regular church services were not held in Berg until 1575. Until the founding of the Reformed parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 in 1851, Berg was part of the parish of Sulgen. In 16th and 17th Centuries, the Catholic parish also included Altishausen, Birwinken, Dotnacht, Graltshausen, Guntershausen, Hugelshofen and Mattwil. In 1935, the church stopped being a shared church
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...

 and a Catholic church was built.

The majority of the local economy was made up of fruit production along with a distillery, livestock (in 1899 a municipal dairy was built) and until 1900 vineyards. As a result of industrialization, in about 1865, the Brauchli brickyard was built. This was followed in 1900 by several embroidery companies. In 1911, the village was connected to the Mittel-Thurgau-Bahn rail line through stations at Kehlhof and Berg. More recently, a favorable tax rate and an attractive location, have led to strong population growth and development of new residential areas. In 1990 about 45% of the workers in Berg, worked in the manufacturing and services sectors.

Geography

Berg has an area, , of 13.09 square kilometres (5.1 sq mi). Of this area, 9.37 km² (3.6 sq mi) or 71.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.22 km² (0.857146792075428 sq mi) or 17.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.48 km² (0.571431194716952 sq mi) or 11.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.2% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 0.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.0%. Out of the forested land, 15.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 56.5% is used for growing crops, while 15.0% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the Weinfelden district. It consists of the villages of Berg, Andhausen, Graltshausen, Mauren, Birwinken and Guntershausen bei Birwinken (now Guntershausen bei Berg) and the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Beggelschwilen.

Demographics

Berg has a population of , 10.0% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 11.5%. Most of the population speaks 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....

(94.1%), with Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...

 being second most common ( 1.8%) and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

 being third ( 1.0%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 50.6% male and 49.4% female. The population was made up of 1,368 Swiss men (45.0% of the population), and 168 (5.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,366 Swiss women (45.0%), and 136 (4.5%) non-Swiss women.

In there were 19 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 14 deaths of Swiss citizens and 2 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 5 while the foreign population decreased by 1. There were 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 12 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 7 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was a decrease of 33 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 5 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.9%.

The age distribution, , in Berg is; 340 children or 11.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 461 teenagers or 15.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 340 people or 11.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 362 people or 11.9% are between 30 and 39, 561 people or 18.4% are between 40 and 49, and 395 people or 13.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 297 people or 9.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 174 people or 5.7% are between 70 and 79, there are 106 people or 3.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 14 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.54 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 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 56.9% 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 1,053 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. there were 487 single family homes (or 83.8% of the total) out of a total of 581 inhabited buildings. There were 46 two family buildings (7.9%), 18 three family buildings (3.1%) and 30 multi-family buildings (or 5.2%). There were 591 (or 20.5%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 1,615 (or 56.2%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 173 (or 6.0%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 23 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 21 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 14 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 148 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.

The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.28%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.6 new units per 1000 residents. there were 1,139 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 6 room apartment of which there were 288. There were 39 single room apartments and 288 apartments with six or more rooms.

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 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...

 which received 43.48% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (15.9%), the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (13.94%) 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:...

 (8.73%). In the federal election, a total of 1,078 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 51.6%.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1850 440
1910 833
1950 795
1980 1,142
1990 1,575
2000 2,876

Sights

The hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Hard and Kehlhof are designated 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:...


Economy

, Berg had an unemployment rate of 1.37%. , there were 175 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 55 businesses involved in this sector. 473 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 43 businesses in this sector. 933 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 108 businesses in this sector.

there were 1,922 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 903 or about 47.0% of the residents worked outside Berg while 694 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 1,713 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 7.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.1% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 785 or 27.3% were Roman Catholic, while 1,575 or 54.8% 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 3 Old Catholics (or about 0.10% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

  there are 43 individuals (or about 1.50% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 109 individuals (or about 3.79% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 69 (or about 2.40% of the population) who are Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There are 6 individuals (or about 0.21% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 228 (or about 7.93% of the population) belong 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 57 individuals (or about 1.98% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Berg about 78.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or 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...

).

Berg is home to the Berg-Birwinken primary and secondary school district
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...

. In the 2008/2009 school year there were 471 students at either the primary or secondary levels. There were 102 children in the kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

, and the average class size was 20.4 kindergartners. Of the children in kindergarten, 55 or 53.9% were female, 11 or 10.8% were not Swiss citizens and 6 or 5.9% did not speak German natively. The lower and upper primary levels begin at about age 5-6 and last for 6 years. There were 160 children in who were at the lower primary level and 152 children in the upper primary level. The average class size in the primary school was 21.29 students. At the lower primary level, there were 77 children or 48.1% of the total population who were female, 15 or 9.4% were not Swiss citizens and 10 or 6.3% did not speak German natively. In the upper primary level, there were 71 or 46.7% who were female, 13 or 8.6% were not Swiss citizens and 5 or 3.3% did not speak German natively.

At the secondary level, students are divided according to performance. The secondary level begins at about age 12 and usually lasts 3 years. There were 102 teenagers who were in the advanced school, of which 55 or 53.9% were female, 3 or 2.9% were not Swiss citizens. There were 57 teenagers who were in the standard school, of which 26 or 45.6% were female, 5 or 8.8% were not Swiss citizens and 4 or 7.0% did not speak German natively. The average class size for all classes at the secondary level was 17.67 students.

External links

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