Erstfeld 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 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 Uri

Canton of Uri

Uri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss River between Lake Lucerne and the St. Gotthard Pass. German is the primary language spoken in Uri...

 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

Erstfeld is first mentioned in 1258 as Ourzcvelt. In 1638 it was listed under the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 name in Protocampis. In 1831 it was known as Hirschfelden.

Geography

Erstfeld has an area, , of 59.2 km² (22.9 sq mi). Of this area, 11.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (56.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). , 19.8% of the total land area was heavily forested, while 7.9% is covered in small trees and shrubbery. Of the agricultural land, 0.2% is used for farming or pastures, while 5.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 6.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the settled areas, 1.2% is covered with buildings, 0.3% is industrial, 0.1% is listed as parks and greenbelts and 1.2% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.1% is unproductive standing water (ponds or lakes), 0.9% is unproductive flowing water (rivers), 41.8% is too rocky for vegatation, and 13.3% is other unproductive land.

The municipality consists of the linear village

Linear village

In geography, a linear village, or linear settlement, is a small to medium-sized settlement that is formed around a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Wraysbury, a village in Berkshire, is one of the longest villages in England....

 of Erstfeld and scattered farm houses along the valley floor and up the mountain sides.

Erstfeld is at the base of the northern ramp of the Gotthard railway

Gotthardbahn

Gotthardbahn was the name of a private Swiss railway company which operated the railway line from Immensee to Chiasso . Nowadays this term usually does not refer to that company, but to the railway line itself...

 and houses all the rolling stock needed for the rail line.

Demographics

Erstfeld has a population (as of ) of . , 13.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -10.8%. Most of the population speaks German (88.7%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 3.7%) and Italian being third ( 2.4%). the gender distribution of the population was 50.6% male and 49.4% female.

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Erstfeld about 60.8% 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...

).

Erstfeld has an unemployment rate of 1.94%. , there were 119 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 47 businesses involved in this sector. 643 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 38 businesses in this sector. 870 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 86 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1743	614
1799	700
1850	916
1880	1,184
1900	2,416
1910	3,149
1950	3,747
1970	4,516
2000	3,933
2005	3,778
2007	3,715