Roggenburg, Basel-Country
Encyclopedia
Roggenburg 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 Laufen
Laufen (district)
Laufen District or Laufental District is one of the five districts of the largely German-speaking canton of Basel-Country, Switzerland. Its capital is the town of Laufen....

 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 Basel-Country
Basel-Country
Basel-Landschaft , is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. The capital is Liestal...

 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

Both Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 coins and the remains of a Roman watchtower have been discovered within the municipality. Roggenburg is first mentioned in 1162 as Rogenberc. The name originates from the Latin word rogus (stake; funeral pyre; stack of logs). Roggenburg belonged to the Count of Thierstein and was then handed over to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel in 1454. From 1793 to 1815, it was part of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and was initially part of the département of Mont-Terrible
Mont-Terrible
Mont-Terrible was one of the 130 départements of Napoleonic France, with its capital at Porrentruy.The Mont Terrible for which the département was named is now known as mont Terri, a peak of 804 m near Courgenay, now in the canton of Jura, Switzerland.The département was created in 1793 with the...

, but it was incorporated with the département of Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin is a département of the Alsace region of France, named after the Rhine river. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departements of Alsace, although is still densely populated compared to the rest of France.-Subdivisions:The department...

 in 1800. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

 declared that the area would become part the district of Delémont within the canton of Canton of Bern.

As a German-speaking community, Roggenburg spoke out in the Plebiscite of Jura against the creation of the French-speaking canton of Jura
Canton of Jura
The Republic and Canton of the Jura , also known as the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura, is one of the cantons of Switzerland. It is the newest of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital is Delémont...

. Because Roggenburg was a border municipality in Delémont District, it came into opposition with the neighbouring municipality of Ederswiler over the decision to join the canton of Jura. On 7 September 1975, the inhabitants voted to remain part of the canton of Bern. Therefore in 1976 the municipality became part of the administrative district of Laufen, which has been an exclave of Bern since Jura was founded on 1 January 1979.

In 1983 and 1989, there were referendums asking the inhabitants of Laufen whether they wanted to become part of the canton of Basel-Country. Roggenburg itself remained of the opinion to stay with Bern, but in the second referendum the overall district voted marginally to join Basel-Country. During the transfer process in 1992, Roggenburg again challenged the decision to defect from Bern. However, such a small community had no persuasive power over the opinion of the rest of the district, and on 1 January 1994 Roggenburg became part of the canton of Basel-Country.

There has been a church in Roggenburg since the 12th century. The current parish church of Sankt Martin was constructed in 1635 in the late gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...

 style. Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 features were added in the 18th century. Nearby Ederswiler
Ederswiler
Ederswiler is a municipality in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. It is the only German-speaking municipality in the canton, where all others are French-speaking.- Geography :...

, in the canton of Jura, is also part of the parish of Roggenburg.

Coat of Arms

The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Argent, a Ram sautant Sable, armed, unguled, and in his virility Gules, on Coupeaux Vert.

Geography

Roggenburg, the westernmost municipality of the canton, is a farming village 8 km (5 mi) north of Delémont
Delémont
Delémont is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 11,000 inhabitants as of 2007.-Geography:Delémont lies southwest of Basel, about halfway between Basel and Bienne...

, the principal town of the canton of Jura. To the north, the village confines extend to the bank of the river Lützel (French: Lucelle), in the hilly landscape of the northern Jura Mountains
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...

.

Roggenburg has an area, , of 6.65 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi). Of this area, 3.34 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 50.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.09 km² (1.2 sq mi) or 46.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.21 km² (0.0810814533044324 sq mi) or 3.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.8%. Out of the forested land, 43.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.8% is used for growing crops and 24.2% is pastures and 6.3% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The entirety of the northern boundary follows the river Lützel, which also serves as the international boundary between Switzerland and France. From the Lützel valley, the municipality boundary extends to Rieji (693 m (2,273.6 ft)), the nearest mountain to the village, and Hasenschell (855 m (2,805.1 ft)), the highest point in the municipality. The western boundary runs along a stream called the Bösen. On the eastern boundary of the municipality, the Lützel drains into the river Birs
Birs
The Birs is a 73-km long river in Switzerland that flows through the Jura region and ends as a tributary to the Rhine between Basel and Birsfelden.- Picture gallery :...

, a significant tributary of the Rhine.

Roggenburg encompasses the hamlets of Sägemühle (in the Lützel valley) and Neumühle (French Moulin-Neuf), which lies east of the Bösen, as well as numerous individual farmsteads. Roggenburg is in fact an exclave of the canton Basel-Country - it is only connected to the rest of the canton at a single point. Roggenburg's neighbouring municipalities are Pleigne
Pleigne
Pleigne is a municipality in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland....

, Ederswiler, Movelier
Movelier
Movelier is a municipality in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.-References:...

 and Soyhières
Soyhières
Soyhières is a municipality in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.-References:...

 in Jura, Kleinlützel
Kleinlützel
Kleinlützel is a municipality in the district of Thierstein in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is an exclave of the Canton of Solothurn, enclaved in the Canton of Basel-Country and Alsace.-History:...

 in the canton of Canton of Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...

 and Kiffis
Kiffis
Kiffis is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...

 in France.

Demographics

Roggenburg has a population of . , 7.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 7.2%.

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....

 (221 or 94.0%), with 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...

 being second most common (7 or 3.0%) and Italian language
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...

 being third (1 or 0.4%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 53.2% male and 46.8% female. The population was made up of 257 Swiss citizens (91.8% of the population), and 23 non-Swiss residents (8.2%) Of the population in the municipality 92 or about 39.1% were born in Roggenburg and lived there in 2000. There were 30 or 12.8% who were born in the same canton, while 87 or 37.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 24 or 10.2% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 2 live births to Swiss citizens and were 2 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens remained the same while the foreign population remained the same. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 1 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 1 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.0%.

The age distribution, , in Roggenburg is; 17 children or 6.1% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 43 teenagers or 15.4% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 18 people or 6.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 37 people or 13.2% are between 30 and 39, 65 people or 23.2% are between 40 and 49, and 58 people or 20.7% are between 50 and 64. The senior population distribution is 31 people or 11.1% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 11 people or 3.9% who are over 80.

, there were 90 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 115 married individuals, 16 widows or widowers and 14 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.52 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 66.3% 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 101 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 28 households that consist of only one person and 5 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 103 households that answered this question, 27.2% were households made up of just one person and 3 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 33 married couples without children, 30 married couples with children There were 6 single parents with a child or children. There was 1 household that was made up unrelated people and 2 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 74 single family homes (or 67.3% of the total) out of a total of 110 inhabited buildings. There were 14 multi-family buildings (12.7%), along with 19 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (17.3%) and 3 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.7%). Of the single family homes 14 were built before 1919, while 14 were built between 1990 and 2000.

there were 136 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 45. There were 3 single room apartments and 39 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 101 apartments (74.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 25 apartments (18.4%) were seasonally occupied and 10 apartments (7.4%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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 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 47.32% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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....

 (16.52%), 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...

 (15.4%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (10.49%). In the federal election, a total of 76 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 33.9%.

Economy

, Roggenburg had an unemployment rate of 2.56%. , there were 38 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 4 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 9 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 3 businesses in this sector. There were 128 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.3% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 34. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 21, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 6, all of which were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 7. In the tertiary sector; 3 or 42.9% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 28.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 1 or 14.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 28.6% were in education.

, there were 5 workers who commuted into the municipality and 92 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 18.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 58.6% used a private car.

The municipality is dominated by agriculture. There are very few jobs in the village that are not connected with agriculture. Consequently, 60% of the residents who work commute to other areas. Roggenburg plays host annually to an international motorcross race.

Religion

From the , 151 or 64.3% were Roman Catholic, while 39 or 16.6% 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 2 individuals (or about 0.85% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
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...

, and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. There were xxx There 1 individuals who were 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 1 individual who belonged to another church. 37 (or about 15.74% 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 3 individuals (or about 1.28% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Roggenburg about 95 or (40.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 16 or (6.8%) 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 16 who completed tertiary schooling, 62.5% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women. , there were 1 students in Roggenburg who came from another municipality, while 9 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Transport

The municipality lies far from any major roads. The principal access road runs through the Lütze valley into French territory. Roggenburg is served by public transport both from Laufen and from Delémont via Movelier.
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