Salvan, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Salvan 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 Saint-Maurice, in the canton of Valais, 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

Salvan is first mentioned in 1018 as cum Silvano. Around 1025-31 it was mentioned as in monte Salvano. The municipality was formerly known by its German name Scharwang, however, that name is no longer used.

Geography

Salvan has an area, , of 53.5 square kilometre. Of this area, 7.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 25.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and 65.2% is unproductive land.

The municipality is located in the Saint-Maurice district, in the Trient valley. It consists of the village of Salvan and several 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...

, including Les Marécottes and until 1912, Vernayaz, Miéville and Gueuroz.

Lac d'Emosson
Lac d'Emosson
Lac d'Emosson is a reservoir in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is located in the municipalities of Salvan and Finhaut. The closest major city in Switzerland is Martigny. The lake has a surface area of 3.27 km² and an elevation of 1,930 m. The maximum depth is 161 m.The first dam of Emosson...

 is a reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 partially located in the municipality.

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 Gules on a pile inverted embowed Argent issuant from Coupeaux Vert a Pine Tree of the same trunked proper in chief dexter a Cross Bottony of the second and in sinister a Mullet of Seven of the same.

Demographics

Salvan has a population of . , 7.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 0.6%. It has changed at a rate of 7.1% due to migration and at a rate of -3.9% 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...

 (947 or 92.8%) as their first language, 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....

 is the second most common (31 or 3.0%) and Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 is the third (10 or 1.0%). There are 6 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...

.

, the population was 47.4% male and 52.6% female. The population was made up of 495 Swiss men (44.4% of the population) and 33 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 538 Swiss women (48.3%) and 48 (4.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 522 or about 51.2% were born in Salvan and lived there in 2000. There were 159 or 15.6% who were born in the same canton, while 168 or 16.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 141 or 13.8% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.1%.

, there were 381 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 500 married individuals, 77 widows or widowers and 62 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 439 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. There were 163 households that consist of only one person and 25 households with five or more people. , a total of 418 apartments (38.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 601 apartments (55.0%) were seasonally occupied and 73 apartments (6.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 8.1 new units per 1000 residents.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance

Les Marécottes, a storage basin for the Swiss Federal Railways, is listed as a 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 hamlet of Le Trétien is 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:...

.

Twin Towns

Salvan is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with the towns of St-Jeannet, Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area 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 Saint-Jeannet, Alpes-Maritimes
Saint-Jeannet, Alpes-Maritimes
Saint-Jeannet is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département in southeastern France.-Population:-Tourism:Saint-Jeannet is one of thirteen villages grouped together by the Communauté d'agglomération de Nice-Côte d'Azur tourist department as the Route des Villages Perchés...

, 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...

.

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 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...

 which received 43.21% 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....

 (22.63%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (14.75%) and 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...

 (9.32%). In the federal election, a total of 520 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 57.6%.

In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
Conseil d'Etat (Switzerland)
In Switzerland, Conseil d'Etat is the name of the council constituting the cantonal government of French-speaking cantons. It is not to be confused with the Conseil des États which is a chamber of the Swiss parliament....

 election a total of 417 votes were cast, of which 35 or about 8.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 47.6%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
Swiss Council of States election, 2007
Elections were held to the Council of States of Switzerland in October and November 2007 as part of the 2007 federal election. All 46 members of the Council of States were elected from all cantons of Switzerland. The first round was held on 21 October...

 election a total of 501 votes were cast, of which 30 or about 6.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.8%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

, Salvan had an unemployment rate of 4.6%. , there were 15 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 29 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 11 businesses in this sector. 207 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 38 businesses in this sector. There were 455 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.5% 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 182. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 6, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 25 of which 12 or (48.0%) were in manufacturing and 14 (56.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 151. In the tertiary sector; 10 or 6.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 4.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 36 or 23.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 3.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 7 or 4.6% were in education and 55 or 36.4% were in health care.

, there were 51 workers who commuted into the municipality and 262 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 10.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 62.6% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 810 or 79.4% were Roman Catholic, while 90 or 8.8% 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 9 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 0.88% of the population), and there were 5 individuals (or about 0.49% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 individuals (or about 0.20% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 3 (or about 0.29% 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 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 68 (or about 6.67% 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 33 individuals (or about 3.24% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Salvan about 385 or (37.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 108 or (10.6%) 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 108 who completed tertiary schooling, 51.9% were Swiss men, 28.7% were Swiss women, 8.3% were non-Swiss men and 11.1% were non-Swiss women.

, there were 5 students in Salvan who came from another municipality, while 83 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Salvan is home to the Bibliothèque communale et scolaire library. The library has 4,031 books or other media, and loaned out 7,169 items in the same year. It was open a total of 80 days with average of 6 hours per week during that year.

Skiing

The ski area located above Les Marecottes is relatively small and ranges from 1100m to 2200m and has 5 Lifts. 1 Gondola Lift, 1 Chairlift, 2 Platter Lifts and 1 Rope Tow. There are 25 km of varied runs, ranging from steep black slopes like "Le Rec" to easy blue pistes like "Le Perron". Les Marecottes is part of "Ski Super St. Bernard", a group of several other small ski resorts located in the Martigny-St. Bernard area that share one common skipass. This group includes other villages such as: La Fouly
La Fouly
La Fouly is a village in the Val Ferret in the Swiss canton of Valais. The village, at an altitude of 1,600 metres, is part of the municipality of Orsières . It sits at the foot of Mont Dolent and the Tour Noir in the Mont Blanc massif.La Fouly is a starting point for many hikes into the...

, Champex
Champex
Champex is a village located in the French speaking Swiss canton of Valais, part of the municipality of Orsières.The village lies at 1,470 metres on the shore of Lac de Champex, at the foot of the Mont Blanc Massif. It is a starting point for many hikes into the surrounding mountains and huts...

, Vichères, Bruson and Super St. Bernard. Les Marecottes is different in the sense that it is the only of the 6 ski resorts which owns itself, all the other were bought by Téléverbier (The operator of Verbier ski lifts).

External links

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