Braunau, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Braunau is a municipality
in the district of Münchwilen
in the canton
of Thurgau
in Switzerland
.
. It was acquired when the Abbey acquired land in the Toggenburg
. Initially it was ruled as a fief of the Abbey by the Heitnau family, until 1228 when it went to the Knights Hospitaller
Commandry
of Tobel. It was under their rule until 1798.
Originally, it was part of the Affeltrangen
parish
, however, St. Michael's Chapel, belonged to the Märwil parish at sometime before 1228. In 1529, most of the population converted during the Protestant Reformation
. The remaining Catholics became part of the Tobel parish, while the Reformed members joined the Märwil parish. In 1806-07 a church was constructed, and in 1810 the village separated from Märwil. In 1861 it formed an independent parish.
The regulations of 1519 regulated the daily life in the village. Grain was grown in a three-field system
. Starting in the mid-19th Century, cattle and dairy farming with cheese production and fruit production became common. In the early 19th Century cotton and linen weaving entered the village as a cottage industry. Since about 1895 timber industry has been in the village with some carpentry and a sawmill.
Until 1998 it was part of the municipality of Tobel.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.7% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 0.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, 21.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 61.6% is used for growing crops, while 7.0% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality is located in the Münchwilen district. It consists of the village of Braunau and the hamlets
of Beckingen, Hittingen, Oberhausen and 17 other settlements.
(98.0%), with Russian
being second most common ( 0.5%) and English
being third ( 0.3%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 48.2% male and 51.8% female. The population was made up of 306 Swiss men (45.3% of the population), and 20 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 325 Swiss women (48.1%), and 25 (3.7%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 12 live births to Swiss citizens and births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 7 while the foreign population decreased by 1. There were 3 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 5 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 3 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was a decrease of 10 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 1 people. This represents a population growth rate of -1.6%.
The age distribution, , in Braunau is; 89 children or 13.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 110 teenagers or 16.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 68 people or 10.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 92 people or 13.6% are between 30 and 39, 120 people or 17.7% are between 40 and 49, and 80 people or 11.8% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 71 people or 10.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 31 people or 4.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 16 people or 2.4% who are between 80 and 89.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 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 64.5% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 230 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. there were 104 single family homes (or 88.9% of the total) out of a total of 117 inhabited buildings. There were 6 two family buildings (5.1%), 3 three family buildings (2.6%) and 4 multi-family buildings (or 3.4%). There were 123 (or 18.6%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 439 (or 66.4%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 36 (or 5.4%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 8 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 3 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 4 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 6 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.38%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 10.2 new units per 1000 residents. there were 252 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 6 room apartment of which there were 75. There were 4 single room apartments and 75 apartments with six or more rooms.
In the 2007 federal election
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 58.59% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Green Party
(10.18%), the CVP
(10.11%) and the SP
(6.23%). In the federal election, a total of 269 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 57.2%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
there were 459 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 214 or about 46.6% of the residents worked outside Braunau while 26 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 271 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 5.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 51% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there are 5 individuals (or about 0.76% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 24 individuals (or about 3.63% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There were xxx 39 (or about 5.90% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 18 individuals (or about 2.72% of the population) did not answer the question.
. The wettest month is June during which time Braunau receives an average of 133 mm (5.2 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 14 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 14, but with only 117 mm (4.6 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is February with an average of 65 mm (2.6 in) of precipitation over 14 days.
).
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 Münchwilen
Münchwilen (district)
Münchwilen District is one of the five districts of the canton of Thurgau, Switzerland. It has a population of . Its capital is the town of Münchwilen.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
Braunau is first mentioned in 762 as Pramacunauia, when it was owned by the Abbey of St. GallAbbey of St. Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was...
. It was acquired when the Abbey acquired land in the Toggenburg
Toggenburg
Toggenburg is the name given to the upper valley of the Thur River, in the Swiss Canton of St. Gallen. Currently, it is one of the eight constituencies into which the canton is divided....
. Initially it was ruled as a fief of the Abbey by the Heitnau family, until 1228 when it went to the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
Commandry
Commandry (feudalism)
Commandry , or commandery , was the smallest division of the European landed estate or manor under the control of a commendator, or commander, of an order of knights...
of Tobel. It was under their rule until 1798.
Originally, it was part of the Affeltrangen
Affeltrangen
Affeltrangen is a municipality in the district of Münchwilen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Affeltrangen is first mentioned in 779 as Affaltrawangas. In 1995 Affeltrangen merged with Buch bei Märwil, Märwil and Zezikon....
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...
, however, St. Michael's Chapel, belonged to the Märwil parish at sometime before 1228. In 1529, most of the population converted 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...
. The remaining Catholics became part of the Tobel parish, while the Reformed members joined the Märwil parish. In 1806-07 a church was constructed, and in 1810 the village separated from Märwil. In 1861 it formed an independent parish.
The regulations of 1519 regulated the daily life in the village. Grain was grown in a three-field system
Crop rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.Crop rotation confers various benefits to the soil. A traditional element of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals...
. Starting in the mid-19th Century, cattle and dairy farming with cheese production and fruit production became common. In the early 19th Century cotton and linen weaving entered the village as a cottage industry. Since about 1895 timber industry has been in the village with some carpentry and a sawmill.
Until 1998 it was part of the municipality of Tobel.
Geography
Braunau has an area, , of 9.17 square kilometres (3.5 sq mi). Of this area, 6.29 km² (2.4 sq mi) or 68.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.31 km² (0.891895986348756 sq mi) or 25.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.57 km² (0.220078230397745 sq mi) or 6.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.2% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.7% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 0.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, 21.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 61.6% is used for growing crops, while 7.0% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality is located in the Münchwilen district. It consists of the village of Braunau and 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 Beckingen, Hittingen, Oberhausen and 17 other settlements.
Demographics
Braunau has a population of , 6.7% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of %. Most of the population speaks GermanGerman 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....
(98.0%), with Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
being second most common ( 0.5%) and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
being third ( 0.3%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 48.2% male and 51.8% female. The population was made up of 306 Swiss men (45.3% of the population), and 20 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 325 Swiss women (48.1%), and 25 (3.7%) non-Swiss women.
In there were 12 live births to Swiss citizens and births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 7 while the foreign population decreased by 1. There were 3 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 5 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 3 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was a decrease of 10 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 1 people. This represents a population growth rate of -1.6%.
The age distribution, , in Braunau is; 89 children or 13.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 110 teenagers or 16.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 68 people or 10.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 92 people or 13.6% are between 30 and 39, 120 people or 17.7% are between 40 and 49, and 80 people or 11.8% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 71 people or 10.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 31 people or 4.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 16 people or 2.4% who are between 80 and 89.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 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 64.5% 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 230 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. there were 104 single family homes (or 88.9% of the total) out of a total of 117 inhabited buildings. There were 6 two family buildings (5.1%), 3 three family buildings (2.6%) and 4 multi-family buildings (or 3.4%). There were 123 (or 18.6%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 439 (or 66.4%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 36 (or 5.4%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 8 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 3 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 4 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 6 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.38%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 10.2 new units per 1000 residents. there were 252 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 6 room apartment of which there were 75. There were 4 single room apartments and 75 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 58.59% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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:...
(10.18%), 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...
(10.11%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(6.23%). In the federal election, a total of 269 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 57.2%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1850 | 687 |
| 1900 | 550 |
| 1910 | 487 |
| 1941 | 603 |
| 1950 | 540 |
| 1980 | 459 |
| 2000 | 661 |
Economy
, Braunau had an unemployment rate of 2.16%. , there were 96 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 40 businesses involved in this sector. 33 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 11 businesses in this sector. 42 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 11 businesses in this sector.there were 459 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 214 or about 46.6% of the residents worked outside Braunau while 26 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 271 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 5.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 51% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 256 or 38.7% were Roman Catholic, while 319 or 48.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss 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 are 5 individuals (or about 0.76% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 24 individuals (or about 3.63% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There were xxx 39 (or about 5.90% 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 18 individuals (or about 2.72% of the population) did not answer the question.
Weather
Braunau has an average of 144 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 1098 mm (43.2 in) of precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
. The wettest month is June during which time Braunau receives an average of 133 mm (5.2 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 14 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 14, but with only 117 mm (4.6 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is February with an average of 65 mm (2.6 in) of precipitation over 14 days.
Education
The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Braunau about 80.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
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...
).