Collonges, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Collonges is a municipality
in the district of Saint-Maurice in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.1% of the area Out of the forested land, 48.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.2% is used for growing crops and 1.9% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 8.8% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 10.0% is unproductive vegetation and 14.7% is too rocky for vegetation.
The municipality is located in the Saint-Maurice district, on the right side of the Rhone
. The municipality stretches from the valley floor to the Dent-de-Morcles.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Impalled: 1. Azure, on a Saltire Or five Roses Gules barbed Vert and seeded of the second, 2. Or a Bar wavy Azure in chief three Trefoils slipped Vert in fess.
Most of the population speaks French
(446 or 91.4%) as their first language, Portuguese
is the second most common (20 or 4.1%) and Italian
is the third (10 or 2.0%). There are 8 people who speak German
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 229 Swiss men (42.4% of the population) and 31 (5.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 252 Swiss women (46.7%) and 28 (5.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 190 or about 38.9% were born in Collonges and lived there in 2000. There were 133 or 27.3% who were born in the same canton, while 78 or 16.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 77 or 15.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 24.4% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 60.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.4%.
, there were 179 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 253 married individuals, 31 widows or widowers and 25 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 198 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 56 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. , a total of 183 apartments (77.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 42 apartments (17.8%) were seasonally occupied and 11 apartments (4.7%) were empty.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the FDP
which received 37.87% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
(28.39%), the SP
(15.35%) and the SVP
(11.79%). In the federal election, a total of 289 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 68.8%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 248 votes were cast, of which 15 or about 6.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 60.6%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 284 votes were cast, of which 13 or about 4.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 67.6%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 66. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 12, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 41 of which 11 or (26.8%) were in manufacturing and 31 (75.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 13. In the tertiary sector; 1 was in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 53.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 3 or 23.1% were in education.
, there were 17 workers who commuted into the municipality and 184 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 10.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.4% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 5 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 1.02% of the population), and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
, and 5 (or about 1.02% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
. 25 (or about 5.12% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 17 individuals (or about 3.48% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 29 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.4% were Swiss men, 17.2% were Swiss women.
, there were 31 students in Collonges who came from another municipality, while 54 residents attended schools outside the 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
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 Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
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
Collonges is first mentioned in 1239 as Colunges. The village of Collonges was built on the site of the former village of Arbignon, which was known as desertum Alpinonis in the 11th and 12th Centuries. Arbignon was probably abandoned due to flooding of Aboyeu creek.Geography
Collonges has an area, , of 12.2 square kilometre. Of this area, 2.06 square kilometre or 16.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.44 square kilometre or 52.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.54 square kilometre or 4.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.18 square kilometre or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes and 3.02 square kilometre or 24.7% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.1% of the area Out of the forested land, 48.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.2% is used for growing crops and 1.9% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 8.8% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 10.0% is unproductive vegetation and 14.7% is too rocky for vegetation.
The municipality is located in the Saint-Maurice district, on the right side of the Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
. The municipality stretches from the valley floor to the Dent-de-Morcles.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
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 Impalled: 1. Azure, on a Saltire Or five Roses Gules barbed Vert and seeded of the second, 2. Or a Bar wavy Azure in chief three Trefoils slipped Vert in fess.
Demographics
Collonges has a population of . , 10.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 6.5%. It has changed at a rate of 5.5% due to migration and at a rate of 2% 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...
(446 or 91.4%) as their first language, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
is the second most common (20 or 4.1%) and 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...
is the third (10 or 2.0%). There are 8 people who speak 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....
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 229 Swiss men (42.4% of the population) and 31 (5.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 252 Swiss women (46.7%) and 28 (5.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 190 or about 38.9% were born in Collonges and lived there in 2000. There were 133 or 27.3% who were born in the same canton, while 78 or 16.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 77 or 15.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 24.4% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 60.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.4%.
, there were 179 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 253 married individuals, 31 widows or widowers and 25 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 198 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 56 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. , a total of 183 apartments (77.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 42 apartments (17.8%) were seasonally occupied and 11 apartments (4.7%) were empty.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss 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 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....
which received 37.87% 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...
(28.39%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(15.35%) 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...
(11.79%). In the federal election, a total of 289 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 68.8%.
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 248 votes were cast, of which 15 or about 6.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 60.6%, which is much more 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 284 votes were cast, of which 13 or about 4.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 67.6%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Collonges had an unemployment rate of 7.5%. , there were 18 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 6 businesses involved in this sector. 43 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 7 businesses in this sector. 18 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 7 businesses in this sector. There were 232 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.5% 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 66. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 12, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 41 of which 11 or (26.8%) were in manufacturing and 31 (75.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 13. In the tertiary sector; 1 was in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 53.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 3 or 23.1% were in education.
, there were 17 workers who commuted into the municipality and 184 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 10.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.4% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 386 or 79.1% were Roman Catholic, while 46 or 9.4% 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 were 5 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 1.02% of the population), and there was 1 individual who belongs 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 5 (or about 1.02% 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 were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. 25 (or about 5.12% 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 17 individuals (or about 3.48% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Collonges about 183 or (37.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 29 or (5.9%) have completed 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...
). Of the 29 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.4% were Swiss men, 17.2% were Swiss women.
, there were 31 students in Collonges who came from another municipality, while 54 residents attended schools outside the municipality.