Eglisau
Encyclopedia
Eglisau 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 Bülach
Bülach (district)
Bülach District is one of 12 districts of the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland, with some 117,000 inhabitants the third largest in the canton. Its administrative capital is Bülach, the largest municipality is Kloten, the location of Zurich Airport...

 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 Zürich 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

Eglisau is first mentioned in 892 as several independent farm houses known as Ouwa. In 1238 it was mentioned as Owe, in 1304 as ze Seglinger Owe, in 1332 as ze Eglins Owe and in 1352 as ze Eglisowe.

It is located at the crossing of two major transport routes. The location along both sides of the Rhine river allowed it to dominate locate ship traffic. It was also the site of a bridge which made the north-south road between the Klettgau
Klettgau
Klettgau is a group of towns in the district of Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Landgraviat of Klettgau to 1812.There is a border crossing into Switzerland at Erzingen to Trasadingen in Schaffhausen canton....

 and the Zürichgau. This important location made it the home of the Zürich appointed Landvogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

and led to it becoming a market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

.

Geography

Eglisau has an area of 9.1 km² (3.5 sq mi). Of this area, 35.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 41.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 15.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (7.4%) is non-productive (rivers, etc.).

The municipality sits on the banks of the Rhine and has historically been an important bridge over the river. It is made up of the sections of Städtli, Burg, Steig and Wiler on the right bank and the section of Seglingen with the hamlet
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 Tössriedern on the left bank.

Demographics

Eglisau has a population (as of ) of . , 16.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 33.1%. Most of the population speaks German (90.3%), with Italian being second most common ( 3.0%) and Albanian being third ( 1.8%).

In the 2007 election 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 38.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (17.7%), the CSP
Christian Social Party (Switzerland)
The Christian Social Party is a political party in Switzerland. The CSP is more social democratic than the CVP. With the moderate Christian left as its background, the CSP commits itself to social democratic and environmentalist political solutions...

 (11.8%) and 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:...

 (11%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.5%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Eglisau about 79.8% 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...

).

Eglisau has an unemployment rate of 2.55%. , there were 97 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 30 businesses involved in this sector. 473 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 33 businesses in this sector. 703 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 108 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
13th Century c. 150
14th Century 350
1488 650
1588 860
1634 998
1689 1,494
1796 1,578
1850 1,612
1880 1,449
1900 1,175
1950 1,603
2000 2,893

Transport

As well as good rail links to Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 34,587 ....

 and Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, it has a regular river boat service to nearby villages along the river.

Eglisau is a stop of the Zürich S-Bahn
Zürich S-Bahn
The Zurich S-Bahn system is a network of rapid transit rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighboring cantons The Zurich S-Bahn system is a network of rapid transit rail lines that has been...

 on the line S5
S5 (ZVV)
The S5 is a regional railway line of the S-Bahn Zürich on the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund , Zürich transportation network, and is one of the network's lines connecting the cantons of Zürich, St...

. Its train station is a 31 minute ride from Zürich Hauptbahnhof.
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