Bevaix
Encyclopedia
Bevaix is a municipality
in the district of Boudry
in the canton
of Neuchâtel in Switzerland
.
The village of Bevaix is sited in front of a small plateau, near Lake Neuchâtel
, on a location showing both Bronze Age
and Neolithic
settlement and a priory dating to 998. Discovery nearby of several dugout canoes and boats illuminated techniques of shipbuilding in Gallo-Roman times. The village was predominantly agricultural until the building of a railway station in 1860, and the drainage of the surrounding wetlands around 1900, when the area became increasingly residential. Local industry focuses on microtechnology.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 10.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.3% of the area Out of the forested land, 45.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.7% is used for growing crops and 8.2% is pastures, while 5.8% is used for orchards or vine crops and 1.4% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Boudry district, on a small, marshy plateau near Lake Neuchâtel.
The proposed merger of the municipalities of Bevaix, Boudry
and Cortaillod
was rejected by the residents.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Impalled, Azure a Fish haurient Argent and a Bar Or, and Gules, a Fountain Argent and in chief two Mullets of Five of the same.
Most of the population speaks French
(3,120 or 86.6%) as their first language, German
is the second most common (183 or 5.1%) and Italian
is the third (86 or 2.4%). There are 5 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 50.0% male and 50.0% female. The population was made up of 1,583 Swiss men (41.3% of the population) and 335 (8.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,649 Swiss women (43.0%) and 269 (7.0%) non-Swiss women.
Of the population in the municipality, 767 or about 21.3% were born in Bevaix and lived there in 2000. There were 1,147 or 31.8% who were born in the same canton, while 836 or 23.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 741 or 20.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.3%. , there were 1,365 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,828 married individuals, 218 widows or widowers and 192 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 1,443 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 401 households that consist of only one person and 78 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,399 apartments (91.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 96 apartments (6.3%) were seasonally occupied and 29 apartments (1.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.35%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
funerary and cultural center of Treytel-A Sugiez are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
.
(or stilt house) settlements that is part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
L'Abbaye 2 is a Bronze Age
submerged site located near the L'Abbaye 1 Neolithic site. The former village at L'Abbaye 2 is about 180 metres (590.6 ft) from the lake shore and consisted of a number of stilt houses. It has been dendrochronologically dated to 1040-986 BC. The village site covers an area of about 150 by and was probably connected to the shore by a foot bridge. About 400 Bronze Age objects have been discovered in the water around the village.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 24.74% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(21.95%), the FDP
(16.07%) and the LPS Party
(15.58%). In the federal election, a total of 1,286 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 52.2%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 924. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 42, of which 36 were in agriculture, 5 were in forestry or lumber production and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 417 of which 339 or (81.3%) were in manufacturing and 79 (18.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 465. In the tertiary sector; 120 or 25.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 2.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 42 or 9.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 33 or 7.1% were in the information industry, 3 or 0.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 26 or 5.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 22 or 4.7% were in education and 117 or 25.2% were in health care.
, there were 660 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,295 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 2.7% of the workforce coming into Bevaix are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 67.2% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 42 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 1.17% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.14% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 131 individuals (or about 3.64% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 individuals (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Jewish
, and 51 (or about 1.42% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 726 (or about 20.15% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 142 individuals (or about 3.94% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 540 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.2% were Swiss men, 26.3% were Swiss women, 12.6% were non-Swiss men and 5.9% were non-Swiss women.
In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten
, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 5 kindergarten classes with a total of 86 students in Bevaix. In the same year, there were 13 primary classes with a total of 257 students.
, there were 26 students in Bevaix who came from another municipality, while 345 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 Boudry
Boudry (district)
Boudry District is one of the six districts of the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. It has a population of . The district capital is the town of Boudry.-Municipalities:The district consists of 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 Neuchâtel 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
Bevaix is first mentioned in 998 as in villa Bevacensi. In 1139 it was mentioned as Betuaci.The village of Bevaix is sited in front of a small plateau, near Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
, on a location showing both Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
and Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement and a priory dating to 998. Discovery nearby of several dugout canoes and boats illuminated techniques of shipbuilding in Gallo-Roman times. The village was predominantly agricultural until the building of a railway station in 1860, and the drainage of the surrounding wetlands around 1900, when the area became increasingly residential. Local industry focuses on microtechnology.
Geography
Bevaix has an area, , of 10.8 square kilometre. Of this area, 3.68 square kilometre or 34.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.08 square kilometre or 47.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.97 square kilometre or 18.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.08 km² (19.8 acre) or 0.7% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 10.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.3% of the area Out of the forested land, 45.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.7% is used for growing crops and 8.2% is pastures, while 5.8% is used for orchards or vine crops and 1.4% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Boudry district, on a small, marshy plateau near Lake Neuchâtel.
The proposed merger of the municipalities of Bevaix, Boudry
Boudry
Boudry is the capital of the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-History:Boudry is first mentioned in 1278 as Baudri.There are numerous prehistoric settlements around Boudry...
and Cortaillod
Cortaillod
Cortaillod is a municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The neolithic Cortaillod culture was named after Cortaillod, where four neolithic villages have been discovered.-Neolithic settlements:...
was rejected by the residents.
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, Azure a Fish haurient Argent and a Bar Or, and Gules, a Fountain Argent and in chief two Mullets of Five of the same.
Demographics
Bevaix has a population of . , 16.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 7.8%. It has changed at a rate of 4.2% due to migration and at a rate of 1.5% 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...
(3,120 or 86.6%) 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 (183 or 5.1%) 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 (86 or 2.4%). There are 5 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 50.0% male and 50.0% female. The population was made up of 1,583 Swiss men (41.3% of the population) and 335 (8.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,649 Swiss women (43.0%) and 269 (7.0%) non-Swiss women.
Of the population in the municipality, 767 or about 21.3% were born in Bevaix and lived there in 2000. There were 1,147 or 31.8% who were born in the same canton, while 836 or 23.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 741 or 20.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.3%. , there were 1,365 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,828 married individuals, 218 widows or widowers and 192 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 1,443 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 401 households that consist of only one person and 78 households with five or more people. , a total of 1,399 apartments (91.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 96 apartments (6.3%) were seasonally occupied and 29 apartments (1.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.35%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The prehistoric lake shore settlement at Baie De Bevaix and the neolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
funerary and cultural center of Treytel-A Sugiez are listed as 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...
.
World heritage site
It is home to the L’Abbaye 2 site, a prehistoric pile-dwellingStilt house
Stilt houses or pile dwellings or palafitte are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding, but also serve to keep out vermin...
(or stilt house) settlements that is part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps is a series of prehistoric pile-dwelling settlements in and around the Alps built from around 5000 to 500 B.C. on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands...
UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site.
L'Abbaye 2 is a Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
submerged site located near the L'Abbaye 1 Neolithic site. The former village at L'Abbaye 2 is about 180 metres (590.6 ft) from the lake shore and consisted of a number of stilt houses. It has been dendrochronologically dated to 1040-986 BC. The village site covers an area of about 150 by and was probably connected to the shore by a foot bridge. About 400 Bronze Age objects have been discovered in the water around the village.
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 SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
which received 24.74% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(21.95%), 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....
(16.07%) and the LPS Party
Liberal Party of Switzerland
The Liberal Party of Switzerland was a party with economically liberal policies. It was known as a party of the upper class. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the larger Free Democratic Party to establish FDP.The Liberals....
(15.58%). In the federal election, a total of 1,286 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 52.2%.
Economy
, Bevaix had an unemployment rate of 3.8%. , there were 65 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 443 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 52 businesses in this sector. 629 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 99 businesses in this sector. There were 1,788 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.0% 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 924. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 42, of which 36 were in agriculture, 5 were in forestry or lumber production and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 417 of which 339 or (81.3%) were in manufacturing and 79 (18.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 465. In the tertiary sector; 120 or 25.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 2.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 42 or 9.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 33 or 7.1% were in the information industry, 3 or 0.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 26 or 5.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 22 or 4.7% were in education and 117 or 25.2% were in health care.
, there were 660 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,295 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 2.7% of the workforce coming into Bevaix are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 67.2% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 1,069 or 29.7% were Roman Catholic, while 1,490 or 41.4% 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 42 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 1.17% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.14% 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 were 131 individuals (or about 3.64% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 individuals (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 51 (or about 1.42% 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...
and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 726 (or about 20.15% 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 142 individuals (or about 3.94% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Bevaix about 1,351 or (37.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 540 or (15.0%) 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 540 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.2% were Swiss men, 26.3% were Swiss women, 12.6% were non-Swiss men and 5.9% were non-Swiss women.
In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 5 kindergarten classes with a total of 86 students in Bevaix. In the same year, there were 13 primary classes with a total of 257 students.
, there were 26 students in Bevaix who came from another municipality, while 345 residents attended schools outside the municipality.