Oberried am Brienzersee

Oberried am Brienzersee
Country Switzerland Canton Bern District Interlaken-Oberhasli 46°25′N 7°27′E / 46.417°N 7.45°E / 46.417; 7.45Coordinates: 46°25′N 7°27′E / 46.417°N 7.45°E / 46.417; 7.45
Population	482 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density	24 /km2 (62 /sq mi)
Area	20.12 km2 (7.77 sq mi)[2]
Elevation	570 m (1,870 ft)
Postal code	3854
SFOS number	0589
Mayor	Theo Keller
Surrounded by	Flühli, Brienz, Niederried bei Interlaken and Habkern
Website	www.oberried.ch SFSO statistics
Oberried am Brienzersee
Map of Oberried am Brienzersee

Oberried am Brienzersee is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

History

Oberried am Brienzersee is first mentioned in 1303 as Obirnriet.^[3]

Since 1863, there has been the fireworks factory Hans Hamberger in Oberried.^[4] In 1959, an explosion in the factory cost the lives of ten workers. Since this tragic accident, only small, separated buildings have been built.

Origin of the name

The name means "higher Ried on Lake Brienz." In this and several other place names, the word Ried can be given two meanings: as Old High German riod, reoth ("clearing") or Swiss German ("land growing reeds and swampgrass"). The first historical mention of the site with this meaning, from 1364, used the phrase "die von Obriede" ("those from the Ried area").

Geography

Oberried am Brienzersee has an area, as of 2009^[update], of 20.12 square kilometers (7.77 sq mi). Of this area, 7.69 km² (2.97 sq mi) or 38.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 8.72 km² (3.37 sq mi) or 43.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.48 km² (0.19 sq mi) or 2.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.09 km² (22 acres) or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and 3.06 km² (1.18 sq mi) or 15.2% is unproductive land.^[5]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 37.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.1% is pastures and 33.9% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 10.4% is unproductive vegetation and 4.8% is too rocky for vegetation.^[5]

It is located in the Bernese Oberland at the north shore of Lake Brienz. The highest mountain in the municipality is the Tannhorn (2,221 m (7,287 ft)). It includes the sections of Dörfli, Mehrendorf and Ebligen on the shore of the lake and then rises into the alps. In addition to the Tannhorn, the Augstmatthorn and Riederengrat as well as peaks around the Riederengrat are part of the municipality.

Demographics

Oberried am Brienzersee has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 482.^[1] As of 2007^[update], 7.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -9.6%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (94.8%), with Italian being second most common ( 1.0%) and Dutch being third ( 1.0%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (17.5%), the SPS (14.8%) and the Green Party (12.4%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000^[update]) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.8%. In Oberried am Brienzersee about 75.1% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Oberried am Brienzersee has an unemployment rate of 3.14%. As of 2005^[update], there were 28 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 businesses involved in this sector. 21 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 89 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 12 businesses in this sector.^[6] The historical population is given in the following table:^[3]

year	population
1764	303
1850	590
1900	539
1950	653
2000	485

Transportation

Oberried is on the Zentralbahn railway, and can be reached by car and ship as well. In winter, the train tracks or canton road can sometimes be blocked because of avalanches. In such cases the ships which otherwise operate only in the summer carry passengers in the winter as well.

The bridge at Hirscherengraben on the road towards Brienz is built so that an avalanche will carry the bridge directly into Lake Brienz. In some winters, the bridge was destroyed several times by avalanches. The avalanches break out at Brienz Ridge, nearly 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above sea level, and often thunder all the way into the lake (564 m (1,850 ft)), over a horizontal distance of only 2,300 m (7,500 ft).

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Datenwürfel für Thema 01.2 - Bevölkerungsstand und -bewegung (German) accessed 29 September
2. ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
3. ^ ^{a b} Oberried am Brienzersee in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
4. ^ Hamberger Fireworks
5. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
6. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 01-Jul-2009