Unterseen

Unterseen is a historic town and a municipality in the Interlaken Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Unterseen literally means Lower Lake, which is correct, since Unterseen is located on the flat area on the eastern shore of Lake Thun between the two creek Lombach below the Chienberg to the north and the Aare to the south, which both flow into Lake Thun. The historic town however is mainly found at the northern bank of the Aare, which flows here from Lake Brienz to Lake Thun (therefore lower lake). Just across the Aare is the town of Interlaken. Both municipalities are located on the flat alluvial land among steep mountains, which is also called the Bödeli. Unterseen belongs to the Small Agglomeration Interlaken with 23,300 inhabitants (2014). Along with Interlaken, Unterseen is an important tourist center in the Bernese Highlands, and from the town one can see the mountains Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

The oldest traces of a settlement in the area are scattered neolithic tools. During the second century AD, a Roman graveyard was built in the area. An Early Middle Ages cemetery shows that there was a settlement in the area and by the High Middle Ages at least three forts had been built in the area. The area was known as Interlacus by 1133 when Interlaken Monastery was founded on the opposite side of the Aare. Interlaken village grew up across from the Monastery in the following years. By 1239 it was known as villa Inderlappen and in 1280 it was civitas Inderlappen. The city of Unterseen was founded on 13 July 1279, when King Rudolf I von Habsburg granted Baron Berchtold III of Eschenbach Oberhofen permission to build a stronghold between the two lakes. The name came from "unter," which in Middle High German meant "between", and "seen," which means "lake." The fortification was given Stadtrecht (town privileges) in this agreement. By 1281 Interlaken and Unterseen was mentioned collectively as stat ze Inderlappen oder Undersewen and in 1291 they were called Inderlappen, genant Undersewen. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.2%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 5.5%. Out of the forested land, 58.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.7% is used for growing crops and 11.8% is pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 2.4% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 2.7% is unproductive vegetation and 1.4% is too rocky for vegetation.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or a Semi Ibex rampant couped Sable langued Gules.

Unterseen has a population of as of 2010, 14.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000 2010) the population has changed at a rate of 11.1%. Migration accounted for 11.1%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.9%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (4,636 or 89.1%) as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common (110 or 2.1%) and Italian is the third (105 or 2.0%). There are 45 people who speak French and 2 people who speak Romansh. as of 2000, there were 949 households that consist of only one person and 111 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 2,306 apartments (85.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 273 apartments (10.1%) were seasonally occupied and 113 apartments (4.2%) were empty. as of 2010, the construction rate of new housing units was 9.7 new units per 1000 residents.

The old city of Unterseen and the ruins of Weissenau Castle are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire town of Unterseen is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 26% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (19.1%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (16.3%) and the FDP. The Liberals (9.9%). In the federal election, a total of 2,068 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 51.8%.

as of 2011, Unterseen had an unemployment rate of 1.72%. as of 2008, there were a total of 2,243 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 63 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 21 businesses involved in this sector. 397 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 50 businesses in this sector. 1,783 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 178 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 1,125 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,761 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 11.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 35.2% used a private car. During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 560 students attending classes in Unterseen. There were 4 kindergarten classes with a total of 81 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 22.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 24.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 15 primary classes and 317 students. Of the primary students, 18.9% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 20.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 8 lower secondary classes with a total of 162 students. There were 18.5% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 18.5% have a different mother language than the classroom language. as of 2000, there were 31 students in Unterseen who came from another municipality, while 115 residents attended schools outside the municipality.