Canton of Neuchâtel

The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel is a mostly French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,780. The capital is Neuchâtel.

History

Principality of Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel has a unique history as the only part of present-day Switzerland to enter the Confederation as a principality (on 19 May 1815).

Its first recorded ruler, Rudolph III of Burgundy, mentioned Neuchâtel in his will in 1032. The dynasty of Ulrich count of Fenis (Hasenburg) took over the town and its territories in 1034. The dynasty prospered and, by 1373, all the lands now part of the canton belonged to the count. In 1405, the cities of Bern and Neuchâtel entered a union. The lands of Neuchâtel had passed to the Zähringen lords of Freiburg in the late 14th century as inheritance from the childless Elisabeth, Countess of Neuchâtel, to her nephews, and then in 1458 to margraves of Sausenburg who belonged to the House of Baden.

Their heiress, Johanna of Hachberg-Sausenberg (Jehanne de Hochberg), and her husband, Louis I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville, inherited it in 1504, after which the French house of Orléans-Longueville (Valois-Dunois). Neuchâtel's Swiss allies then occupied it from 1512 to 1529 before returning it to its widowed countess.

The French preacher Guillaume Farel brought the teachings of the Protestant Reformation to the area in 1530. Therefore, when the house of Orléans-Longueville became extinct with Marie d'Orléans-Longueville's death in 1707, Neuchâtel was Protestant, and looked to avoid passing to a Catholic ruler. The rightful heiress in primogeniture from Jeanne de Hachberg was Paule de Gondi, Duchess of Retz, who was Catholic. The people of Neuchâtel chose Princess Marie's successor from among fifteen claimants. They wanted their new prince first and foremost to be a Protestant, and also to be strong enough to protect their territory but based far enough away to leave them to their own devices. King Louis XIV of France actively promoted the many French pretenders to the title, but the Neuchâtelois people in the final decision in 1708 passed them over in favour of the Protestant King Frederick I of Prussia, who claimed his entitlement in a rather complicated fashion through the House of Orange and Nassau, who were not even descended from Jeanne de Hachberg.

Frederick I and his successors ruled the Principality of Neuchâtel () in personal union with Prussia from 1708 until 1806 and again from 1814 until 1857.

Napoleon Bonaparte deposed King Frederick William III of Prussia as prince of Neuchâtel and appointed instead his chief of staff Louis Alexandre Berthier. Starting in 1807, the principality provided Napoleon's Grande Armée with a battalion of rangers. The rangers were nicknamed Canaris (i.e. canaries) because of their yellow uniforms.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

|+ Rulers of Neuchâtel 1034–1848

! Name

! Reign

|Ulrich I de Fenis||1034–1070

|Mangold I||1070–1097

|Mangold II ||?–1144

|Rudolph I||?–1148

|Ulrich II ||1148–1191

|Rudolph II ||1191–1196

|Berthold I||1196–1259

|Ulrich III||1191–1225

|Berthold I||1159–1263

|Rudolph III|| 1259–1263

|Ulrich IV || 1263-?

|Henri || ?-1283

|Amadeus || 1283–1288

| Rudolph IV || 1288–1343

| Louis I || 1343–1373

|Elisabeth ||1373–1395

|Conrad IV of Freiburg||1395–1424

|Jean de Fribourg||1424–1458

|Rudolph IV of Hachberg-Sausenberg||1458–1487

|Philip of Hachberg||1487–1503

|Johanna of Hachberg|| 1504–1512

|Swiss occupation|| 1512–1529

|Johanna of Hachberg|| 1529–1543

|François d'Orléans-Longueville || 1543–1548

|Léonor d'Orléans-Longueville|| 1548–1573

|Henri I|| 1573–1595

|Henri II || 1595–1663

|Jean Louis Charles || 1663–1668

|Charles Paris || 1668–1672

|Jean Louis Charles || 1672–1694

|Marie de Nemours || 1694–1707

|Frederick I || 1707–1713

|Frederick William I || 1713–1740

|Frederick II || 1740–1786

|Frederick William II || 1786–1797

|Frederick William III || 1797–1806

|Louis Alexandre Berthier || 1806–1814

|Frederick William III || 1814–1840

|Frederick William IV || 1840–1848/57

|Republic of Neuchâtel || 1 March 1848

After the Liberation Wars the principality was restored to Frederick William III in 1814.

The Conseil d'État (state council, i.e. government of Neuchâtel) addressed him in May 1814 requesting the permission to establish a special battalion, a Bataillon de Chasseurs, for the service of his majesty.

! colspan="2" | Party !! class="unsortable" | Ideology !! 1971 !! 1975 !! 1979 !! 1983 !! 1987 !! 1991 !! 1995 !! 1999 !! 2003 !! 2007 !! 2011 !! 2015

! FDP.The Liberals

| bgcolor=""| || Classical liberalism || 24.3 || 22.4 || 20.6 || 19.4 || 20.4 || 22.5 || 25.7 || 20.5 || 14.8 || 12.7 || 26.9 || 24.4

! CVP/PDC/PPD/PCD

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Christian democracy || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || 3.3 || 3.5 || 3.6

! SP/PS

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Social democracy || 30.6 || 38.9 || 37.4 || 33.1 || 30.8 || 29.8 || 28.2 || 28.0 || 29.2 || 25.9 || 24.7 || 23.7

! SVP/UDC

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Swiss nationalism || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || 22.5 || 23.2 || 21.4 || 20.4

! LPS/PLS

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Swiss Liberal || 16.0 || 22.1 || 26.4 || 30.9 || 30.0 || 27.1 || 25.2 || 24.0 || 14.4 || 13.2 || ||

! EVP/PEV

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Christian democracy || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || 1.2 || * || *

! Ring of Independents

| || Social liberalism || * || * || 4.8 || 3.5 || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || *

! GLP/PVL

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Green liberalism || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || 3.4

! BDP/PBD

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Conservatism || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || 1.5 || 1.0

! PdA/PST-POP/PC/PSL

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Socialism || 13.7 || 9.8 || 7.7 || 4.2 || 3.8 || 5.2 || 7.1 || 6.9 || 3.0 || 9.2 || 10.4 || 12.2

! GPS/PES

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Green politics || * || * || * || 7.4 || 7.1 || 8.0 || 5.9 || 14.7 || 13.8 || 9.4 || 11.7 || 9.3

! Solidarity

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Anti-capitalism || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || 2.7 || 2.2 || * || * || *

! SD/DS

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || National conservatism || * || * || * || * || 3.4 || 6.4 || 2.5 || 2.3 || * || * || * || *

! Rep.

| || Right-wing populism || 10.1 || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || * || *

! EDU/UDF

| style="color:inherit;background-color:"| || Christian right || * || * || * || * || * || * || 2.3 || * || * || * || * || *

! Other

| || || 5.4 || 6.8 || 3.1 || 1.4 || 4.5 || 1.1 || 3.2 || 1.0 || * || 1.8 || * || 2.1

! Turnout % || || || 48.3 || 47.2 || 43.3 || 43.7 || 37.4 || 38.1 || 31.9 || 34.0 || 50.4 || 50.2 || 42.4 || 41.8

Political subdivisions

Districts

thumb|Districts of Canton Neuchâtel

Until 2018 the Canton was divided into six districts. On 1 January 2018 the districts were dissolved and all municipalities were placed directly under the canton.

Boudry with capital Boudry
La Chaux-de-Fonds with capital La Chaux-de-Fonds
Le Locle with capital Le Locle
Neuchâtel with capital Neuchâtel
Val-de-Ruz with capital Cernier
Val-de-Travers with capital Val-de-Travers

Municipalities

There are 24 municipalities in the canton ().

The inhabitants () are fairly evenly distributed with many small towns and villages lining the shore of the Lake of Neuchâtel. The average population density is . Neuchâtel ( population: ) is the canton's capital while La Chaux-de-Fonds ( population: ) is the canton's largest settlement. Some 38,000 of the inhabitants, or a little less than a quarter of the population, are of foreign origin.

Historical population

The historical population is given in the following table:

{| class="wikitable collapsible"

! colspan="5" | Historic population

! Year

! Total population

! Swiss

! Non-Swiss

!Population share <br />of total country

! scope="row" | 1850

| rowspan="1" align="center" |70,753

| rowspan="1" align="center" |65,773

| rowspan="1" align="center" |4 980

| align="center" |3.0%

!1880

| rowspan="1" align="center"|102,744

| rowspan="1" align="center" |93,791

| rowspan="1" align="center"|8,953

| align="center"align="center"|3.6%

! scope="row" | 1900

| rowspan="1" align="center" |126,279

| rowspan="1" align="center" |113,090

| rowspan="1" align="center" |13,189

| align="center" |3.8%

! scope="row" | 1950

| rowspan="1" align="center" |128,152

| rowspan="1" align="center" |121,357

| rowspan="1" align="center" |6,795

| align="center" |2.7%

! scope="row" | 1970

| rowspan="1" align="center" |169,173

| rowspan="1" align="center" |132,478

| rowspan="1" align="center" |36,695

| align="center" |2.7%

!2000

| align="center"|167,949

| align="center"|129,377

| rowspan="1" align="center" |38,572

| align="center"|2.3%

! scope="row" | 2020

| align="center" | 175,894 || align="center" | || align="center" |

| align="center" |2.0%

Economy

The canton is well known for its wines, which are grown along the Lake Neuchâtel shore, and for its absinthe. The Val-de-Travers is famous as the birthplace of absinthe, which has now been re-legalized both in Switzerland and globally. There are dairy farming and cattle breeding in the valleys, but it is for the breeding of horses that Neuchâtel has a fine reputation. Watchmaking is well-established in the canton, with fine mechanics and microchip production being established more recently. Higher educational institutions include Haute école Arc (representing Bern, Jura and Neuchâtel) and the University of Neuchâtel.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
Official statistics
Neuchâtel and surroundings "Watch Valley"
Portal Neuch.ch
Village of Valangin
International Watchmaking Museum