Courtelary is a municipality of the French-speaking Bernese Jura, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The town is the capital of the Jura bernois administrative district.
History
thumb|Aerial view (1950)
Courtelary is first mentioned in 968 as Curtis Alerici in a list of the properties of Moutier-Grandval Abbey. In 1179, Pope Alexander III elevated the Abbot to a Canon and confirmed the Abbots title to Courtelary. In 1733 a meeting at the Courtelary Castle exploded into a riot and the Prince-Bishop's bailiff, Benoît-Aimé Mestrezat, was forced to flee the city. In 1792 and 1793, heavily influenced by the French Revolution, the revolutionary National Assembly of Erguel was established in Courtelary. Revolutionaries flocked to the town and established a short-lived Republic of Erguel. In 1797 the French invaded the lands of the Bishop of Basel and established the Canton of Courtelary with Courtelary as the capital. The Canton was initially part of the Department of Mont-Terrible followed by the Department of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat, in 1815, the Erguel region became part of the Canton of Bern. Courtelary was the capital of the District of Erguel until 1831 when it became the capital of the District of Courtelary.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, 37.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 11.7% is used for growing crops and 13.1% is pastures and 26.3% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules on a Bend Argent three Linden Leaves pointing to base sinister.
Demographics
Courtelary has a population () of . , 13.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 13%. Migration accounted for 12.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.5%.
Most of the population () speaks French (933 or 82.8%) as their first language, German is the second most common (125 or 11.1%) and Italian is the third (21 or 1.9%). There are 6 people who speak Romansh.
, there were 134 households that consist of only one person and 36 households with five or more people. , a total of 451 apartments (80.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 69 apartments (12.3%) were seasonally occupied and 43 apartments (7.6%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 7.1 new units per 1000 residents.
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Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 33.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (28.3%), the Green Party (12.7%) and the FDP.The Liberals (9.3%). In the federal election, a total of 302 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 34.5%.
Economy
thumb|Courtelary train station
, Courtelary had an unemployment rate of 3.53%. , there were a total of 610 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 64 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 24 businesses involved in this sector. 330 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 17 businesses in this sector. 216 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 36 businesses in this sector.
, there were 342 workers who commuted into the municipality and 308 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 1.8% of the workforce coming into Courtelary are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 13.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.5% used a private car.
Education
thumb|Courtelary school building
In Courtelary about 378 or (33.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 115 or (10.2%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 115 who completed tertiary schooling, 74.8% were Swiss men, 19.1% were Swiss women.
During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 204 students attending classes in Courtelary. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 22 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 13.6% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 4.5% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 3 primary classes and 61 students. Of the primary students, 1.6% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 3.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 5 lower secondary classes with a total of 90 students. There were 3.3% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 5.6% have a different mother language than the classroom language.
, there were 97 students in Courtelary who came from another municipality, while 93 residents attended schools outside the municipality.