See-Gaster

The name Gaster is from Latin castrum "castle"; a it is first recorded in 1230. The Gaster districts corresponded to the historical county of Windegg. The See district corresponded to the historical counties of Rapperswil and Uznach. In the medieval period, the area was owned by the counts of Lenzburg, from 1172 by Kyburg, from 1269 by Habsburg, from 1406 by Toggenburg and from 1436 again briefly by Habsburg, until 1438 when duke Frederick gave it to Schwyz and Glarus as a condominium. Schänis was administrative center and site of the Landsgemeinde of Gaster. Rapperswil was ruled by its own counts until its destruction in 1350, after which it fell under Habsburg rule, until it became a protectorate of the Swiss Confederacy in 1464. In 1798, Gaster became a district of the canton of Linth in the Helvetic Republic, and was inherited by the canton of St. Gallen in 1803. The historical county of Uznach was separated from Gaster in 1831 to form the See district, until the reunification of the two districts in 2001. ==Demographics==

See-Gaster Wahlkreis has a population of (as of ).). Of the foreign population, (), 919 are from Germany, 2,073 are from Italy, 3,867 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 278 are from Austria, 817 are from Turkey, and 2,206 are from another country. Of the population (), 51,263 speak German, 277 people speak French, 1,420 people speak Italian, and 130 people speak Romansh. there were 6,895 persons (or 11.9% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 12,907 (or 22.3%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 32,227 (or 55.7%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 2,952 (or 5.1%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 323 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 252 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 592 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 1,758 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing. From the , 35,391 or 61.1% are Roman Catholic, while 11,831 or 20.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 34 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who belong to the denomination of the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland, there are 1,218 individuals (or about 2.10% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 932 individuals (or about 1.61% of the population) who belong to another church. There are 21 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who are Jewish, and 2,421 (or about 4.18% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 583 individuals (or about 1.01% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 3,644 (or about 6.29% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1,831 individuals (or about 3.16% of the population) did not answer the question. == Municipalities ==

On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Rieden and Ernetschwil merged into the municipality of Gommiswald and the former municipalities of Goldingen and St. Gallenkappel merged into Eschenbach. == See also ==