Oberwil im Simmental

Oberwil is first mentioned in 1278 as Oberwile. These caves and other nearby rock shelters continued to be used through the Neolithic, the late Bronze Age and into the Middle Ages. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Alamanni tribes settled in the Simmen valley and established villages and alpine pastures. In 994, the royal estate at Wimmis and part of Oberwil was donated to Selz Abbey in Alsace. In 1276, Wimmis and Oberwil were given to the new Augustinian Därstetten priory. During the Middle Ages, two castles, Festi and Heidenmauer were built above the valley floor. However, no records of the castles are still in existence, and both have fallen into ruin. By the 12th century the remaining settlements and land were owned by the Freiherr von Weissenburg. In 1439, all the Weissenburg lands, including Oberwil and the surrounding settlements, were acquired by Bern. During the 16th century the entire Simmen valley converted from subsistence agriculture to raising cattle and producing cheese from milk. Today, while the municipality has some small businesses and tourism, the main industry is still agriculture. The village church of St. Mauritius was built by the Freiherr von Weissenburg and is first mentioned in 1228. The original church was expanded in the 14th and 15th centuries. ==Geography==

Oberwil im Simmental has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 51.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.8% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 2.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 11.5% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 1.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.3%. A total of 27.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.8% is pasturage and 32.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 7.3% is unproductive vegetation and 4.2% is too rocky for vegetation. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Argent a Castle Gules and Vert. ==Demographics==

Oberwil im Simmental has a population () of . , 3.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -1.4%. Migration accounted for -1.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 0%. Most of the population () speaks German (796 or 99.1%) as their first language. There is one person who speaks French and one that speaks Romansh. Of the population in the municipality, 514 or about 64.0% were born in Oberwil im Simmental and lived there in 2000. There were 222 or 27.6% who were born in the same canton, while 31 or 3.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 19 or 2.4% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 83 households that consist of only one person and 28 households with five or more people. , a total of 284 apartments (64.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 115 apartments (26.1%) were seasonally occupied and 41 apartments (9.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.2 new units per 1000 residents. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:35 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:300 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:60 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:855 text:"855" bar:1850 from:start till:1405 text:"1,405" bar:1860 from:start till:1359 text:"1,359" bar:1870 from:start till:1285 text:"1,285" bar:1880 from:start till:1291 text:"1,291" bar:1888 from:start till:1201 text:"1,201" bar:1900 from:start till:1225 text:"1,225" bar:1910 from:start till:1023 text:"1,023" bar:1920 from:start till:1101 text:"1,101" bar:1930 from:start till:987 text:"987" bar:1941 from:start till:1057 text:"1,057" bar:1950 from:start till:1076 text:"1,076" bar:1960 from:start till:990 text:"990" bar:1970 from:start till:909 text:"909" bar:1980 from:start till:922 text:"922" bar:1990 from:start till:929 text:"929" bar:2000 from:start till:803 text:"803" bar:2010 from:start till:788 text:"788" ==Heritage sites of national significance==

The Venner house is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Oberwil im Simmental and the hamlet of Pfaffenried are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. ==Politics==

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 61.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) (13.8%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (11.3%) and the Social Democratic Party (SP) (5.3%). In the federal election, a total of 365 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 56.0%. ==Economy==

, Oberwil im Simmental had an unemployment rate of 0.73%. , there were a total of 349 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 220 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 84 businesses involved in this sector. 65 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 14 businesses in this sector. 64 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 19 businesses in this sector. , there were 29 workers who commuted into the municipality and 142 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 252 workers (89.7% of the 281 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Oberwil im Simmental. Of the working population, 10.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 48% used a private car. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2009 there were a total of 291 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 43 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 9 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 91, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Oberwil im Simmental was 106,435 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF. In 2011 a total of 1.1% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government. ==Religion==

From the , 692 or 86.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 14 or 1.7% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.25% of the population), and there were 64 individuals (or about 7.97% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Islamic. There were 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 12 (or about 1.49% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 16 individuals (or about 1.99% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Transport==

Oberwil im Simmental sits on the Spiez–Zweisimmen line and is served by trains at the Oberwil im Simmental and Enge im Simmental railway stations. ==Education==

In Oberwil im Simmental about 44.5% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 5.3% have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). During the 2011-12 school year, there were a total of 63 students attending classes in Oberwil im Simmental. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 7 students in the municipality. The municipality had 2 primary classes and 47 students. During the same year, there was one lower secondary class with a total of 9 students. , there were a total of 18 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 17 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while one student came from another municipality. During the same year, 81 residents attended schools outside the municipality. ==References==