Sonceboz-Sombeval

Look at Sonceboz

Sonceboz- Sombeval is a municipality in the administrative district in the canton of Bern Bernese Jura in Switzerland.

Geography

Sonceboz- Sombeval is located on 653 m above sea level. M., 8 km northwest of Biel (air line). The double municipality spreads along the eastern edge of the Jura latitudinal Vallon de Saint- Imier, on both sides of Suze ( Suze French ). Sonceboz is the southern Passfussort the transition Pierre Pertuis to Tavannes, Sombeval is located at the southern foot of the Jura chain Montagne du Droit.

The area of ​​15.0 km ² large municipality area includes the easternmost portion of the wide valley basin of the Vallon de Saint- Imier. The central part takes up to 700 m wide Talniederung Schüss. In the north, the area extends to the anticline Montagne du Droit (up to 1,060 m above sea level. M. ), which is bounded on the east by the pass cut of the Pierre Pertuis. East of the pass, the municipality covers the foothills of the Montoz - chain (up to 1,200 m above sea level. M. ) and the projection Le Châtillon, which forms the eastern end of the Vallon de Saint- Imier. The Châtillon moves close up to the south to Chasseral chain, forcing the Schüss in a gorge-like valley narrowed. To the south Sonceboz- Sombeval extends to the height of Chasseral chain. At the apex of this chain the hard cap rock was broken and eroded away, which in the course of millions of years, a northern and a southern ridge formed. In between is an inlier, which is already cleared up to the next hard rock layer. This arch is formed between the two outer ridges a third ridge, the back of the Jobert, who with 1,300 m above sea level. M. is the highest elevation of the community. The southeastern border runs through a Halbklus, which is formed by erosion. A portion of the eroded rock material forms an alluvial fan in the area of ​​Metairie de Nidau ​​south of Suze. On the wide ridges of the Montagne du Droit and the Chasseral chain is extended Jura high grazing pastures with the typical tall spruce trees that are either individually or in groups. From the municipality surface 1997 8 % were settlements, 59 % of forest and shrubs, 32% to agriculture and slightly less than 1% was unproductive land.

To Sonceboz- Sombeval include numerous individual farms, which are widely scattered in the valley and on the Jura hills. Neighboring communities of Sonceboz -Sombeval are Corgémont, Orvin, La Heutte and Tavannes.

Population

With 1791 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) Sonceboz- Sombeval one of the larger towns in the Bernese Jura. Of the 81.5% of residents are French, 12.1% German-speaking and Italian-speaking 3.2% (as of 2000). The population of Sonceboz- Sombeval has increased significantly, especially in the second half of the 19th century and since 1980.

Policy

The voter shares of the parties at the national elections of 2011 were: SVP 30.5 %, SP 19.8 %, GPS 9.5 %, EDU 7.8 %, FDP 7.0 %, Les Rauraques 5.9 %, BDP 5.7 %, EPP 5.6 %, CVP 3.6 %, glp 1.5 %, AL 1.4 %.

Economy

Sonceboz- Sombeval was marked up in the second half of the 19th century mainly by agriculture. Then with the introduction of the watch industry began an economic upturn. Today, there are jobs in the field of micro-technology in the manufacture of precision tools and local businesses. Agriculture also plays a significant role, in the deeper layers of farming and fruit growing, outweigh the Jura hills cattle breeding and dairy farming.

Traffic

The municipality is situated on the main road from Biel to La Chaux -de-Fonds, the pass road branching off from the in Sonceboz about the Pierre Pertuis. With the opening of the A16 motorway from La Heutte to Tavannes, the place was relieved in 1997 by the passing traffic. On April 30, 1874, the railway lines from Biel to Convers and the route of Sonceboz -Sombeval were dedicated to Tavannes, the latter resulting in a wide arc around the village. The Pierre -Pertuis pass will pass under the highway and the railroad by 2.1 km and 1.3 km long tunnel.

Tourism

In Sonceboz- Sombeval of the 33 -kilometer Anabaptists begins (French: Chemin des Anabaptistes ). It was opened in June 2010 and is reminiscent of the story of the persecuted Anabaptists, in the Bishopric of Basel found refuge in the 17th and 18th centuries, were located.

History

Through the municipal area of ​​Sonceboz- Sombeval led to Roman times an important road through the Pierre Pertuis. Probably at that time there was a castle on the promontory Le Châtillon.

The first written mention of Sombeval was 866 under the name Summa Vallis. The settlement, probably consisting at that time of only one homestead, already possessed a chapel and part of the pin Moutier- Grandval. 1148, a court was mentioned in Sumbavalle. Subsequent designations are Someval ( 1179 ), Sunbaval ( 1228 ) and Sombeaulx ( 1461 ).

Sonceboz is only first mentioned in 1303 as Suncebolz. This was followed by the spellings Suntcelibsis (1405), Sunsebols ( 1461 ) and Suntzelbo. The name is due to the forest ( bois ) of a man named Suso.

In the 15th century a large part of the population was carried off by the plague. The village belonged until 1797 to rule Erguel, which was under the Bishopric of Basel, where the town Biel from time to time exercised greater influence. From 1797 to 1815 Sonceboz- Sombeval belonged to France and was initially part of the Département du Mont- Terrible, which was connected to the 1800 Haut -Rhin. By the decision of the Congress of Vienna, the place came in 1815 to the canton of Bern to the district Courtelary.