Andermatt

Geschichte

Andermatt is a mountain village and municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. At an altitude of 1437 meters above sea level, Andermatt is located at the center of the Saint-Gotthard Massif and the historical center cross of north-south and east-west traverses of Switzerland. It is some 28km south of Altdorf, the capital of Uri.GeographyAndermatt is located in the valley called Urseren, on the headwaters of the river Reuss and surrounded by the Adula Alps. Immediately to the north of Andermatt, the Reuss flows through the steeply descending Schöllenen Gorge – or simply the Schöllenen – to Göschenen and further down the Reuss Valley to the north in order to flow, near Altdorf, into the Urnersee, the first part of Lake Lucerne. In the other three directions, the valley is linked by three Alpine passes: the Oberalp Pass (6,706 ft; 2,044 m.) to the east, the St Gotthard Pass (6,909 ft; 2,106 m.) to the South and the Furka Pass (7,992 ft; 2,436 m.) to the west.Andermatt has an area, of 62.2km2. Of this area, 40.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (52%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains)., 0.4% of the total land area was heavily forested, while 5.1% is covered in small trees and shrubbery. Of the agricultural land, 4.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 36.5% is used for alpine pastures. Of the settled areas, 0.5% is covered with buildings, and 1.1% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.5% is unproductive standing water (ponds or lakes), 1.0% is unproductive flowing water (rivers), there is 30.9% that is too rocky for vegetation, and 19.7% is other unproductive land.