Bettlach (Solothurn)

Geschichte

Bettlach is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.HistoryBettlach is first mentioned in 1181 as Betelacho. In 1279 it was mentioned as Bettelage and in 1329 as Betlach.GeographyBettlach has an area, of 12.21km2. Of this area, 5.67km2 or 46.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.59km2 or 37.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.64km2 or 13.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.17km2 or 1.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.15km2 or 1.2% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 7.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.4%. Out of the forested land, 35.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 30.9% is used for growing crops and 10.6% is pastures and 4.3% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.The municipality is located in the Lebern district. It stretches from the Aare river to the edge of the Jura Mountains.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Cross pattee couped fitche Gules.DemographicsBettlach has a population of., 15.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 2.8%.