Cernier

Geschichte

Cernier is the former capital of the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys, Montmollin, Le Pâquier, Savagnier and Villiers merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Val-de-Ruz.HistoryCernier is first mentioned in 1324 as Cernies.GeographyCernier had an area, of 9.1km2. Of this area, 4.98km2 or 54.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.44km2 or 37.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.68km2 or 7.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.01km2 or 0.1% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.0%. Out of the forested land, 33.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 12.4% is used for growing crops and 10.4% is pastures and 31.4% is used for alpine pastures.