Chamoson

Geschichte

Chamoson is a municipality in the district of Conthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.HistoryChamoson is first mentioned in 1050 as Camusia. In 1233 it was mentioned as Scamosun.GeographyChamoson has an area, of 32.5km2. Of this area, 8.02km2 or 24.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 10.11km2 or 31.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.29km2 or 7.1% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.54km2 or 1.7% is either rivers or lakes and 11.44km2 or 35.2% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.9%. Out of the forested land, 25.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.1% is used for growing crops and 1.8% is pastures, while 15.9% is used for orchards or vine crops and 6.0% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 6.5% is unproductive vegetation and 28.6% is too rocky for vegetation.The municipality is located on the right side of the Rhone. It consists of the settlements of Chamoson, Saint-Pierre-de-Clages and Grugnay as well as the spring pasture camp of Mayens-de-Chamoson.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Quarterly Argent and Gules.DemographicsChamoson has a population of., 14.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 20.8%. It has changed at a rate of 21.6% due to migration and at a rate of -0.4% due to births and deaths.