Charmey

Geschichte

Charmey is a former municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Charmey and Cerniat merged into the new municipality of Val-de-Charmey.HistoryCharmey is first mentioned in 1211 as Chalmeis. Until 1760 it was known as Feiguières. The municipality is also informally known by its German name Galmis.GeographyBefore the merger, Charmey had a total area of 78.5km2. Of this area, 35.25km2 or 44.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.56km2 or 36.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.62km2 or 2.1% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.66km2 or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and 12.38km2 or 15.8% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.7%. Out of the forested land, 31.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.2% is pastures and 39.7% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.5% is in lakes and 0.4% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 9.7% is unproductive vegetation and 6.1% is too rocky for vegetation.The former municipality is located in the Gruyère district, in the Jaun stream valley. It is the largest municipality in the canton. It consists of the village of Charmey, six hamlets and a number of small alpine settlements and camps.