Echarlens

Geschichte

Echarlens is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.HistoryEcharlens is first mentioned in 855 as Escarlingus or Escarlinges.GeographyEcharlens has an area, of 4.6km2. Of this area, 3.46km2 or 74.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.63km2 or 13.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.44km2 or 9.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01km2 or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and 0.07km2 or 1.5% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, 11.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 20.5% is used for growing crops and 46.9% is pastures and 7.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.The municipality is located in the Gruyère district. It consists of the village of Echarlens near the A12 motorway and the Bulle-Fribourg road.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Pally of Six Argent and Gules overall in chief a Mullet of Five Or.DemographicsEcharlens has a population of., 11.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 20.6%. Migration accounted for 17.8%, while births and deaths accounted for 5.9%.