Goldingen

Geschichte

Goldingen is a former municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Goldingen and St. Gallenkappel merged into the municipality of Eschenbach.HistoryThe name Goldingen was applied to two different hamlets in the municipality. The current hamlet of Goldingen is first mentioned in 1800 and before that time was known as Thal. The hamlet of Vordersagen was first mentioned in 1266 as Goldelingin and until about 1700 was known as Goldingen. Additionally the hamlet of Hintersagen was known until about 1800 as Hintergoldingen.GeographyGoldingen had an area, of 22.1km2. Of this area, 50.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 45.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).The former municipality is located in the See-Gaster Wahlkreis in the hill country. It consists of the hamlets of Goldingen, Echeltschwil, Hubertingen, Wolfertingen, Eglingen, Vordersagen, Hintersagen, Gibel and Oberholz.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or on a Mount Vert a Linden Tree of the same trunked proper.DemographicsGoldingen had a population of 1,124, of which about 5.0% are foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, 8 are from Germany, 2 are from Italy, 8 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 1 person is from Austria, and 10 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.2%. Most of the population speaks German (97.9%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 0.7%) and English being third ( 0.6%). Of the Swiss national languages, 1,023 speak German, 1 person speaks, Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh.