Härkingen

Geschichte

Härkingen is a municipality in the district of Gäu in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.HistoryHärkingen is first mentioned in 1080 as quendam comitatum nomine Härichingen in pago Buchsgeowe situm . In 1101 it was mentioned as 03 apud Harichingen.GeographyHärkingen has an area, of 5.5km2. Of this area, 2.84km2 or 51.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.21km2 or 22.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.52km2 or 27.6% is settled (buildings or roads).Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 8.5%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 7.1% of the area Out of the forested land, 20.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 44.9% is used for growing crops and 5.5% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops.The municipality is located in the Gäu district, in the Dünnern valley south of the division of the A1 and A2 motorways.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure an Oak Stump with two branches leaved and acorned Or rising from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.DemographicsHärkingen has a population of., 11.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 9.9%.