Kappel (Solothurn)

Geschichte

Kappel is a municipality in the district of Olten in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.HistoryKappel is first mentioned in 1260 as Capella. In 1312 it was mentioned as Nydern Capellen to distinguish it from the village of Oberkappelen which it today Kestenholz.GeographyKappel has an area, of 5.09km2. Of this area, 1.67km2 or 32.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.48km2 or 48.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.94km2 or 18.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01km2 or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 12.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.9%. Out of the forested land, 46.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 20.0% is used for growing crops and 9.8% is pastures, while 2.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.The municipality is located in the Olten district, in the Dünnern valley, north-west of Mt. Born. It consists of the village of Kappel.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or a Chapel Sable issuant from a Base wavy Sable and Argent.DemographicsKappel has a population of., 12.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 14%.Most of the population speaks German (2,324 or 93.5%), with French being second most common (29 or 1.2%) and Albanian being third (29 or 1.2%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.