Les Ponts-de-Martel

Geschichte

Les Ponts-de-Martel is a municipality in the district of Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.HistoryLes Ponts-de-Martel is first mentioned in 1360 as Martel.GeographyLes Ponts-de-Martel has an area, of 18.2km2. Of this area, 10.8km2 or 59.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.56km2 or 30.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.85km2 or 4.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.07km2 or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.97km2 or 5.3% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 27.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.8% is used for growing crops and 39.9% is pastures and 15.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.The municipality is located in the Le Locle district, on the north side of the Vallée de la Sagne et des Ponts. It consists of the village of Les Ponts-de-Martel and the hamlets of Martel-Dernier and Petit-Martel. The settlement of Le Joratel went to the municipality of Brot-Plamboz in 1920.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess, Azure a Bridge Argent and Gules a Hammer Or in bend sinistre.DemographicsLes Ponts-de-Martel has a population of., 6.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 1%. It has changed at a rate of 0.2% due to migration and at a rate of 1.1% due to births and deaths.