Marthalen

Geschichte

Marthalen is a municipality in the district of Andelfingen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.HistoryMarthalen is first mentioned in 858 as Martella.GeographyMarthalen has an area of 14.2km2. Of this area, 49.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 10% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.3%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).The municipality is located in the Zürcher Weinland (Zurich's vineyards) between the Thur and Rhine Rivers. The village is known for its half-timbered houses. The municipality also includes the village of Ellikon am Rhein, and the hamlets of Niedermarthalen and Radhof.DemographicsMarthalen has a population of., 7.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 5.1%. Most of the population speaks German (95.6%), with French (0.6%) and Italian being third (0.6%) most common languages.In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP, which received 54.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (11.5%), the Green Party (10.3%), and the CSP (9.4%).