Rorschach (Saint-Gall)

Geschichte

Rorschach is a municipality, in the District of Rorschach in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is on the south side of Lake Constance (Bodensee).HistoryRorschach is first mentioned in 850 as Rorscachun. In 947, Otto I granted the abbot of St. Gall the right to operate markets, mint coins and levy tariffs at Rorschach.GeographyRorschach has an area, of 1.8km2. Of this area, 7.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 90.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.6%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).The municipality is the capital of the Rorschach Wahlkreis. It is located on Lake Constance and bordered by the municipalities of Rorschacherberg and Goldach.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Garb Or between two Perches urinant.DemographicsRorschach has a population of., about 43.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, 156 are from Germany, 747 are from Italy, 1,353 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 103 are from Austria, 329 are from Turkey, and 740 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -5%. Most of the population speaks German (76.0%), with Italian being second most common ( 5.3%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 4.4%). Of the Swiss national languages, 6,572 speak German, 38 people speak French, 462 people speak Italian, and 13 people speak Romansh.