Saint-Martin (Valais)

Geschichte

Saint-Martin is a municipality in the district of Hérens in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.HistorySaint-Martin is first mentioned in 1224 as Sanctum Martinum.GeographySaint-Martin has an area, of 37km2. Of this area, 33.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and 21.8% is unproductive land.The municipality is located in the Hérens district. It consists of the villages of Saint-Martin, Suen, Trogne, Eison, Liez, Praz-Jean and La Luette as well as a pair of hamlets including Ossona.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure on a Mount Vert St. Martin robed Or on a Horse Argent cutting his Coat Gules to share with a Beggar Proper.DemographicsSaint-Martin has a population of., 3.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -3.9%. It has changed at a rate of 2.4% due to migration and at a rate of -2.4% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks French (887 or 98.9%) as their first language, German is the second most common (5 or 0.6%) and Portuguese is the third (2 or 0.2%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian.