Thun (; ) is a town and a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located where the Aare flows out of Lake Thun (Thunersee), southeast of Bern.
, the municipality has about 45,000 inhabitants and around 80,000 live in the agglomeration.
Besides tourism, machine and precision instrument engineering, the largest garrison in the country, the food industry, armaments and publishing are of economic importance to Thun.
History
The area of what is now Thun was inhabited since the Neolithic age (mid-3rd millennium BC). During the early Bronze Age there were a number of settlements along the lake shore and the Aare. A site at Renzenbühl had a local chief or nobleman's grave which contained one of the richest collections of early Bronze Age artifacts in Europe. The Thun-Renzenbühl axe, dating from 1800 BC, is one of the earliest examples of damascening technique in the world. The gold inlay decoration on the axe may also have a numerical, astronomical meaning. Another site at Wiler contained approximately 1,500 maritime snail shells which were harvested from the Mediterranean and traded over the Alps.
The name of the town derives from the Celtic term Dunum, meaning "fortified town". It fell to Rome in 58 BC, when Roman legions conquered almost all of Switzerland, and it soon became one of the main centers of Roman administration in the region.
The Romans were driven out of Thun, and out of the rest of Switzerland, by the Burgundians around 400 AD. The Aare became the frontier between the Christian Burgundians and the Pagan, German-speaking Alemanni, who lived north. The region was mentioned for the first time during the 7th century, in the chronicle of Frankish monk Fredgar. The town is first mentioned in 1133 as Tuno.
The region of Thun became a part of the Holy Roman Empire in 1033, when Conrad II gained the title of King of Burgundy. The emperors entrusted the Zähringen family, centred in Bern, with subduing the unruly nobles of central Switzerland. Around 1190, Duke Bertold V of Zähringen, built Thun castle and expanded the town. After Bertold's death in 1218, his territories went to Ulrich III von Kyburg.
In 1264, Thun received town rights and in 1384, the town was bought by the canton of Bern. Thun was the capital of the Canton of Oberland of the Helvetic Republic, which lasted from 1798 until 1803.
In 1819, a Military School was founded in the town, which later developed into the main military school in Switzerland. Thun was connected to the railway network of Switzerland in 1859 and telephone access made available in 1888.
Geography and climate Topography
The center of Thun is on the Aare, just downstream of the point where it flows out of Lake Thun, and encompasses both banks of the river and an island between. The town covers an area of , with the town boundaries reaching up to from the town centre. The town ranges in altitude between about , in the town center, and , on its eastern boundary.
Thun has an area of . As of the 2004 survey, or 27.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 20.0% is forested. Of rest of the municipality, or 49.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes, and or 0.9% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data accessed 27 August 2014
From the same survey, industrial buildings made up 5.7% of the area while housing and buildings made up 26.8% and transportation infrastructure 12.1%. Parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.4%. All the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 11.4% is used for growing crops and 15.6% is pasturage. Of the water in the municipality, 0.9% is in lakes and 0.4% is in rivers and streams.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Thun, of which it was the capital, was dissolved. On 1 January 2010, it became the capital of the larger Verwaltungskreis Thun.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz accessed 4 April 2011
Climate Between 1981 and 2010 Thun had an average of 123.7 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was August, during which Thun received an average of of rain or snow and there was precipitation for an average of 11.7 days. The month with the most days of precipitation was June, with an average of 12.9, but with only of rain or snow. The driest month was February with an average of of precipitation over 8.3 days., the Thun weather station elevation is above sea level.
Politics
Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules on a Bend Argent in chief a Mullet of Seven Or.Flags of the World.com accessed 7 October 2014
Elections National Council In the 2023 Swiss federal election for the Swiss National Council, the most popular party was the SVP which received 26.14% (-0.49%) of the vote. Followed by the SP at 21% (+4.1%), the GLP at 12.69% (+1.84%), and the Green Party of Switzerland at 11.32% (-3.74%). Voter participation 45.2%, up by 2.4% from the previous election.
In the 2019 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 26.6% (-4.2) of the vote. The next six most popular parties were the SP (16.9%, -2.1), the Green Party (15.1%, +5.6), the glp (10.9%, +4.0), FDP (7.6%, -1.0), the BDP (7.0%, -4.1), and the EVP (5.9%, +0.1). In the federal election a total of 13,904 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 42.8%.
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 25.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (19.6%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (16.1%) and the Green Party (8.9%). In the federal election, a total of 15,012 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.8%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election accessed 8 May 2012
International relations Twin & sister towns From 1996 to 2019 Thun was twinned with Gabrovo in Bulgaria.
Zähringer towns For 30 years, authorities, associations and other population groups have been visiting the Zähringer towns. In Germany, this friendly alliance includes: Freiburg im Breisgau, Villingen-Schwenningen, Neuenburg am Rhein, Bräunlingen, St. Peter in the Black Forest and Weilheim an der Teck, and in Switzerland: Bern, Freiburg, Burgdorf, Murten and Rheinfelden.
Demographics Population
Thun has a population () of . , 12.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010–2012) the population changed at a rate of 0.3%. Migration accounted for 0.4%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.4%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 7 October 2014
Most of the population () speaks German (36,551 or 90.5%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (728 or 1.8%) and Albanian is the third (511 or 1.3%). There are 399 people who speak French and 31 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 47.5% male and 52.5% female. The population was made up of 17,629 Swiss men (41.1% of the population) and 2,779 (6.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 19,956 Swiss women (46.5%) and 2,559 (6.0%) non-Swiss women.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeit, Geschlecht und Gemeinde accessed 7 October 2014 Of the population in the municipality, 12,265 or about 30.4% were born in Thun and lived there in 2000. There were 15,105 or 37.4% who were born in the same canton, while 5,846 or 14.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 5,699 or 14.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.8%.
, there were 15,905 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 18,969 married individuals, 2,875 widows or widowers and 2,628 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 7,537 households that consist of only one person and 919 households with five or more people.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Haushaltsgrösse accessed 8 May 2013 , a total of 18,153 apartments (92.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,080 apartments (5.5%) were seasonally occupied and 406 apartments (2.1%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.5 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Thun was 1017.63 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$810, £460, €650 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 601.00 CHF (US$480, £270, €380), a two-room apartment was about 784.97 CHF (US$630, £350, €500), a three-room apartment was about 927.87 CHF (US$740, £420, €590) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1821.24 CHF (US$1460, £820, €1170). The average apartment price in Thun was 91.2% of the national average of 1116 CHF.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Rental prices 2003 data accessed 26 May 2010
The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.1%. In 2012, single family homes made up 46.7% of the total housing in the municipality.Statistischer Atlas der Schweiz - Anteil Einfamilienhäuser am gesamten Gebäudebestand, 2012 accessed 5 August 2014
Historic population The historical population is given in the following chart:
Historic Population Data Year Total Population German Speaking Italian Speaking Protestant Catholic Other Jewish Muslim No religion given Swiss Non-Swiss Beginning 15th century ca. 1400 1764 1,414 1798 1,566 1818 1,936 1836 2,646 1850 6,019 5,897 121 1 5,866 153 1870 7,290 7,076 236 6 7,034 284 1888 8,286 8,154 13 8,038 233 15 4 8,007 279 1900 10,213 9,951 55 9,762 417 34 26 9,904 309 1910 12,173 11,805 107 11,540 537 96 27 11,693 480 1930 16,524 15,979 114 15,372 968 184 35 16,060 464 1950 24,157 23,105 273 21,774 2,150 233 34 23,667 490 1970 36,523 33,566 1,663 30,825 5,325 373 22 16 178 33,662 2,861 1990 38,211 34,944 895 29,426 5,314 3,471 22 307 1,093 34,932 3,279 2000 40,377 36,551 728 28,120 5,852 6,405 17 1,365 2,765 35,315 5,062
Religion
From the , 26,334 or 65.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 5,852 or 14.5% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 441 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.09% of the population), there were 37 individuals (or about 0.09% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 1,823 individuals (or about 4.51% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 17 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who were Jewish, and 1,365 (or about 3.38% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 115 individuals who were Buddhist, 347 individuals who were Hindu and 35 individuals who belonged to another church. 2,765 (or about 6.85% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1,246 individuals (or about 3.09% of the population) did not answer the question.
Economy , Thun had an unemployment rate of 2.41%. , there were a total of 28,536 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 114 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 44 businesses involved in this sector. The secondary sector employs 6,625 people and there were 450 businesses in this sector. The tertiary sector employs 21,797 people, with 2,696 businesses in this sector. There were 20,515 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.5% of the workforce.