Benkenspitz
The Benken Spitz (locally also Bänggespitz called) is an approximately 12-hectare field corner in the canton of Basel-Country in the north-west Switzerland . At a length of up to 780 meters and a width of up to 210 meters, this pointed area protrudes towards France ; at the southern end is the geodetically narrowest point in Switzerland with a distance of at least 62 meters .
Location and geography
The Benkenspitz is located in the extreme north-west of the municipality of Biel-Benken and is 93.64% (1620 meters) enclosed by French territory; only 6.36% (110 m) along a branch of the Neuwilbächli connect the forest with Swiss territory.
Immediately to the south, the minimum distance from the boundary line between boundary stones No. 125 and 126 in the southwest to boundary stone No. 109 in the northeast is only 62 meters; At 69 meters, the distance between boundary stones No. 126 and 109 is officially the shortest distance between two Swiss boundary stones that belong to different boundary lines. The next largest, narrowest places under 100 meters are at the former city moat on the Rheinau ZH peninsula (82 meters) and at the Boncourt border crossing ( Queue du Loup , 88 meters). Slightly above are the corridors of the Hofenacker housing estate belonging to Ramsen SH and the Iron Hand near Riehen BS .
The earliest name Jm Spitz is documented from 1678; this initially only referred to the northernmost property in the area. For the section further south, the field name Jm Blüttenen is handed down from the same year , which indicates a bare resp. indicates cleared forest; a map from 1620 depicts this in exactly the same way. The name "Benkenspitz" is officially mentioned for the first time in 1816 and has probably been valid for the entire area for a long time. For the narrow Holzmatt-Waldkeil at the southern end, the name holtz matten is guaranteed as early as 1434 . This later resulted in the adjacent field names Hintere Holzmatten for the southern part of the Benkenspitz and Zwischen den Holzmatten for the area connecting the rest of the municipality.
history
The origin of the strange borderline is not proven. It is believed that it was an earlier hunting ground of the Schaler family . The villages of Biel and Benken were then an exclave ; Possibly the Benkenspitz was granted to the Schaler knight family by the owners of the adjacent areas as a private hunting area.
In the course of the Reformation , Biel and Benken were sold to the city of Basel in 1526 . Hans Bock put the Benken Spitz in 1620 on behalf of the Basel government drawn map with wild boar hunters are 1746 border demarcation was officially incorporated with. Baselstab - landmarks commercializes; this was confirmed in 1816 after the Congress of Vienna and retained during resp. valid to this day after German rule in Alsace.
