Oberaargau

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The Oberaargau ( French Haute-Argovie , Italian Alta Argovia , Bern German Oberaargou ) is the northeastern part of the Swiss canton of Bern . It borders the cantons of Solothurn , Aargau and Lucerne . It is only connected to the canton of Bern in the south. The region bordering to the south is the Emmental , although the border is not always defined in the same way.

According to the political division, the Oberaargau corresponds to the Oberaargau administrative district . Until 2009 it consisted of the two districts of Wangen and Aarwangen , whereby the municipalities of Eriswil , Huttwil , Walterswil and Wyssachen , which are now part of the Oberaargau administrative district , were still part of the Trachselwald district at that time . The municipality of Dürrenroth is located north of the watershed between Aare and Emme and is therefore geographically part of Oberaargau; politically, however, it belongs to the Emmental administrative district .

geography

The Oberaargau is part of the Swiss plateau . It lies between the major urban centers and is therefore a transit region. Not only the river Aare, which gives it its name, runs through it from west to east, but also the A1 motorway and the Bern - Zurich railway line , the two most important east-west transport axes in Switzerland.

The centers of Oberaargau are the town of Langenthal and the village of Herzogenbuchsee on the railway line, and the historic towns of Wangen and Aarwangen on the Aare . Since the construction of the motorway, the focus of economic development has shifted to the north, to the southern foot of the Jura , where the town of Wiedlisbach and the village of Niederbipp are located.

The valley traversed by the Aare and the main traffic axes is bordered by the Jura in the north and by the hill country in the south, which merges seamlessly into the Emmental .

The highest point in Oberaargau is the Höllchöpfli (municipality of Rumisberg ) at 1231 meters and the lowest point at 405 meters above sea level is on the Aare near Wynau .

history

The term Oberaargau (861: superior pagus Aragauginsis ) was used as early as the early Middle Ages . However, this meant the entire region southeast of the Aare, including the Emmental .

In the High Middle Ages , the Oberaargau was divided into different domains based on its present size. The part north of the Aare belonged to the Counts of Frohburg . South of the Aare, many areas belonged to the property of the Dukes of Zähringen . In addition, there were old possessions of the monasteries St. Gallen and St. Blasien in the Black Forest as well as various barons, most importantly in the eastern part that of the barons of Langenstein , which in large parts came as inheritance to the barons of Grünenberg . After the Zähringers died out , the western part came to the Count House of Neu-Kyburg , which, with its increasing debt, came under Habsburg and finally Bernese influence. In the late Middle Ages the Oberaargau belonged to the Landgraviate of Burgundy , which was administered by the Counts of Buchegg and later by Neu-Kyburgers.

With the expansion policy of Bern in the late Middle Ages, the Oberaargau also came increasingly under Bernese influence. In the 15th century, Bern acquired and conquered the entire Upper and Lower Aargau ( Bernese Aargau ), so that these regions remained united for several centuries. When the Landgraviate of Burgundy von Neu-Kyburg was taken over, the city of Bern also acquired sovereignty.

With the sinking of the Old Bern in 1798, the Unteraargau was separated as a separate canton (which in 1802/03 was combined with the Fricktal , Baden and the Free Offices to form today's Canton of Aargau ). The border between Unter- and Oberaargau was drawn along the Wigger in 1798 , but in 1802 it was moved west to the Murg . This territorial division was confirmed by the mediation act of 1803 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, so that since then Oberaargau has been separated from the canton of Aargau.

natural reserve

In Oberaargau, emerald areas were awarded on an area of ​​114.68 km² .

literature

  • Anne-Marie Dubler : Oberaargau. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Anne-Marie Dubler: The Oberaargau region, development, concept and scope in the course of time . In: Yearbook of the Oberaargau . tape 44 . Merkur Druck AG, Langenthal 2001, p. 74–114 ( unibe.ch [PDF; accessed July 7, 2015]).
  • Max Jufer: How the Oberaargau became Bernese 600 years ago, In memory of August 27 and 28, 1406 . In: Yearbook of the Oberaargau . tape 49 . Merkur Druck AG, Langenthal 2006, p. 36–62 ( unibe.ch [PDF; accessed July 7, 2015]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard Stettler: Studies on the history of the upper Aare area in the early and high Middle Ages. Thun, Dissertation 1964, pp. 129-133, quoted from Dubler 2001.