Niederried bei Interlaken is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Niederried bei Interlaken is first mentioned in 1291 as Riede.
The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a neolithic grave in Ursisbalm and a La Tène grave at Städeli. The village only rarely appeared in historical records after its founding. Between 1411 and 1439 the Herrschaft of Ringgenberg, which included Niederried, was given to Interlaken Abbey. In 1528, the city of Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation and began imposing it on the Bernese Oberland. The Abbey unsuccessfully rebelled against the new faith. After Bern imposed its will on the Oberland, they secularized the Abbey and annexed all the Abbey lands. Niederried became a part of the Bernese bailiwick of Interlaken.
The village occupies a narrow strip of land between the lake and the mountains so there was very little land for farming. During the 19th century some tourists visited the village and in 1877 a pier was built for the tourist steam ships. In 1916 the last leg of the Brünig railway line was completed, which passed through the narrow village.
Origin of the name
The name means "lower Ried near Interlaken." There are two explanations for the origin of the name Ried: from the Old High German , ("clearing") or the Swiss German Ried (land growing reeds and swampgrass).
Geography
Niederried bei Interlaken has an area of . Of this area, or 21.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 55.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 15.9% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, 50.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.2% is pastures and 13.3% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 11.4% is unproductive vegetation and 4.4% is too rocky for vegetation.
It lies in the Bernese Oberland on the north shore of Lake Brienz. The highest point is the Suggiture () at the northern edge of the municipality.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Interlaken, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Interlaken-Oberhasli.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Semi Ibex rampant Sable langued Gules and a Base Vert. The green field appears on the coats of arms of both Niederried and Oberried. It symbolizes the marsh () from which the municipalities take their names. On the coat of arms of Niederried the green field appears below () the ibex, while on Oberried it is above (). This makes the coat of arms an example of canting arms.
Demographics
Niederried bei Interlaken has a population () of . , 12.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of -4.9%. Migration accounted for -8%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.3%.
Most of the population () speaks German (316 or 92.4%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (10 or 2.9%) and Albanian is the third (8 or 2.3%).
, the population was 49.4% male and 50.6% female. The population was made up of 141 Swiss men (42.5% of the population) and 23 (6.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 149 Swiss women (44.9%) and 19 (5.7%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 106 or about 31.0% were born in Niederried bei Interlaken and lived there in 2000. There were 138 or 40.4% who were born in the same canton, while 41 or 12.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 46 or 13.5% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 22%.
, there were 130 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 170 married individuals, 26 widows or widowers and 16 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 50 households that consist of only one person and 13 households with five or more people. , a total of 140 apartments (49.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 123 apartments (43.3%) were seasonally occupied and 21 apartments (7.4%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.9%.