Herzogenbuchsee, Canton of Bern, Switzerland

🇨🇭 Herzogenbuchsee is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

The traditional name was Buchsi.

History Herzogenbuchsee is built on a moraine of the Rhone Glacier. The area has been settled for at least 10,000 years, with ancient settlements around the Inkwilersee and Burgäschisee. There is also evidence of Roman buildings from approximately 200 CE near the current Reformed Church.

The first documented use of the name puhsa (pronounced Buchsa, in Latin buxum, meaning "box") is found in the writings of Saint Gallus in 886 CE. In 1220 it was mentioned as Buchse and to distinguish it from Münchenbuchsee, in 1301 it was first mentioned as Herzogenbuchze.

It was ruled by Burgundy, the Zähringer, the Kyburger, and finally, brought under the Altberni sovereignty.

On January 1, 2008, the municipality of Oberönz became part of the municipality of Herzogenbuchsee.

Geography Before the merger, Herzogenbuchsee had an area of 6.8 km² (2.6 sq mi). Of this area, 35.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 35% is forested. The rest of the land, (29.9%) is settled.

Following the merger of Oberönz into Herzogenbuchsee, the new municipality has an area, as of 2009, of 9.83 km² (3.80 sq mi). Of this area, 3.7 km² (1.4 sq mi) or 37.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.38 km² (1.31 sq mi) or 34.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.66 km² (1.03 sq mi) or 27.1% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02 km² (4.9 acres) or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and 0.06 km² (15 acres) or 0.6% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 14.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.5%. 34.0% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 30.9% is used for growing crops and 6.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. The elevation of the train station is 465 m (1,526 ft).

Transport The municipality has a railway station, Herzogenbuchsee, on the Olten–Bern line. It has regular service to Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Bern, and Olten.