Horgen

Horgen
Horgen
Country Switzerland Canton Zurich District Horgen 47°16′N 8°36′E / 47.267°N 8.6°E / 47.267; 8.6Coordinates: 47°16′N 8°36′E / 47.267°N 8.6°E / 47.267; 8.6
Population	18,227 (December 2007[update])
- Density	865 /km2 (2,241 /sq mi)
Area	21.07 km2 (8.14 sq mi)
Elevation	408 m (1,339 ft)
Postal code	8810
SFOS number	0133
Mayor	Walter Bosshard (as of 2009) FDP/PRD
Localities	Horgenberg, Sihlbrugg Station, Sihlwald
Surrounded by	Wädenswil, Hirzel, Hausen am Albis, Langnau am Albis, Oberrieden, Thalwil
Website	www.horgen.ch SFSO statistics

Lake of Zurich, Horgen

Horgen is a village in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.

It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich.

History

Horgen is also the type-site of Switzerland's middle Neolithic archaeological culture. The settlement there, the so-called Horgner Kultur, produced examples of a type of crude pottery with parallels to the Seine-Oise-Marne culture of northern France. Horgen is first mentioned in 952 as Horga.^[1]

Geography

Horgen harbour

So-called Sust (warehouse) and museum in Horgen

Horgen has an area of 21.1 square kilometers (8.1 sq mi). Of this area, 27.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 20.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).^[2] In 1996^[update] housing and buildings made up 12.5% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (7.9%).^[3] Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 1.6% of the area. As of 2007^[update] 16% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction.^[3]

The large municipality stretchs from the shores of Lake Zurich (elevation 408 m (1,339 ft)), over the Zimmerberg-Plateau where the decentralized village of Horgenberg is found (elevation 660 m (2,165 ft)), though the Sihl Valley (Sihltal), to the peak of the Albis chain (elevation 915 m (3,002 ft)). It includes the villages of Horgen, Arn and Horgenberg. The hamlet of Sihlbrugg-dorf belongs to Horgen, though the municipality of Sihlbrugg is shared by Baar (ZG), Hausen am Albis (ZH), Hirzel (ZH) and Neuheim (ZG). Administratively the village belongs to Baar in the canton of Zug.

Until 1773, Horgen included the now separate municipalities of Oberrieden and Hirzel. The Sihl forest (Sihlwald) became part of the city of Zürich in 1803. However the Horgen city council refused to acknowledge this until 1877.

Demographics

Horgen has a population (as of 2007^[update]) of 18,227, of which 27.1% are foreign nationals. As of 2008^[update] the gender distribution of the population was 49% male and 51% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 10.7%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (79.9%), with Italian being second most common ( 5.7%) and Albanian being third ( 2.8%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (18.9%), the FDP (15.8%) and the CSP (9.7%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000^[update]) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Horgen about 73% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule). There are 7850 households in Horgen.^[3]

Horgen has an unemployment rate of 2.66%. As of 2005^[update], there were 213 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 39 businesses involved in this sector. 2017 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 167 businesses in this sector. 6892 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 623 businesses in this sector.^[2] As of 2007^[update] 56.5% of the working population were employed full-time, and 43.5% were employed part-time.^[3]

As of 2008^[update] there were 5924 Catholics and 6170 Protestants in Horgen. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the census^[update], 39.3% were some type of Protestant, with 36.9% belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church and 2.4% belonging to other Protestant churches. 33.6% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 7% were Muslim, 9.5% belonged to another religion (not listed), 4.2% did not give a religion, and 11.7% were atheist or agnostic.^[3]

The historical population is given in the following table:^[1]

Transportation

Ferry ships «Meilen», «Schwanen» and «Zürisee» at Horgen

The A3 motorway has a junction close to the more hilly part of the town.

Horgen is a stop of the S-Bahn Zürich on the lines S2, S8, S21 and S24. Horgen has two railway stations. Trains heading toward Pfäffikon, Ziegelbrücke, Sargans and Chur use the Horgen station by the lake. Trains, including the Cisalpino, heading toward Zug, Arth-Goldau, the St. Gotthard region, Bellinzona, Lugano and ultimately Italy pass by the Horgen Oberdorf station. Only regional trains stop at the Horgen Oberdorf station. The Zimmerberg bus line (Zimmerbergbus), provided by the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU), connects the Zimmerberg region and parts of the Sihl Valley.

In the summer there are regular boats to Zurich as well as along the lake to Rapperswil, run by the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft. A car ferry connects Horgen and Meilen.

References

External links

• Official website (German)
• Horgen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Horgen Culture in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Horgen (Vogtei) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Horgen

v • d • e Municipalities in the district of Horgen, Switzerland Adliswil | Au, Zurich | Hirzel | Horgen | Hütten | Kilchberg | Langnau am Albis | Oberrieden | Richterswil | Rüschlikon | Samstagern | Sihlbrugg Dorf | Schönenberg | Thalwil | Wädenswil Canton of Zürich | Districts of Canton Zürich | Municipalities of the canton of Zurich