Bernese Jura

Jura Bernois District

Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois
Jura Bernois District Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois
District
	Court, Switzerland
	Flag Coat of arms
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Bern
Capital	Courtelary
Area
• Total	541 km2 (209 sq mi)
Population (December 2020)
• Total	53,715
• Density	99/km2 (260/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Municipalities	40

Bernese Jura (French: Jura bernois, French pronunciation: [ʒyʁa bɛʁnwa], German: Berner Jura) is the name for the French-speaking area of the Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of ten administrative divisions of the canton.^[1]

Comprising the three French-speaking districts in the northern part of the canton, it contains 40 municipalities with an area of 541.71 km² (209.16 sq mi) and a population (as of December 2020^[update]) of 53,715. More than 90% of the population of the three districts speaks French.

From 1815 to 1979, the Bernese Jura comprised seven districts. Three of these seceded to form the canton of Jura in 1979, while a fourth, the Laufen district, joined the canton of Basel-Landschaft in 1994. Additionally, Moutier, a municipality, voted to secede from Bern in a referendum in 2021 and join Jura, with the change expected to be implemented by 2026.

History

Most of the territory of the Bernese Jura was passed from the County of Burgundy to the Bishopric of Basel in AD 999.

It was annexed by France during the Napoleonic period, 1798-1814. In 1814, the Congress of Vienna accorded it to the canton of Bern to compensate for the loss of the new canton of Vaud.

From 1815 to 1979, the term Bernese Jura also included the territory now forming the canton of Jura, which seceded following a national popular vote on 24 September 1978.

In 1974 a plebiscite voted to remain part of Bern by a margin of only 70 votes. This led to acts of vandalism on 16 March 1974 and on 7 September 1975 an armed standoff at the Hôtel de la Gare in Moutier which was broken up by an elite team of Bernese police on the following day.^[2] Two other plebiscites also came down on the side of remaining in the Canton of Bern, including one in 1998 which passed with a thin majority of 41 votes.^[3] In 2013 a third plebiscite ended with the majority of residents choosing to remain in Bern, though a majority of residents of Moutier wanted to join Jura.^[4] On 18 June 2017 the municipality of Moutier voted to join the Canton of Jura by a small margin of 51.7% (2,067 for leaving and 1,930 for remaining part of Bern).^[5]

Its administrative capital was Biel/Bienne from 1815 to 2009. Since 2010, Biel/Bienne has been made the administrative capital of a separate district, and the administrative capital of the remaining Bernese Jura is now Courtelary.

Representation

According to the canton's constitution, one of the seven members of the Executive Council of Bern has to be a French-speaking citizen of this area. Of the 160 seats in the Grand Council of Bern, 12 seats are reserved for the Bernese Jura and an additional three seats are guaranteed for the French-speaking population of the bilingual district of Biel/Bienne.

Administrative divisions

Historically, the region was divided into three districts (2004 population estimates):

In 2010 the three districts were dissolved and merged to form the Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.^[6]

Name	Population (31 December 2020)^[7]	Area in km²
Belprahon	279	3.83
Champoz	174	7.17
Corcelles	201	6.77
Corgémont	1,774	17.61
Cormoret	494	13.49
Cortébert	696	14.78
Court	1,417	24.61
Courtelary	1,405	22.17
Crémines	488	9.48
Eschert	377	6.58
Grandval	388	8.23
La Ferrière	530	14.20
La Neuveville	3,780	6.81
Loveresse	349	4.72
Mont-Tramelan	111	4.64
Moutier	7,348	19.60
Nods	788	26.66
Orvin	1,198	21.59
Perrefitte	481	8.57
Péry-La Heutte	1,908	23.78
Petit-Val	392	23.9
Plateau de Diesse	2,056	25.55
Rebévelier	41	3.54
Reconvilier	2,380	8.24
Renan	934	12.63
Roches	190	9.05
Romont	202	7.03
Saicourt	645	13.76
Saint-Imier	5,156	20.89
Sauge	827	13.46
Saules	147	4.28
Schelten	39	5.57
Seehof	56	8.41
Sonceboz-Sombeval	1,954	15.00
Sonvilier	1,223	23.79
Sorvilier	283	6.89
Tavannes	3,485	14.78
Tramelan	4,607	24.83
Valbirse	3,971	18.68
Villeret	941	16.23
Total (40)	53,715	541.75

Mergers

On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Diesse, Lamboing and Prêles merged into the new municipality of Plateau de Diesse and Plagne and Vauffelin merged into the municipality of Sauge.^[8]
On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Péry and La Heutte merged to form the new municipality of Péry-La Heutte. The former municipalities of Bévilard, Malleray and Pontenet merged to form Valbirse. Finally, Châtelat, Monible, Sornetan and Souboz merged to form Petit-Val.