Canton Neuchâtel (NE)

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GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

Lake of Neuchâtel
Average altitude: 431 m
Length: 38 km
Max. Width: 8 km
Max. Depth: 153 m
Area covered: 217 km2

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DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:

Population (1993):

Residents : 164904

Economy (1991)

Primary sector (farming, fishing etc): 3813 employed
Secondary sector (industry, building, etc): 35159 employed
Tertiary sector (Services, offices etc): 51567 employed

Schools (1993-1994)

Primary schools: 8949 students
Secondary schools: 10390 students
Technical schools: 258 students
Professional schools: 1287 students
Apprentices: 2971 people
University: 3077 students

County Political Structure (1993-1997)

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HISTORY:

(not meant to be complete, no fully representative of the History of the County)

Although populated since the iron ages, the presence of villages in the area of what was to become Neuchâtel came became better known through written documents as of the Year 998.

People from Burgundy were to found Neuchâtel a few years later.

During the Reformation and its introduction by Guillaume Farel, the years that followed 1531 saw a rapid increase in population, and even more so after the revocation of the "Edit de Nantes" in 1685, with the arrivals of the Huguenots. During these Years, Neuchâtel was ruled by the family Orleans-Longueville, of which Henri II and Marie de Nemours.

Henri II had then already plans to bring Neuchâtel to become the 14th County of Switzerland and as such withdraw it from France.

After the death of Marie de Nemours in 1707, the County became property of the King of Prussia, under which it remained until 1857, except for a short period where Neuchâtel was in the hands of the french Marechal Berthier.

It is interesting to note that Neuchâtel became a Swiss County in 1848, yet was still owned by the King of Prussia for another 9 years.

The XVIIIth Century saw a very steep industrial expansion, with the start of the watch industry, the Automatons (start of the artificial intelligence) by the Jaquet-Droz (1770), to the printing Industry (publishing books that were forbidden in France) and the presence of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who lived in Môtiers from 1762 to 1765.

In the XIXth Century, we should mention Philippe Suchard who succeeded, in a non cacao producing land, to become one of the world's leader in chocolate.

Neuchâtel was one of the first Swiss County to grant the right of vote to women in 1959 and remains one of the only county that has granted the right of vote for foreigners established since over 5 Years.

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GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES:

The local genealogical society is
Société neuchâteloise de généalogie

If you have questions about genealogical research in Canton Neuchâtel you may contact:

Just keep in mind, that all these volunteers are amateur genealogists, answering your questions in their spare time.
==> please give them sufficient time to respond <==

You are further invited to discuss your questions with other researchers interested in canton Neuchâtel on the "Genealogieforum Neuchâtel" (dialogue in German or French). The archive is open to visitors to read; in order to be able to respond or start a new thread, however, registration (free of charge) is required. When posting, please, keep in mind that only topics related to Neuchâtel should be placed here; for topics related to other regions, please, change to the corresponding canton or to the forum for Switzerland in general (dialogue in German or French).

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OTHER USEFUL ADDRESSES:

County Archive:
 
Archives d'Etat de Neuchâtel
Le Château
2001 Neuchâtel
e-mail

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NON-GENEALOGICAL PAGES ON THE CANTON

1. Official Home Page of Canton (in French)

2. Home Pages of Tourist Offices and the like:

3. Private Pages on Canton:

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GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION

1. Family Pages

2. Sources

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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LITERATURE

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MISCELLANEOUS

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This provisional page is maintained by Wolf W. Seelentag (text by Nicolas Junod). / Last updated 01 August 2005(wws).
Please forward any comments and/or additions to this webpage to the WebMasterCH.