Oberdorf

Oberdorf is a municipality in the district of Waldenburg in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland.

area = 6.19

History

Oberdorf is first mentioned in 835 as Honoltesuuilare. In 1345-89 it was mentioned as Onoltzwil in dem obern [...] dorff and in 1491 it was mentioned as Oberdorf. Like Niederdorf it was part of the village of Onoldswil, until that village was dissolved in the 13th Century.

Geography

Oberdorf has an area, as of 2009, of 6.19 square km. Of this area, 2.69 km2 (1.04 sq mi) or 43.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.71 km2 (1.05 sq mi) or 43.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.79 km2 (0.31 sq mi) or 12.8% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km2 (7.4 acres) or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.6%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.3%. Out of the forested land, 42.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 10.2% is used for growing crops and 25.5% is pastures, while 5.7% is used for orchards or vine crops and 2.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the Waldenburg district, in the Waldenburger Valley or Vorderen Frenken Valley on the old road over the Oberen Hauenstein Pass. It consists of the village of Oberdorf and 13 scattered farming settlements, which were all founded since the 19th Century.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per bend sinistre Argent and Azure, overall a Key sinister palewise counterchanged.

Religion

From the 2000 census, 542 or 23.4% were Roman Catholic, while 1,261 or 54.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 28 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.21% of the population), there were 17 individuals (or about 0.73% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 72 individuals (or about 3.10% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 153 (or about 6.60% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist, 3 individuals who were Hindu and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 184 (or about 7.93% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 55 individuals (or about 2.37% of the population) did not answer the question.

Transport

Oberdorf is served by the Waldenburg narrow gauge railway, which operates a half-hourly train service to the town of Liestal. At Liestal railway station, onward connection is made with the Swiss Federal Railway's services to Basel, Bern, Lucerne and Zürich.