Port (Bern)

Port
Coat of arms
Port Show map of Switzerland Port Show map of Canton of Bern
Location of Port
Coordinates: 47°7′N 7°15′E / 47.117°N 7.250°E / 47.117; 7.250Coordinates: 47°7′N 7°15′E / 47.117°N 7.250°E / 47.117; 7.250
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Bern
District	Biel/Bienne
Area
• Total	2.45 km2 (0.95 sq mi)
Elevation	448 m (1,470 ft)
Population (Dec 2016)
• Total	3,532
• Density	1,400/km2 (3,700/sq mi)
Postal code	2562
SFOS number	0745
Surrounded by	Aegerten, Bellmund, Biel/Bienne, Brügg, Ipsach, Jens, Nidau
Website	www.port.ch SFSO statistics

Port is a municipality in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, located in the Biel/Bienne administrative district.

Port is first mentioned in 1228 as Port.

The banks of the Zihl/Thielle river were inhabited since at least the neolithic. The remains of a neolithic Cortaillod culture stilt house village from the second quarter of the 4th Millennium BC were discovered in the Stüdeli area. The area was resettled often during the following millennia. From Bronze Age settlements a number of artifacts were discovered including swords, spearheads, axes and sickles. A Celtic settlement from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC left behind two helmets, metal vessels and about 120 swords and spearheads. However, most of the swords were broken or bent. One bent iron sword contains an engraving, in Greek letters, of the name Korisios. This is considered the oldest written document in Switzerland. Wooden pilings from the same era indicate that the settlement built a bridge over the river. Scattered tools and weapons from the Roman era, the Early Middle Ages and more recently indicate that the area remained settled.

By the 12th century Port was owned by the Counts of Neuchâtel, and in the 13th century the Counts of Neuchâtel-Nidau. After that line died out, the Inselgau region, including Port, was acquired by Fribourg in 1382. They held it for a short while before Bern acquired the Inselgau in 1398, where it remained. The construction of the Nidau-Büren Canal isolated the Portmoos section from the rest of Port. A suspension bridge was eventually build to connect Port and Portmoos. In the 1950s Port became a suburb of the nearby city of Biel. An attempt to annex Port into Biel was defeated by the Grand Council of Bern in 1950-51. The sections of Portmoos and Spärs became industrial centers in Port. Today almost 80% of jobs in Port are in industry, though about 83% of the population commutes to jobs in Biel and Nidau. As the population grew, municipal schools opened in 1954 and in 1968-71.