Buren district
The district of Büren is one of the former 26 districts of the canton of Bern, located in the north of the canton, and covers an area of 88 km². The district capital was Büren an der Aare.
Geography
The district of Büren is located between the Seeland and Emmental regions. It is bordered to the northwest by the Courtelary district, to the north by Lebern (SO), to the east by Bucheggberg (SO), to the southeast by the Fraubrunnen district, to the south by Aarberg district, to the southwest by Nidau district, and to the west with that of Biel-Bienne.
History
Century lordship XII to XIV, Bernese bailiwick from 1388 to 1798, then district until 1803, bailiwick until 1831 and district again. On the place where the district stands today, the barony of Strassberg, based on Städtiberg, stood above the future Büren an der Aare in the Middle Ages. After the extinction of the Strassenbergs, the lordship passed before 1225 to the counts of Neuchâtel-Nidau, in 1246 to the Strassenberg-Büren, under whom the legal situation was changed due to mortgages and inheritances.
The lordship was committed by Baron Imer de Strassenberg to the city of Solothurn in 1345, forced by lack of money; The lordship was retaken as a fief after the death of Imer in 1364 by Count Rodolfo de Nidau, who will fall in 1375 defending the city of Büren against the Guglers; The lordship then fell into the inheritance of the Counts of Kyburg, who, selling it and mortgaging it to Austria (1379) and Enguerrand de Coucy (1387), exposed the small citadel to a siege in 1386, and to Bernese control in 1388.
The victors, Berne and Solothurn, administered the lordship together before dividing it in 1393. Berne gained the majority and the seat of the lordship, Büren an der Aare, which would become the center of the bailiwick, and the district since 1798. The Hauptgasse castle, built from 1620 to 1625, was the seat of the ball and, from 1803, of the authorities of the district, which is today of medium importance due to the number of communes that comprise it, but one of the smallest in the canton of Bern in area. The district was dissolved on December 31, 2009 and its communes were mostly absorbed into the new Seeland administrative district; while Lengnau bei Biel, Meinisberg and Pieterlen were annexed to the Biel/Bienne administrative district.
Communes
| Communes | Population (31.12.2006) | Surface at km2 |
|---|---|---|
 Arch | 1570 | 6.4 |
 Büetigen | 783 | 3.6 |
 Büren an der Aare | 3195 | 12.7 |
 Busswil bei Büren | 1959 | 3.1 |
 Diessbach bei Büren | 844 | 6.3 |
 Dotzigen | 1325 | 4.3 |
 Lengnau bei Biel | 4475 | 7.3 |
 Leuzigen | 1175 | 10.3 |
 Meienried | 52 | 0.7 |
 Meinisberg | 1232 | 4.4 |
 Oberwil bei Büren | 782 | 6.7 |
 Pieterlen | 3342 | 8.3 |
 Rüti bei Büren | 828 | 6.5 |
 Wengi bei Büren | 611 | 7.1 |
| Total (14) | 22.178 | 87.7 |