Jona, Switzerland

For other uses, see Jona (disambiguation).

Jona
Former municipality
Jona in November 2010
Coat of arms
Location of Jona
Jona Jona
Coordinates: 47°13′N 8°49′E
Country	Switzerland
Canton	St. Gallen
District	See-Gaster
Municipality	Rapperswil-Jona
Area
• Total	20.43 km2 (7.89 sq mi)
Elevation	409 m (1,342 ft)
Population  (December 2006)
• Total	17,799
• Density	870/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (Central European Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Postal code(s)	8645
SFOS number	3335
ISO 3166 code	CH-SG
Localities	Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen, Wurmsbach
Surrounded by	Altendorf (SZ), Bubikon (ZH), Eschenbach, Freienbach (SZ), Hombrechtikon (ZH), Kempraten, Lachen (SZ), Rapperswil, Rüti (ZH), Schmerikon, Tuggen (SZ), Wangen (SZ)
Website	www.rapperswil-jona.ch SFSO statistics

Grünfels estate

Stampf lido on Jona river respectively on Obersee (upper Lake Zürich)

St. Martin Busskirch

Jona is a former municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Geography

Aerial view by Walter Mittelholzer (1919)

Jona is located at the eastern shore of Obersee. It has been part of the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona since 2007, as before comprising the villages of Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen and Wurmsbach (Wurmsbach Abbey).

History

The river Jona flows through the municipality in the Lake Zürich, the settlement is named after the river, first recorded in Latinized form Johanna in AD 834, as super Johannam fluvium. The Middle High German form Jonun is recorded 1243. The river name was likely adapted into Alemannic (Old High German) around the 8th century from a Gallo-Roman *Jauna as a weakly inflecting feminine *Jōna(n), yielding modern dialectal Jōne(n).

In 1350, Rapperswil and its castle was widely destroyed by Rudolf Brun, and the Herrschaft Rapperswil – Rapperswil and some surrounding villages including Jona – was acquired by the Habsburg family.

After 1803's Act of Mediation, Rapperswil and Jona joined the canton of St. Gallen, and the former Herrschaft Rapperswil was split into the municipalities Rapperswil and Jona. Jona, as municipality, was established in 1803 around the former boundaries of the city of Rapperswil, comprising the small rest of the former Herrschaft Rapperswil and the villages of Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen and Wurmsbach.

In the early 19th century, Jona river's hydropower was used for a larger number of watermills along the small river. As a renewable source, the river was important for industrialization of the rapidly growing village.

On January 1, 2007, the municipalities of Rapperswil and Jona merged to form a new political entity: Rapperswil-Jona has a population of 25,777 (December 2007). This makes it the second largest town in the canton after the capital St. Gallen itself.

Transportation

The town's bus service has been provided, since 2008, by the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürichsee und Oberland (VZO). Jona railway station area will be newly constructed by probably the end 2015, as well as the bus station situated nearby.

Gallery

• 
  Jona and Rapperswil (1804)
• 
  thumbJona river in Jona, Stadthaus (city hall) to the left
• 
  Jona train station on the S-Bahn Zürich lines S5 and S15

Notable people

• Alberich Zwyssig (1808-1854) a Cistercian monk who composed the Swiss Psalm, the present Swiss national anthem.
• Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology
• Wangpo Tethong (born 1963), Swiss-Tibetan activist, writer, spokesperson of Greenpeace Switzerland and member of the 15th Tibetan Parliament in Exile

Literature

• Eugen Halter: Geschichte der Gemeinde Jona. Politische Gemeinde Jona, Schweizer Verlagshaus, Zürich 1970.

External links

• Rapperswil-Jona (official site) (in German)
• Bollingen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Busskirch in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Jona in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Kempraten in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.