Gals

Gals is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

The area around Gals has been inhabited for thousands of years. Some of the earliest archeological discoveries include a Bronze Age dug out canoe, Hallstatt grave mounds, La Tène and a Roman era wall. The recorded settlement was a large farm or estate that was built by the Counts of Neuchâtel. The village gradually grew up around the farm. During the 12th or 13th century the village was acquired by the Bernese Abbey of St. Johannsen. It remained part of the Abbey's land until the Abbey was secularized in 1528 during the Protestant Reformation. Gals became part of the Bernese bailiwick of Erlach. Serfdom was abolished relatively late, in 1551. The village first received a village charter in 1652. In the years 1746, 1837, 1852 and 1869, large fires ravaged the village. Between 1874 and 1883 the Zihl canal was built through the region. The canal allowed the villagers to drain the Grissachmoos marsh, which became rich farmland for sugar beets and other crops. In 1894 the village of Zihlbrücke was incorporated into Gals when the border between the Cantons of Bern and Neuchâtel was moved.

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