Cossonay

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Cossonay

Canton	Vaud
District	Cossonay
Coordinates	46°37′N 06°31′E
Population	2696 (2003)
Area	8.32 km²
Elevation	562 m
Postal code	1304
SFOS number	5477
Website	www.cossonay-ville.ch
Localities	Allens
Surrounded by	Penthalaz, Gollion, Senarclens, La Chaux, Dizy, Lussery-Villars
Cossonay

Cossonay is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district of Cossonay.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Population
4 Economy
5 Transportation

[edit] Geography

Cossonay lies at an elevation of 562 m. 14 km northwest of Lausanne. The town stretches across the high plateau west of the Venoge, about 130 m. above the valley floor, in the Gros de Vaud in the middle of the canton of Vaud.

The municipality is the breadbasket of Vaud. The eastern boundary is the Venoge. In the south, it reaches down to the valley of the Valezard, and in the north to Pré Defour. On the west, lies the forest of Sépey, in which the highest point of the municipality lies at an elevation of 620 m. Here lies the Étang du Sépey, which is a lake formed by an earlier quarry. In 1997, the territory of the municipality was 13 percent residential, 22 percent forested, 64 percent agricultural, and a little less than 1 percent unproductive land.

Cossonay includes the village of Allens. Cossonay lies just to the east of the center of its district. The surrounding municipalities are Penthalaz, Gollion, Senarclens, La Chaux, Dizy, and Lussery-Villars, all in the same district.

La Chaux	Dizy	Lussery-Villars
La Chaux		Penthalaz
Senarclens	Gollion	Gollion

[edit] History

Cossonay has both Roman ruins and medieval graves. The first documentaiton of the settlement dates from 1096 under the name Cochoniacum. In 1164, this appears as Cosonai, and in 1228 as Cossonai.

Ulrich von Cossonay gave the village church to the monastery in Romainmôtier in 1096. In 1224, it passed to the Benedictine monastery in Lutry, which built a priory in the second half of the 13th cnetury. The town wall, built in the 11th century, was rebuilt and extended in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Barons of Cossonay ruled over a territory from La Chaux to Boussens and from Dizy to Gollion.

Cossonay received city rights in 1264. A fire near the end of the 14th century destroyed much of the town and the town archives. In 1421, the town passed to the house of Savoy.

When the canton of Vaud was conquered by the Bernese in 1536, the town came under the administration at Morges. From 1798 to 1803, Cossonay was part of the canton of Léman in the Helvetic Republic, which was transformed into the canton of Vaud by the mediation of Napoleon. The district of Cossonay was formed in 1798, and the municipality has been its capital since its inception.

[edit] Population

With 2950 inhabitants (as of 2005), Cossonay is one of the middle-sized towns in the canton of Vaud. The population is 89.1 percent French-speaking, 3.1 percent German-speaking, and 2.7 percent Portuguese-speaking (as of 2000). The population has increased from 938 in 1850 and 1060 in 1900.

[edit] Economy

Cossonay was an agricultural town into the 20th century. Until the 15th century, it was a wine-growing region, but since then, other crops and cattle have dominated.

Mills were built along the Venoge in the 16th century. Industrialization came in the 19th century. Now, many workers commute to the metropolitan area of Lausanne.

[edit] Transportation

Cossonay lies at the crossroads of the highways from Morges to Orbe and from Lausanne over Col du Mollendruz to the Joux Valley. The motorway entrance to the A1 (Lausanne-Yverdon) is about 5 km from the center, and opened in 1981.

In 1855, the railway line Yverdon-Bussigny-près-Lausanne opened a train station at Cossonay-Gare. Postal buses run from Cossonay-Gare to Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne and L'Isle, as well as from Cossonay-Ville to Cottens and to Morges.