Rüte District was a district in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. History Rüte is first mentioned around 1420-21 as Rütiner rod. On 1 May 2022, the former districts of Rüte and Schwende merged to form the new district of Schwende-Rüte. Name The name Rüte goes back to Reuten, which refers to the German word roden (wood clearing). The name originally comes from one of the two hamlets called Rüti. Formation The municipality was formally established in 1872 and did not undergo major changes since then. Geography Rüte has an area, , of . Of this area, 55.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 31.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and 9.1% is unproductive land. The district stretches from Altmann in the south to the hill country around the Hirschberg in the north. It includes the villages of Brülisau, Eggerstanden and Steinegg as well as portion of Weissbad between the Brüel, Schwendebach and Sitter rivers and the eastern portion of the Appenzell. The administrative center of the district is Steinegg. Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable a Semi Swan Argent langued and beaked Gules issuant from a Crown Or adorned of the third. The coat of arms shows a golden crown on a black background. From the crown a swan's neck with a red beak emerges. This is a modified version of the coat of arms of the Schönenbühl family who were the landlords of the abbey in St. Gallen in the 13th century. The family formerly resided in a castle in Rüte. Demographics Rüte has a population () of . , 4.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 11.4%. It has changed at a rate of 5.4% due to migration and at a rate of 0.1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks German (2,841 or 97.5%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (19 or 0.7%) and Italian being third (10 or 0.3%). There are 3 people who speak French and 3 people who speak Romansh. Of the population in the district 1,667 or about 57.2% were born in Rüte and lived there in 2000. There were 467 or 16.0% who were born in the same canton, while 587 or 20.1% were