Schwende District was a district in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. Name In the 12th century the name was recorded as Swendi or swandjan. This is a derivate of the German expression schwinden machen (wood clearing). History Schwende first came into existence between 1204 and 1220. On 1 May 2022, the former districts of Rüte and Schwende merged to form the new district of Schwende-Rüte. Geography Schwende has an area, , of . Of this area, 48.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 17.6% is unproductive land. The district covers the portion of the half-canton which lies south-west of the Sitter river. It includes the settlement of Schwende as well as the western portion of Weissbad which is between the Sitter and south of the Brüelbachs. It also includes the village of Wasserauen as well as the majority of the Alpstein mountains to the peak of Mt. Säntis. Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Castle Argent windowed Sable and roofed Gules issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert with a bandlet wavy Argent. A silver castle stands on three green mountains. The three mountains are horizontally traversed by a silver waived beam. The background is blue. The coat of arms refers back to the Schwende Castle located in this village, but destroyed at the beginning of Appenzell's liberation wars. Demographics Schwende has a population () of . , 6.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 7.3%. 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 (1,816 or 93.9%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (32 or 1.7%) and Italian being third (15 or 0.8%). There are 5 people who speak French and 3 people who speak Romansh. Of the population in the district 1,042 or about 53.9% were born in Schwende and lived there in 2000. There were 288 or 14.9% who were born in the same canton, while 418 or 21.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 181 or 9.4% were born outside of Switzerland. In , ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss