Cormoret is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking part of the canton in the Jura mountains. History Cormoret is first mentioned in 1178. By the end of the 12th Century Cormoret was owned by the town of Saint-Imier. In 1317 Rodolphe IV., count of Neuchâtel granted the village and inhabitants to Jean Compagnet de Courtelary, under the authority of the Prince-Bishop of Basel. Cormoret belonged to the Barony of Erguel. In 1530 the village adopted the Reformed faith. A fire destroyed part of the town in 1795, but about thirty buildings from the 16th to 19th century still remain in the village. Several water powered mills from the same period also still exist, though many of them were converted into factories in the 19th century. The local economy was built on agriculture and starting in the 19th century on watch manufacturing. The last watch part factory in the village closed in 1983. In 1885 Cormoret built the first public lighting system in Switzerland. The village's train station was built in 1890. Geography Cormoret has an area of . Of this area, or 54.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.7%. Out of the forested land, 36.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.5% is used for growing crops and 9.6% is pastures and 36.0% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. On 31 December 2009 District de Courtelary, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois. Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or two Pales Azure and overall on a Bend Argent three Mullets of Five Gules. Demographics Cormoret has a population () of . , 3.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of -5.9%. Migration accounted for -2.4%, while births