Eschert () is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (Jura Bernois). History Eschert is first mentioned in 1179 as Escert. For much of its history, the village was owned by Moutier-Grandval Abbey. In 1531 the parish church of Grandval along with the entire parish, including Eschert, converted to the new faith of the Protestant Reformation. In 1733 a fire destroyed most of the buildings in the village. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Eschert became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later in 1800, it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Eschert was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. The municipality is not on any of the major roads or railroads in the Grand Val and so remained isolated, rural and generally agrarian into the 20th century. Today an increasing number of commuters live in Eschert and work in factories in the surrounding municipalities. Geography Eschert has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 40.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 55.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 4.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 2.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. Out of the forested land, 49.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 6.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.8% is used for growing crops and 11.9% is pastures and 19.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Eschert is a star shaped village on the southern side of the Grand Val (valley of Moutier). A portion of the village is along the Raus (Sous la Rive) on the border of Moutier. On 31 December 2009 District de Moutier, 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 Argent seven Ears Gules in bend 2-3-2. Demographics Eschert has a population () of . , 16.7% of the population are resident foreign