Crémines 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 Crémines is first mentioned in 1461 as Crimene. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area are several early medieval graves. For much of its history it was owned by the provost of Moutier-Grandval Abbey. During the Middle Ages and into the Early Modern era the Pré de Sales in Crémines was used as the dueling grounds for entire valley. In 1531 the village accepted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation along with the rest of the parish of Grandval. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Crémines 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, Crémines was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. Until about 1900, the local economy was still dominated by agriculture with a few cottage industries that manufactured pottery, watch parts and arquebuses. This began to change with the growth of the machinery manufacturing industry in nearby Moutier and the construction of the Solothurn-Moutier railroad in 1904-08. A number of industrial factories settled in Crémines and remained. Today over half of the working population is in the industrial sector. In 1972, a zoo opened in the municipality. Geography Crémines has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 42.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 52.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.3% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 2.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, 44.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 7.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.6% is used for growing crops and 15.1% is pastures and 18.2% is used for alpine pastures. The municipality includes the village of Crémines in the Grand Val (valley of Moutier), and some scattered farmhouses on Mont Raimeux, which has only been accessible by road since 1859. 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