Bettwiesen is a municipality in the district of Münchwilen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. History Bettwiesen is first mentioned in 868 as Petterwison. During the Middle Ages it belonged to the Prince-Bishop of Constance's Tannegg district. In 1693 the entire district went to the monastery of Fischingen. The monastery had, since the Late Middle Ages, owned land in Bettwiesen and had built a castle in 1627. St. Mary's Chapel in Bettwiesen was first mentioned in 1275 and was part of the parish of Wil under the monastery. The village converted to the new faith during the Protestant Reformation in 1530, but converted back to the Catholic faith during the Counter-Reformation in 1542. The Reformed population became part of the parish of Sirnach, and later (probably in the 18th century) the Affeltrangen parish. In 1646, the village split from the Wil parish to form a new, catholic parish. Farmland and vineyards were replaced in 1900 by the livestock industry (1870 a cattle bank opened and in 1889 a dairy). After 1900, an embroidery factory and later a shoe factory (1936–79) opened in the village. In 1942, a galvanizing plant opened (in 1964, it had 235 employees). In 1990, 52% of workers worked in manufacturing, while 35% worked in the services sector. Geography Bettwiesen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 63.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 22.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 13.8% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 7.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.3%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.9%. Out of the forested land, 21.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 58.2% is used for growing crops, while 4.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Münchwilen district. It consists of the linear village of Bettwiesen. Demographics Bettwiesen has a population () of , 19.0% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 0.5%. Most of the population () speaks German(85.9%), with Italian