Fluelen. Flüelen is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. Flüelen is first mentioned in 1266 as Vluolon. Flüelen formed an important transshipment point on Switzerland's transport system for many centuries, and at least since the opening of the first track across the Gotthard Pass in 1230. The various routes across the pass reached Lake Lucerne at Flüelen, and until the latter half of the 19th century the lake provided the best onward link to the cities of northern Switzerland. In the 13th century the Castle of Rudenz was built in Flüelen as an Imperial customs post to collect customs fees from the Gotthard traffic. In 1906, the Altdorf–Flüelen tramway was constructed to connect the centre of Altdorf with Fluelen railway station. The electric tramway operated until 1951, when it was replaced by a bus service. Flüelen has an area of 12.38 km2. Of this area, about 23.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 58.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.4% is settled and 11.6% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of 45 ha or about 3.6% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of 7 ha over the 1981/85 amount. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by 2 ha and is now about 0.56% of the total area. Of the agricultural land 90 ha is fields and grasslands and 285 ha consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1981/85 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by 16 ha. Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 7 ha. Rivers and lakes cover 9 ha in the municipality. The municipality is located along Lake Lucerne. It developed as a transshipment point on the trade routes over the Gotthard pass and along the lake. It consists of the village of Flüelen, the outer village settlements and scattered farm houses in the valley and up the mountain sides. Flüelen has a population of 1,972. As of 2014, 13.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 4 years the population has changed at a rate of 0.46%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2014, was 7.1, while the death rate was 10.1 per thousand residents. As of 2014, children and teenagers make up 21.7% of the population, while adults are 59.2% and seniors make up 19.1%. In 2015 there were 844 single residents, 901 people who were married or in a civil partnership, 113 widows or widowers and 114 divorced residents. In 2014 there were 823 private households in Flüelen with an average household size of 2.35 persons. Of the 369 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 37.1% were single family homes and 39.3% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 22.0% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 11.1% were built between 1991 and 2000. In 2013 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 2.52. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2015, was 2.45%. Most of the population speaks German, with Italian being second most common and Albanian being third. As of 2007 the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female.