Traces of early and late Bronze Age settlements have been found in the Hagneck marshland, which is part of the Grand Marais.
Construction on a hill that separated the marshes from the lake resulted in the destruction of what appeared to be a 200 m (660 ft) Roman era drainage pipe.
[3] The small village of Hagnek was part of the parish of Täuffelen and the land was owned by the Counts of Neuchâtel-Nidau.
The drainage projects opened up extensive farmland in the rich soil of the former marshes.
[3] The municipality was created in 1840, but remained tied to Täuffelen for the school and church.
The construction of the Biel-Täuffelen-Ins railroad in 1916 connected the small village to the Swiss rail network.
Today, agriculture, arts and crafts and the power plant employ a third of the population.
Of the rest of the land, 0.23 km2 (0.089 sq mi) or 12.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.15 km2 (37 acres) or 8.2% is either rivers or lakes.
[5] The village lies on the right bank of Biel/Bienne, at the mouth of the Hagneck canal, which was dug out as a main part of the Jura water correction, leading the Aare River into the lake.
[6] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Border Or and overall a Bendlet wavy Azure.
[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (342 or 95.8%) as their first language, French is the second most common (11 or 3.1%) and Romansh is the third (1 or 0.3%).
In the federal election, a total of 163 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 47.4%.
[9] There were 180 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.6% of the workforce.
[22] In 2011 a total of 1.4% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.
[23] From the 2000 census[update], 272 or 76.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 36 or 10.1% were Roman Catholic.
[19] -P. Aeschbacher, Stadt und von den Landvogtei Nidau Anfängen bis ins 16.