Rapperswil is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

This, together with a foundation at Unteren Leenwald, money at Moosaffoltern (coins) and brick fragments at Holzhäusern indicate that there were scattered small settlements here during the Roman era.

Grave mounds and a High Medieval earthen fort show that the area remained settled after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

[5] Starting in 1262, the low court rights and pieces of property were gradually sold or gifted to Frienisberg Abbey and other monasteries.

The court in Rapperswil and Wierezwil was held by Frienisberg Abbey, Seewil and Moosaffoltern by Münchenbuchsee, Bittwil by Fraubrunnen and Frauchwil by the Cathedral chapter of St. Vinzenz in Bern.

[5] In 1849-52 the Bern-Buren road was built which helped tie the isolated farming villages together into a community.

In addition to agriculture, there are several small businesses and a brick factory in Rapperswil.

[6] During the Late Middle Ages the village was owned by the von Ergeuw family from Burgdorf.

Beginning in the 19th century local farmers began to raise dairy cattle along with traditional agriculture.

Today Ruppoldsried and Messen form an intercantonal school district.

It has retained much of its rural, agrarian character, today nearly two thirds of all jobs in Ruppoldsried are in agriculture.

In the 13th and 14th Centuries the Order of St. John in Münchenbuchsee bought out most of the earlier land owners, including the Burgdorf Family von Steffisburg.

[13] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (1,898 or 95.4%) as their first language, French is the second most common (28 or 1.4%) and Albanian is the third (14 or 0.7%).

The historical population is given in the following chart:[5][16] The entire village of Bangerten is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[17] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 41.4% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 892 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 55.0%.

In the tertiary sector; 60 or 30.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 10 or 5.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 35 or 17.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.0% were in the information industry, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 29 or 14.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 31 or 15.9% were in education and 8 or 4.1% were in health care.

[13] From the 2000 census[update], 140 or 7.0% were Roman Catholic, while 1,587 or 79.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

[21] During the 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 370 students attending classes in Rapperswil.