It is named after the Sense river, which forms the majority of its eastern border with the canton of Bern.

Most of the Sense belonged to the lordship of the Republik Freiburg (Respublicas Friburgensis) until the demise of the ancien régime.

[1] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (35,275 or 92.1%) as their first language, French is the second most common (1,217 or 3.2%) and Albanian is the third (630 or 1.6%).

The historical population is given in the following chart:[6] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 23.0% of the vote.

[11] From the 2000 census[update], 26,849 or 70.1% were Roman Catholic, while 6,913 or 18.1% 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.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.