Aigle

Aigle is a historic town of about 10,500 inhabitants and the capital of the district of Aigle in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, where the official language is Swiss French. Its name means eagle in French. It stands at about 415 metres on the eastern edge of the Rhône valley, at the foot of the Swiss Alps and some 13 kilometres south-southeast of Montreux, and the municipality of 16.4 square kilometres also takes in the villages of Le Cloître, Vers Pousaz and Fontanney. The site was settled very early, with Bronze Age burials and ceramics, and in Roman times Aigle lay on the road from the Great Saint Bernard pass via Vevey to the Roman capital Aventicum. The first medieval mention dates from 1150, and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV gave the territory to the house of Savoy in 1076. Neighbouring municipalities include Yvorne, Leysin, Ollon, and Vouvry and Collombey-Muraz in the canton of Valais.