Échallens is a municipality in the district of Gros-de-Vaud in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
History
The territory of the municipality was already settled very early. There are remains of a Bronze Age foundry.
The first documentation dates from 1141 under the name of Charlens. Later forms of the name include Challeins, Escharlens (1177), Eschallens (1228), and Eschalleins (1279). The present form of the name first appears in 1315. The name comes from the personal name Charles.
The site belonged originally to the Bishop of Lausanne. At the end of the 12th century, the Burgundian Lords of Montfaucon established the territory of Échallens and built a castle there in the 13th century. In 1317, the rights of the house of Savoy were recognized. In 1350, Échallens was encircled by a wall and received city rights in 1351. From then until the 16th century, a weekly market was held.
In 1410, the government of Échallens passed to the house of Chalon, which originated in Burgundy. For this reason, the Eidgenossen took over after the Burgundian Wars and put it under the administration of Fribourg and Bern in 1476.
Because of the common administration of Catholic Fribourg and Protestant Bern, the Reformation did not gain ground in Echallen, and it remained Catholic.
Échallens belonged from 1798 to 1803 to the canton of Léman in the Helvetic Republic, and was brought into the canton of Vaud by the mediation of Napoleon. It has been the capital of the district since 1798.
Geography
Échallens has an area, , of . Of this area, or 63.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 13.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 22.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 12.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.2%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 50.6% is used for growing crops and 10.4% is pastures, while 2.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality was the capital of the Échallens District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Échallens became part of the new district of Gros-de-Vaud.
Échallens lies at an elevation of north of Lausanne. The municipality stretches across the Gros de Vaud plateau, on both sides of the river Talent, on the northwest edge of the Jorat, in central Vaud.
It includes a section of the rolling Gros de Vaud, the breadbasket of the canton of Vaud. The Talent runs from east to west across the municipality, from the highlands of the Jorat. In the southwest, it runs down to the Mortigue (a tributary of the Talent). The highest point in the municipality is at an elevation of in the municipality woods.
Échallens lies in the middle of its district. The surrounding municipalities are Villars-le-Terroir, Poliez-le-Grand, Bottens, Malapalud, Assens, Saint-Barthélemy, and Goumoens-la-Ville, all in the same district.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or, an Oak-tree eradicated Sable leaved and fructed proper.
Demographics
Échallens has a population () of . , 18.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 25.7%. It has changed at a rate of 20.7% due to migration and at a rate of 4.9% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (3,815 or 89.1%), with German being second most common (122 or 2.8%) and Portuguese being third (90 or 2.1%). There are 78 people who speak Italian and 4 people who speak Romansh.
Of the population in the municipality 894 or about 20.9% were born in Échallens and lived there in 2000. There were 1,880 or 43.9% who were born in the same canton, while 615 or 14.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 800 or 18.7% were born outside of Switzerland.