Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The village square, the Protestant church of 1782, the former spa hotel Neuer Ochsen of 1796 and the Krone inn of 1781 are listed as heritage sites of national significance. History The village of de Geis is first mentioned in a list of offerings given to the Abbey of St Gall in 1272. While under the Abbey, Gais was a semi-independent village with its own Ammann (bailiff) and judge. By the 14th century Gais was already acting as an independent community. Under the Ammann Konrad Geppensteiner Gais joined the Swabian Cities Alliance () in 1377. In 1401 the town allied with the League of God's House. One of the most important battles of the Appenzell Wars (1401–29), the battle of Stoss Pass, took place in the territory of Gais. Geography Gais is quite centrally located in the hilly grass and woodland known as Appenzell or Appenzellerland at around above sea level. The Rotbach, a tributary of the , flows from northeast to the southwest through the village and then turns northwest in the direction of Teufen AR. Gais has an area, , of . Of this area, 49.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 44.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located in the former District of Mittelland. It consists of the village of Gais and several hamlets and individual farm houses. Demographics Gais has a population of 2,987 (). Of that population 373 are foreigners (in 2007 it was 351), which represents 12.49% of the total population. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at an annual rate of 1.5%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.7%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (1.6%) and Italian being third (0.9%). , the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The age distribution, , in Gais is: 217 people or 7.8% of the population are between 0–6 years old; 410 people or 14.8% are 6–15; and 152 people or 5.5% are 16–19. Of the adult population, 112 people or 4.0% of the population