Arzier-Le Muids is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History The first mention of Arzier was in 1306 as the village Argie. Throughout the Middle Ages Arzier's name is seen in documents as Arsie, Argier, and Arsier. Le Muids is first mentioned as a barn (dependent upon the abbey of Oujon) in 1250. Settlers were granted land (for farming) in Arzier by the abbey of Oujon in 1304. In 1536 control of the region, and of all of the lands of the abbey were lost to a conquering duke from Bern. This duke wasn't appreciated because he did not let each village govern itself, causing numerous problems and much discontent. Less than a century had past before the Brennards and Rafi lost their patience and stopped farming altogether, descending into extreme poverty. As time went by and the land went to waste, the regional government decided to take drastic measures, and in 1664, granted Arzier political independence. The village still had to pay a tax to Nyon, but henceforth it managed its own affairs independently. This is seen as the beginning of Arzier's prosperity. In the early days of independence, the local council was composed of 8 members, each elected for life terms. Half came from Arzier, the other half from Le Muids. Today the political structure is much more complex, with the executive branch being made up of a mayor (syndic), a vice-mayor (vice-syndic) and three ministers (municipaux), and the legislative being made up of a council of a president, two vice presidents and 52 general members. Geography Arzier has an area, , of . Of this area, or 25.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 71.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.0% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.5% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 67.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.1% is used for growing crops and 1.6% is pastures and 20.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality was part of the old Nyon District until it was dissolved