Aimargues

History

The suffix "argues" suggests that the town of Aimargues has been in existence since antiquity. It was probably named after the Roman military commander Flavius Armatus. It is unclear when exactly Aimargues castle was built but it was in existence before 1185. King Louis IX is said to have set out for the Crusades from the town. In the 13th century, a census showed that the town had become a bustling community with 522 homes, indicating a population of over 2,000 people. In 1565, the area came under the rule of the house of Crussol and Viscount d'Uzès made it one of the main strongholds of the Lower Vistrenque. Louis XIII ordered the destruction of the city walls. In the early 18th century, Jean Charles de Crussol included Baron d'Aymargues among his titles. The town has developed from an initial central core. This is self-contained and not traversed by routes extending from one side of the town to the other. It was originally surrounded by the city wall, has the château in its northwest corner and the church, reconstructed in the nineteenth century, in its centre. This ancient part is surrounded by another zone that also has tightly packed houses and narrow streets. The outer suburbs are modern.

Geography

Located some to the southwest of Nîmes, close to the border with the Hérault department, Aimargues can be easily accessed from the nearby Autoroute A9. The Petite Camargue is an area of wetlands on the west side of the delta of the Rhône River in southern France. Aimargues is a small town in the Petite Camargue beside the River Vidourle which rises in the Cévennes Mountains to the northwest. Some 6,000 years BC much of the interior of the Petite Carmargue was occupied by a lagoon, l’étang de l’or, which was separated from the sea by a sandy bar. Since then the lake has become progressively silted up. The countryside around Aimargues is flat and the soil is rich, being accumulated sediment brought down the River Rhône and deposited in its delta and surrounding area during flooding. As well as agricultural land there are levees, creeks, marshes, brackish ponds, lagoons and dunes in the area.

Most-observed species

• Cetti's Warbler

  Cettia cetti (Temminck, 1820) · Aves
  8,378
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8,303
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,890
• Greater Flamingo

  Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas, 1811 · Aves
  7,414
• Little Egret/Western Reef-Heron

  Egretta garzetta (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  7,276
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,020
• European Goldfinch

  Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,962
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,479

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2011-08-03
  4 km ESE of Barjac, France
• M 2.5 — 2008-12-23
  4 km ENE of Éguilles, France
• M 2.6 — 2008-04-15
  64 km SSW of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France
• M 2.6 — 2007-08-03
  1 km NE of Jonquières-Saint-Vincent, France
• M 2.5 — 2007-01-20
  16 km NW of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France
• M 2.6 — 2007-01-04
  2 km W of Sorgues, France