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Grisons

Grisons (pronounced: grih.zonz'), German Graubünden (pronounce: grow.bÜn'dûn), Italian Grigioni (pronounced: gree.jo'nee), Romansh Grischun (pronounced: grih.zhoon'), French Grisons (pronounced: gree.zong'), is the largest and easternmost Swiss canton. It has a population of 167,000 and a surface area of 7,100 km².


Coat of Arms

Geography


Location of the canton
The canton is entirely mountainous, comprising the highlands of the Rhine and Inn valleys. It borders on Liechtenstein to the north, Austria to the north and the west, Italy to the south and south west, and the cantons of St. Gallen to the north east, Canton of Glarus, Uri to the east, and Ticino to the south west. The capital city is Chur. The world-famous resorts of Davos and St. Moritz are located in the canton.

Demographics

The languages spoken in the Grisons are German in the north west (54%), Romansh - a language of the Ladin group - in the Engadin and around Disentis/Mustér (31%), and Italian in the valleys Mesolcina/Misox, Calanca, Bregaglia/Bergell, and Poschiavo/Puschau (15%).

The main religions are Protestantism and Catholicism.

History

The name Graubünden means The Gray Leagues. The Grisons were established in the 14th century from the merging of three defensive leagues, the Gray League (Grauer Bund) , the League of God's House (Cadi, Gottes Haus, Ca' di Dio), and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions (Zehngerichtebund). A "perpetual ally" of Switzerland, the country became a canton in 1803.

Culture

The Grisons are known for a lovely dried-beef delicacy called Bundnerfleisch (Bündnerfleisch).

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