Surselva District

Geschichte

Surselva District is a former administrative district in the canton of the Grisons, Switzerland. It had an area of 1373.39km2 and a population of 21,325 in 2015. The district's name derives from the name of the Vorderrein/Rein Anteriur's valley, namely the Surselva (excluding the side valleys). It was replaced with the Surselva Region on 1 January 2017 as part of a reorganization of the Canton.GeographyThe Surselva District encompasses the valley of the Vorderrhein/Rein Anteriur and all its side valleys, from the source near the Oberalp Pass all the way down towards Reichenau . The district ends before that confluence at the huge forest on the giant debris of Flims Rockslide that is responsible for the name of the region: The debris area lack of water and soil and were ever left as a big forest as it was useless for farming. This forest is the border for "Sur-silva" .The Surselva is one of the few areas in Switzerland that is mainly Romansh-speaking . There are a few German-speaking communities in the Surselva, e.g. Disentis/Mustér, with its Benedictine monastery, which dates back to 720, Obersaxen and Vals, which were founded in the thirteenth century by the Walser.