Cazis ''( Romansh: Tgazas)'' is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Viamala Region Viamala Region is one of the eleven regions of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, Franc ...

in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of

Portein Portein ''( Romansh: Purtagn)'' was a municipality in the district of Hinterrhein in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Portein, Präz, Sarn and Tartar merged into the municipality of Cazis. Coat of ...

Präz Präz ''( Romansh: Preaz)'' was a municipality in the district of Hinterrhein in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Portein, Präz, Sarn and Tartar merged into the municipality of Cazis. History Prä ...

, Sarn and Tartar merged into the municipality of Cazis.

History

Cazis is first mentioned in 926 as ''Cacias''.

Geography

Cazis has an area, , of . Of this area, 41% is used for agricultural purposes, while 41.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 13.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.3%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Thusis sub-district, of the Heinzenberg district, after 2017 it was part of the Viamala Region. It is located on the western side of the Hinterrhein valley. It consists of the

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

of Cazis and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Ober- and Unterrealta, Luvreu, Ratitsch, Summaprada, Schauenberg and Valleina. The municipalities of Cazis,

, Sarn, and Tartar merged on 1 January 2010 into a new municipality that will be known as Cazis.

Demographics

Cazis has a population (as of ) of . , 14.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.4%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 7 October 2009 , the gender distribution of the population was 48.2% male and 51.8% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Cazis is; 180 people or 11.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 86 people or 5.5% are 10 to 14, and 126 people or 8.0% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 160 people or 10.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 274 people or 17.4% are 30 to 39, 255 people or 16.2% are 40 to 49, and 199 people or 12.6% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 131 people or 8.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 87 people or 5.5% are 70 to 79, there are 67 people or 4.3% who are 80 to 89, and there are 10 people or 0.6% who are 90 to 99.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 33.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (29.6%), the SPS (22.3%) and the FDP (13.4%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Cazis about 64.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Cazis has an unemployment rate of 1.09%. , there were 69 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 19 businesses involved in this sector. 150 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there are 16 businesses in this sector. 564 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 42 businesses in this sector. From the , 840 or 53.3% are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 488 or 31.0% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there are 55 individuals (or about 3.49% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 12 individuals (or about 0.76% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 25 (or about 1.59% of the population) who are

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. There are 53 individuals (or about 3.37% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 64 (or about 4.06% of the population) belong to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 38 individuals (or about 2.41% of the population) did not answer the question. The historical population is given in the following table:

Languages

Until 1800, the municipality spoke exclusively Sursilvan, a dialect of Romansh. Today, the municipality is predominantly German-speaking population, with small Romansh- and Italian-speaking minorities. Most of the population () speaks German (84.2%), with Romansh being second most common ( 4.7%) and Italian being third ( 2.7%).

Heritage sites of national significance

The ''Cresta'' (prehistoric settlement), ''Chapel St. Wendelin'' and the ''Catholic Church of St. Martin'' are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance
21 November 2008 version, accessed 7 October 2009

Transportation

The municipality has three railway stations: , , and . All three are located on the Landquart–Thusis line with regular service to and .

References

External links

Official Web site
{{Authority control Municipalities of Graubünden Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden Populated places established in 2010 2010 establishments in Switzerland