Silvaplana ( Romansh: ) 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

Maloja Region Maloja Region is one of the eleven Districts of Switzerland, administrative districts in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Grisons in Switzerland. It has an area of and a population of (as of ). It was created on 1 January 2017 as part of a ...

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 and the name of a lake in the municipality.

History

The first sign of a settlement in the borders of the municipality are some

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

-era broken pillars on the Julier Pass. The village church was first mentioned in 1356. A new, late gothic church was built in 1491. In 1556 the village converted to the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

Geography

Silvaplana has an area, , of . Of this area, 19.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (64.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). Silvaplana is located on Lake Silvaplana in the Upper Engadine . Before 2017, it was located in the Oberengadin sub-district of the Maloja, after 2017 it was part of the Maloja Region. Above the village at , the Julier Pass connects the Engadine valley to the rest of Graubünden and the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

watershed. While the stream Ova dal Vallun, which connects Lake Silvaplana and Lake Champfèr, runs through the village, it consists of the village of Silvaplana 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 Surlej and Albana, as well as part of the village of Champfèr.

Demographics

Silvaplana has a population (as of ) of . , 27.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 11.1%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 21-Oct-2009 , the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female.Graubunden in Numbers
accessed 21 September 2009 The age distribution, , in Silvaplana is; 79 children or 8.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 35 teenagers or 3.8% are 10 to 14, and 38 teenagers or 4.2% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 127 people or 13.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 188 people or 20.6% are 30 to 39, 140 people or 15.3% are 40 to 49, and 149 people or 16.3% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 88 people or 9.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 49 people or 5.4% are 70 to 79, there are 18 people or 2.0% who are 80 to 89, and there are 2 people or 0.2% 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 36% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (35.1%), the SP (17.6%) and the CVP (7.7%). In Silvaplana about 75.2% 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 ...

''). Silvaplana has an unemployment rate of 1.74%. , there were 21 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 95 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 11 businesses in this sector. 492 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 72 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

Languages

Most of the population () speaks German (65.9%), with Italian being second most common (15.9%) and Romansh being third (10.6%). Until the mid 19th Century, the entire population spoke the Upper-

Engadin The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...

e Romansh dialect of Puter. Due to increasing trade with the outside world, Romansh usage began to decline. In 1880 about 73.3% spoke Romansh as a first language, while in 1910 it was only 48.61%. The last time that Romansh was the majority language was in 1941 when 54.9% spoke it. By 1970 Romansh was a minority language with only 200 out of 714 (28.01%) speaking the language. Due to Romansh instruction in the village school, in 2000 there were 34.1% who at least understand Romansh. AD2008June23 Silvaplana-Surlej

Sports

The lake is well known for its predictable winds and is therefore a popular venue for water-sailsports including particularly

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, snow, sand, or other surface. It combines the aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snow ...

and dinghy-sailing. There is a major watersports centre on the SW shore. An advantage of this location is that spectators are never far from the action, as they might be for more conventional maritime locations. In August 2007 the International Fireball Dinghy sailing class conducted a World Championship event at Silvaplana; there were 95 boats that competed over 6 races. While there was high local media interest since the 2006 World Champions were a Swiss pair that won in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada, the 2007 winners were Richard Estaugh and Rob Gardner from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. The 2006 world champion Swiss team came in 11th in 2007.Fireball international results
accessed 21 October 2009

References

{{Authority control Populated places on the Inn (river)