GRISONS (gre-zen'), or GRAUBUN DEN, a canton of Switzerland; the largest and the most thinly peopled; bounded by Tyrol and Lombardy; area, 2,773 square miles; capital, Chur. The whole canton is an assemblage of moun tains intersected by narrow valleys. These last form three groups, of which the first and most important lies along the course of the Rhine, and stretches N., occupying nearly the whole of the W. portion of the canton; the second, forming the Enga dine, extends N. E. along the course of the Inn; and the third comprises several smaller valleys, whose streams run S., belonging to the basins of the Ticino and the Adige. Pastures and forests oc cupy a large portion of the canton; cattle and timber are the principal ex ports. Numerous mineral springs are found within the canton; also the health resorts of Davos, the Upper Engadine, Seewis, etc. Iron, lead, copper, zinc, and silver occur. Within the Grisons, too,
are several passes leading to Italy, such as the Spliigen, St. Bernardino, Bernina. The country was anciently inhabited by the Rhntii, who are supposed to have been of Etruscan race. It was conquered by the Romans under Augustus, and added by Charlemagne to his empire in 807. During the Middle Ages the Bishop of Chur was the most powerful of the numerous nobles who sought to oppress the people, till they in self-defense formed themselves into leagues. One of these leagues, formed in 1424, was called the gray league from the gray home spun worn by the unionists, and hence the German and French names of the canton—Graubiinden and Grisons. In 1471 these separate unions entered into a general federation, which then (1497 1498) formed an alliance with the Swiss cantons. Pop. about 125,000.