Surselva District is an administrative district

Districts of Switzerland

In contrast to centrally organised states, in the federally constituted Switzerland each canton iscompletely free to decide its own internal organisation. Therefore there exists a variety of structures and terminology for the subnational entities between canton and municipality, loosely termed...

 in the canton

Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Graubünden

Graubünden

Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. It has an area of 1373.39 km² (530.3 sq mi) and has a population of (as of ).

The Surselva encompasses the valley of the Vorderrhein

Vorderrhein

The Vorderrhein is one of the two sources of the Rhine. Its catchment area of is located predominantly in the Canton of Graubünden . The Vorderrhein is about long, thus more than 5% longer than the Hinterrhein...

 and all its side valleys, from the source near the Oberalppass all the way down towards Reichenau (where the Vorderrhein joins the Hinterrhein

Hinterrhein (river)

The Hinterrhein is one of the initial tributaries of the Rhine in the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland, flowing from the village Hinterrhein near the San Bernardino pass through the Rheinwald valley into a gorge called Roflaschlucht...

 to form the then only Rhine called river). The district ends before that confluence at the huge forest on the giant debris of Flims Rockslide

Flims Rockslide

Flims Rockslide occurred some 10000 years ago. It is known as the biggest Landslide incident in the Alps and the biggest worldwide whose effects are still visible, moving some of rock, about 300 times that of the historic Swiss Goldau landslide. The town of Flims can be found at the line where...

 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 (romonsch: selva) is the border for "Sur-selva" (meaning "above the forest").
The Surselva is one of the few areas in Switzerland that is mainly Romansh-speaking (another notable valley being the Engadin

Engadin

The Engadin or Engadine is a long valley in the Swiss Alps located in the canton of Graubünden in southeast Switzerland. It follows the route of the Inn River from its headwaters at Maloja Pass running northeast until the Inn flows into Austria one hundred kilometers downstream...

, the valley of the Inn). There are a few German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

-speaking communities in the Surselva, two notable ones being Obersaxen

Obersaxen

Obersaxen is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.-History:Obersaxen is first mentioned in 765 as Supersaxa though this is from a copy which dates from later...

 and Vals

Vals, Switzerland

Vals is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.-History:Archeological finds from the Bronze Age around the thermal baths and Tomül pass as well as Iron Age items on the slopes of the Valserberg indicate that this area was used before written history...

, which were founded in the thirteenth century by the Walser

Walser

The Walser are German-speaking people who live in the Alps of Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein and Austria. The Walser people are named after the Wallis , the uppermost Rhône River valley...

.

Sub division: Kreis

It consists of five Kreis

Kreis

Kreis is the German word for circle, and also refers to a type of country subdivision.*In Germany, a Kreis is a district or county*In Prussia, a Kreis was a district or county...

e (sub-districts) and forty-three municipalities

Municipalities of Switzerland

Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

:

Languages

Romansh is the predominant language in the district, most of which speak the Sursilvan dialect. There is a large German-speaking minority in Surselva, notably the Walser settlements of Obersaxen

Obersaxen

Obersaxen is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.-History:Obersaxen is first mentioned in 765 as Supersaxa though this is from a copy which dates from later...

 and Vals

Vals

Vals is the Spanish word for waltz.Vals may also refer to:* Vals , a Peruvian style of music* VALS, "Values And Lifestyles," a psychographic segmentation tool...

. However, the percentage of Romansh-speakers is on the decline. Traditional Romansh-speaking cities such as Ilanz

Ilanz

Ilanz is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.-History:Ilanz is first mentioned in 765 as Iliande. Ilanz became the capital of the newly formed Grey League in 1395. The Grey League was the second of Three Leagues which eventually formed canton Graubünden...

 are losing ground to German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

.

Languages of Surselva District, GR
Languages	Census 2000
	Number	Percent
German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....	7,335	34.5 %
Romansh	12,606	59.4 %
Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...	289	1.4 %
TOTAL	21,231	100 %

A long distance hike is signposted to follow the main Vorderrhein River through the whole of the district