Samedan

Samedan (, ) is a town and municipality in the Maloja Region in the Swiss canton of Grisons. It is served by Samedan railway station on the Rhaetian Railway network and by the Samedan Airport.

Samedan is first mentioned in 1137–1139 as Samadene, and in 1156 as Samadn. For 1288 there is evidence of a residential tower in the upper part of the village. In 1462 Samedan became the seat of lower jurisdiction. In the Swabian War of 1499, the village burned down. In 1551 the parish of Samedan, one of three large parishes in the Upper Engadin, converted to Protestantism. From the 16th century onwards, some families, especially the von Salis and von Planta, became very wealthy and had magnificent houses built in the village. They owed their financial success, among other things, to their political offices, but also to emigration and mercenary service abroad. In the 19th century, trade and commerce developed earlier and faster in Samedan than anywhere else in the Engadin. Tourism began circa 1830: Hotels were built, mountains were climbed for the first time, and English tourists had an English church erected in 1872 (it was demolished in 1965). A golf course was built in 1893; the Muottas Muragl Bahn (a funicular railway) was constructed in 1907. The first power station was built in 1888 and a major hospital in 1895. Banks and a printer settled in Samedan. In 1903 the town was connected to the Rhaetian Railway; it soon became the most important railway junction in the Engadin. The airfield was opened in 1937; the Protestant school, today's Academia Engiadina, in 1943. On 1 October 1943, Samedan was mistakenly bombed by American planes. Luckily, nobody was hurt. From the 1980s, the formerly Romansh farming village developed into a modern service centre, in which German speakers outnumber Romansh speakers.

Samedan has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of Of this area, about 15.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 9.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and 72.9% is unproductive land. Over the past two decades (1979/85 2004/09) the amount of land that is settled has increased by and the agricultural land has decreased by
Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Oberengadin sub district of the Maloja district in the central Oberengadin valley along the Inn river. After 2017 it was part of the Maloja Region. It consists of the village of Samedan and the hamlet of Punt Muragl, the upper section of the Val Bever as well as an exclave that includes nearly the entire Val Roseg, a valley surrounded by the highest mountains of the canton: Piz Bernina, Piz Scerscen and Piz Roseg. Until 1943 Samedan was known as Samaden.

Samedan has a population of as of 2013, 23.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 3 years (2010–2013) the population has changed at a rate of 1.31%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2013, was 8.3 while the death rate was 7.0 per thousand residents. In 2012 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 31.86. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2014, was 2.14%.

In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the SVP with 23.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (22.5%), the BDP (19.6%) and the SP (16.4%). In the federal election, a total of 821 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 42.3%. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 30.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (28.7%), the FDP (28.2%) and the CVP (10.4%).

It is the administrative center of the upper Engadin region, and services include a regional hospital (Spital Oberengadin), a major RhB railway station with regular trains towards Pontresina, Chur and St. Moritz, and a regional airport (Engadin Airport). Both the Bernina Express and Glacier Express trains pass Samedan. The funicular Muottas Muragl Bahn leads to the top of Muottas Muragl (2454 m).

as of 2012, there were a total of 2,891 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 26 people worked in 8 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 500 workers in 51 separate businesses. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 2,365 jobs in 335 businesses. In 2013 a total of 31.9% of the population received social assistance.

Köppen Geiger climate classification classifies its climate as subarctic (Dfc). Between 1961 and 1990 Samedan had an average of 95.5 days of rain per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was August during which time Samedan received an average of of precipitation. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 11.5 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 5 days.

The Upper Engadine Cultural Archives is housed in the Chesa Planta in Samedan. James Bond escapes from Blofeld's base at Piz Gloria to Samedan in Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service where he is rescued by his future wife, Tracy. The nineteenth century campaigner for women's rights and the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, Josephine Butler, holidayed in Samedan in 1881 preferring it to Pontresina. She walked extensively with friends whilst her husband, because of his rheumatism, painted and sketched. He preached at the local Protestant church, which was largely run by another English clergyman Mr Eardley.