Samnaun

Samnaun is a high Alpine village and a valley at the eastern end of Switzerland and a municipality in the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.HistoryThe valley was first used as a seasonal mountain pasture for the villages of Tschlin and Ramosch. By 1220 the first permanent farm houses are mentioned. These farm houses and fields were given as a gift to the Marienberg Abbey by the counts of Tarasp in the 12th century.GeographySamnaun has an area of 56.2km2. Of this area, 46.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 11.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (41.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).Until 2017 it was part of the Ramosch sub-district, of the Inn district, after 2017 it was part of the Engiadina Bassa/Val Müstair Region. It is located in a left side valley of the Engadin valley, at an elevation of 1700-. It consists of five village sections; Compatsch, Laret, Plan (Plaun), Ravaisch and Samnaun.In the 19th century, Samnaun could only be reached by road from Spiss in Austria. Thus Samnaun was excluded from the Swiss customs territory. It retains a privileged 'duty-free' status, albeit not without controversy, in the twenty-first century. The exception was maintained even after a road was built in 1905 linking Samnaun to Martina, at the most eastern point of the Lower Engadine.