Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Davos

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Davos
 
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Commune (pop., 2000: 11,417), eastern Switzerland. It consists of two villages, Davos-Platz and Davos-Dorf, located in a valley of the Alps. First inhabited by Romansh-speaking people, it was settled in the 13th century by German speakers. It became the capital of the League of Ten Jurisdictions (or Courts) in 1436 and was ruled by Austria from 1477 to 1649. After the 1860s it became a fashionable health resort, and in the 20th century it developed into a centre for skiing and other winter sports. In the 1990s Davos became famous for hosting the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of international politicians and financiers who represented a transnational elite.

For more information on Davos, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a word or phrase...
All Community Q&A Reference topics

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Davos
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Davos (dävôs') , town (1990 pop. 10,957), Grisons canton, E Switzerland, on the Landwasser River. It is a famous winter sports center and a health resort. Since 1971 (except for 2002–3), Davos has hosted the annual conference of what is now the World Economic Forum; the conference draws national leaders and business executives from around the world to the resort.

 
Dialing Code: The telephone dialing code for: Davos, Switzerland
Top
Home > Library > Travel > International Dialing Codes - Cities

The country code is: 41
The city code is: 81

 
Wikipedia: Davos
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For other uses, see Davos (disambiguation).
Davos
Country Switzerland Coat of Arms of Davos
Canton Graubünden
District Prättigau/Davos
46°48′N 9°50′E / 46.8°N 9.833°E / 46.8; 9.833Coordinates: 46°48′N 9°50′E / 46.8°N 9.833°E / 46.8; 9.833
Population 10,744 (December 2006)
  - Density 42 /km2 (109 /sq mi)
Area 254.48 km2 (98.26 sq mi)
Elevation 1,560 m (5,118 ft)
Davos - Top: View of the Sertig Valley, Middle left: World Economic Forum congress centre, Middle right: Lake Davos, Bottom: View over Davos
Top: View of the Sertig Valley, Middle left: World Economic Forum congress centre, Middle right: Lake Davos, Bottom: View over Davos
Postal code 7260 Davos-Dorf
7270 Davos-Platz
SFOS number 3851
Surrounded by Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch, Wiesen
Twin towns Aspen (USA), Sanada (Japan), Chamonix (France)
Website www.gemeinde-davos.ch
SFSO statistics
Davos is located in Switzerland
Davos
Davos

Davos (Romansh: Tavau, Italian: Tavate) is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.

It is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range. At 1,560 metres it is the highest city in Europe.

Davos has a dual claim to fame as the host to the World Economic Forum (WEF), an annual meeting of global political and business elites (often referred to simply as Davos), and the home of the largest ski resort in Switzerland, serving as the site of the annual Spengler Cup ice hockey tournament, hosted by the HC Davos local hockey team.[1]

Contents

History

The current settlement of the Davos area started back in High Middle Ages with the immigration of Rhaeto-Romans. From about 1280 the barons of Vaz allowed German-speaking Walser colonists to settle down, and conceded them extensive self-administration rights, causing Davos to become the largest Walser settlement area in eastern Switzerland. Natives still speak a dialect that is atypical for Graubünden, showing similarities with German idioms of western parts of Switzerland, such as in Bernese Oberland and the Upper Valais

In the "natural ice" era of winter sports, Davos, and the Davos Eisstadion was a mecca for speed skating. Many international championships were held here, and many world records were set, beginning with Peder Østlund who set four records in 1898.

In 1436, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions was founded in Davos.

From the middle of the 18th century, Davos became a popular destination for both the rich and the ailing because the microclimate in the high valley was deemed excellent by doctors and recommended for lung disease patients. Robert Louis Stevenson, who suffered from tuberculosis, wintered in Davos in 1880 at the recommendation of his Edinburgh physician Dr. George Balfour. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote an article about skiing in Davos in 1899. A sanatorium in Davos is also the setting of the Thomas Mann novel Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain).

Subsequently, Davos became a famous ski resort, especially frequented by tourists from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. After peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, the city settled down as a leading but less high-profile tourist attraction.

The six main ski areas are:

Weather

 Weather averages for Davos 
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) -0.9
(30)		 0.6
(33)		 3
(37)		 6.1
(43)		 11
(52)		 14.3
(58)		 16.9
(62)		 16.3
(61)		 14
(57)		 10.6
(51)		 3.8
(39)		 -0.4
(31)		 7.9
(46)
Daily Mean °C (°F) -5.3
(22)		 -4.7
(24)		 -2.2
(28)		 1.3
(34)		 5.9
(43)		 9
(48)		 11.3
(52)		 10.8
(51)		 8.3
(47)		 4.7
(40)		 -1
(30)		 -4.4
(24)		 2.8
(37)
Average low °C (°F) -9.6
(15)		 -9.3
(15)		 -6.6
(20)		 -2.9
(27)		 1.2
(34)		 4.1
(39)		 6.1
(43)		 6
(43)		 3.5
(38)		 0.1
(32)		 -5
(23)		 -8.4
(17)		 -1.7
(29)
Precipitation mm (inches) 68
(2.68)		 59
(2.32)		 60
(2.36)		 55
(2.17)		 91
(3.58)		 120
(4.72)		 132
(5.2)		 135
(5.31)		 90
(3.54)		 58
(2.28)		 66
(2.6)		 65
(2.56)		 999
(39.33)
Avg. precipitation days 9.7 8.3 9.6 10.1 12.6 14.2 13.9 13.6 9.5 7.3 8.9 9 126.7
Source: MeteoSchweiz [2] 8 May 2009

Pronunciation

Park on the Promenade
Kirchner Museum

English-speaking broadcast journalists covering the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting, along with many speakers at the meeting itself, commonly pronounce the town's name by emphasizing the first syllable and shortening the o to make the word rhyme with "moss", i.e., DAH-voss ([ˈdaː·vɔs]). The local pronunciation is dah-VOHS ([da'voːs]).

See also

References

  1. ^ SkisnowboardEurope.com
  2. ^ "Average Values-Table, 1961-1990" (in German, French, Italian). Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss. http://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/web/de/klima/klima_schweiz/tabellen.html. Retrieved on 8 May 2009. 

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Davos
v • d • e
Municipalities in the district of Prättigau/Davos, Switzerland
Coat of Arms of the Canton Graubünden

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Answers Corporation Dialing Code. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Davos".  Read more

Related answers
» More
 
Answer these
» More

Mentioned in

» More» More