The Rhine, its valley and history . berland, has not merely separated theglacial sources of the Rhine into two series, Rhaeticand Swiss, but has also divided the inhabitants, untilin the most recent epoch of history, into two com-munities, Rhaetic and Helvetic—the League of theGraubiinden and the Swiss Confederation. On the otherhand, the high-lying valleys of the south had easy com-munication over the many passes into the heads of theItalian valleys, with the result that Romonsch—ofSouthern and not Northern derivation—is the languageof the Highlands. The conquests made by the high-landers hav
The Rhine, its valley and history . berland, has not merely separated theglacial sources of the Rhine into two series, Rhaeticand Swiss, but has also divided the inhabitants, untilin the most recent epoch of history, into two com-munities, Rhaetic and Helvetic—the League of theGraubiinden and the Swiss Confederation. On the otherhand, the high-lying valleys of the south had easy com-munication over the many passes into the heads of theItalian valleys, with the result that Romonsch—ofSouthern and not Northern derivation—is the languageof the Highlands. The conquests made by the high-landers have been by the same relatively easy paths, andtherefore beyond their Italian and not their Germanfrontier. Hohenrhatien, the legendary centre of the im-migrant Etruscans, is above Thusis at the entry to thenorthern, more deeply-trenched section of the Rhaeticvalleys. Chur, on the other hand, has reference not somuch to highland defence as to the through route fromnorth to south, which penetrates the Todi-Rhaetikon48 j**r B|«|. THE The T^haetic cB^hmebarrier by the one available gateway; hence the Roman,the Christian, and the Teutonic significance of this littletown. Only less important, however, than the remarkablegateway in the northern barrier are the internaldifficulties of communication due to the Schyn andVia Mala gorges, and to the gorge, west of Reichenau,cut by the Rhine through the great landslip whichcloses the Biindner Oberland. In harmony with thisphysical geography is the fact that the German colo-nists for the medieval military frontier in the Rhein-wald and in Avers were drawn, not from Chur but overthe Furka and Oberalp Passes from the Upper a later time the distribution of the three leagues ofthe Graubiinden was naturally influenced by the sameobstacles; for the Graubund may be described as shutin by the Via Mala and by the gorge above Reichenau,while the Zehngerichtenbund occupied the open valleysof the Priittigau and Davos conne
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1908
