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.