Portein

In Silver (white) an upright, red armed black bear carrying a gold tree trunk. This golden tree trunk carrying bear is attributed to Saint Gall, the patron saint of the Reformed Portein village church. ==History==

Portein is first mentioned in 1378 as Purteyn. ==Geography==

Portein has an area, , of . Of this area, 58.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 31% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (8.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located in the Thusis sub-district, of the Hinterrhein district in the Heinzenberg. It is located on a ridge between the Porteiner Tobel and the Val da la Malanotg at an altitude of . It consists of the hamlet-like Haufendorf (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) village of Portein. The municipalities of Portein, Präz, Sarn, and Tartar merged on 1 January 2010 into Cazis. ==Demographics==

Portein has a population () of 22, of which 3 are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has stayed stable. , the gender distribution of the population was 40.9% male and 59.1% female. The age distribution, , in Portein is; 2 people or 7.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 3 people or 11.5% are 10 to 14, and 2 people or 7.7% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 1 person or 3.8% of the population is between 20 and 29 years old. 3 people or 11.5% are 30 to 39, 5 people or 19.2% are 40 to 49, and 3 people or 11.5% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is no one is between 60 and 69 years old, 2 people or 7.7% are 70 to 79, there are 4 people or 15.4% who are 80 to 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 to 99. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 66.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (26.3%), the SPS (6.3%) and the CVP (1.3%). Population On 31 December 2001, Portein was the smallest municipality in Switzerland in terms of population, with a population of 22. By the end of 2003, however, the population grew to 23, losing that distinction. the smallest municipality was Corippo in Canton Ticino. Language Even though the municipality is in a Romansh-speaking area, it is now almost completely German-speaking. the entire population speaks German. ==References==