Geography and Climate
The Republic of Austria is located among the mountains and green fields of Central Europe. Bordered by Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Italy, Austria is a landlocked country with no territories outside of its borders.
Austria is a small country with three geographical regions that have a combined area of over 32,000 square miles, ranking it as the one hundred-twentieth largest country in the world. Austria is made up of nine separate states: Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Upper Austria, Vienna and Vorarlberg. Each state has its own capital and regional districts.
The country is divided into three different regions of varying size. The western region, starting near the Swiss and Italian borders, is mostly comprised of the tall, sharp peaks of the Alps and also happens to be the largest geographical region, representing 62 percent of the tiny nation. To the east are the lush, green fields that are found along the banks of the Danube River. The third region is located in the northeastern part of the country and is called the Bohmerwald, a low mountainous region of mostly dense granite deposits.
There are two major mountain ranges in Austria: the Otztal Alps, which is made up of three smaller regions called the Northern Calcareous Alps, the Central Alps and the Southern Calcareous Alps, and the High Tauern, which can be found in the east. Because of Austria’s mountainous terrain and cold, snowy climate, Austria is well known for its love of winter sports, such as skiing and snowboarding.
Austria is in the Central European Time (CET) zone and observes Central European Summer Time (CEST), which typically starts the last week of March and ends the last week of October. Austria is nine hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time (PST).
With the Alps dominating a majority of its landmass, most of Austria can be placed within the alpine climate, with cold winters and much snow. The lower regions in the east of the country can be classified as a mostly continental climate region, with cold winters but with less snow and warm, sometimes hot summers.
Austria is relatively free of natural disasters, but flash flooding resulting from melting snow in the Alps during the warm season can occur.
People and Culture
Austria’s population of more than 8.2 million makes it the ninety-fourth largest in the world. The predominant language spoken is German, with the majority of the people speaking the Bavarian dialect. It is the only language in the country that has official status and is spoken either as a first or second language. Due to its landlocked nature, several other languages are spoken in different regions of the country. These include Slovak, Turkish, Czech and Hungarian. People in most metropolitan cities also speak or understand some English.
The main ethnic group in Austria is Croat. Other major ethnic groups include Hungarians, Carinthian Slovenes and Jews. Other eastern European immigrants make up a small percent of the population.
The three largest cities in Austria are Vienna, Graz and Linz. Vienna is the capital of Austria and has a metropolitan population of more than 1.7 million people. Graz is the country’s second largest city and the capital of Styria, with a metro population of around 265,000. Graz is located in the southeast of Austria and is a well-known college city. Linz has a population of 191,500 and is the third largest city in Austria and one of the main economic centers of the country.
Austria has its roots in the pre-Roman Celtic tribes of the Germani regions. Archeological evidence puts some of the earliest settlements in the region in the Copper Age. The region that would later be known as Austria was ruled by the Kingdom of Hungary.
Originally settled as a stop along major trade routes during the northern expansion of the Roman Empire, the region would later gain its first population boom in 788 A.D. after the conquest by Charlemagne, who encouraged colonization of the region. Under his rule, control of the region was given to the noble house of Babenberg as the Duchy of Austria. The first recorded use of the name Austria, or Osterreich in German, dates back to the Osterrichi Document of 996 A.D. and means Eastern Empire. The conquest of Charlemagne also brought Christianity to the area.
Near the start of the 13th century Ottokar II of Bohemia assumed control of the duchies of Styria, Austria and Carinthia, and ruled them as a united region until his defeat by King Rudolph I of Germany in 1276 A.D. From that point, much of Austrian political history until the 20th century and the start of World War I is that of the ruling dynasty, the Habsburgs. In 1438 A.D., Duke Albert V of Austria was chosen as the heir to Emperor Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire. Although he only reigned for one year, every emperor after him was a Habsburg.
The House of Habsburg, and by association Austria, made many powerful gains over the next few centuries. But many of those gains were relinquished in the 17th century by Emperor Charles VI, who saw the decline of the Habsburgs and traded away many of the lands acquired by the dynasty for more stable political connections and allies. This eventually led to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which also incorporated regions of other eastern Europeans countries under its diverse rule. The Austro-Hungarian rule lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, and ended with the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, prompting the start of World War I and the eventual dissolution of Hungarian-ruled Austria. The country was known as the Republic of Austria until 1934 when it was reunified under German rule by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party through the end of World War II.
Austria is now a neutral country with modern infrastructure. Many international organizations, such as OPEC, call Austria home. Austria joined the European Union in 1995 and often hosts many important international conferences and summits.