Austria

     From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Republic of Austria is a landlocked country in Central Europe, a federation of nine states. Austria is bordered by Liechtenstein and Switzerland on the west, Italy and Slovenia on the south, Hungary and Slovakia on the east, and Germany and the Czech Republic on the north.

Republik Österreich

(In detail) (Full size)
National motto: none
Official language	German
Capital	Vienna
President	Thomas Klestil
Chancellor	Wolfgang Schuessel
Area  - Total  - % water	Ranked 112nd 83,858 km² 1.3%
Population  - Total (2000)  - Density	Ranked 86th 8,150,835 97/km²
Independence	July 27, 1955
Currency	Euro (€); prior to 1999, schilling
Time zone	UTC +1
National anthem	Land der Berge, Land am Strome
Internet TLD	.AT
Calling Code	43

Table of contents

1 History 2 Politics 3 States 4 Geography 5 Cities and towns 6 Economy 7 Demographics 8 Well-known Austrians 9 Miscellaneous topics 10 External links

History

Main article: History of Austria After being conquered by the Romans, Huns, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Bavarii and Franks, Austria were under the rule of the Babenbergs from the 10th to the 13th century. The Babenbergs were then succeeded by the Habsburgs, whose line continued to govern Austria until the 20th century.

After the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire, Austria became part of the double-monarchy Austria-Hungary in 1867. The empire was split into two after the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, leading to Austria as it is today.

In 1918 Austria became a republic, which lasted until 1934 when the chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss established a dictatorship.

Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938 (the Anschluss). After the defeat of the Nazis, the Allies occupied Austria at the end of World War II until 1955, when the country again became a fully independent republic under the condition that it remained neutral. However, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, Austria became increasingly involved in European affairs, and in 1995, Austria joined the European Union, and the Euro monetary system in 1999.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Austria The head of state is a president, elected every six years by popular vote. The President chooses the chancellor, traditionally the leader of the largest party in the elections for parliament. The Austrian parliament consists of two chambers, the Bundesrat, which consists of 64 representatives of the states, based on population, and the Nationalrat, which has 183 directly-elected members.

After three decades of social-democratic (SPOE) participation in government, a right-wing coalition was formed in 2000, consisting of the conservative People's Party (OEVP) and the right-wing Freedom Party (FPOE). However, after some turmoil within the FPOE concerning party policy and leadership, Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel (OEVP) announced on September 9, 2002 that general elections would be held prematurely at the end of November. In the elections of November 24, 2002, the OEVP won a landslide victory (42.3% of the vote), whereas the FPOE was reduced to a mere 10.1%.

The current Austrian parliament (Nationalrat, 183 seats) is made up as follows:

• 79 seats OEVP (Austrian People's Party) (42.3% of the vote)
• 69 seats SPOE (Austrian Social Democratic Party) (36.51%)
• 18 seats FPOE (Austrian Freedom Party) (10.1%)
• 17 seats Die Gruenen (Austrian Green Party) (9.47%)

On February 28, 2003, the coalition between the OEVP and the FPOE was continued, again with Wolfgang Schuessel (OEVP) as Federal Chancellor. His Vice Chancellor was Herbert Haupt (FPOE) until replaced by Hubert Gorbach (FPOE) on October 20, 2003. Prior to that, long-lasting "probing talks" ("Sondierungsgespraeche") took place between the OEVP and the other major parties FPOE, SPOE and the Green Party.

States

Main article: States of Austria A federal republic, Austria is divided into nine states, or Bundeslaender. These are:

1. Burgenland
2. Carinthia
3. Lower Austria
4. Upper Austria
5. Salzburg
6. Styria
7. Tyrol
8. Vorarlberg
9. Vienna

Geography

Main article: Geography of Austria Austria's west and south are situated in the Alps, making it a well-known winter sports destination. The highest mountain is the Grossglockner, at 3798 meters above sea level, followed by the Wildspitze (3774 m).

The north and east of the country are mostly rolling terrain. The climate is temperate, with cold winters and cool summers.

Cities and towns

Main article: List of cities in Austria The main cities are its capital Vienna and the capitals of its states (Bundeslaender) St. Poelten, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregenz, Klagenfurt, Graz and Eisenstadt.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Austria Austria, with its well-developed market economy and high standard of living, is closely tied to other European Union economies, especially Germany's. Membership in the EU has drawn an influx of foreign investors attracted by Austria's access to the single European market and proximity to EU aspirant economies. Slow growth in Germany and elsewhere in the world affected Austria, slowing its growth to 1.2% in 2001. To meet increased competition from both EU and Central European countries, Austria will need to emphasize knowledge-based sectors of the economy, continue to deregulate the service sector, and lower its tax burden.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Austria German-Austrians, by far the country's largest ethnic group, form between 85% and 89% of Austria's population. Around ten percent of Austria's people are of non-Austrian descent, many from surrounding countries, especially from the former East Bloc nations. The Austrian federal states of Carinthia and Styria are home to a significant (indigenous) Slovenian minority with around 18,000 members. So-called guest workers (gastarbeiter) and their descendants also form an important minority group in Austria. The official language, German, is spoken by almost all residents of the country. Austria's mountainous terrain lead to the development of many distinct German dialects. All of the dialects in the country, however, belong to Austro-Bavarian groups of German dialects, with the exception of the dialect spoken in its west-most Bundesland, Vorarlberg, which belongs to the group of Alemannic dialects.

There is also a distinct grammatical standard for Austrian German with a few significant differences to the German spoken in Germany.

More than three-quarters of Austrians are Roman Catholic. Other important religions are Islam and Protestantism. Jews haved lived in the areas that now form the Republic of Austria for centuries. A large portion of Austria's Jewish community emigrated during the 1930s and most of the remaining Jewish community was murdered during the holocaust. In 1930, Austria was home to at least 100,000 Jews. Today, estimates place the size of Austria's small but growing Jewish community between 10,000 and 20,000.

Well-known Austrians

Main article: List of Austrians Austria has been the birthplace for several famous composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, Sr and Johann Strauss, Jr; it's also the home of members of the Second Viennese School such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg.

Other famous Austrians include physicists Ludwig Boltzmann and Erwin Schroedinger as well as philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Kurt Goedel, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, poet Peter Rosegger, and painter Gustav Klimt.

Being situated in the Alps, Austria has been the homeland of many great alpine skiers, such as Toni Sailer, Hermann Maier, Annemarie Moser-Proell and Anita Wachter.

Holidays

Date	English Name	Local Name	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Neujahr
January 6	Epiphany	Heilige Drei Koenige
Moveable	Easter Sunday	Ostersonntag	Good Friday work-free for Protestants
Moveable	Easter Monday	Ostermontag
May 1		Staatsfeiertag	also, Labour day
Moveable	Ascension	Christi Himmelfahrt	Thursday 40 days after Easter
Moveable	Pentecost	Pfingstsonntag
Moveable	Whit Monday	Pfingstmontag
Moveable	Corpus Christi	Fronleichnam	Thursday 11 days after Pentecost
August 15	Assumption of Mary	Mariae Himmelfahrt
October 26	National day	Nationalfeiertag	Law on neutrality passed in 1955
November 1	All Saints	Allerheiligen
December 8	Immaculate Conception	Mariae Empfaengnis
December 25	Christmas	Christtag, Weihnachten
December 26	St. Stephen's Day	Stefanitag

Miscellaneous topics

• Communications in Austria
• Transportation in Austria
• Military of Austria
• Foreign relations of Austria
• Austria/Language
• Tourism in Austria
• Stamps and postal history of Austria

Much of the material in these articles comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.

External links

• Encyclopedia by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science & Culture
• Library of Congress Portals on the World - Austria
• CIA's Factbook on Austria
• The Symbols of Austria
• Worldwide Press Freedom Index - Rank 26 out of 139 countries (three-way tie)
• Austria travel guide