Upper Austria (German: Oberösterreich) is one of the nine states of Austria. Upper Austria borders Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Lower Austria to the east, Styria to the south, and Salzburg to the southwest. The capital of Upper Austria is Linz. It is 11,980 km2 and has more than 1.3 million inhabitants.
History[]
The territory of Upper Austria was originally part of the Duchy of Styria. In c. 1260 King Ottokar II of Bohemia separated the land of the modern state and called it "Austria above the Enns" or "Upper Austria". It was not until 1490 that Upper Austria took the semblance of a separate estate, when it began to have its own separate diet, with members from the gentry, knights, prelates, and representatives from the cities. After 1600, the Counter-Reformation was introduced and supported by the Holy Roman Emperors Rudolph II and Matthias, and eventually the Protestant nobility was forced to leave the archduchy. Upper Austria was conquered by the Bavarians in 1620, and for several years it was occupied by Bavarian troops.
The Inn Quarter was peacefully attached to Upper Austria from Bavaria in 1779. After Salzburg was annexed by Austria in 1814, it was administered and attached to Upper Austria until 1854 when it was made its own separate province. It was only in 1918 that Upper Austria became the official name of the region.
States of Austria |
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Burgenland | Carinthia | Lower Austria | Salzburg | Styria | Tyrol | Upper Austria | Vienna | Vorarlberg |
Austro-Hungarian Empire |
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Cisleithania |
Bohemia | Bukovina | Carinthia | Carniola | Dalmatia | Galicia and Lodomeria | Littoral Lower Austria | Moravia | Salzburg | Silesia | Styria | Tyrol | Upper Austria | Vorarlberg |
Transleithania |
Croatia-Slavonia | Hungary | Rijeka |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Austrian Circle |
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on the Adige | Austria (bailiwick) | Breisgau | Brixen | Carinthia | Carniola | Chur | Friuli Further Austria | Gorizia | Lower Austria | Styria | Tarasp | Trent | Tyrol | Upper Austria |
Earlier Members: |
Austria (archduchy) | Gradisca | Gurk | Hardegg | Lavant | Losenstein | Rogendorf Schaunberg | Seckau | Wolkenstein-Rodenegg |