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

N.B. Although Austria is a federal republic, its official title is "the Republic of Austria" (not "the Federal Republic of Austria").

History

After being conquered by the Romans, Huns, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Bavarii and Franks, Austria was 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 in 1806, the Empire of Austria was founded, which was transfomed in 1867 into the double-monarchy Austria-Hungary. The empire was split into several independent states 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 Dollfu� 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 (see also: Austrian State Treaty). 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

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 (SP�) participation in government, a right-wing coalition was formed in 2000, consisting of the conservative People's Party (�VP) and the right-wing Freedom Party (FP�). However, after some turmoil within the FP� concerning party policy and leadership, Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Sch�ssel (�VP) 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 �VP won a landslide victory (42.3% of the vote), whereas the FP� was reduced to a mere 10.1%.

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

79 seats �VP (Austrian People's Party) (42.3% of the vote)
69 seats SP� (Austrian Social Democratic Party) (36.51%)
18 seats FP� (Austrian Freedom Party) (10.1%)
17 seats Die Gr�nen (Austrian Green Party) (9.47%)
On February 28, 2003, the coalition between the �VP and the FP� was continued, again with Wolfgang Sch�ssel (�VP) as Federal Chancellor. His Vice Chancellor was Herbert Haupt (FP�) until replaced by Hubert Gorbach (FP�) on October 20, 2003. Prior to that, long-lasting "probing talks" ("Sondierungsgespr�che") took place between the �VP and the other major parties FP�, SP� and the Green Party.

States

A federal republic, Austria is divided into nine states, or Bundesl�nder (singular Bundesland). These are:

Burgenland
Carinthia
Lower Austria
Upper Austria
Salzburg
Styria
Tyrol
Vorarlberg
Vienna

Geography

Austria's west and south are situated in the Alps, making it a well-known winter sports destination. The highest mountain is the Gro�glockner, at 3798 metres 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

The main cities are its capital Vienna and the capitals of its states (Bundesl�nder) St. P�lten, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregenz, Klagenfurt, Graz and Eisenstadt.

Economy

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

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 have 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

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.

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.

Other famous Austrians include physicists Ludwig Boltzmann, Erwin Schr�dinger, Wolfgang Pauli and Christian Doppler (Doppler effect), as well as philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein or Karl Popper, mathematician Kurt G�del, psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud or Alfred Adler, economists Joseph Schumpeter or Friedrich Hayek, poet Peter Rosegger, painter Gustav Klimt, and engineer Ferdinand Porsche. Famous contemporary playwrights and novelists are Elfriede Jelinek and Peter Handke.

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

Also the former actor and current governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger is Austrian.

Transportation in Austria

Railways:

total: 6,123 km (3,523 km electrified)
standard gauge: 5,639 km 1.435-m gauge (3,429 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 484 km (13 km 0.600-m gauge, 468 km 0.760-m gauge - 94 km electrified, and 3 km 0.600-m gauge) (1999)

City with underground railway system: Vienna, Serfaus

Highways:

200,000 km
paved:200,000 km (including 1,613 km of expressways)
unpaved: 0 km (1999)

Waterways:

358 km (1999)

Pipelines:

crude oil 777 km; natural gas 840 km (1999)

Ports and harbors: Linz, Vienna, Enns, Krems

Merchant marine:

total:20 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 65,284 GRT/91,951 DWT
ships by type:bulk 1, cargo 15, combination bulk 2, container 2 (1999 est.)

Airports:

55 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 22
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 12 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 33
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 29 (1999 est.)

Heliports:

1 (1999 est.)

Austrian language

Though there is no such thing as an Austrian language, several Germanic dialects are spoken in Austria.

Standard German, called "High German" in Austria, is taught in schools, but many Austrians do not consider it a native language. It must be said, though, that there is a considerable amount of differences between the Standard German of Austria and that of Germany or Switzerland.
Austro-Bavarian is a common language throughout much of the country. Wienerisch, the Austro-Bavarian dialect of Vienna, is most frequently used in Germany for impersonations of the typical inhabitant of Austria. The Central Austro-Bavarian dialects are more intelligible to speakers of Standard German than the Southern Austro-Bavarian dialects of Tirol.
Vorarlbergerisch, spoken in Vorarlberg, is an Alemannic dialect similar to Swiss German.
The two southern provinces of Styria (Steiermark) and Carinthia (K�rnten) speak variations of the Southern Austro-Bavarian dialect range similar to the common tyrolean dialect which originates near Innsbruck (but it has to be said that Tyrol has many dialects).

Simple words in these dialects are very similar, but pronunciation is distinct for each and it is very easy for an Austrian after a few spoken words to judge which kind of dialect of Austria someone speaks, and most dialect words are understood but if it goes into the dialects of the deeper valleys of Tyrol, sometimes even other Tyroleans are hopeless to understand the dialect.

A good reference for the Austrian, Bavarian and other German dialects are the dialect ("Mundart") editions of Asterix and Obelix comic books which are available in Wienerisch (three editions with different dialects from inside Vienna) and at least one for the common Tyrolean dialect and one for a deep Styrian dialect.

The people of Graz, the capital of Styria, speak yet another dialect which is not very Styrian and more easily to understand for people from other parts of Austria than other Styrian dialects, e.g. from western Styria.

Tourism in Austria

Visits to Austria mostly include trips to Vienna with its Cathedral, its "Heurigenschenken" (wine pubs) and romantic Waltz music flair. Worth a visit are Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, Innsbruck, capital of Tyrol, surrounded by the Alps and Danube valley with its vineyards, for example the Wachau, which is between Melk und Krems. In the western part of the country Austria the province Vorarlberg reaches the Lake Constance, in the eastern part Neusiedler See. Austria also is famous for its skiing and hiking resorts in the Alps and for its lakes (W�rthersee in Carinthia).

For visitors interested in Mediaart, the Ars Electronica Center in Linz is an absolute must. Since 1979 this center has organized the Ars Electronica Festival and presented the Prix Ars Electronica, the worldwide highest-ranked price for mediaart.