1.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
2.
Linz
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Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria. It is located in the centre of Austria, approximately 30 kilometres south of the Czech border. The population of the city is 200,839, and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about 271,000, in 2009 Linz, together with the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, was chosen as the European Capital of Culture. Since 1 December 2014 Linz is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities network as a City of Media Arts, Cities receive this title for enriching the urban lifestyle through the sponsorship and successful integration of media art and involving society in these electronic art forms. Linz is well known for the Linzer torte, which is said to be the oldest cake in the world, Linz is located in the centre of Europe, lying on the Paris–Budapest west–east axis and the Malmö–Trieste north–south axis. The Danube is the tourism and transport connection that runs through the city. Approximately 29. 27% of the city’s 96 km2 wide area are grassland, further 17. 95% are covered with forest. All the rest areas fall on water, traffic areas and land, since January 2014 the city is divided into 16 statistical districts, Before 2014 Linz was divided into 9 districts and 36 statistical quarters. Magdalena, St. Magdalena, Katzbach, Elmberg St, the name Linz was first recorded in AD799. Being the city where the Habsburg Emperor Friedrich III spent his last years, it was, for a period of time. It lost its status to Vienna and Prague after the death of the Emperor in 1493, one important inhabitant of the city was Johannes Kepler, who spent several years of his life in the city teaching mathematics. He discovered, on 15 May 1618, the distance-cubed-over-time-squared — or third — law of planetary motion, the local public university, Johannes Kepler University, is named after him. Another famous citizen was Anton Bruckner, who spent the years between 1855 and 1868 working as a composer and organist in the Old Cathedral, Linz. The Brucknerhaus is named after him, Adolf Hitler was born in the border town of Braunau am Inn but moved to Linz in his childhood. Hitler spent most of his youth in the Linz area, from 1898 until 1907, the family lived first in the village of Leonding on the outskirts of town, and then on the Humboldtstrasse in Linz. After elementary education in Leonding, Hitler was enrolled in the Realschule in Linz, notorious Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann also spent his youth in Linz. To the end of his life, Hitler considered Linz to be his home town, in order to make the city economically vibrant, Hitler initiated a major industrialisation of Linz shortly before, and during, the Second World War. In addition to a depot, Linz has a benzol plant which was bombed during the Oil Campaign on 16 October 1944
3.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
4.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
5.
Styria
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Styria is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federated states and it borders Slovenia and the Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, and Carinthia. The capital city is Graz which had 276,526 inhabitants at the beginning of 2015, the March of Styria derived its name from the original seat of its ruling Otakar dynasty, Steyr, in todays Upper Austria. In German, the area is still called Steiermark while in English the Latin name Styria is used, the ancient link between Steyr and Styria is also apparent in their nearly identical coats of arms, a white Panther on a green background. The term Upper Styria used by an Austrian refers to the northern and northwestern parts of the federal-state, the term West Styria is used for the districts to the west of Graz, the districts east of Graz are referred to as East Styria. The western and eastern parts of the district Graz-Umgebung may or may not be considered parts of West and East Styria, the southern parts of the Duchy of Styria, which have formed part of Yugoslavia or Slovenia since 1918, were referred to as Lower Styria. During early Roman times, Styria was inhabited by Celtic tribes, after its conquest by the Romans, the eastern part of what is now Styria was part of Pannonia, while the western one was included in Noricum. During the Barbarian invasions, it was conquered or crossed by the Visigoths, the Huns, the Ostrogoths, the Rugii, the Lombards, the Franks, in 595 the latter were defeated by the Slavs, who thenceforth ruled it. In 1180 Styria separated from the Duchy of Carinthia and became a Grand Duchy of its own, after the hereditary subdivision of the latter, Styria formed the central part of Inner Austria. Styria developed culturally and economically under John, Archduke of Inner Austria between 1809 and 1859, as elsewhere in the developed world, there has been a shift away from the manufacturing sector towards the service sector in Styria. This has had consequences for the industrial regions of upper Styria which have suffered a steady decline in population in recent years. Styria is home to more than 150 clean technology companies, of one dozen are world technology leaders in their field. The revenue of Styrian cleantech companies totals €2.7 billion and this equals to 8 percent of the Gross Regional Product, and is one of the highest concentrations of leading clean technology companies in Europe. The companies have a growth rate of 22 percent per year—well above the worldwide cleantech market growth of 18 percent per year. The region created roughly 2,000 additional green jobs in 2008 alone, the state is divided into 13 districts, one of them a statutory city. Graz however is a stronghold of the left-wing Communist Party, the governor has usually been an ÖVP member. In these elections, the KPÖ also received votes after it had gained much popularity through its role in local politics in Graz during the preceding few years. The two right-wing populist parties, the Freedom Party of Austria and the Alliance for the Future of Austria, gebirgsdivision Robert Stolz, composer born in Graz Getty Kaspers, lead vocals of Dutch band Teach-In, who won the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest
6.
Salzburg (state)
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Salzburg is a state of Austria. It is officially named Land Salzburg, colloquially Salzburgerland, to distinguish it from its eponymous capital, by its centuries-long history as an independent Prince-Bishopric, Salzburgs tradition differs from the other Austrian lands. It is located in the north of the country, close to the border with the German state of Bavaria. It is surrounded by the Austrian lands of Upper Austria in the northeast, by Styria in the east, by Carinthia in the south as well as by Tyrol, South Tyrol and East Tyrol in the southwest. With 529,085 inhabitants, it is one of the smaller states in terms of population. Running through the south are the ranges of the Alpine divide with numerous three-thousanders. The Dachstein massif and the Berchtesgaden Alps ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps border Salzburg Land to the east, the state is traditionally subdivided in five major regions, congruent with its political districts. Tennengau, named after the Tennen Mountains, including the broad Salzach Valley south of Salzburg, the southern, mountainous part is divided into, Pinzgau in the southwest, Pongau on Salzach and Enns, and Lungau in the southeast, separated by the Niedere Tauern range. Salzburg municipalities with town privileges, Wals-Siezenheim, a municipality with about 12,000 inhabitants, is known as Austrias largest village. Salt has played an important role in the development, Salzburg means salt castle. Independence from Bavaria was secured in the late 14th century, the Archbishopric of Salzburg was an independent prince-bishopric and State of the Holy Roman Empire until German Mediatisation in 1813. The territory was secularized and, as the Electorate of Salzburg, given as compensation to Ferdinand III, former Grand Duke of Tuscany, after Austrias defeat in 1809, the province was handed over to Bavaria in 1810. The Salzburger Land was administered as the department of Salzach from Linz, in 1849 the Duchy of Salzburg was established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire and, after 1866, Austria-Hungary. Salzburg participated in World War I, as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,49,000 Salzburgers were called to arms, of whom 6,000 were killed. After the plebiscite of 1938, Salzburg and all the territory of Austria was annexed to the Third Reich, after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the Allies occupied the territory of Austria, being recognized as an independent territory under their rule. Salzburg was occupied by the United States, in 1955 Austria was again declared independent of the Allies and Salzburg was once again one of the reconstituted federal-states of the second Republik Österreich. Salzburg has its own state constitution since 1999, the state government is headed by a Landeshauptmann governor, who is elected by a majority in the Landtag parliament. State elections are held five years
Austria
listen); Austro-Bavarian: Obaöstarreich; Czech: Horní Rakousy) is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg. With an area of 11,982 km2 (4,626 sq mi) and 1.437 million inhabitants, Upper Austria is the fourth-largest Austrian state by land area and the third-largest by population.
Burgenland • 
Vienna • 
Lower Austria • 
Carinthia • 
Styria • 
Upper Austria • 
Salzburg •
Tyrol • 
Vorarlberg