Carinthia
Carinthia is the southernmost and least densely populated Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main Ridge, near the Plöcken Pass. The main language is Austrian German, with its non-standard dialects belonging to the Southern Bavarian group; Carinthian Slovene dialects, forms of a South Slavic language that predominated in the southeastern part of the region up to the first half of the 20th century, are now spoken by a small minority in the area.
Carinthia's main industries are tourism, electronics, engineering, forestry, and agriculture.
Name
The etymology of the name "Carinthia", similar to Carnia or Carniola, has not been conclusively established. The Ravenna Cosmography referred to a Slavic "Carantani" tribe as the eastern neighbours of the Bavarians. In his History of the Lombards, the 8th-century chronicler Paul the Deacon mentions "Slavs in Carnuntum, which is erroneously called Carantanum" for the year 663."Carantani" may have been formed from a toponymic base carant- which ultimately derives from pre-Indo-European root *karra 'rock'., or that it is of Celtic origin and derived from *karantos 'friend, ally'.
Likewise, the Slovene name *korǫtanъ may have been adopted from the Latin *carantanum. The toponym Carinthia is also claimed to be etymologically related, deriving from pre-Slavic *carantia.
Carinthia is known as Koruška/ Корушка in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian, Korutany in Czech, Kärnten in German, Karintia in Hungarian, Carinzia in Italian, Carintia in Spanish, Karyntia in Polish, Korutánsko in Slovak, and Koroška in Slovene.
Geography
The state stretches about from east to west, and in a north–south direction. With, it is the fifth-largest Austrian state by area. Most of the larger Carinthian towns and lakes are situated within the Klagenfurt Basin in the southeast, an inner Alpine sedimentary basin covering about one-fifth of the area. These Lower Carinthian lands differ from the mountainous Upper Carinthian region in the northwest, stretching up to the Alpine crest.The Carinthian lands are confined by mountain ranges: the Carnic Alps and the Karawanks form the border to Italy and Slovenia. The High Tauern mountain range with Mt Grossglockner,, separates it from the state of Salzburg in the northwest. To the northeast and east beyond the Pack Saddle mountain pass is the state of Styria. The main river of Carinthia is the Drava, it makes up a continuous valley with East Tyrol, Tyrol to the west. Tributaries are the Gurk, the Glan, the Lavant, and the Gail rivers. Carinthia's lakes including Wörther See, Millstätter See, Lake Ossiach, and Lake Faak are a major tourist attraction.
File:001 Faaker See lake and Karawanks mountains in Carinthia, Austria.jpg|thumb|right|Lake Faak and the Karawanks
The capital city is Klagenfurt. The next important town is Villach, both strongly linked economically. Other major towns include Althofen, Bad Sankt Leonhard im Lavanttal, Bleiburg, Feldkirchen, Ferlach, Friesach, Gmünd, Hermagor, Radenthein, Sankt Andrä, Sankt Veit an der Glan, Spittal an der Drau, Straßburg, Völkermarkt, Wolfsberg.
Carinthia has a humid continental climate, with hot and moderately wet summers and long harsh winters. In recent decades, winters have been exceptionally arid. The summer precipitation maxima often takes the form of heavy rain and thunderstorms, especially in the mountainous regions. The main Alpine ridge in the north is a meteorological divide with pronounced windward and leeward sides where foehn occurs regularly.
Due to the diversified terrain, numerous distinct microclimates exist. Nevertheless, the average amount of sunshine hours is the highest of all states in Austria. In autumn and winter, temperature inversion often dominates the climate, characterized by air stillness, a dense fog covering the frosty valleys and trapping pollution to form smog, while mild sunny weather is recorded higher up in the foothills and mountains.
History
The settlement history of Carinthia dates back to the Paleolithic era. Archaeological findings of stone artifacts in a stalactite cave near Griffen are older than 30,000 years; larger settlements in the Lavanttal, Maria Saal and Villach regions are documented from about 3000 BC. Remains of a prehistoric stilt house settlement were discovered at Lake Keutschach, today part of the Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps World Heritage Site. Skeleton finds from about 2000 BC denote a permanent population, and intensive arable farming, as well as trading with salt and Mediterranean products, was common already during the periods of the Urnfield and Hallstatt culture. Hallstatt grave fields were discovered near Dellach, Rosegg, and on the Gracarca mountain southeast of Lake Klopein.Noricum
About 300 BC, several Illyrian and Celtic tribes joined in the Kingdom of Noricum, centered on the capital Noreia, possibly located in the Zollfeld basin near the later Roman city of Virunum. Known for the production of salt and iron, the Kingdom maintained intensive trade relations with Etruscan peoples and over the centuries extended the borders of its realm up to the Danube in the north. The Roman Empire incorporated Noricum in 15 BC. Besides the administrative seat of Virunum, the cities of Teurnia, Santicum and Iuenna arose as centres of Roman culture. The Noricum province remained strategically important as a mining area for iron, gold, and lead and as an agricultural region. In the reign of the Emperor Diocletian Noricum split into two provinces: Noricum ripense, and Noricum mediterraneum. Teurnia became the administrative seat of the latter, as well as an Early Christian episcopal see.As the Roman Empire declined in the 5th century AD, the Noricum region was exposed to recurring campaigns of Germanic tribes, whereupon the population retired to hilltop settlements. In 408 Visigoth troops under King Alaric I entered Noricum from Italy across the Carnic Alps and allied with the Roman commander Stilicho, who as a result was deposed and executed for high treason. From 472 Ostrogoth and Alemannic forces campaigned in Noricum, which became a province of Odoacer's Kingdom of Italy in 476 and of the Ostrogothic Kingdom from 493. On the death of King Theoderic the Great in 526, the Italian kingdom finally collapsed and the East Roman Byzantine empire under Justinian I temporarily conquered the Noricum region in the course of the Gothic War of 535 to 554.
Carantania
From 591 onwards, the Frankish king Theudebert I tried to break into the former Noricum region, and Bavarian settlers entered the area from the Puster Valley in the west. They were however repulsed by Slavic tribes, who, beset by Avar horsemen moved into present-day Carinthia from the east. About 600 the Slavic principality of Carantania arose, stretching along the valleys of the Drava, Mur and Sava rivers. The remaining Celto-Roman population was largely assimilated, jointly challenging Avar and Frankish advance. The name Carontani was first mentioned about 700; the lands of Carantanum were documented by the chronicler Paul the Deacon. The principality was again centered on the historic Zollfeld valley, where the Prince's Stone bears witness to the ritual of the investiture of the Carantanian rulers exclusively in Slovene.While the Carantanian rulers initially joined the tribal union of Samo's Empire, Prince Boruth turned to Duke Odilo of Bavaria in around 743 to ask for support against the Avar invaders. Aid was granted, however at the price of Bavarian overlordship. The Carantanian principality became part of the Bavarian stem duchy, while the area was Christianised for the second time by missionaries from the Salzburg diocese. Bishop Vergilius had Prince Boruth's son Cacatius and his nephew Cheitmar brought up in the Christian faith. In 767, at their request, the bishop sent Modestus to Carantania as a vicar and had churches built at Teurnia and Maria Saal. Upon a pagan uprising in 772, the forces of Odilo's son Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria again subdued the Carantanian lands.
In 788, Duke Tassilo III was finally deposed by the Frankish king Charlemagne, and his territories were incorporated into the Carolingian Empire. By the 843 Treaty of Verdun, the former Carantanian lands fell to the kingdom of East Francia ruled by Charlemagne's grandson Louis the German. The ritual of installation of the Carantanian dukes at the Prince's Stone near Karnburg in Slovenian was preserved until 1414, when Ernest the Iron was enthroned as Duke of Carinthia.