Upper Austria

Upper Austria
Oberösterreich
—  State of Austria  —

Flag
Coat of arms
Country  Austria
Capital Linz
Government
 - Governor Josef Pühringer (ÖVP)
Area
 - Total 11,980 km2 (4,625.5 sq mi)
Population
 - Total 1,405,986
 - Density 117.4/km2 (304/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code AT-4
NUTS Region AT3
Votes in Bundesrat 12 (of 62)
Website www.land-oberoesterreich.gv.at

Upper Austria (German: Oberösterreich, Czech: Horní Rakousko, Austro-Bavarian: Obaöstarreich) 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 11,980 km² and 1.3 million inhabitants, Upper Austria is the fourth-largest Austrian state by land area and third-largest by population.

Contents

History

Origins

For a long period of the Middle Ages, much of Upper Austria belonged to the Duchy of Styria. In the mid 13th century the Traungau was removed from it by King Ottokar II of Bohemia, and it became known as the Principality above the Enns River, this name being first recorded in 1264. (At the time the term "Upper Austria" also included Tyrol and various scattered Habsburg possessions in South Germany.)

In 1490, the area was given a measure of independence within the Holy Roman Empire, with the status of a principality. By 1550 there was a Protestant majority. In 1564, Upper Austria, together with Lower Austria and the Bohemian territories, fell under Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.

At the start of the 17th century the counter-reformation was instituted under Emperor Rudolf II and his successor Matthias. After a military campaign, the area was under the control of Bavaria for some years in the early 17th century.

The Innviertel was ceded from the Duchy of Bavaria to Upper Austria in the Treaty of Teschen in 1779. During the Napoleonic Wars, Upper Austria was occupied by the French army in more than one occasion.

Present day

In 1918, after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the name Oberösterreich was used to describe the province of the new Austria. After Austria was annexed by Adolf Hitler, Upper Austria became the Reichsgau of Oberdonau, although this also included the southern part of the Sudetenland, annexed from Czechoslovakia, and a small part of Styria. In 1945, Upper Austria was partitioned between the American zone to the south and the Soviet zone to the north.

Demographics

Demographics
Date Population
ca. 1527 335,000
ca. 1600 380,000
ca. 1700 450,000
1754 526,000
1780 601,000
1790 623,000
1800 626,000
1810 630,000
1821 651,911
1830 682,140
1840 699,324
1850 706,316
1857 707,450
1869 736,856
1880 760,091
1890 786,496
1900 810,854
1910 853,595
1923 876,698
1934 902,965
1939 927,583
1951 1,108,720
1961 1,131,623
1971 1,229,972
1981 1,269,540
1991 1,320,567
2001 1,376,700
2004 1,394,297
2006 1,405,399

Like the rest of Austria, Upper Austria is predominantly Roman Catholic. Approximately 7.2% of the population is of foreign origin, 53% of which is from former Yugoslavia. Other minority groups include those of Greek and Turkish origin. As of the last census, which took place in 2006, the population of Upper Austria is 1,405,986. To the right are historical population figures of the state.

Administrative divisions

OberösterreichLänd Bezirke

Upper Austria is traditionally divided into four regions: Hausruckviertel, Innviertel, Mühlviertel, and Traunviertel.

Administratively, the state is divided into 15 districts (Bezirke), and three Statutarstädte.

Statutarstädte

  1. Linz
  2. Steyr
  3. Wels

Districts

  1. Braunau am Inn
  2. Eferding
  3. Freistadt
  4. Gmunden
  5. Grieskirchen
  6. Kirchdorf an der Krems
  7. Linz-Land
  8. Perg
  9. Ried im Innkreis
  10. Rohrbach
  11. Schärding
  12. Steyr-Land
  13. Urfahr-Umgebung
  14. Vöcklabruck
  15. Wels-Land

See also

External links