Upper Austria


Upper Austria (Oberösterreich ; Austro-Bavarian: Obaöstarreich; 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 and 1.49 million inhabitants, Upper Austria is the fourth-largest Austrian state by land area and the third-largest by population.

History

Origins

For a long period of the Middle Ages, much of what would become Upper Austria constituted :de:Traungau|Traungau, a region of the Duchy of Bavaria, while the area around Steyr was part of the Duchy of Styria. In the mid 13th century it became known as the Principality above the Enns River, this name being first recorded in 1264.

Early Modern era

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 Electorate of Bavaria to Upper Austria in the Treaty of Teschen in 1779. During the Napoleonic Wars, Upper Austria was occupied by the French army on more than one occasion.

20th century

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, the Nazi dictator, who had been born in the Upper Austrian town of Braunau am Inn and raised in Upper Austria, Upper Austria became Reichsgau 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.
Today, Upper Austria is Austria's leading industrial region. As of 2009, it accounted for approximately a quarter of the country's exports.

Economy

The Gross domestic product of the state was 65.9 billion € in 2018, accounting for 17.1% of the Austria's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 39,500 € or 131% of the EU27 average in the same year.

Administrative divisions

Administratively, the state is divided into 15 districts, three Statutarstädte and 442 municipalities.

Statutory Cities

  1. Linz
  2. Steyr
  3. Wels

    Districts

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

    Historical regions

Historically, Upper Austria was traditionally divided into four viertel or regions: Hausruckviertel, Innviertel, Mühlviertel, and Traunviertel.
Today these do not exist as administrative regions, but are often still spoken about and referred to: for instance, as the term for the local language dialect, as the term for the local regional cuisine, or in regional tourism campaigns.