Carinthia (state)

Map of Austria showing the State of Carinthia

Carinthia (German Kärnten, Slovenian Koroška) is a federal state or Bundesland, located in the south of Austria.

It covers an area of 9,536 km² with 559,404 inhabitants (2001).

It consist mostly of a basin inside the Alps, with the Carnian Mountains making up the border to Italy and Slovenia. The Tauern mountains divide it from Salzburg. To the East lies the state of Styria and it makes up a continuous valley with the eastern part of the Tirol to the West. Its lakes are a major tourist attraction. The main river is the Drau.

The capital is Klagenfurt (Slo. Celovec). The only other important town is Villach (Slo. Beljak); these two towns are strongly linked economically.

The people are predominantly German speaking with a unique (and easily recognizable) dialect. A Slovene-speaking Carinthian minority of about 15,000 people is concentrated in the South-East of the country.

The current governor is Jörg Haider of the Austrian Freedom Party.

The Duchy of Carinthia was historically part of the Holy Roman Empire until it was dissolved in 1806, then a crownland of Austria-Hungary. The Carinthian Plebiscite on October 10, 1920, determined the lines of division between what is today Austria and Slovenia.

See also: Slovenian Carinthia.