Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg
Flag	Coat of arms
Location
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Administration
Country	Austria
NUTS Region	AT3
Capital	Bregenz
Largest city	Dornbirn
Governor	Herbert Sausgruber (ÖVP)
Votes in Bundesrat	3 (of 62)
Basic statistics
Area	2,601 km² (1,004 sq mi)
Population	372,791
- Density	143 /km² (371 /sq mi)
Other information
ISO region	AT-8
Website	vorarlberg.at

Vorarlberg is the westernmost and wealthiest state (Land) of Austria. Though it is the second smallest in terms of area (Vienna is the smallest), it borders three countries; Germany (Bavaria), Switzerland (Graubünden and St. Gallen) and Liechtenstein. The only other Austrian state that shares borders with Vorarlberg is Tyrol. The capital of Vorarlberg is Bregenz.

Geography

The main rivers in Vorarlberg are the Ill (running through the Montafon and Walgau valleys into the Rhine), the Rhine (forming the border to Switzerland), the Bregenzer Ach and the Dornbirner Ach. Important lakes, other than the Lake of Constance are Lüner Lake, Silvretta Lake, Vermunt Lake, Spuller Lake, the Kops Basin and Formarin Lake; the first four were created for the production of hydroelectric energy. Even before the dam for the power plant was built, Lüner Lake was the largest mountain lake in the Alps. Most of this hydroelectric energy is exported to Germany at peak times. At night the surplus (and therefore cheap) energy from the caloric power plants in Germany is used to pump the water back into some of the lakes.

As there are several notable mountain ranges in Vorarlberg, such as the Silvretta, the Rätikon, the Verwall and the Arlberg, there are many famous ski-regions (Arlberg, Montafon, Bregenzer Wald) and ski-ressorts (Lech, Zürs, Schruns, Warth, Damüls, Brand and many more). Damüls is also famous for being the municipality with the most annual snowfall per year worldwide (in average 9.30 meters). The highest mountain is Piz Buin, whose rocky peak of 3,312 meters is surrounded by glaciers. Vorarlberg is supposed to enjoy the greatest scenic diversity within limited confines in the entire East Alps at the border to the West Alps. The distance between Lake Constance and the plains of the Rhine valley across medium-altitude and high-alpine zones to the glaciers of the Silvretta range is a mere 90 km.

Administrative divisions

Vorarlberg is divided into four large districts, from north to south: Bregenz, Dornbirn, Feldkirch and Bludenz. These districts appear on the automobile license plates in the form of abbreviations: B, DO, FK and BZ.

Economy

For several years, the Vorarlberg economy has been performing well above the Austrian average. Whereas the all-Austrian GDP in 2004 rose by a "mere" 2.0% in real terms, Vorarlberg recorded an increase of 2.9%. This comes as a surprise, particularly as the major trading partners in Germany, Switzerland and Italy have not been faring well. Owing to this robust economic performance, Vorarlberg was able to boost its gross regional product in 2004 to 11.5 billion EUR according to calculations by the Economic Policy Department of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Trade. This translates into a nominal increase of 5.0% (Austria as a whole +4.0%). The regional product per inhabitant in Vorarlberg is 31,000 EUR, exceeding the Austrian national average by 8%. Vorarlberg and especially the River Rhine Valley is one of the wealthiest areas of the world with a very high quality of living. In addition to the flourishing textile, clothing, electronics, machinery, packing materials industries of the Rhine Valley, there is also a broad agricultural base, especially in the Bregenzerwald, which is noted for its dairy products ("Bregenzerwälder Cheese Route" and tourism. The tourist industry employs a considerable number of Vorarlbergers. The greatest tourist attractions are the mountains and the numerous ski resorts, the largest (and most famous) of which are:

• the Bregenzerwald,
• the Arlberg region (including the high-class ski resorts Lech and Zürs),
• the Brandnertal, and
• the Montafon.

Some famous skiers from these regions include Anita Wachter, Egon Zimmermann, Gerhard Nenning, Mario Reiter, Hubert Strolz,Hannes Schneider and the ski-jumper Toni Innauer. [2]

Demographics

The population of Vorarlberg is at 372,500. The majority (86%) of residents are of Austrian-Germanic stock with a cultural connection with Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west and Germany to the north. A sizable portion of the population's ancestors came from the Swiss canton of Valais from migrations of "Walsers", including the Swiss French in the 19th century by invitation during the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.^{[citation needed]}

Religion

78 % of the population is Roman Catholic, which puts Vorarlberg in line with national Austrian average of (73.6%), 7,817 Vorarlberg inhabitants are Protestant (2.2 %). The second largest religious denomination is Islam which accounts for a share of 8.4 % (mainly Turkish immigrants).

Language

Due to their isolated location from the rest of Austria, most of the people in Vorarlberg speak a very distinct German dialect which other Austrians have a hard time understanding. It is one of the Alemannic dialects that together form Swiss German spoken in Switzerland but also in Liechtenstein, Baden-Württemberg and the Alsace region in France. The dialects in the rest of Austria form part of the Bavarian-Austrian language group. In fact many towns or even villages in Vorarlberg have their own distinct sub-dialects.

Districts of Vorarlberg. Clockwise from north: Bregenz, Bludenz, Feldkirch, Dornbirn

History

This section requires expansion.

Before the Romans conquered Vorarlberg, there were two celtic tribes setteled in this area, the Raeti inhabiting the highlands and the Vindelici indwelling the lowlands, which means the Lake of Constance region and the Reihntal, one of the latter's important settelments was Brigantion (today bregenz), founded 500 BC, it was conquered by the Romans 15 BC. Vorarlberg was once part of the Roman Empire as the Roman province of Rhaetia, then fell under the rule of the Bavarii (Bavarians) tribe, subsequently the region was settled by the Bavarii and the Langobards; and finally it fell under the rule of Counts of Montfort. The Habsburgs took control in 1525.^[1] The historically Germanic province, which was a gathering together of former bishoprics was still ruled, in part, by a few semi-autonomous counts and surviving bishoprics until the start of World War I. Vorarlberg was a part of Further Austria, and parts of the area were ruled by the Counts Montfort of Vorarlberg. Following World War I there was a desire by many in Voralberg to join Switzerland.^[2] In a referendum held in Vorarlberg on 11 May 1919 over 80% of those voting supported a proposal that the state should join the Swiss Confederation. However, this was prevented by the opposition of the Austrian Government, the Allies, Swiss liberals, the Swiss-Italians and the Swiss-French.^{[3] [4]}

Notes

1. ^ http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Vorarlberg
2. ^ 1982 Britanica, article on History of Austria
3. ^ C2D - Centre d'études et de documentation sur la démocratie directe
4. ^ [1]

External links

• Official website
• Internet Portal for Vorarlberg
• Vorarlberg tourism
• Landscape of Vorarlberg
• See all restaurants of Vorarlberg with pictures
• about the dialect in Vorarlberg- in German

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vorarlberg

edit	Districts (Bezirke) of Vorarlberg
		Bludenz | Bregenz | Dornbirn | Feldkirch

Coordinates: 47°14′37″N 9°53′38″E / 47.24361°N 9.89389°E / 47.24361; 9.89389