( or ''Land''; it is chiefly famous for its mountains and lakes.
It consists mostly of a basin inside the
Alps , with the
Carnian Alps and the
Karawanken /
Karavanke making up the border to
Italy and
Slovenia . The
Hohe Tauern Mountain Range divides it from the
State of
Salzburg . To the East lies the state of
Styria /
Štajerska and it makes up a continuous valley with the eastern part of the
Tyrol to the West. Its lakes including
Wörther See ,
Millstätter See ,
Ossiacher See and
Weissensee are a major tourist attraction. The main river is the
Drau /
Drave /
Drava .
The capital is ,
Bad Sankt Leonhard Im Lavanttal ,
Bleiburg (''Pliberk''),
Feldkirchen (''Trg''),
Ferlach (''Borovlje''),
Friesach (''Breže''),
Gmünd ,
Hermagor ,
Radenthein ,
Sankt Andrä ,
Sankt Veit An Der Glan (''Šentvid''),
Spittal An Der Drau ,
Straßburg ,
Völkermarkt (''Velikovec''),
Wolfsberg (''Volšperk'').
The people are predominantly
German -speaking with a unique (and easily recognizable)
Southern Austro-Bavarian Dialect . A
Slovenian Minority of about 60 000 people (unofficial est. 100 000) is concentrated in the southeast of the country.
The current '') is
Jörg Haider of the
Alliance For The Future Of Austria (BZÖ). Haider is a rather controversial figure because his politics tend to
Populism and the
Far Right . He has made statements of a
Xenophobic nature and some suggesting nostalgia for the
Third Reich .
Carinthia's main
Industries are
Tourism ,
Electronics ,
Engineering ,
Forestry and
Agriculture . The
Multinational Corporations Philips and
Siemens have large operations there.
Carinthia has a
Continental Climate , with hot and moderately wet summers and long harsh winters. In recent decades winters have been exceptionally
Arid . The average amount of sunshine hours is the highest in Austria. In autumn and winter
Temperature Inversion often dominates the climate, characterised 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.
The name (''Karantania'') is thought to be
Celtic in origin, though two roots have been proposedvgl. u.a. H.D. Pohl: ''Kärnten - deutsche und slowenische Namen''. Hermagoras, Klagenfurt 2000, pp 84f., 87-118.:
1. ''carant'', meaning "friend" or "relation" - giving the meaning "land of friends", which may refer to an
Illyrian tribe of the
Bronze Age .
2. ''karanto'', meaning "stone, rock". If this is the case, the name shares its root with such others as
Karnburg , the
Karawanken and similar.
''Karantania'' is also related to the old Slovenian ''Korotan'', from which the modern name ''Koroška'' arose.
See Also: Karantania
See Also: March of Carinthia
See Also: Duchy of Carinthia
In of
Udine .
Original an agrarian state, Carinthia in the
1920s made some efforts to build up a touristical infrastructure like the
Grossglockner High Alpine Road and the
Klagenfurt Airport as well as the opening up of the
Alps attended by the
Austrian Alpine Club . However it was hit hard by the
Great Depression around
1930 driving the
Political System in Austria more and more towards
Extremism . After the
1938 Annexation of Austria into
Greater Germany (''
Anschluss '') the Nazi party took power everywhere in Carinthia.
The state is divided into 8 districts (''Bezirke''), and two
Statutarstädte .
Major tourist attractions are
Villach , the lakes
Wörthersee ,
Ossiachersee ,
Faaker See ,
Millstätter See , ski resorts
Nassfeld /
Hermagor ,
Gerlitzen ,
Bad Kleinkirchheim ,
Heiligenblut ,
Gurk Cathedral ,
Hochosterwitz
castle, the
Großglockner mountain and the
Nockberge for alpine sport.
