is the westernmost
State (''Land'') of
Austria . Though it is the second smallest in terms of area (
Vienna is the smallest), it borders three countries:
The capital of Vorarlberg is
- Bregenz , which also is one of the five cities.
The other four are:
The main
River s 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
Lake s, 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 ,
Dornbirn ,
Feldkirch and
Bludenz . These districts appear on the
Automobile License Plates in the form of abbreviations: B, DO, FK and BZ.
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%.
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:
78 % of the population is Roman Catholic, which puts Vorarlberg in line with all-Austrian average (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).
Due to their isolated location from the rest of Austria, the most of the people in Vorarlberg speak a very distinct German dialect which other Austrians have a hard time understanding. It is in some way similar to the German dialects spoken in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Baden-Württemberg and the
Alsace region in France (they are all
Alemannic dialects, whereas the dialects in the rest of Austria form part of the Bavarian-Austrian language group). In fact many towns or even villages in Voralberg have their own distinct sub-dialects.
,
Bludenz ,
Feldkirch ,
Dornbirn ]]
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.1982 Britanica, article on History of Austria 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 .http://c2d.unige.ch/int/voteres.php?entit=10&vote=101&lang=
