austria

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked East Alpine country in the southern part of Central Europe. It is composed of nine federated states (Bundesländer), one of which is Vienna, Austria’s capital and its largest city. It is bordered by Germany to the northwest, Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. Austria occupies an area of 83,879 km 2 (32,386 sq mi) and has a population of nearly 9 million people. While German is the country’s official language, many Austrians communicate informally in a variety of Bavarian dialects.

The Second Republic declared its perpetual neutrality in foreign political affairs in 1955. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and joined the European Union in 1995. Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999.

The German name for Austria, Österreich, derives from the Old High German Ostarrîchi, which meant „eastern realm“ and which first appeared in the „Ostarrîchi document“ of 996.This word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local (Bavarian) dialect. Another theory says that this name comes from the local name of the mountain whose original Slovenian name is Ostravica ('sharp mountain'), because it is very steep on both sides.

The languages of Austria include German, the official language and lingua franca; AustroBavarian, the main dialect outside Vorarlberg; Alemannic, the main dialect in Vorarlberg; and several minority languages.

Austria is the only European Union nation that is not a member of NATO.

Modern Austria is the German-speaking part of the Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) Empire ruled by the Habsburg family from 1526 to 1918.