Styria

Styria

Styria (stĭrˈēə), Ger. Steiermark (shtīˈərmärk), province (1991 pop. 1,184,593), 6,324 sq mi (16,379 sq km), central and SE Austria. Graz is the capital. Bordering on Slovenia in the south, Styria is predominately mountainous, with many forests, pastures, and meadowlands. The province is drained by the Mur, Enns, and Raab rivers. It is the chief Austrian mining district (iron ore, lignite, salt, graphite, gypsum, talc, and magnesite) and has a well-developed metals industry, particularly in the north, near the Erzberg. The province also produces paper, cellulose, chemicals, leather, textiles, and food products. Graz is a center of motor-vehicle assembly. Cattle, horses, and poultry are raised, and forestry is an important occupation. There are many Alpine resorts, and tourism is a major source of revenue. Styria was originally settled by Celts and later was part of Roman Noricum and Pannonia. It was made a duchy in 1180 and in 1192 passed to the Austrian house of Babenberg. Ottocar II of Bohemia successfully contested it with Bela IV of Hungary, but in 1278, at the battle of Marchfeld, Ottocar was defeated and killed by the forces of Rudolf I of Hapsburg. Rudolf declared (1282) Styria, Austria, and Carniola hereditary Hapsburg possessions. By the Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919) Styria's southern portion was ceded to Yugoslavia and is now part of Slovenia.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Styria

 

(also Steiermark), a historical region of Central Europe, in the basin of the Mur River. The historical nucleus of Styria was the Carinthian Mark, which was one of several territories that remained when Greater Carantania broke up in the early 11th century. In 1180 the Carinthian, or Styrian, Mark became a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire. Inhabited chiefly by Slovenes, Styria was subjected to German colonization and germanization. It became a possession of the Babenberg dukes of Austria in 1192 and passed to the Hapsburgs in 1282. From 1867 to 1918 it was a crown land of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Under the Treaty of St. Germain (1919), most of Styria went to Austria, forming the Bundesland (federal state) of Styria; the remainder, including the city of Maribor, was incorporated into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

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Styria

 

(also Steiermark), a Bundesland (federal state) of Austria. Area, 16,400 sq km. Population, 1,193,600 (1975). The capital is the city of Graz. Styria is divided according to relief into two regions: Upper Styria, an area of high mountains in the northwest that includes the Niedere Tauern, Dachstein, and the Eisenerz Alps, and Lower Styria, a hilly area in the southeast.

Upper Styria is primarily an industrial region. Its rich natural resources include iron ore at Erzberg and Radmer; magnesite at Breitenau, Veitsch, and Trieben; brown coal; graphite; and salt. Considerable electric power is produced at fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants and by hydroelectric power stations. Ferrous metallurgy is represented by the production of pig iron, steel, and rolled steel products in Leoben-Donawitz and steel and rolled steel products in such cities as Kapfenberg, Kindberg, and Miirzzuschlag. The wood-products enterprises of various cities, notably Niklasdorf and Pols, produce for the entire country. Upper Styria also has light industry and enterprises of the machine-building, chemical, and food-processing industries. Agriculture is represented by dairy farming, swine raising, and the cultivation of rye and barley, maize, and potatoes.

Lower Styria is an important agricultural region. In the Graz “bay” livestock are raised for meat and dairy products, and grain crops are grown; the area also has orchards and vineyards. Industry includes machine building in Graz, Weiz, and Andritz, and there are enterprises of the wood-products and the pulp and paper industries in Gratkorn and Gratwein. Lower Styria has a printing industry, and footwear is manufactured in Graz.

A. I. MUKHIN

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Styria

a mountainous state of SE Austria: rich mineral resources. Capital: Graz. Pop.: 1 190 574 (2003 est.). Area: 16 384 sq. km (6326 sq. miles)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005