Name: Geography Now! Austria
Uploaded: 2017-09-18T21:49:03.000Z
Duration: 10 min 5 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

No matter how much German these people speak,

Hey peeps, I'm your host Paul Barbato.
Let's dissect the flag.

The flag is one of the oldest used flags of Europe.

Disputably, legend as it that
the flag comes from the Siege of Acre

after Leopold V came back from battle and removed his belt with his blood-soaked tunic

Keep in mind that the Austrian flag looks very similar to the flag of Latvia

however the Latvian flag has unequal sized band and is a darker shade of red.

Keep in mind, many other countries in the eastern European region, specifically the pan-Slavic areas

still retain a part or a complete version of the white/red pattern on their flags like Austria

We'll explain a little more about this but first

In terms of its location, Austria is landlocked, bordered by 8 other countries

With the Alps dominating three quarters of the country in the west and in the centre.

Although it's kinda funny because the state of Lower Austria

is technically a little higher than Upper Austria geographically.

The capital and the largest city is Vienna

located on the eastern side of the country

where 1 out of every 8 Austrians can be found.

Oh, and there's dozens of castles speckled throughout the entire country

Remember how in the Albania video, I told you to play that whole "find the bunker" game?

Well in Austria it's kind of like "find the castle" game.

As a member of the EU, Austria's borders are pretty open with all of its neighbours

and are pretty much virtually invisible, with the exception of the occasional river or mountain blocking the way.

The only controversy it really has is in the South Tyrol region

which historically belonged to a number of different kingdoms and empires

but for a long while it belonged to the House of Hapsburg

a historically fascinating lineage that would eventually play a pivotal role in providing

half of Europe with all of their monarchical lineages.

In short, it kind of initially belonged to Austria.

However, after the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919

the entire southern part of this region was kind of reluctantly given to the kingdom of Italy.

This explains why Austria has a relatively narrow eastern parameter that stretches into the Alps

as the South Tyrol region, which previously gave the country a wider range of dominion, was ceded to Italy.

"we'll give you this piece of land, but, you know... Just a little heads up"

"pretty much everybody in there is Austrian and they speak German, and they... kind of want to be part of Austria."

The most confusing part of the region though would have to be the Jungholz enclave.

Located right on the border of the Bavarian region of southern Germany

This place only has about 300 people, separated into four small towns.

This area is strange, because it is one of Europe's only three quadripoint borders

and is technically joined by Austria by only a small narrow corridor

only a few metres wide on the top of the adjacent Sorgschrofen Mountain

Otherwise, the only way to get into Austria from this region

This means that if you don't want to go through Germany to get into Austria from this region

the only way is to literally climb to the top of Sorgschrofen Mountain

to the very point where the four borders meet and climb all the way down to the rest of Austria.

Since the 19th century, the borders have been literally marked every single step of the way

and the top has a mark stone that distinguishes the narrow crossing.

Believe it or not, this is actually a common hike that a lot of people take

despite the fact that many of them don't even understand the significance of the markers.

Speaking of mountains and hikes, let's talk about the physical geography!

As mentioned before, about three quarters of Austria is mountainous

with the Alps dominating the centre and western parts of the country.

These mountains are the characterizing segments that give Austria its distinct national identity, both historically and culturally.

even though the vast majority of people in Austria live in the low-lying plains around the mountains

Austria would not be Austria without the Alps.

These mountains can actually be quite quirky, almost with minds of their own.

For example, every spring, in the Hochschwab Mountains and forests on the east side of the Alps

the snow melt from the mountains completely and gorges the Grüner See, or the "Green Lake"

engulfing the entire park with trees and benches underneath it.

These mountains also provide the perfect setting for Austria's favourite sport, skiing

The problem though is that, although these mountains are very beautiful

they do kinda make a lot of the country uninhabitable or difficult to cultivate.

Although 40% of the land is covered in forests, less than 20% of the land is arable.

YES, the Sound of Music was filmed in parts of Austria

No, not everybody has seen or even cared about seeing that movie.

Of course the mighty Danube river flows through the northern part of the country

and has historically played a vital role in Austria's economy and trade sector

especially after the construction of the Rhine-Main-Danube river canal back in 1992

which allows ships to finally pass from the North Sea, through Europe, into the Balkans, and ending into the Black Sea.

The low-laying areas of eastern Austria have nice grassy hills and plains

perfect for cattle-raising and of course, dairy production

where some of the classiest Austrian cheeses are produced.

Now of course, Austria's economy is not really that heavily based on agriculture

but rather services and industry, specifically in engine and medication manufacturing.

Austria still kinda lives up to its classy expectation.