The mineral wealth of Austria is very great. The older rocks are in many places peculiarly rich in metalliferous ores of all kinds. Amongst them may be mentioned the silver-bearing lead ores of Erzgebirge and of Přibram in Bohemia; the iron ores of Styria and Bukovina; and the iron, copper, cobalt and nickel of the districts of Zips and Gomor. The famous cinnabar and mercury mines of Idria in Carniola are in Triassic beds; and the gold and silver of northern Hungary and of Transylvania are associated with the Tertiary volcanic rocks. The Carboniferous coal-fields of Silesia and Bohemia are of the greatest importance; while Jurassic coal is worked at Steyerdorf and Funfkirchen in Hungary, and lignite at many places in the Tertiary beds. The great salt mines of Galicia are in Miocene deposits; but salt is also worked largely in the Trias of the Alps. (See also [Alps]; [Carpathians]; [Hungary] and [Tirol].)
(P. La.)
Climate.—The climate of Austria, in consequence of its great extent, and the great differences in the elevation of its surface, is very various. It is usual to divide it into three distinct zones. The most southern extends to 46° N. lat., and includes Dalmatia and the country along the coast, together with the southern portions of Tirol and Carinthia. Here the seasons are mild and equable, the winters are short (snow seldom falling), and the summers last for five months. The vine and maize are everywhere cultivated, as well as olives and other southern products. In the south of Dalmatia tropical plants flourish in the open air. The central zone lies between 46° and 49° N. lat., and includes Lower and Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Central and Northern Tirol, Southern Moravia and a part of Bohemia. The seasons are more marked here than in the preceding. The winters are longer and more severe, and the summers are hotter. The vine and maize are cultivated in favourable situations, and wheat and other kinds of grain are generally grown. The northern zone embraces the territory lying north of 49° N. lat., comprising Bohemia, Northern Moravia, Silesia and Galicia. The winters are here long and cold; the vine and maize are no longer cultivated, the principal crops being wheat, barley, oats, rye, hemp and flax. The mean annual temperature ranges from about 59° in the south to 48° in the north. In some parts of the country, however, it is as low as 46° 40′ and even 36°. In Vienna the average annual temperature is 50°, the highest temperature being 94°, the lowest 2° Fahr. In general the eastern part of the country receives less rain than the western. In the south the rains prevail chiefly in spring and autumn, and in the north and central parts during summer. Storms are frequent in the region of the south Alps and along the coast. In some parts in the vicinity of the Alps the rainfall is excessive, sometimes exceeding 60 in. It is less among the Carpathians, where it usually varies from 30 to 40 in. In other parts the rainfall usually averages from 20 to 24 in.
Flora.—From the varied character of its climate and soil the vegetable productions of Austria are very diverse. It has floras of the plains, the hills and the mountains; an alpine flora, and an arctic flora; a flora of marshes, and a flora of steppes; floras peculiar to the clay, the chalk, the sandstone and the slate formations. The number of different species is estimated at 12,000, of which one-third are phanerogamous, or flowering plants, and two-thirds cryptogamous, or flowerless. The crown land of Lower Austria far surpasses in this respect the other divisions of the country, having about four-ninths of the whole, and not less than 1700 species of flowering plants. As stated above, Austria is a very mountainous country and the mountains are frequently covered with vegetation to a great elevation. At the base are found vines and maize; on the lower slopes are green pastures, or wheat, barley and other kinds of corn; above are often forests of oak, ash, elm, &c.; and still higher the yew and the fir may be seen braving the climatic conditions. Corn grows to between 3400 and 4500 ft. above the level of the sea, the forests extend to 5600 or 6400 ft., and the line of perpetual snow is from 7800 to 8200 ft.
Fauna.—The animal kingdom embraces, besides the usual domestic animals (as horses, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, asses, &c.), wild boars, deer, wild goats, hares, &c.; also bears, wolves, lynxes, foxes, wild cats, jackals, otters, beavers, polecats, martens, weasels and the like. Eagles and hawks are common, and many kinds of singing birds. The rivers and lakes abound in different kinds of fish, which are also plentiful on the sea-coast. Among the insects the bee and the silkworm are the most useful. The leech forms an article of trade. In all there are 90 different species of mammals, 248 species of birds, 377 of fishes and more than 13,000 of insects.
Divisions.—Austria is composed of seventeen “lands,” called also “crown lands.” Of these, three—namely, Bohemia, Galicia and Lodomeria, and Dalmatia—are kingdoms; two—Lower and Upper Austria—archduchies; six—Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Silesia and Bukovina—duchies; two—Görz-Gradisca and Tirol—countships of princely rank (gefurstete Grafschaften); two—Moravia and Istria—margraviates (march counties). Vorarlberg bears the title simply of “land.” Trieste, with its district, is a town treated as a special crown land. For administrative purposes Trieste, with Görz-Gradisca and Istria, constituting the Küstenland (the Coast land) and Tirol and Vorarlberg, are each comprehended as one administrative territory. The remaining lands constitute each an administrative territory by itself.
Population.—Austria had in 1900 a population of 26,107,304 inhabitants,[1] which is equivalent to 226 inhabitants per sq. m. As seen from the table below, the density of the population is unequal in the various crown lands. The most thickly populated province is Lower Austria; the Alpine provinces are sparsely populated, while Salzburg is the most thinly populated crown land of Austria. As regards sex, for every 1000 men there were 1035 women, the female element being the most numerous in every crown land, except the Küstenland, Bukovina and Dalmatia. Compared with the census returns of 1890, the population shows an increase of 2,211,891, or 9.3% of the total population. The increase between the preceding census returns of 1880 and 1890 was of 1,750,093 inhabitants, or 7.9% of the total population. A very important factor in the movement of the population is the large over-sea emigration, mostly to the United States of America, which has grown very much during the last quarter of the 19th century, and which shows a tendency to become still larger. Between 1891 and 1900 the number of over-sea emigrants was 387,770 persons. The movement of the population shown in the other vital statistics—births, marriages, deaths—are mostly satisfactory, and show a steady and normal progress. The annual rate per thousand of population in 1900 was: births, 37.0; still-births, 1.1; deaths, 25.2; marriages, 8.2. The only unsatisfactory points are the great number of illegitimate births, and the high infant mortality. Of the total population of Austria 14,009,233 were scattered in 26,321 rural communities with less than 2000 inhabitants; while the remainder was distributed in 1742 communities with a population of 2000-5000; in 260 communities with a population of 5000-10,000; in 96 towns with a population of 10,000-20,000; in 41 towns with a population of 20,000-50,000; in 6 towns with a population of 50,000-100,000; and in 6 towns with a population of over 100,000 inhabitants. The principal towns of Austria are Vienna (1,662,269), Prague (460,849), Trieste (132,879), Lemberg (159,618), Graz (138,370), Brünn (108,944), Cracow (91,310), Czernowitz (67,622), Pilsen (68,292) and Linz (58,778).
| Administrative Territories | Areas in Square Miles. | Population. | Density of Population per sq. m. in 1900. | |
| 1890. | 1900. | |||
| Austria— | ||||
| Lower Austria | 7,654 | 2,661,799 | 3,100,493 | 405 |
| Upper Austria | 4,617 | 785,831 | 809,918 | 175 |
| Salzburg | 2,757 | 173,510 | 193,247 | 69 |
| Styria | 8,642 | 1,282,708 | 1,350,058 | 156 |
| Carinthia | 3,992 | 361,008 | 367,344 | 91 |
| Carniola | 3,844 | 498,958 | 508,348 | 132 |
| Küstenland | 3,074 | 695,384 | 755,183 | 245 |
| Tirol and Vorarlberg | 11,287 | 928,769 | 979,878 | 86 |
| Bohemia | 19,997 | 5,843,094 | 6,318,280 | 315 |
| Moravia | 8,555 | 2,276,870 | 2,435,081 | 284 |
| Silesia | 1,981 | 605,649 | 680,529 | 342 |
| Galicia | 30,212 | 6,607,816 | 7,295,538 | 241 |
| Bukovina | 4,022 | 646,591 | 729,921 | 181 |
| Dalmatia | 4,923 | 527,426 | 591,597 | 120 |
| Total | 115,533 | 23,895,413 | 26,107,304 | 226 |
Races.—From an ethnographical point of view Austria contains a diversity of races; in fact no other European state contains within its borders so many nationalities as the Austrian empire. The three principal races of Europe—the Latin, the Teutonic and the Slavonic—are all represented in Austria. The Slavonic race, numbering 15,690,000, is numerically the principal race in Austria, but as it is divided into a number of peoples, differing from one another in language, religion, culture, customs and historical traditions, it does not possess a national unity. Besides, these various nationalities are geographically separated from one another by other races, and are divided into two groups. The northern group includes the Czechs, the Moravians, the Slovaks, the Ruthenians and the Poles; while the southern group contains the Slovenes, the Servians and the Croats. Just as their historical traditions are different, so are also the aspirations of these various peoples of the Slavonic race different, and the rivalries between them, as for instance between the Poles and the Ruthenians, have prevented them from enjoying the full political advantage due to their number. The Germans, numbering 9,171,614, constitute the most numerous nationality in Austria, and have played and still play the principal role in the political life of the country. The Germans are in a relative majority over the other peoples in the empire, their language is the vehicle of communication between all the other peoples both in official life and in the press; they are in a relatively more advanced state of culture, and they are spread over every part of the empire. Historically they have contributed most to the foundation and to the development of the Austrian monarchy, and think that for all the above-mentioned reasons they are entitled to the principal position amongst the various nationalities of Austria. The Latin race is represented by the Italians, Ladini and Rumanians.