Land and Resources
Austria is predominantly a mountainous country, with an average elevation of about 910 m (3,000 ft). Most of the land falls within the eastern division of the Alps. In general the major mountain ranges of Austria run in an east-west direction and are separated from one another by rather broad valleys. The northernmost line of ranges includes the North Tirol Alps and the Salzburg Alps. Among the central ranges is the Hohe Tauern, which culminates in the Grossglockner, the highest elevation (3,797 m/12,457 ft) in the country; the Pasterze Glacier, one of Europe's largest, descends from the Grossglockner peak. The southernmost ranges include the Ötztal Alps, the Zillertal Alps, the Carnic Alps, and the Karawanken Mountains. Besides these latitudinal ranges, several series of mountain spurs extend in a north-south direction. The mountain barriers of Austria are broken in many places by passes, including the Brenner Pass and the Semmering Pass.
The principal areas of Austria that are not within the Alps are the northern and eastern border sections. The northern section consists of rolling upland, and the eastern border section comprises part of the Danube Basin, including Vienna.
The principal river is the Danube, which enters Austria at Passau on the German border; it continues its southeastern course, past Linz and Vienna, to Bratislava on the Slovakian border. Austrian tributaries of the Danube include the Inn (forming part of Austria's German border), Traun, Enns, and Ybbs rivers. In the south, important rivers are the Mur and the Mürz. In addition to the rivers, the hydrographic system of the country includes numerous lakes, notably Lake Constance (Bodensee), forming the western border with Liechtenstein and Switzerland, and Neusiedler Lake in Burgenland, near Hungary. Burgenland is the country's lowest elevation point (115 m/377 ft).
Political Divisions, Principal Cities, Religion and Language
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