Carinthia (German: Kärnten [ˈkɛʁntn̩] ⓘ; Slovene: Koroška [kɔˈɾóːʃka] ⓘ; Italian: Carinzia [kaˈrintsja]) is the southernmost and least densely populated Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes.

The toponym Carinthia (Slovene: Koroška < Proto-Slavic *korǫt’ьsko) is also claimed to be etymologically related, deriving from pre-Slavic *carantia.

[6] Carinthia is known as Koruška/ Корушка in Croatian and Serbian, Korutany in Czech, Kärnten in German, Karintia in Hungarian, Carinzia in Italian, Carintia in Spanish, Karyntia in Polish, Korutánsko in Slovak, and Koroška in Slovene.

In autumn and winter, temperature inversion often dominates the climate, characterized by air stillness, a dense fog covering the frosty valleys and trapping pollution to form smog, while mild sunny weather is recorded higher up in the foothills and mountains.

Archaeological findings of stone artifacts in a stalactite cave near Griffen are older than 30,000 years; larger settlements in the Lavanttal, Maria Saal and Villach regions are documented from about 3000 BC.

Skeleton finds from about 2000 BC (near Friesach) denote a permanent population, and intensive arable farming, as well as trading with salt and Mediterranean products, was common already during the periods of the Urnfield and Hallstatt culture.

About 300 BC, several Illyrian and Celtic tribes joined in the Kingdom of Noricum, centered on the capital Noreia, possibly located in the Zollfeld basin near the later Roman city of Virunum.

Known for the production of salt and iron, the Kingdom maintained intensive trade relations with Etruscan peoples and over the centuries extended the borders of its realm up to the Danube in the north.

As the Roman Empire declined in the 5th century AD, the Noricum region was exposed to recurring campaigns of Germanic tribes, whereupon the population retired to hilltop settlements.

In 408 Visigoth troops under King Alaric I entered Noricum from Italy across the Carnic Alps and allied with the Roman commander Stilicho, who as a result was deposed and executed for high treason (August 408).

On the death of King Theoderic the Great in 526, the Italian kingdom finally collapsed and the East Roman Byzantine empire under Justinian I temporarily conquered the Noricum region in the course of the Gothic War of 535 to 554.

From 591 onwards, the Frankish king Theudebert I tried to break into the former Noricum region, and Bavarian settlers entered the area from the Puster Valley in the west.

The principality was again centered on the historic Zollfeld valley, where the Prince's Stone bears witness to the ritual of the investiture of the Carantanian rulers exclusively in Slovene.

While the Carantanian rulers initially joined the tribal union of Samo's Empire, Prince Boruth turned to Duke Odilo of Bavaria in around 743 to ask for support against the Avar invaders.

Carinthia, therefore, was the first newly created duchy of the Holy Roman Empire and for a short while comprised lands stretching from the Adriatic Sea almost to the Danube.

In late 1918, the breakup of the Habsburg monarchy was imminent, and on 21 October 1918 the members of the Reichsrat for the German-speaking territories of Austria met in Vienna to constitute a "Provisional National Council for German-Austria".

[9] Apart from one Social-Democrat, Florian Gröger, all the other delegates from Carinthia—Hans Hofer, Jakob Lutschounig, Josef Nagele, Alois Pirker, Leopold Pongratz, Otto Steinwender, Viktor Waldner—were members of German national parties and organizations.

With the subsequent assistance of the regular Yugoslav army, they occupied southern Carinthia claiming the area for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca, or SHS) also known as Yugoslavia.

The provisional state government of Carinthia had fled to Spittal an der Drau and given the ongoing fighting between local volunteers and invaders on 5 December decided to declare armed resistance.

The resistance encountered by the Yugoslav forces especially north of the Drava River around the town of Völkermarkt with its violent fighting alarmed the victorious Allies at the Paris Peace Conference.

Sherman Miles inspected the situation in situ and recommended the Karawanken main ridge as a natural border to keep the Klagenfurt basin intact but, in agreement with item no.

An armistice was agreed upon on 14 January and by 7 May 1919 the Yugoslav forces had left the state, but Slovene troops under Rudolf Maister returned to occupying Klagenfurt on 6 June.

The Canale Valley (German: Kanaltal, Italian: Val Canale) as far south as Pontebba, at that time an ethnically mixed German–Slovene area,[citation needed] with the border town of Tarvisio (German: Tarvis, Slovene: Trbiž) and its holy place of pilgrimage of Maria Luschari (Slovene: Svete Višarje) (172 square miles[11] or 445 km2), was ceded to Italy and included in the Province of Udine.

According to the same treaty, a referendum was to be held in southern Carinthia as suggested by the Allied Commission, which was to determine whether the area claimed by the SHS-State was to remain part of Austria or go to Yugoslavia.

Divergent views over the implementation of minority protection rights guaranteed by Article 7 of the Austrian State Treaty have created numerous tensions between the two groups in the past fifty years.[when?]

The historical population is given in the following chart: The state is divided into eight rural and two urban districts (Bezirke), the latter being the statutory cities (Statutarstädte) of Klagenfurt and Villach.

[citation needed] Recommendations for a boycott of the 2001 census, which asked for the language used in everyday communication, reduced the count of Slovene speakers to 12,554 people, 2.38% of a total population of 527,333.

Carinthia features numerous monasteries and churches such as the Romanesque Gurk Cathedral or Maria Saal in the Zollfeld plain, the abbeys of St. Paul's, Ossiach, Millstatt, and Viktring as well as castles and palaces like large-scale Hochosterwitz, Griffen, or Porcia.

The most important literary event in Carinthia is the Days of German-language Literature in Klagenfurt, during which the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize is awarded, which has been held annually since 1977 and particularly supports younger authors.

In Carinthia, the architect Günther Domenig designed the Steinhaus am Ossiacher See, the building for the state exhibition in Hüttenberg and the extension for the Klagenfurt city theater.