Upper Swabia

Upper Swabia (German: Oberschwaben or Schwäbisches Oberland) is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.

The landscape of Upper Swabia was formed by retreating glaciers after the Riss glaciation, leaving behind a large number of shallows which quickly filled up with water.

Due to Upper Swabia's altitude and hilly terrain, agriculture consists mainly of dairy farming, the exception being the basin of the river Schussen, where the predominant produce is hops and fruits.

The urban population is concentrated in the cities of Augsburg, Friedrichshafen, Ravensburg & Weingarten and Biberach an der Riß as well as Memmingen and Günzburg.

Until around the year 260 CE, the region that was to become Upper Swabia, was part of the Roman province of Raetia, after which the Alamanni invaded the Agri Decumates and settling there.

Economically and socially, the consequences were dramatic: whole communities were bankrupt and unable to pay proper taxes for a long time, the legal position of peasants was not to be altered for another 300 years, and due to the large number of outlawed peasants trying to survive by illegal means, such as robbery, commerce was severely hindered.

This instability was one of the factors that lead to Upper Swabia's becoming a plaything of marauding armies during the Thirty Years War 1618 - 1648.

The efforts of the Counter-Reformation and the newly acquired financial ability of both secular and clerical lords enabled them to restore, extend and enhance the already existing seigneurial buildings in Baroque-style.

With the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, marked by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, catholic Upper Swabia was incorporated into the protestant Kingdom of Württemberg.

This situation lasted until 1952, when, following a referendum the previous year, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern together with Baden created the new federal state of Baden-Württemberg.

][citation needed] The bordering regions of Allgäu, Swabian Alb, Black Forest and particularly the area around Lake Constance have been more prosperous.