The ice age During the
Würm glaciation, the Eastern Alps were drier than the
Western Alps, with the contiguous ice shield ending in the region of the
Niedere Tauern in
Austria. This allowed many species to survive the
ice age in the Eastern Alps where they could not survive elsewhere. For that reason, many
species of plants are
endemic to the Eastern Alps.
Ancient history The first signs of humans living in the area of present-day Liechtenstein can be dated back to the
Middle Paleolithic era.
Neolithic farming settlements appeared in the valleys around 5300 BCE. A
Bronze Age settlement at the site goes back as far as the
Pfyn culture (3900–3500 BCE), making Chur one of the oldest settlements in
Switzerland. In ancient times, the area of what is today
Ticino was settled by the Lepontii, a Celtic tribe. Later, probably around the reign of Augustus, it became part of the
Roman Empire. In
ancient times, the region had long been inhabited by the
Celts before it became part of the ancient
Roman provinces of
Raetia and
Noricum. There were two
Celtic tribes settled in the future
Vorarlberg area: the
Raeti in the highlands, and the
Vindelici in the lowlands, i.e. the
Lake Constance region and the
Rhine Valley prior to the
Romans conquered Vorarlberg area. Rome conquered the area of the future Municipality of Schellenberg in 15BCE.
Classical antiquity , is the Swiss municipality with 95.6% of people naming Romansh as their language of best command in 2000. Most of the lands of the region were once part of a Roman province called
Raetia, which was established in 15 BCE. The current capital of Graubünden,
Chur, was known as Curia in Roman times. The area was later part of the
diocese of Chur. A
Roman road crossed Liechtenstein from south to north, traversing the Alps by the
Splügen Pass and following the right bank of the
Rhine at the edge of the floodplain, for long uninhabited because of periodic flooding. Some Roman villas have been excavated in
Schaanwald and
Nendeln. Nearly 2,000 years later, some of the population of
Graubünden still speak
Romansh and
Nendeln. The area that Innsbruck is located in was probably inhabited in the early
Stone Age. Several surviving
pre-Roman place names exist in and about the city. In the 4th century Chur also became the seat of the first Christian bishopric north to the
Alps. Despite a legend assigning its foundation to a legendary British king, St Lucius, the first known bishop is one Asinio in AD 451.
Early history In the 6th century the
Slavs settled the area, and the local dioceses collapsed. This is shown in
archaeological culture. A Slavic
language group was established in the area. The
Alpine Slavs, who are reckoned to be ancestors of present-day Slovenes, also settled in the easternmost mountainous areas of
Friuli, known as the
Friulian Slavia, as well in as the
Karst Plateau and the area north and south of
Gorizia. At this time,
Chur was also conquered by the
Franks. were a confederation of
Germanic tribes on the
Upper Rhine River. Eastern Switzerland, Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein was under the
Alemanni and 73% of Liechtenstein's current population still speak the native
Alemannic dialect of German at home as of 2022. The territory settled by Slavs, however, was also inhabited by remnants of the indigenous Romanised
Celtic and
Pannonian population, who preserved the Christian faith and helped convert the Slavs of
Carantania. From 623 to 658 Slavic peoples between the upper
Elbe River and the
Karawanks mountain range. They united under the leadership of
King Samo (Kralj Samo). The Frankish
March of Carinthia, created within the
Carolingian Empire in 889. The city of Chur suffered several invasions: by the
Magyars in 925–926, when the cathedral was destroyed, and by the
Saracens (940 and 954), but afterwards it flourished thanks to its location, where the roads from several major Alpine transit routes come together and continue down the Rhine River. In 926 more Magyar raiders attacked the abbey and the nearby town of St Gallen. The Lordship of Schellenberg was constituted in the 9th century by
Charlemagne.
Medieval history , built during the Middle Ages In the years 1007 and 1027 the emperors of the
Holy Roman Empire granted the counties of
Trento and
Vinschgau to the
Bishopric of Trent and the
Bishopric of Brixen the
County of Norital in 1027 and the
Puster Valley in 1091 by the county of Milan and Como. By about 1100 Ticino was the centre of struggle between the free communes of Milan and Como. The upper
Rhine River had been visited by traders since Roman times, but acquired greater importance under the
Ottonian dynasty of the
Holy Roman Empire.
Emperor Otto I appointed his vassal Hartpert as bishop of Chur in 958 and awarded the bishopric numerous privileges. In 1170 the bishop became a prince-bishop and kept total control over the road between Chur and
Chiavenna. The first written evidence of a settlement at Innsbruck dates back to 1180 and the town named
Oeni Pontum or
Oeni Pons which is
Latin for bridge (pons) over the Inn River (Flumen Oenus). It was built there some time earlier than its first recorded account, possibly even around Roman
Veldidena in the 4th century, due to the important crossing point over the Inn River. The Counts of
Andechs first acquired the town in 1180 and then the town passed into the hands of the
Counts of Tyrol in 1248 From upper
Valais, the
Walser began to spread south, west and east between the 12th and 13th centuries, in the so-called Walser migrations (Walserwanderungen). Nearly 1,500 years later the people of Triesenberg in
Liechtenstein still speak a dialect of German that was influence of
Walser migrants from the early in the 14th century. In the 13th century Chur had some 1,300 inhabitants and was surrounded by a line of walls. In 1367 the foundation of the
Three Leagues in the area was a first step towards Chur's autonomy: a burgmeister (mayor) is first mentioned in 1413, and the bishop's residence was attacked by the inhabitants. Chur was the chief town of the
Gotteshausbund or Chadé (League of the House of God), and one of the regular meeting places of the assemblies of the Leagues. As the power of the bishops, now increasingly under the influence of the nearby
Habsburg County of Tyrol, decreased, in 1464 the citizens wrote a constitution which was adopted as the rule for the peoples of the local guilds and political positions. The medieval county of
Vaduz was formed in 1342 as a small subdivision of the Werdenberg county of the dynasty of
Montfort of Vorarlberg. () was a historic state of the
Holy Roman Empire In 1367 the League of God's House (Cadi, Gottes Haus, Ca' di Dio) was founded to resist the rising power of the Bishop of Chur. This was followed by the establishment of the Grey League (Grauer Bund), sometimes called Oberbund, in 1395 in the Upper Rhine valley. In the 14th century it was acquired by the Visconti,
Dukes of Milan. In the 15th century the Swiss Confederates conquered the valleys south of the Alps in three separate conquests. The Lordship of Schellenberg was purchased by the Counts of Vaduz in 1437.
19th century When Graubünden became a Swiss canton in 1803, Chur was chosen as its capital. The lands of the
Bishopric of Trent and
Bishopric of Brixen were secularised and incorporated into the County of Tyrol. The
Brenner Railway was opened in 1867.
Modern history Following
World War I and the subsequent
dissolution of Austria-Hungary, it was divided into two modern administrative parts through the
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Lichtenstein also ended its customs union with
Austro-Hungary in 1919. Lichtenstein started its
customs union with
Switzerland in 1924. The completion of the final portion of the FO railway occurred in 1926. It thus opened up the
Cantons of
Valais and
Graubünden to further tourist development. This led to the introduction of
Kurswagen (
through coaches) between
Brig and
Chur, and between Brig and St. Moritz. The
Grossglockner High Alpine Road (in German
Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße) opened in 1935. The Hitlerian
Kehlsteinhaus was built on the
Kehlstein mountain in 1938. Between 1943 and April 1945, Axis Forces held Innsbruck, which experienced 22 air raids by the Allied Forces and suffered heavy damage during
World War 2. Switzerland and Lichtenstein remained neutral in the war. The
Jenner mountain Triglav National Park was founded in 1981. In 2005, the
Carinthia Statistical Region was established, which covers a larger area of about , at the expense of Styria. ==Economy==