CARINTHIA, formerly an Alpine province of Austria and now a gau of greater Germany, occupies the drainage area of the upper Drava and its headwaters, isolated by mountain masses. Within the province two distinct regions exist, viz., Upper thia, west of the confluence of the Gail and the Drava, and Lower Carinthia, east of that junction. The former is very mountainous and is divided into two sharply contrasted types of country by the west-east flowing Drava. North of the river lies a belt of line rock highly dissected into blocks by the numerous left-bank tributaries of the main stream, e.g., the Isel, the Moll, etc. Here, though the heights are well-watered and clothed with forests and high pastures, settlement is sparse; scattered dwellings and lets concerned with cattle-raising predominate, for the valleys are narrow and rise steeply to the glaciated summits of the Hohe Tauern. There are, however, great possibilities for the ment of electricity from the numerous falls and the present trend of Austria in this direction will doubtless react favourably upon the prosperity of this region. South of the Drava the southern limestone zone of the Alps is tered. Although several thousand feet lower in general level than the crystalline zone this region offers few attractions to human occupation. The prevalence of faulting and steep scarps, the lack of good passes, the absence of surface drainage and the marshy nature of the valley floors bine to restrict settlement which, with agriculture, favours the sunny northern slopes and the occasional alluvial fans, ularly in the valley of the Gail which divides the mass of the Carnic Alps into two groups. In both a decrease in height and difficulty towards the east is companied by an increase in tivation and by a growth in the number and size of the villages. Lower Carinthia centres on the nucleus of the busy Klagenfurt basin, an undulating area, between 1,300 ft. and 1,65o ft. above sea-level, floored with Tertiary sediments and morainic debris. Its fertility is in great contrast to that of the crystalline Gurktal Alps and Saualpe to the north and of the Karawanken limestone belt of the south, for suitable soil and the high summer temperatures favour the growth of cereals and fruit while the surrounding mountain pastures aid the breeding of horses and cattle. In tion leather, paper, cement and mineral products are extensively manufactured, the latter particularly in the south-east near burg where lead ores are extracted. These, with the iron of the alpe and local lignite are the bases of small but important metal lurgical industries at many places, among which Ferlach, Klagen furt and St. Veit are the best known. The development of Carin thia is hindered in every direction by its remoteness and internal difficulties of communication. The old longitudinal route from Innichen to Bleiburg, now followed by a railway, carries little through trade because of frontier difficulties at either end, while only two transverse railways exist. One of these, however, the eastern, leads to the important Semmering pass and has brought additional prosperity to the important route junctions of Klagen furt (30,6J4) and Villach (23,945). The other, crossing the Hohe Tauern by tunnel, handles a large proportion of the local trade in timber and wood products while both carry increasing numbers of tourists to the numerous small bathing resorts that line the shores of the remarkably warm Carinthian lakes which lie in the longitudinal valleys, e.g., the Worther-see, the Millstatter-see, the Ossiach-see, etc. The population (407,529 in 19.34) is predom inantly Roman Catholic in religion and German in speech. Only in the southeast, where access is most easy, has a foreign element succeeded in penetrating along the main valleys and here altera tions in customs, language and architecture herald the passage to Slovene territory.
See also AUSTRIA; V. Paschinger, M. Wutte, Landeskunde von Kdrn ten (Klagenfurt, 1923) : Hans Retzlaff and Clotildis Thiede, Kaernten: Grenzland ina Sueden (Berlin, 1938). (W. S. L.)