TYROL' (in German more commonly spelled Tirol; not spoken of as claslirol, though usually called in England the Tyrol) forms with Vorarlberg the most westerly province of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and borders n., w., and s. on Bavaria, Switzerland, and Italy. Area, including Vorarlberg, 12,311 sq.m.; pop. '69, 885,789.
Tyrol may be regarded as an eastern continuation of Switzerland. It is traversed from e. to w. by the great chain of the Alps, and is encircled on all sides by lofty ranges. It consists, however, almost entirely of three gm-eat valleys—(1) one run ning e. and w. n. of the great Alps, and drained by the Inn; (2) one s. cf the Alps, also running e. and NV., and drained by upper tributaries of the Adige or Etsch; (3) one run ning s. from the middle of the last, and drained by the main stream of the Adige.
i These valleys are surrounded by a circuit of mountains. The northern vailey is sepa rated from Bavaria by the Algau Alps. The southern Talley is bounded on the c. by the Trent Alps; on the w. by the Ortler Alps, which, like protecting walls, run s. into the plain of Lombardy. The main chain is crossed toward the center of the Tyrom by a ,deep depression, in which lies the Brenner pass (elevation, 4.657 ft.). It is the lowest of the great passes of the Alps, and that over which runs the great commercial route .connecting Italy and Germany.
The dialect and manners of the Bavarians prevail in the northern and middle valley. The dialect and manners of Lombardy, on the other hand, have crept up the third val ley to a boundary-line which rests upon the mountains which bound the middle valley on the south. Hence the most important divisions of the Tyrol arc into the German Tyrol and the Italian Two!. The German Tyrol is divided into (1) the Oberinnthal, or the Upper Inn valley; ("2) The Unterinnthal, or the Lower Inn valley ; (3) the Vintsehgan ; (4) the Etsch district; and (5) the Pmisterthal, the three last belonging to the middle val ley of the Tyrol. Beyond the geographical limits of the Tyrol the Austrian province of the Tyrol includes (0) the Vorarlberg, a district drained by streams which fall into the lake of Constance, and in which a dialect is spoken resembling those of German Switz erland; and (7) the Lienz district, on the Drava, in which the language of the people is Austrian. The Italian Tyrol is divided into (1) a nortnern valley, or that of Trent; (2)
a southern valley, or that of Royeretio; (3) the valley ,of the Sarca, or district of Rive, on lake Garda.
Geo!ogy and Soik—The rocks of tha Tyrol are chiefly crystalline Silurian and sec ondary, with obtruding granites and traps. The chief mineral products are iron, reek salt, worked near Innsbruck. and marble, quarried in the south. The tertiary strata of the Swiss and Swabian plains are totally wanting; and it is only along the water-courses that level tracts of recent formation are found. These are tn.: only parts of the admitting of cultivation by the plow, and they very seldom attain a width of mare than half a mile. Taken altogether, they do not form more than one-tenth of the whole country.
loftiest mountains of the Tyrol are in the main chain of the Alps—the Gross Glockner (12,776 ft.), e of the Brenner pass, and mount Gebatsch (I2.276 ft.) w. of it, and, in the Ortler chain, the Order Spitz (12,818 ft.). These mountains arc cov ered with vast glaciers, which descend, like those of Switzerland, far into the valleys. Bet .veen 0,000 and 5,000 ft. snow disappears in summer, and Alpine plants and 2T:tS3 cover the hills, diversified here and there with stunted bushes. Into this region the herds are driven, as in Switzerland, clueing the summer months. Below 5.030 ft. the, firwoads abound; potatoes and a few vegetables are cultivated, and houses permanently occupied make their appearance. The beech replaces the fir at 4,003ft., and agriculture begins, the chief grains being rye and barley. Wheat is not cultivate I with success at a higher elevation than 2,033 feet. In the lower Ivo, of the &nit:helm valley, the temper ature is highest, and inde.:d the climate is that of northern Italy; tobacco, the fig. the olive, and the mulberry being enumerated among the chief objects of cultivation. Out of every 100 acres of the Tyrol, 30 are inaccessible. mountain-tracts, 40 forests, 20 com mons and mead:)ws, and 10 corn-fields and gardens.