The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide, and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the south. The peaks and mountain passes are lower than the Western Alps, while the range itself is broader and less arched.
Geography
Overview
The Eastern Alps include the eastern parts of Switzerland (mainly Graubünden), all of Liechtenstein, and most of Austria from Vorarlberg to the east, as well as parts of extreme Southern Germany (Upper Bavaria), northwestern Italy (Lombardy), northeastern Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and a good portion of northern Slovenia (Upper Carniola and Lower Styria). In the south the range is bound by the Italian Padan Plain; in the north the valley of the Danube River separates it from the Bohemian Massif. The easternmost spur is formed by the Vienna Woods range, with the Leopoldsberg overlooking the Danube and the Vienna basin, which is the transition zone to the arch of the Carpathian Mountains. The northern portion forms the limestone Berchtesgaden Alps.
Mountains
The highest mountain in the Eastern Alps is Piz Bernina at 4,049 m (13,284 ft) in the Bernina Group of the Western Rhaetian Alps in Switzerland. The sole four-thousander of the range, its name is taken from the Bernina Pass and was given in 1850 by Johann Coaz, who also made the first ascent. The rocks composing Piz Bernina are diorites and gabbros, while the massif in general is composed of granites (Piz Corvatsch, Piz Palü).
Excepting other peaks in the Bernina range, the next highest is the Ortler at 3,905 m (12,812 ft) in Italian South Tyrol and third the Großglockner, which stands on the border of Carinthia & East Tyrol in Austria, at 3,798 m (12,461 ft), the highest mountain of Austria. The region around the Großglockner and the adjacent Pasterze Glacier has been a special protection area within the High Tauern National Park since 1986. Other high Tyrolian mountains include Königspitze (3,851 m), Monte Cevedale (3,769 m), and Wildspitze (3,768 m).
Crossing Tyrol, on the border between North and South Tyrol, runs the main chain of the Alps.
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Sources & references
Reference material for this entry is drawn from the open encyclopedic record, including Wikipedia , available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Images are credited individually beside each photo.
The city of Innsbruck is in the broad valley between high mountains of the so-called North Chain in the Karwendel Alps (Hafelekarspitze, 2,334 metres or 7,657 feet) to the north and Patscherkofel (2,246 m or 7,369 ft) and Serles (2,718 m or 8,917 ft) to the south. The name "Innsbruck" means 'bridge over the Inn'.
Vorarlberg's notable mountain ranges include the Silvretta, the Rätikon, the Verwall and the Arlberg. The highest mountain is the Piz Buin, whose rocky peak of 3,312 m (10,866 ft). The Silvretta Alps cut across Tirol and Vorarlberg (both in Austria), and Graubünden (Switzerland).
The Sulzfluh is well frequented by climbers and is situated in the Rätikon range of the Alps, on the border between Austria and Switzerland. On the eastern side is a mountain path, of grade T4, allowing non-climbers to reach the 2,817 m (9,242 ft) summit. There are six known caves in the limestone mountain, with lengths between 800 and 3000 or more yards, all with entrances on the Eastern side, in Switzerland.
About half of Liechtenstein's territory is mountainous. and the highest point of Liechtenstein is the Grauspitz (Vorder Grauspitze or Vorder Grauspitz on some maps) with an altitude of 2599m above sea level. This is the highest summit of the Rätikon and is located on the border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
The Falknishorn, at 2,452 m (8,045 ft) above sea level, is the 5th highest mountain in Liechtenstein and represents the southernmost point of the country, it is also on the border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The area known as the Liechtenstein-Graubünden-Vorarlberg border triangle is around the Naafkopf mountain that reaches 2,570 m (8,430 ft) above sea level.
In addition to the peaks of the Alpine chain, which belong to the Limestone Alps, two inselbergs, Fläscherberg (1135 meters above sea level) in the south and Eschnerberg (698 m) in the north, rise from the Rhine Valley and belong to the Helvetic cover or flysch zone of the Alps. A sandstone mountain belt called the Flyschzone runs along the Northern Margin of the Limestone Alps and used to be part the submerged sea bed of the Tethys Ocean. The chain also includes the Klippenzone and Steinitzer Wald.
Liechtenstein lies entirely within the Rätikon and is thus allotted either to the Eastern Alps (two-part division of the Alps) or to the Central Alps (three-part division of the Alps) depending on how its geology is classified. The Rätikon mountain range, in the Central Eastern Alps, derives its name from Raetia.
The High Tauern mountain range in which Grossglockner, 3,797 m (12,457.35 ft) lies is on the border between the state of Carinthia and the state of Tyrol (East Tyrol).
The Julian Alps cross the Italian border from Friuli into Slovenia's Municipality of Bovec. The highest mountain is Triglav at 2,864 m (9,396 ft).
The Karawanks mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps straddles the border between the Austrian state of Carinthia and the Slovenian Gorenjska. The range contains both the Meža Valley (Mežiška dolina) down to the confluence with the Drava Valley (Dravska dolina) and the Municipality of Jezersko south of the Seeberg Saddle mountain pass, totalling 478 km2 (185 mi2) and includes the municipalities of Črna na Koroškem, Mežica, Prevalje and Ravne na Koroškem, and Dravograd.
Austrian and Slovenian Carinthia has a very diverse landscape, with a predominance of hilly and mountainous terrain of Pleistocene origins and was sculpted by former glaciers. Over two thirds of Slovenian Carinthia is covered by forest (largely beech, fir, and spruce) and the amount of forested land is still increasing. The mountains of Peca and Raduha are in the eastern part of the Kamnik–Savinja Alps of northern Slovenia.
The Jenner (German pronunciation: [ˈjɛnɐ]) is a northern Alpine mountain in southern Bavaria, Germany and it is part of the Göll massif within the Berchtesgaden Alps.
Rivers
The Alpine Rhine has as its source the Swiss canton of Grisons, which flows through the Chur Rhine Valley, or Grisonian Rhine Valley (German: Churer Rheintal, or Bündner Rheintal) and Vorarlberg Rhine Valley (German: Voralberger Rheintal). It later forms the border between Switzerland to the west and Liechtenstein and later Austria to the east.
The Mur (German pronunciation: [ˈmuːɐ̯] ) or Mura (Slovene pronunciation: [ˈmúːɾa]; Croatian: [mǔːra]; Hungarian: [ˈmurɒ]; Prekmurje Slovene: Müra or Möra) is a 464 kilometres (288 mi) long river in Central Europe with a drainage basin that covers an area of 14,109 km2 (5,448 mi2). It rises in the Hohe Tauern national park of the Central Eastern Alps in Austria with its source being 1,898 m (6,227 ft) above sea level. It is a tributary of the Drava and subsequently the Danube. The major rivers in Tyrol are the Adige, Inn, and Drau (or Drava). The major river in Carinthia is the Drau (or Drava) and the major river in Slovenia is the Sava.
National parks and protected places
Triglav National Park was founded in 1981. It was originally set out in 1924 on a smaller scale and scrapped between 1944 and 1961.
The mountains of the canton include part of a thrust fault that was declared a geologic UNESCO World Heritage Site, under the name Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, in 2008.
The Vienna Woods are a protected piece of upland forestry in Austria.
The Pasterze Glacier a protected piece of mountain glacier in Austria.
Classification
Geomorphology
The ranges are subdivided by several deeply indented river valleys, mostly running east–west, including the Inn, Salzach, Enns, Adige, Drava, and Mur valleys. According to the traditional Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps (AVE) widely used by Austrian and German mountaineers, these mountain chains comprise several dozen smaller mountain groups, each assigned to four larger regions:
Northern Limestone Alps
Central Eastern Alps
Southern Limestone Alps
Western Limestone Alps
For the breakdown of these regions into mountain groups see the List of mountain groups in the Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps. The Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) has a slightly different classification of the ranges, based on the political borders in the canton of Graubünden. In Italy the 1926 Partizione delle Alpi concept is quite common, recently superseded by the SOIUSA attempt to combine the different approaches. Other specific, especially hydrographical arrangements are also in use.
Tectonics
The Alps comprise four main nappe systems:
The Helvetic nappes (Helveticum, French: Dauphiné), with their main ranges in the Western Alps. They consist primarily of Cretaceous and Paleogene sedimentary rocks in multiple folds.
The Penninic nappes (Penninicum), Jurassic sediments of the Tethys Ocean stretching from the Eurasian to the Apulian Plate, pushed together during the Alpine orogeny. They comprise a Flysch zone and several crystalline rocks in geological windows, such as the Engadin window and the Hohe Tauern window in the Central Alps.
The East Alpine system: the Northern Limestone Alps, made up of Mesozoic (Triassic) rocks, the Paleozoic slate (Kitzbühel and Salzburg Slate Alps) and the greywacke zone, as well as the crystalline Central Eastern Alps, the Precambrian and Paleozoic remnants of a main strike.
The South Alpine system (Dinaric nappes) south of the Periadriatic Seam (Valtellina—Tonale Pass—Puster Valley—Gailtal—Karawanks). They mainly consist of Mesozoic and Paleozoic formations (Carnic Alps, Karawanks and several smaller strikes) with little faults, whose nappes and folds are oriented towards the south.
History
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
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 which has descended from Vulgar Latin.
By 259, Alamanni tribes had overrun the Limes and caused widespread devastation of Roman cities and settlements in the Crisis of the Third Century. The Roman Empire succeeded in re-establishing the Rhine as the border, but it was now a frontier province. The late Roman influx from the north by the Alemanni also influenced the makeup of the Principality of Liechtenstein and is also evidenced by the remains of a Roman fort at Schaan. Roman villas have been excavated in Schaanwald 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. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ticino was ruled by the Ostrogoths, the Lombards and the Franks.
The Alemanni or Alamanni, 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.
After the fall of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in 553, the Germanic tribe of the Lombards invaded Italy via the Tyrol and founded the Lombard Kingdom of Italy, which no longer included all of Tyrol, but only its southern part. The northern part of Tyrol came under the influence of the Bavarii, while the west was probably part of Alamannia.
Most of Tyrol came under the control of the Duchy of Bavaria (created c. 555) while the rest remained under the Lombards.
