South Tyrol history · History of South Tyrol
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History of South Tyrol
History of South Tyrol
It is known that people have lived here since the stone age - like Ötzi the Iceman, and the region was part of the Roman Empire from 59 BC until the Migration Period. From the 6th to the 9th century, the region was settled by the Bavarii together with the Langobards and the romanised natives. As part of France and later the Holy Roman Empire, the region had a strategic importance as a bridgehead to Italy. Large parts of the province was donated to the Bishops of Trent and Brixen. After their caretakers, the earls of Tyrol (like Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol) had gathered the province under their command, the region together with the valleys to the north was known as Tyrol.
In 1342, the earldom went over to the Bavarian dukes again when Emperor Louis IV voided the first marriage of Countess Margarete Maultasch. But already in 1363, the Wittelsbach released the country for Habsburg.
Habsburg ruled the region almost continuously until 1918. It was only in 1805 when Austria was defeated by Napoleon and lost Tyrol to Bavaria in the Peace of Pressburg (Bavaria allied itself with Napoleon in the war). Tyroleans, lead by Andreas Hofer, rose in rebellion against Bavarian rule. In 1814, Tyrol is transferred again from Bavaria to Austria at the Congress of Vienna.
In 1919, after the First World War, South Tyrol was annexed by Italy. Government officials, soldiers and other settlers brought in by the Italian state, especially the Fascist regime, from all over Italy reached a third of the total population by the early 1950s. Their descendants now make up about a quarter of the population.
As a result of the pact between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, the German speakers in the region were given the option to relocate to Germany. Only few accepted, and most of them returned to their homeland after the war, anyway. During the end of the war, the region was briefly annexed to the Third Reich, briefly reuniting the Tyrol.
After WWII, the region was returned to (remained part of) Italy as a province, but with large administrative and legislative autonomy, which finally took effect in the 1970's and 80's.
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South Tyrol Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.