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Article: Marking a millennium. (Austria celebrates 1,000th anniversary)
- Article from:
- Europe
- Article date:
- October 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Delegation of the European Commission. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Although barely out of its infancy as a member of the European Union, Austria hits the ripe old age of 1,000 this year. The country has spent 1996 looking back at the reasons Austria has an indelible place in the history books.
The first known mention of a territory called Austria came on November 1, 996 AD, when Holy Roman Emperor Otto III gave some 2,000 acres of land to the bishop of Freising in Bavaria. The deed to the land bore the name Ostarrichi, High German for Osterreich, or Austria. The document later was heralded as Austria's birth certificate.
The birth of the country would not be realized for hundreds of years. It was territory coveted by others. ...