Klagenfurt Kïrtnen (Carinthia) Austria

Alpine Slavs living over the past two centuries in what is today Austria and western Hungary have been absorbed by waves of Bavarian and Magyar invaders, so that the Slovene linguistic boundaries have contracted southward.

Nevertheless, a Slovene tribal duchy, centered in Austria's Klagenfurt basin, has managed to survive for some two hundred years.

Though it is still imperfectly understood, ancient Carantania (or Carinthia) serves as a symbol of nationhood for contemporary Slovenes.

In 976, however, German emperor Otto I incorporates most of the Slovenian lands into the Duchy of Carinthia, which he separates from the Duchy of Bavaria.

It is the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies.

The Slovenian lands of Carinthia and …