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Austria THE ALPINE-DANUBIAN REGION BEFORE THE HABSBURG DYNASTY
The Celtic and Roman Eras
Around 400 B.C., Celtic peoples from Western Europe settled
in the eastern Alps. A Celtic state, Noricum, developed around
the region's ironworks in the second century B.C. The Romans
occupied Noricum without resistance in 9 B.C. and made the Danube
River the effective northern frontier of their empire.
North of the Danube, various German tribes were already
extending their territory. By the latter half of the second
century A.D., they were making devastating incursions into Roman
territories. Nevertheless, Roman arms and diplomacy maintained
relative stability until the late fourth century, when other
Germanic tribes, including the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and
Vandals, were able to establish settlements in Roman territory
south of the Danube. The Roman province gradually became
indefensible, and much of the Christian, Romanized population
evacuated the region in 488. In 493 the Ostrogoths invaded Italy,
seized control of what remained of the western half of the Roman
Empire, and brought the Roman era in the eastern Alps to an end.
Data as of December 1993
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