Burgenland

Burgenland (boor'gunlänt) [key], province (1991 pop. 270,880), 1,530 sq mi (3,963 sq km), E Austria. The capital is Eisenstadt. It is a narrow, hilly region bordering Slovakia in the northeast and Hungary in the east, and it is indented by Neusiedler Lake. It is primarily agricultural, but industry and tourism are being developed. A borderland battleground for nearly 1,000 years, Burgenland has many castles, fortified churches, and walled villages. It is the newest of the Austrian provinces; its territory was transferred from Hungary by the treaties of Saint-Germain (1919) and Trianon (1920). Sopron, the region's leading town, was returned (1921) to Hungary after a plebiscite.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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