The history of Austria covers the history of Austria and its predecessor states. In the late Iron Age Austria was occupied by people of the Hallstatt Celtic culture, they first organized as a Celtic kingdom referred to by the Romans as Noricum, dating from c. 800 to 400 BC. At the end of the 1st century BC, the lands south of the Danube became part of the Roman Empire. In the Migration Period, the 6th century, the Bavarii, a Germanic people, occupied these lands until it fell to the Frankish Empire established by the Germanic Franks in the 9th century. The name Ostarrîchi (Austria) has been in use since 996 AD when it was a margravate of the Duchy of Bavaria and from 1156 an independent duchy of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Venus of Willendorf, c. 25,000 BC. Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Leather shoe from the Hallstatt culture, 800–400 B. C.
The Holy Roman Empire in the 10th century showing Bavarian marches, including Carinthia.
Ostarrîchi in document from time of Otto III.
The Margraviate of Austria was a medieval frontier march, centered along the river Danube, between the river Enns and the Vienna Woods, within the territory of modern Austrian provinces of Upper Austria and Lower Austria. It existed from c. 970 to 1156.
The first mention of the word Ostarrîchi (996), the word is marked with a red circle.
