This section is from the book "Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World", by David Patrick. Also available from Amazon: Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World.
Tyrol (Tee-roll'; in England usually called the Tyrol'; Ger. Tirol), a crown-land of the Austrian empire, lying between Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy, Salzburg, and Carinthia, and embracing an area of 10,302 sq. m., to which is administratively added Vorarlberg (q.v.), 1005 sq. m., on the western frontier. The province is traversed from east to west by the three chains of the Alps; the central chain (11,000 to 12,500 feet), which is crossed by the road over the Brenner Pass (45S8 feet), separates the German from the Italian side. The population consists of Germans (60 per cent.) and Italians (40 per cent.), and numbered 812,696 in 1S90 (with the crownland of Vorarlberg), and 9S1,947 in 1900. The people are noted for their fidelity to the Catholic faith and their devotion to their country, but are somewhat backward in education. The more important valleys are formed by the Inn (flowing N. to the Danube) and the Adige (S. to the Adriatic). Pastoral pursuits furnish the chief occupations, though some grain is grown, and considerable attention is paid to the cultivation of the forests (46 per cent. of the area), of fruit, wine (5,720,000 gallons annually), and silkworms. The mines were formerly of great value; but little is now extracted, except salt (at Hall), anthracite, and a little iron. Metal industries flourish in German Tyrol, cotton manufactures in Vorarlberg, and silk in Italian Tyrol. The chief towns are Innsbruck, Trent, Roveredo, Brixen, and Bozen. Tyrol, the ancient RhAetia, was conquered by the Romans under Augustus, and occupied afterwards by the Boiardi (Bavarians) and Langobardi. In 1363 its count bequeathed it to the Duke of Austria, and it has formed an appanage of the House of Hapsburg ever since, except during 1806-14, a period made memorable by the patriotic resistance of Andreas Hofer to French and Bavarians. See Miss Busk's Valleys of the Tyrol (1874).
 
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