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Erratum: The capital of Lower Austria should be Sankt P�lten, not Vienna as shown in the book.

Country overview: 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Austria was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or Austria-Hungary. This country included most or all of present-day Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia, about half of Romania, and parts of Southern Poland, Western Ukraine, Northern Yugoslavia, and Northern Italy. It also had administrative control of Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the end of World War I, the treaties of Saint-Germain and Trianon redrew the map of Europe, and Austria emerged looking almost exactly as it does today. During World War II, Austria was annexed by Germany, but the Allies never recognized the annexation, and at the end of the war, the status quo ante was restored.

Other names of country: 

1. Czech: Rakousko
2. Danish: �strig
3. Dutch: Oostenrijk, Republiek Oostenrijk (formal)
4. English: Republic of Austria (formal)
5. Finnish: It�valta
6. French: Autriche, R�publique f d'Autriche f (formal)
7. German: �sterreich, Republik f �sterreich n (formal), �streich n (obsolete)
8. Icelandic: Austurr�ki
9. Italian: Austria f
10. Norwegian: �sterrike, Republikken �sterrike (formal) (Bokm�l), Austerrike, Republikken Austerrike (formal) (Nynorsk)
11. Portuguese: �ustria, Rep�blica f da �ustria f (formal)
12. Russian: Австрийская Республика (formal), Австрия
13. Spanish: Austria, Rep�blica f de Austria f (formal)
14. Swedish: �sterrike
15. Turkish: Avusturya, Avusturya Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

German �sterreich: Eastern empire. Created by Charlemagne as a buffer state.

Primary subdivisions: 

Austria is divided into nine Bundesl�nder, or simply L�nder (states; sing. Land).

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Austria page.

Each state is further subdivided into entities of two types: Politischer Bezirk (district) and Statutarstadt (statutory city, or urban district). (Vienna has only one such subdivision.) There are currently 99 districts. They are further subdivided into Gemeinden (communes).

Territorial extent: 

Vienna is completely surrounded by Lower Austria.

Tyrol consists of two sections, separated by a strip of land belonging to Salzburg. The smaller part, commonly called Osttirol (East Tyrol), is equivalent to the Politischer Bezirk of Lienz.

There is also a small area of Tyrol, containing the town of Jungholz, which is connected to the rest of Tyrol at only a single point. The Austrian-German border forms an X there.

The UN LOCODE page  for Austria lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Burgenland: Named for the three Hungarian counties, known in German as Eisenburg, �denburg, and Wieselburg, which were cut up to make this state: the Land of the "-burgs."
2. Carinthia: The inhabitants of this region were known as Carantani to the ancient Romans.
3. Lower Austria: Area of Austria which lies downstream along the Danube.
4. Salzburg: German Salz: salt, Burg: castle. Salt was mined and stored here.
5. Styria: German Steiermark from Steyr, a city name, and Old High German marcha: boundary land.
6. Tyrol: Named for Tyrol Castle near Merano.
7. Upper Austria: Area of Austria which lies upstream along the Danube.
8. Vienna: Latin Vindobona from Indo-European vindo: whiteness and Celtic bona: citadel.
9. Vorarlberg: = Before the Arlberg, a mountain (pass) which divides this state from the rest of Austria.

Change history: 

1. 1918: The official names of the provinces of �sterreich ober der Enns and �sterreich unter der Enns were changed to Ober�sterreich and Unter�sterreich, respectively, to conform to popular usage.
2. 1920-07-16: By the Treaty of Saint-Germain, Austria was created as a fragment of Austria-Hungary. In principle, Austria was to include the ethnic German areas of Austria-Hungary, but some of these areas were given to other countries for political reasons. The southern part of Tyrol was given to Italy, and is now the region of Trentino-Alto Adige. (The loss of this area left Tyrol in two fragments.) The provinces of Coastland, Carniola, Dalmatia, and the southern part of Styria (6,032 sq. km.) were incorporated in the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which later became Yugoslavia. Carinthia lost 777 sq. km., part to Italy and part to Yugoslavia. The provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, and most of Silesia became part of Czechoslovakia. Galicia and the rest of Silesia were given to Poland. Bukowina was given to Romania. By the Treaty of Trianon, the western parts of three Hungarian counties were transferred from Hungary to Austria, forming the state of Burgenland. For other transfers of territory, see Hungary. The capitals of the forfeited provinces, when they were part of Austria-Hungary, were Trieste (Coastland), Laibach (Carniola), Zadar (Dalmatia), Prague (Bohemia), Brunn (Moravia), Troppau (Silesia), Lemberg (Galicia), and Czernowitz (Bukowina).
3. 1921-12-14: Part of Burgenland restored to Hungary, including the city of �denburg, now known as Sopron.
4. 1922-01-01: Vienna split from Unter�sterreich, leaving the latter without a capital.
5. 1938-03-13: Austria was annexed by Germany in the Anschluss. The Allies never recognized the legality of this act. The German government called the Austrian territory Ostmark. Tirol and Vorarlberg were unified into a single entity called Tirol-Vorarlberg. Burgenland was entirely divided between Lower Austria and Styria. The names of Lower and Upper Austria were changed to Niederdonau and Oberdonau (Lower and Upper Danube), respectively. The divisions of Ostmark were classified as Reichsgaue (provinces or districts of the empire). An area of 800 sq. km. around Vienna was transferred from Niederdonau to Vienna. Krems was named capital of Niederdonau.
6. 1945-04-29: A provisional government was set up for a liberated Austria, restored to its pre-war borders (both external and internal, except for Vienna). The Allied Council recognized this government on 1945-10-20.
7. 1954: Vienna was restored to its pre-war borders.
8. 1986-07-10: Capital of Lower Austria moved from Vienna to Sankt P�lten.
9. 1995-01-01: Austria joined the European Union.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Burgenland: Burgenl�ndia (Portuguese-variant)
2. Carinthia: Carinthie (French, Norwegian); Car�ntia (Portuguese); Carintia (Spanish); Carinzia (Italian); Karintia (Turkish); Karinti� (Dutch); K�rnten (Danish, Finnish, German, Swedish); Koroško (Slovenian)
3. Lower Austria: ala-It�valta (Finnish); Austria Inferiore (Italian); Baixa-�ustria (Portuguese); Baja Austria (Spanish); Basse-Autriche (French); Nedre �strig (Danish); Niederdonau, �sterreich unter der Enns (obsolete-German); Nieder�sterreich (Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish)
4. Salzburg: Salisburgo (Italian); Salzbourg (French); Salzburgo (Portuguese, Spanish)
5. Styria: Est�ria (Portuguese); Estiria (Spanish); Steiermark (Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish); Stiermarken (Dutch); Stiria (Italian); Styrie (French)
6. Tyrol: Tirol (Dutch, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish); Tiroli (Finnish); Tirolo (Italian); Tyrolen (Swedish)
7. Upper Austria: Alta-�ustria (Portuguese); Alta Austria (Spanish); Austria Superiore (Italian); Haute-Autriche (French); Oberdonau, �sterreich ober der Enns (obsolete-German); Ober�sterreich (Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish); �vre �strig (Danish); yl�-It�valta (Finnish)
8. Vienna: Viena (Portuguese, Spanish); Vienne (French); V�n (Icelandic); Viyana (Turkish); Wenen (Dutch); Wien (Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish); Вена (Russian)

Population history:

Most data in the tables above come from source [4], and are proleptic. Data for 1939 could not be retrieved from that site. In 1939, Burgenland was included in Lower Austria and Styria; Vorarlberg was included in Tyrol.

Sources: 

1. [1] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
2. [2] Fourth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vol. II, United Nations, New York, 1987.
3. [3] �sterreiches Jahrbuch 1973. Dr�ck und Verlag der �sterr. Staatsdr�ckerei, Wien, 1974.
4. [4] STATcube  - Statistical Database of Statistics Austria (retrieved 2013-03-05).
5. [5] Statistik Austria  Table of NUTS-3 areas with communes, areas, and populations (retrieved 2013-02-01).

Acknowledgments: 

1. Valentin Arzoumanian
   Sent a spreadsheet containing the 2011 census data, from source [5].
2. Horst Borger
   2017-09-30 - Suggested correction to the conventional abbreviations of states.