• bloor@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    24 hours ago

    I can answer your second question: Upper and Lower have nothing to do with drawing on a northed map, but rather with the geography of the land. The Alps start to fade out and thus get lower the more you go west in Austria so Lower Austria is physically lower than Upper Austria. Same thing in Bavaria: The Southern part is called Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria) whereas the northern part is Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria).

    • Waffelmeister@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      16 hours ago

      I think it refers to their location in relation to the river Enns. Upper Austira was called “ob der Enns”, Lower Austria was called “nied der Enns” in the middle ages.

      • bloor@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Well, rivers usually flow from higher to lower points, so the explanation is still somewhat correct ;) but to be fair, that’s more the reasoning I found for myself, tieing it to rivers makes more sense in a historical context.