Chiemgau () is the common name of a geographic area in

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (, ; ) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat of the district gove ...

. It refers to the foothills of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

between the rivers Inn and Traun, with the

Chiemsee Chiemsee () is a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany, near Rosenheim. It is often called "the Bavarian Sea". The rivers Tiroler Achen and Prien (river), Prien flow into the lake from the south, and the river Alz flows out towards the north. The ...

at its center. The political districts that contain the Chiemgau are Rosenheim and

Traunstein Traunstein (; ) is a Town#Germany, town in the south-eastern part of Bavaria, Germany, and is the administrative center of a much larger Traunstein (district), district of the same name. The town serves as a local government, retail, health se ...

. Wendelstein is the name of a famous mountain close by but not strictly in the Chiemgau.

Explanation of the name

The name ''Chiemgau'' and ''

'' together with the place name '' Chieming'' allegedly go back to the Old High German personal name ''Chiemo'' (7th/8th century). At the end of the 8th century the name ''Chiemgau'' appeared for the first time in documents as ''Chimigaoe'' but it stood at that time for a smaller area around the village of Chieming.

History

From the New Stone Age to the

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

s humans have left their traces in the Chiemgau. After that this region was settled by the Celts and later by the Romans. The Romans settled mainly near the river Alz and made a crossing for their Roman road which goes from Salzburg to Augsburg at Seebruck (Bedaium). At that time the Chiemgau was on the outskirts of the Roman province of

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, R ...

. Chiemgau was for a long time closely connected with the Bavarian dukes and also the prince-bishops of Salzburg. After the secularisation of 1803, the whole Chiemgau district became part of Bavaria. The Chiemgau is a source of wood, iron and salt. The production of salt, which existed from 1619 till 1912, had a big cultural and economical influence on the Chiemgau. The Chiemgau has traditionally been horse breeding country, especially workhorses.

Nature and geography

The

ice-age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, which took place 150,00 years ago, formed the foothills of the

and the morainic landscape. For this reason the Chiemgau is a hilly countryside with numerous

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s, forests and fens; additional there are plenty of lakes of which the biggest one is the Chiemsee. The biggest mountains are almost 2000m high.

Notable residents

* Karl Streibel (1903–1986), German Nazi SS concentration camp commandant

References

Upper Bavaria Cultural landscapes of Germany {{Bavaria-geo-stub