Upper Swabia ( or ) is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The name refers to the area between the Swabian Jura, Lake Constance and the Lech. Its counterpart is Lower Swabia (Niederschwaben), the region around Heilbronn.
Geography
The region of Upper Swabia is situated in the central south of Germany consisting of the south-east of Baden-Württemberg and the south-west bavarian Swabia region and lies on the Iller-Lech Plateau, also known as the Upper Swabian Plain, one of the natural regions of Germany. The landscape of Upper Swabia was formed by retreating glaciers after the Riss glaciation, leaving behind a large number of shallows which quickly filled up with water. This led to the large quantity of lakes in Upper Swabia. The landscape of Upper Swabia is quite hilly rising from approximately 458 metres above sea level in the valley of the river Danube to a maximum of 833 metres above sea level in the south-west of Upper Swabia only to drop again to 395 meters above sea level at Lake Constance. The European watershed also passes through the region, with some rivers emptying into the Danube (ultimately flowing into the Black Sea) and others emptying into Lake Constance (ultimately ending in the North Sea).
Due to Upper Swabia's altitude and hilly terrain, agriculture consists mainly of dairy farming, the exception being the basin of the river Schussen, where the predominant produce is hops and fruits.
Upper Swabia is still a very rural area dominated by villages. The urban population is concentrated in the cities of Augsburg, Friedrichshafen, Ravensburg & Weingarten and Biberach an der Riß as well as Memmingen and Günzburg.
The eastern border of Upper Swabia has been disputed for some time. Historically, the river Lech marks the border between Swabia and Bavaria. However, this would mean that large parts of Bavarian Swabia would have to be incorporated into Upper Swabia. As a result, these days the river Iller marks the eastern border of Upper Swabia.
The inhabitants of the former Free Imperial City Ulm and those that belonged to the former Imperial Abbey of Zwiefalten do not consider themselves as being part of Upper Swabia. Yet, in spite of their location close to the Swabian Alb, geographically, historically and culturally, they have always been closely connected to Upper Swabia.
Administration
Upper Swabia is part of the Tübingen, a being a sub-division of a federal state.
The following districts are wholly or partially part of Upper Swabia: Alb-Donau Biberach Bodenseekreis (Lake Constance) Ravensburg Reutlingen Sigmaringen Ulm
History
Upper Swabia has been populated at least since the Neolithic age. Archaeological evidence confirming this was discovered around the Federsee, a lake near Bad Buchau. Until around the year 260 CE, the region that was to become Upper Swabia, was part of the Roman province of Raetia, after which the Alamanni invaded the Agri Decumates and settling there.
During the Merovingian period, Upper Swabia came under the rule of the Frankish kings. It was part of the Duchy of the Alamanni. During the same period, the Christianization of the region began.
During the Carolingian, Ottonian and Salian period, Upper Swabia was part of the Duchy of Swabia.
From the High Middle Ages onwards, Upper Swabia became fragmented into a large number of small independent political units: Free Imperial Cities, principalities, counties, seigneuries, Imperial Abbeys and other clerical territories.
During the German Peasants' War of 1524–1525, Upper Swabia was a centre of the revolt. The peasants formed three armed groups, called Haufen (or Haufe): the Allgäuer Haufen, active in the Allgäu and eastern Upper Swabia, the Seehaufen, centred on the region north of Lake Constance, and the Baltringer Haufen, named after the village of Baltringen, a few kilometres south of Laupheim in northern Upper Swabia.
During the revolt, numerous castles and monasteries in Upper Swabia were destroyed by the peasants. By July 1525, however, the rising had been utterly suppressed in Upper Swabia, with countless peasants losing their lives either due to battles or due to punitive measures inflicted upon them afterwards by their lords. Economically and socially, the consequences were dramatic: whole communities were bankrupt and unable to pay proper taxes for a long time, the legal position of peasants was not to be altered for another 300 years, and due to the large number of outlawed peasants trying to survive by illegal means, such as robbery, commerce was severely hindered.