The East Styrian Hill Country or East Styrian Hills (German: Oststeirisches Hügelland or Oststeirisches Riedelland), is a rolling, hill country region, known as Hügelland, in the southeast of the Austrian state of Styria.
The East Styrian Hills cover an area of about 50 x 80 km, but continue as a landscape type geologically and morphologically:
in the west as the smaller West Styrian Hills (Weststeirisches Hügelland), its boundary being formed by the Mur and both landscapes being called the Styrian Hills
and in the east in the narrow South Burgenland and towards West Hungary, where it is bounded in the north by the South Burgenland Hills (Südburgenländische Schwelle) and in the east by the Pannonian Basin
in a southerly direction (Slovenia) the hills continue - rather differently divided - as the Slovene Hills (German: Windische Bühel, Slovene: Slovenske gorice) in Lower Styria (Spodnja Štajerska) and Goričko in the Prekmurje (Upper Mur region) for another 30 km or so.
In the 18th century the East Styrian Hills belonged to the county of Graz and was part of the Lower Styria
Most of the valleys in the entire region run southwards to southeastwards, which gives the orography its typical divisions.
The region is drained by the Mur as well as the waters of the Raab and Feistritz [de; fr; sh; sv], and the valley of the Lafnitz forms the boundary.
Literature
Peter Krenn: Die Oststeiermark. Ihre Kunstwerke, Historischen Lebens- und Siedlungsformen. Erweiterte Neuauflage, Reihe Styria regional, Verlag Styria, Graz, 1997, ISBN3-222-12601-1.
