Not all of Bavaria is Bavarian

or do I?

Well, that depends on who you talk to

because “Bavaria” can mean different things to different people.

If you want the short answer, then I live in the Free State of Bavaria,

but I do not live in the Bavarian part of Bavaria.

The long answer is most of the rest of this video.

Most of you know Bavaria as the largest of Germany’s 16 states.

I live in the north-west corner, actually not very far from Frankfurt,

while its south-east corner is at Berchtesgaden in the Alps.

And while most German states were created after the Second World War,

Bavaria as we know it today is only slightly changed from what it was in 1816.

I say “slightly changed”,

but actually between 1816 and 1946

Bavaria controlled an area known as the “Lower Palatinate” —

or more usually simply as the “Palatinate” —

which is now part of the modern state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

But, ignoring the Palatinate — and I’m sorry about that,

but I’ll make it up to you at a future date —

there have only been minor changes to Bavaria’s borders in the last 200 years.

The history of Bavaria can be traced back to the 6th century,

when Garibald I was made Duke of the Bavarii,

and controlled some of the Alps and their foothills

roughly corresponding to what is now southern Bavaria and parts of Austria.

As was the norm back in the day, battles were fought and aristocrats married each other,

and so borders were constantly changing.

At one point, the Duke of Bavaria controlled land

as far south as Verona, in modern-day Italy.

By the 19th century Bavaria had grown quite far north,

and had even reached Bamberg.

Now, the exact history of Bavaria’s growth from modest duchy to full-sized kingdom

is way too complicated for this video;

but the important point is that its borders were changing all the time.

And so now we have modern Bavaria, which calls itself the Free State of Bavaria,

and parts of it have been Bavarian for longer than other parts.

Now, at the beginning of the video I said that I do not live in the Bavarian part of Bavaria.

So, what counts as the real Bavaria?

Well, modern Bavaria is divided into seven administrative regions.

I live in Lower Franconia,

but we also have a Middle Franconia