March of Carniola

March (or Margraviate) of Carniola
Mark(grafschaft) Krain
State of the Holy Roman Empire
late 9th century–1364
March of Carniola within the March/Duchy of Carinthia circa 1000 CE.   March of Carniola   Other parts of the March/Duchy of Carinthia   Rest of the German Kingdom
March of Carniola at the time of the Hohenstaufen Emperors (circa 1250).   The pale highlighted area roughly corresponds to the later Austrian Circle and is shown merely for context.
Capital		Not specified
Government		Markgrafschaft (Margraviate)
History
•	Established	late 9th century
•	Attached to Duchy of Bavaria	952
•	Separated from Bavaria (as part of the Duchy of Carinthia)	976
•	Separated from Carinthia	1040
•	Inherited by King Ottokar II of Bohemia (thus uniting it with Austria and Styria)	1268
•	Ceded to the Habsburgs	1276
•	Declared a duchy by Rudolph IV of Austria	1364
•	Status as duchy recognised	1590
Succeeded by Duchy of Carniola
Today part of		Slovenia

The March (or Margraviate) of Carniola (Slovene: Kranjska krajina; German: Mark Krain) was a southeastern state of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages, the predecessor of the Duchy of Carniola. It corresponded roughly to the central Carniolan region of present-day Slovenia. At the time of its creation, the march served as a frontier defense against the Kingdoms of Hungary and Croatia.

Before the coming of the Romans (c. 200 BC), the Taurisci dwelt in the north of Carniola, the Pannonians in the south-east, the Iapodes or Carni, a Celtic tribe, in the south-west.

Carniola formed part of the Roman province of Pannonia; the northern part was joined to Noricum, the south-western and south-eastern parts and the city of Aemona to Venice and Istria. In the time of Augustus all the region from Aemona to Kolpa river belonged to the province of Savia.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476), Carniola was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy, and (493) under Theodoric it formed part of the Ostrogothic kingdom. Between the upper Sava and the Soča rivers lived the Carni, and towards the end of the sixth century Slavs settled the region called by Latin writers Carnia, or Carniola meaning, "little Carnia", i.e., part of greater Carnia. Later on the name was changed to Krajina or, in German, Chrainmark. The new inhabitants were subjected to the Avars.