ANTIQUITY
The Alpine lands and the fertile plains of the Danube Valley had already been settled in prehistoric times. Rich deposits of mineral resources, especially salt and iron, facilitated the development of a prosperous Celtic population, which by the 1st century BC had become an important trading partner of the neighbouring Roman Empire. Around the time of the birth of Christ, this Noric kingdom was absorbed by the Romans and became an imperial province along with the other parts of present-day Austria that had been conquered and subdued at the same time: Rhaetia (western Austria) and Pannonia (eastern Lower Austria and Burgenland).