Gau (territory) Austria in 1938, the country, briefly renamed "Ostmark" between 1938 and 1942, was sub-divided into seven "Reichsgaue". These had boundaries broadly the same as the former Austrian "Länder" (states), with the Tyrol and Vorarlberg being merged as "Tyrol-Vorarlberg", Burgenland being divided between Styria and "Lower Danube" ("Niederdonau", the renamed Lower Austria). Upper Austria was also renamed "Upper Danube" ("Oberdonau"), thus eliminating the name of "Austria" ("Österreich" in German) from the official map. A small number of boundary changes also took place, the most significant of which was the massive expansion of Vienna's official territory, at the expense of "Lower Danube".
Vorarlberg are also spoken in Liechtenstein, Switzerland (as Swiss German), Baden-Württemberg, the south west of Bavaria and the Alsace region of France. The Vorarlberg dialect is further divided into a number of regional sub-dialects (e.g. that of the Montafon, the Bregenz Forest and Lustenau are some of the most distinct) which tend to differ considerably from each other. In fact even within these regions the dialects may vary from one town or village to the next. Traditional costumes ("Tracht") have a long history in Vorarlberg. Many valleys and villages have their own kind of garb, each with special characteristics from certain