Southern Germany as a region has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas where Upper German dialects are spoken. This corresponds roughly to the historical stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia, or in a modern context to the   states of   Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg within the Federal Republic of Germany (to the exclusion of the areas of the modern states of Austria and Switzerland). Sometimes also included are the Saarland and the southern parts of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate often are included as well, corresponding to historical Franconia.