Context of Slovakia

Slovakia ( (listen); Slovak: Slovensko [ˈslɔʋenskɔ] (listen)), officially the Slovak Republic (Slovak: Slovenská republika [ˈslɔʋenskaː ˈrepublika] (listen)), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the southwest, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's mostly mountainous territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres (...Read more

Slovakia ( (listen); Slovak: Slovensko [ˈslɔʋenskɔ] (listen)), officially the Slovak Republic (Slovak: Slovenská republika [ˈslɔʋenskaː ˈrepublika] (listen)), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the southwest, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's mostly mountainous territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi), with a population of over 5.4 million. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, while the second largest city is Košice.

The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the fifth and sixth centuries. In the seventh century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samo's Empire. In the ninth century, they established the Principality of Nitra, which was later conquered by the Principality of Moravia to establish Great Moravia. In the 10th century, after the dissolution of Great Moravia, the territory was integrated into the Principality of Hungary, which then became the Kingdom of Hungary in 1000. In 1241 and 1242, after the Mongol invasion of Europe, much of the territory was destroyed. The area was recovered largely thanks to Béla IV of Hungary, who also settled Germans, leading them to become an important ethnic group in the area, especially in what are today parts of central and eastern Slovakia.

After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the state of Czechoslovakia was established. It was the only country in central and eastern Europe to remain a democracy during the interwar period. Nevertheless, local fascist parties gradually came to power in the Slovak lands, and the first Slovak Republic existed during World War II as a partially-recognised client state of Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia was re-established as an independent country. After a coup in 1948, Czechoslovakia came under communist administration, and became a part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. Attempts to liberalise communism in Czechoslovakia culminated in the Prague Spring, which was crushed by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. In 1989, the Velvet Revolution peacefully ended the Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia, sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce.

Slovakia is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy. The country maintains a combination of a market economy with a comprehensive social security system, providing citizens with universal health care, free education, and one of the longest paid parental leaves in the OECD. Slovakia is a member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen Area, the United Nations, NATO, CERN, the OECD, the WTO, the Council of Europe, the Visegrád Group, and the OSCE. Slovakia is also home to eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The world's largest per-capita car producer, Slovakia manufactured a total of 1.1 million cars in 2019, representing 43% of its total industrial output.

More about Slovakia

Basic information
  • Currency Slovak koruna
  • Native name Slovensko
  • Calling code +421
  • Internet domain .sk
  • Mains voltage 230V/50Hz
  • Democracy index 6.97
Population, Area & Driving side
  • Population 5449270
  • Area 49035
  • Driving side right
History
  •  
    A Venus from Moravany nad Váhom, which dates back to 22,800 BC

    The oldest surviving human artefacts from...Read more

     
    A Venus from Moravany nad Váhom, which dates back to 22,800 BC

    The oldest surviving human artefacts from Slovakia are found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom and are dated at 270,000 BCE, in the Early Paleolithic era. These ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia.[1]

    Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era (200,000–80,000 BCE) come from the Prévôt (Prepoštská) cave in Bojnice and from other nearby sites.[2] The most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium (c. 200,000 BCE), discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia.

    Archaeologists have found prehistoric human skeletons in the region, as well as numerous objects and vestiges of the Gravettian culture, principally in the river valleys of Nitra, Hron, Ipeľ, Váh and as far as the city of Žilina, and near the foot of the Vihorlat, Inovec, and Tribeč mountains, as well as in the Myjava Mountains. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth bone (22,800 BCE), the famous Venus of Moravany. The statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina, and Radošina. These findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe.

    Bronze Age

    During the Bronze Age, the geographical territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BCE. Major cultural, economic, and political development can be attributed to the significant growth in production of copper, especially in central Slovakia (for example in Špania Dolina) and northwest Slovakia. Copper became a stable source of prosperity for the local population.

    After the disappearance of the Čakany and Velatice cultures, the Lusatian people expanded building of strong and complex fortifications, with the large permanent buildings and administrative centres. Excavations of Lusatian hill forts document the substantial development of trade and agriculture at that period. The richness and diversity of tombs increased considerably. The inhabitants of the area manufactured arms, shields, jewellery, dishes, and statues.

    Iron Age
     
    Left: a Celtic Biatec coin
    Right: five Slovak crowns
    Hallstatt Period

    The arrival of tribes from Thrace disrupted the people of the Kalenderberg culture, who lived in the hamlets located on the plain (Sereď) and in the hill forts like Molpír, near Smolenice, in the Little Carpathians. During Hallstatt times, monumental burial mounds were erected in western Slovakia, with princely equipment consisting of richly decorated vessels, ornaments and decorations. The burial rites consisted entirely of cremation. Common people were buried in flat urnfield cemeteries.

    A special role was given to weaving and the production of textiles. The local power of the "Princes" of the Hallstatt period disappeared in Slovakia during the century before the middle of first millennium BC, after strife between the Scytho-Thracian people and locals, resulting in abandonment of the old hill-forts. Relatively depopulated areas soon caught the interest of emerging Celtic tribes, who advanced from the south towards the north, following the Slovak rivers, peacefully integrating into the remnants of the local population.

    La Tène Period

    From around 500 BCE, the territory of modern-day Slovakia was settled by Celts, who built powerful oppida on the sites of modern-day Bratislava and Devín. Biatecs, silver coins with inscriptions in the Latin alphabet, represent the first known use of writing in Slovakia. At the northern regions, remnants of the local population of Lusatian origin, together with Celtic and later Dacian influence, gave rise to the unique Púchov culture, with advanced crafts and iron-working, many hill-forts and fortified settlements of central type with the coinage of the "Velkobysterecky" type (no inscriptions, with a horse on one side and a head on the other). This culture is often connected with the Celtic tribe mentioned in Roman sources as Cotini.

    Roman Period
     
    A Roman inscription at the castle hill of Trenčín (178–179 AD)

    From 2 AD, the expanding Roman Empire established and maintained a series of outposts around and just south of the Danube, the largest of which were known as Carnuntum (whose remains are on the main road halfway between Vienna and Bratislava) and Brigetio (present-day Szőny at the Slovak-Hungarian border). Such Roman border settlements were built on the present area of Rusovce, currently a suburb of Bratislava. The military fort was surrounded by a civilian vicus and several farms of the villa rustica type. The name of this settlement was Gerulata. The military fort had an auxiliary cavalry unit, approximately 300 horses strong, modelled after the Cananefates. The remains of Roman buildings have also survived in Stupava, Devín Castle, Bratislava Castle Hill, and the Bratislava-Dúbravka suburb.

    Near the northernmost line of the Roman hinterlands, the Limes Romanus, there existed the winter camp of Laugaricio (modern-day Trenčín) where the Auxiliary of Legion II fought and prevailed in a decisive battle over the Germanic Quadi tribe in 179 CE during the Marcomannic Wars. The Kingdom of Vannius, a kingdom founded by the Germanic Suebi tribes of Quadi and Marcomanni, as well as several small Germanic and Celtic tribes, including the Osi and Cotini, existed in western and central Slovakia from 8–6 BCE to 179 CE.

    Great invasions from the fourth to seventh centuries

    In the second and third centuries AD, the Huns began to leave the Central Asian steppes. They crossed the Danube in 377 AD and occupied Pannonia, which they used for 75 years as their base for launching looting-raids into Western Europe. However, Attila's death in 453 brought about the disappearance of the Hunnic empire. In 568, a Turko-Mongol tribal confederacy, the Avars, conducted its invasion into the Middle Danube region. The Avars occupied the lowlands of the Pannonian Plain and established an empire dominating the Carpathian Basin.

    In 623, the Slavic population living in the western parts of Pannonia seceded from their empire after a revolution led by Samo, a Frankish merchant.[3] After 626, the Avar power started a gradual decline[4] but its reign lasted to 804.

    Slavic states

    The Slavic tribes settled in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the fifth century. Western Slovakia was the centre of Samo's empire in the seventh century. A Slavic state known as the Principality of Nitra arose in the eighth century and its ruler Pribina had the first known Christian church of the territory of present-day Slovakia consecrated by 828. Together with neighbouring Moravia, the principality formed the core of the Great Moravian Empire from 833. The high point of this Slavonic empire came with the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863, during the reign of Duke Rastislav, and the territorial expansion under King Svätopluk I.

    Great Moravia (830–before 907)
     
    A statue of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius in Žilina. In 863, they introduced Christianity to what is now Slovakia.

    Great Moravia arose around 830 when Mojmír I unified the Slavic tribes settled north of the Danube and extended the Moravian supremacy over them.[5] When Mojmír I endeavoured to secede from the supremacy of the king of East Francia in 846, King Louis the German deposed him and assisted Mojmír's nephew Rastislav (846–870) in acquiring the throne.[6] The new monarch pursued an independent policy: after stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also sought to weaken the influence of Frankish priests preaching in his realm. Duke Rastislav asked the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send teachers who would interpret Christianity in the Slavic vernacular.

    On Rastislav's request, two brothers, Byzantine officials and missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius came in 863. Cyril developed the first Slavic alphabet and translated the Gospel into the Old Church Slavonic language. Rastislav was also preoccupied with the security and administration of his state. Numerous fortified castles built throughout the country are dated to his reign and some of them (e.g., Dowina, sometimes identified with Devín Castle)[7][8] are also mentioned in connection with Rastislav by Frankish chronicles.[9][10]

    The papal letter "Industriae Tuae" 
    Scire vos volumus, a letter written in 879 by Pope John VIII to Svatopluk I

    During Rastislav's reign, the Principality of Nitra was given to his nephew Svätopluk as an appanage.[8] The rebellious prince allied himself with the Franks and overthrew his uncle in 870. Similarly to his predecessor, Svätopluk I (871–894) assumed the title of the king (rex). During his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, when not only present-day Moravia and Slovakia but also present-day northern and central Hungary, Lower Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, southern Poland and northern Serbia belonged to the empire, but the exact borders of his domains are still disputed by modern authors.[11] Svatopluk also withstood attacks of the Magyar tribes and the Bulgarian Empire, although sometimes it was he who hired the Magyars when waging war against East Francia.[12]

    In 880, Pope John VIII set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its head. He also named the German cleric Wiching the Bishop of Nitra.

     
    Certain and disputed borders of Great Moravia under Svatopluk I (according to modern historians)

    After the death of Prince Svatopluk in 894, his sons Mojmír II (894–906?) and Svatopluk II succeeded him as the Prince of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra respectively.[8] However, they started to quarrel for domination of the whole empire. Weakened by an internal conflict as well as by constant warfare with Eastern Francia, Great Moravia lost most of its peripheral territories.

    In the meantime, the semi-nomadic Magyar tribes, possibly having suffered defeat from the similarly nomadic Pechenegs, left their territories east of the Carpathian Mountains,[13] invaded the Carpathian Basin and started to occupy the territory gradually around 896.[14] Their armies' advance may have been promoted by continuous wars among the countries of the region whose rulers still hired them occasionally to intervene in their struggles.[15]

    It is not known what happened with both Mojmír II and Svatopluk II because they are not mentioned in written sources after 906. In three battles (4–5 July and 9 August 907) near Bratislava, the Magyars routed Bavarian armies. Some historians put this year as the date of the break-up of the Great Moravian Empire, due to the Hungarian conquest; other historians take the date a little bit earlier (to 902).

    Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. The Glagolitic script and its successor Cyrillic were disseminated to other Slavic countries, charting a new path in their sociocultural development.

    Kingdom of Hungary and Austro-Hungarian Empire (1000–1918)
     
    Stephen I, King of Hungary

    Following the disintegration of the Great Moravian Empire at the turn of the tenth century, the Hungarians annexed the territory comprising modern Slovakia. After their defeat on the river Lech, the Hungarians abandoned their nomadic ways and settled in the centre of the Carpathian valley, slowly adopting Christianity and began to build a new state — the Hungarian kingdom.[16] Slovaks seemed to play an important role during the development of the realm. as evident by large number of loanwords into Hungarian language, concerning primarily economical, agricultural or metallurgy fields.[17]

    In the years 1001–1002 and 1018–1029, Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Poland, having been conquered by Boleslaus I the Brave.[18] After the territory of Slovakia was returned to Hungary, a semi-autonomous polity continued to exist (or was created in 1048 by king Andrew I) called Duchy of Nitra. Comprising roughly the territory of Principality of Nitra and Bihar principality, they formed what was called a tercia pars regni, third of a kingdom.[19] It used to be ruled by would-be successors to the throne from the house of Arpád. Interestingly, in the Hungarian-Polish chronicle from 13th century, the ruler of said duchy, duke Emeric (son of Stephen I of Hungary), is called "Henricus dux Sclavonie", in essence - duke of Slovakia.[20]

    This polity existed up until 1108/1110, after which it was not restored. After this, until the year 1918, when the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed, the territory of Slovakia was an integral part of the Hungarian state.[21][22][23] The ethnic composition of Slovakia became more diverse with the arrival of the Carpathian Germans in the 13th century and the Jews in the 14th century.

    A significant decline in the population resulted from the invasion of the Mongols in 1241 and the subsequent famine. However, in medieval times the area of Slovakia was characterised by German and Jewish immigration, burgeoning towns, construction of numerous stone castles, and the cultivation of the arts.[24] The arrival of German element sometimes proved a problem for the autochthonous Slovaks (and even Hungarians in the broader Hungary), since they often quickly gained most power in medieval towns, only to later refuse to share it. Breaking of old customs by Germans often resulted in national quarrels. One of which had to be sorted out by the king Louis I. with the proclamation Privilegium pro Slavis (Privilege for Slovaks) in the year 1381. According to this privilege, Slovaks and Germans were to occupy each half of the seats in the city council of Žilina and the mayor should be elected each year, alternating between those nationalities. This would not be the last such case.[25]

     
    One of the commanders of a Slovak volunteers' army captain Ján Francisci-Rimavský during the fight for independence from the Kingdom of Hungary

    In 1465, King Matthias Corvinus founded the Hungarian Kingdom's third university, in Pressburg (Bratislava), but it was closed in 1490 after his death.[26] Hussites also settled in the region after the Hussite Wars.[27]

    Owing to the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Hungarian territory, Bratislava was designated the new capital of Hungary in 1536, ahead of the fall of the old Hungarian capital of Buda in 1541. It became part of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, marking the beginning of a new era. The territory comprising modern Slovakia, then known as Upper Hungary, became the place of settlement for nearly two-thirds of the Magyar nobility fleeing the Turks and became far more linguistically and culturally Hungarian than it was before.[27] Partly thanks to old Hussite families and Slovaks studying under Martin Luther, the region then experienced a growth in Protestantism.[27] For a short period in the 17th century, most Slovaks were Lutherans.[27] They defied the Catholic Habsburgs and sought protection from neighbouring Transylvania, a rival continuation of the Magyar state that practised religious tolerance and normally had Ottoman backing. Upper Hungary, modern Slovakia, became the site of frequent wars between Catholics in the west territory and Protestants in the east, as well as against Turks; the frontier was on a constant state of military alert and heavily fortified by castles and citadels often manned by Catholic German and Slovak troops on the Habsburg side. By 1648, Slovakia was not spared the Counter-Reformation, which brought the majority of its population from Lutheranism back to Roman Catholicism. In 1655, the printing press at the Trnava university produced the Jesuit Benedikt Szöllősi's Cantus Catholici, a Catholic hymnal in Slovak that reaffirmed links to the earlier works of Cyril and Methodius.

    The Ottoman wars, the rivalry between Austria and Transylvania, and the frequent insurrections against the Habsburg monarchy inflicted a great deal of devastation, especially in the rural areas.[28] In the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664) a Turkish army led by the Grand Vizier decimated Slovakia.[27] Even so, Thököly's kuruc rebels from the Principality of Upper Hungary fought alongside the Turks against the Austrians and Poles at the Battle of Vienna of 1683 led by John III Sobieski. As the Turks withdrew from Hungary in the late 17th century, the importance of the territory composing modern Slovakia decreased, although Pressburg retained its status as the capital of Hungary until 1848 when it was transferred back to Buda.[29]

    During the revolution of 1848–49, the Slovaks supported the Austrian Emperor, hoping for independence from the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy, but they failed to achieve their aim. Thereafter relations between the nationalities deteriorated (see Magyarisation), culminating in the secession of Slovakia from Hungary after World War I.[30]

    Czechoslovakia (1918–1939)
     
    Czechoslovak declaration of independence by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in the United States, 1918.

    On 18 October 1918, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Edvard Beneš declared in Washington, D.C. the independence for the territories of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Upper Hungary and Carpathian Ruthenia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and proclaimed a common state, Czechoslovakia. In 1919, during the chaos following the break-up of Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia was formed with numerous Germans, Slovaks, Hungarians and Ruthenians within the newly set borders. The borders were set by the Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Trianon. In the peace following the World War, Czechoslovakia emerged as a sovereign European state. It provided what were at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities.

    During the Interwar period, democratic Czechoslovakia was allied with France, and also with Romania and Yugoslavia (Little Entente); however, the Locarno Treaties of 1925 left East European security open. Both Czechs and Slovaks enjoyed a period of relative prosperity. There was progress in not only the development of the country's economy but also culture and educational opportunities. Yet the Great Depression caused a sharp economic downturn, followed by political disruption and insecurity in Europe.[31]

    In the 1930s Czechoslovakia came under continuous pressure from the revanchist governments of Germany, Hungary and Poland who used the aggrieved minorities in the country as a useful vehicle. Revision of the borders was called for, as Czechs constituted only 43% of the population. Eventually, this pressure led to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, which allowed the majority ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland, borderlands of Czechoslovakia, to join with Germany. The remaining minorities stepped up their pressures for autonomy and the State became federalised, with Diets in Slovakia and Ruthenia. The remainder of Czechoslovakia was renamed Czecho-Slovakia and promised a greater degree of Slovak political autonomy. This, however, failed to materialise.[32] Parts of southern and eastern Slovakia were also reclaimed by Hungary at the First Vienna Award of November 1938.

    World War II (1939–1945)
     
    Adolf Hitler greeting Jozef Tiso, president of the (First) Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, 1941.

    After the Munich Agreement and its Vienna Award, Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia and allow the remaining regions to be partitioned by Hungary or Poland unless independence was declared.[citation needed] Thus, Slovakia seceded from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and allied itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition.[33] Secession had created the first Slovak state in history.[34] The government of the First Slovak Republic, led by Jozef Tiso and Vojtech Tuka, was strongly influenced by Germany and gradually became a puppet regime in many respects.

     
    Troops of Slovak anti-Nazi resistance movement in 1944.

    Meanwhile, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile sought to reverse the Munich Agreement and the subsequent German occupation of Czechoslovakia and to return the Republic to its 1937 boundaries. The government operated from London and it was ultimately considered, by those countries that recognised it, the legitimate government for Czechoslovakia throughout the Second World War.

    As part of the Holocaust in Slovakia, 75,000 Jews out of 80,000 who remained on Slovak territory after Hungary had seized southern regions were deported and taken to German death camps.[35][36] Thousands of Jews, Gypsies and other politically undesirable people remained in Slovak forced labour camps in Sereď, Vyhne, and Nováky.[37] Tiso, through the granting of presidential exceptions, allowed between 1,000 and 4,000 people crucial to the war economy to avoid deportations.[38] Under Tiso's government and Hungarian occupation, the vast majority of Slovakia's pre-war Jewish population (between 75,000 and 105,000 individuals including those who perished from the occupied territory) were murdered.[39][40] The Slovak state paid Germany 500 RM per every deported Jew for "retraining and accommodation" (a similar but smaller payment of 30 RM was paid by Croatia).[41]

    After it became clear that the Soviet Red Army was going to push the Nazis out of eastern and central Europe, an anti-Nazi resistance movement launched a fierce armed insurrection, known as the Slovak National Uprising, near the end of summer 1944. A bloody German occupation and a guerilla war followed. Germans and their local collaborators completely destroyed 93 villages and massacred thousands of civilians, often hundreds at a time.[42] The territory of Slovakia was liberated by Soviet and Romanian forces by the end of April 1945.

    Communist party rule (1948–1989)
     
    The Velvet Revolution ended 41 years of authoritarian communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

    After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and Jozef Tiso was executed in 1947 for collaboration with the Nazis. More than 80,000 Hungarians[43] and 32,000 Germans[44] were forced to leave Slovakia, in a series of population transfers initiated by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference.[45] Out of about 130,000 Carpathian Germans in Slovakia in 1938, by 1947 only some 20,000 remained.[46][failed verification] The NKVD arrested and deported over 20,000 people to Siberia[47]

    As a result of the Yalta Conference, Czechoslovakia came under the influence and later under direct occupation of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact, after a coup in 1948. Eight thousand two hundred and forty people went to forced labour camps in 1948–1953.[48]

    In 1968, following the Prague Spring, the country was invaded by the Warsaw Pact forces (People's Republic of Bulgaria, People's Republic of Hungary, People's Republic of Poland, and Soviet Union, with the exception of Socialist Republic of Romania and People's Socialist Republic of Albania), ending a period of liberalisation under the leadership of Alexander Dubček. 137 Czechoslovak civilians were killed[49] and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation.[50]

    In 1969, Czechoslovakia became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It became a puppet state of the Soviet Union, but it was never part of the Soviet Union and remained independent to a certain degree.

    Borders with the West were protected by the Iron Curtain. About 600 people, men, women, and children, were killed on the Czechoslovak border with Austria and West Germany between 1948 and 1989.[51]

    Dissolution of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)

    The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peaceful Velvet Revolution, was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states. The word "socialist" was dropped in the names of the two republics, with the Slovak Socialist Republic renamed as Slovak Republic. On 17 July 1992, Slovakia, led by Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, declared itself a sovereign state, meaning that its laws took precedence over those of the federal government. Throughout the autumn of 1992, Mečiar and Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus negotiated the details for disbanding the federation. In November, the federal parliament voted to dissolve the country officially on 31 December 1992.

    Slovak Republic (1993–present)
     
    Slovakia became a member of the European Union in 2004 and signed the Lisbon Treaty in 2007.

    The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic went their separate ways after 1 January 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce.[52][53] Slovakia has, nevertheless, remained a close partner with the Czech Republic. Both countries co-operate with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrád Group. Slovakia became a member of NATO on 29 March 2004 and of the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2009, Slovakia adopted the Euro as its national currency.[54] In 2019, Zuzana Čaputová became Slovakia's first female president.[55]

    ^ Neruda, Petr; Kaminská, L.ubomira (2013). Neanderthals at Bojnice in the Context of Central Europe. p. 21. ISBN 978-80-7028-407-0. Retrieved 19 November 2021. ^ Museum of Prehistoric Prepoštská Cave (2011). "Museum of Prehistoric". muzeumpraveku.sk. Retrieved 25 November 2011. ^ Benda, Kálmán (1981). Magyarország történeti kronológiája ("The Historical Chronology of Hungary"). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. p. 44. ISBN 963-05-2661-1. ^ Kristó, p.30–31 ^ 'Europe', p.360 ^ Kristó, Gyula (1994). Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9–14. század) [Encyclopedia of Early Hungarian History – 9th–14th centuries]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. p. 467. ISBN 963-05-6722-9. ^ Poulik, Josef (1978). "The Origins of Christianity in Slavonic Countries North of the Middle Danube Basin". World Archaeology. 10 (2): 158–171. doi:10.1080/00438243.1978.9979728. ^ a b c Čaplovič, Dušan; Viliam Čičaj; Dušan Kováč; Ľubomír Lipták; Ján Lukačka (2000). Dejiny Slovenska. Bratislava: AEP. ^ pages=167, 566 ^ Annales Fuldenses, sive, Annales regni Francorum orientalis ab Einhardo, Ruodolfo, Meginhardo Fuldensibus, Seligenstadi, Fuldae, Mogontiaci conscripti cum continuationibus Ratisbonensi et Altahensibus / post editionem G. H. Pertzii recognovit Friderious Kurze; Accedunt Annales Fuldenses antiquissimi. Hanover: Imprensis Bibliopolii Hahniani. 1978. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2009. ^ Tóth, Sándor László (1998). Levediától a Kárpát-medencéig ("From Levedia to the Carpathian Basin"). Szeged: Szegedi Középkorász Műhely. p. 199. ISBN 963-482-175-8. ^ page=51 ^ A Country Study: Hungary. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 March 2009. ^ pages=189–211 ^ Kristó, Gyula (1996). Magyar honfoglalás – honfoglaló magyarok ("The Hungarians' Occupation of their Country – The Hungarians occupying their Country"). Kossuth Könyvkiadó. pp. 84–85. ISBN 963-09-3836-7. ^ "The kingdom of Hungary". loststory.net. Retrieved 15 February 2015. ^ Marek, Miloš (17 August 2021). "Národnosti Uhorska" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ Ottov historický atlas Slovensko. Pavol Kršák, Daniel Gurňák. Praha: Ottovo Nakladatelství. 2012. ISBN 978-80-7360-834-7. OCLC 827000163.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) ^ Steinhübel, Ján (2016). Nitrianské kniežatstvo : počiatky stredovekého Slovenska = The duchy of Nitra, the beginnings of the medieval Slovakia (Druhé prepracované a doplnené vydanie ed.). Bratislava. ISBN 978-80-85501-64-3. OCLC 966315215. ^ "História - Revue o dejinách spoločnosti | historiarevue.sk". www.historiarevue.sk. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021. ^ Felak, James Ramon (15 June 1995). At the Price of the Republic: Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, 1929–1938. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-0-8229-7694-3. ^ Schuster, Rudolf (January 2004). The Slovak Republic: A Decade of Independence, 1993–2002. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-0-86516-568-7. ^ Prokhorov, A. M. (1982). Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Macmillan. p. 71. ^ Tibenský, Ján; et al. (1971). Slovensko: Dejiny. Bratislava: Obzor. ^ Žilina v slovenských dejinách : zborník z vedeckej konferencie k 620. výročiu udelenia výsad pre žilinských Slovákov : Žilina 7. mája 2001. Richard Marsina. Žilina: Knižné Centrum Vyd. 2002. ISBN 80-8064-158-7. OCLC 164889878.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) ^ "Academia Istropolitana". City of Bratislava. 14 February 2005. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2008. ^ a b c d e Mahoney, William (18 February 2011). The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313363061 – via Google Books. ^ "Part of Hungary, Turkish occupation". Slovakiasite.com ^ Bratislava. Slovakiasite.com ^ "Divided Memories: The Image of the First World War in the Historical Memory of Slovaks". Slovak Sociological Review, Issue 3. 2003. Retrieved 25 November 2012. ^ J. V. Polisencky, History of Czechoslovakia in Outline (Prague: Bohemia International 1947) at 113–114. ^ Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939 edited by Professor E. L. Woodward, Roham Butler, M.A., and Margaret Lambert, PhD., Third Series, vol.iv, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1951, pps:94-99: 'Memorandum on the Present Political Situation in Slovakia'. ^ Gerhard L. Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany: Starting World War II, 1937–1939 (Chicago, 1980), pp. 470–481. ^ Dominik Jůn interviewing Professor Jan Rychlík (2016). "Czechs and Slovaks – more than just neighbours". Radio Prague. Retrieved 28 October 2016. ^ "Obžaloba pri Národnom súde v Bratislave". Spis Onľud 17/46. 20 May 1946. ^ Daxner, Igor (25 July 1946). "Rozsudok Národného súdu v Bratislave". Spis Tnľud 17/1946. ^ Leni Yahil, The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932–1945 (Oxford, 1990), pp. 402–403. ^ For the higher figure, see Milan S. Ďurica, The Slovak Involvement in the Tragedy of the European Jews (Abano Terme: Piovan Editore, 1989), p. 12; for the lower figure, see Gila Fatran, "The Struggle for Jewish Survival During the Holocaust" in The Tragedy of the Jews of Slovakia (Banská Bystrica, 2002), p. 148. ^ Dawidowicz, Lucy. The War Against the Jews, Bantam, 1986. p. 403 ^ Rebekah Klein-Pejšová (2006). "An overview of the history of Jews in Slovakia". Slovak Jewish Heritage. Synagoga Slovaca. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2011. ^ Nižňanský, Eduard (2010). Nacizmus, holokaust, slovenský štát [Nazism, holocaust, Slovak state] (in Slovak). Bratislava: Kalligram. ISBN 978-80-8101-396-6. ^ "Slovenské Národné Povstanie – the Slovak national uprising". SME.sk. ^ "Management of the Hungarian Issue in Slovak Politics" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2010. ^ "Nemecká menšina na Slovensku po roku 1918" [German minority in Slovakia after 1918] (in Slovak). 20 June 2008. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 16 October 2010. ^ Rock, David; Stefan Wolff (2002). Coming home to Germany? The integration of ethnic Germans from central and eastern Europe in the Federal Republic. New York; Oxford: Berghahn. ^ "Dr. Thomas Reimer, Carpathian Germans history". Mertsahinoglu.com. Retrieved 16 October 2010. ^ "Slovakia (Czechoslovakia)". Slovakia (Czechoslovakia) | Communist Crimes. Retrieved 29 October 2020. ^ "[1]." upn.gov.sk. Retrieved on 9 June 2019. "Communist crimes in Slovakia." ^ Fraňková, Ruth (18 August 2017). "Historians pin down number of 1968 invasion victims". radio.cz. Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2018. ^ "August 1968 – Victims of the Occupation". ustrcr.cz. Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2011. ^ "[2]." spectator.sme.sk. Retrieved on 9 June 2019. "Border killings remain unpunished decades later." ^ "The Breakup of Czechoslovakia". Slovakia. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2011. ^ "Velvet divorce". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 3 June 2011. ^ "Slovakia joins the euro - European Commission". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 7 April 2021. ^ Walker, Shaun (31 March 2019). "Slovakia's first female president hails victory for progressive values". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
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Stay safe
  • Stay safe

    Slovakia is generally safe, even by European standards, and as a visitor you are unlikely to encounter any problems whatsoever. Violent crime is especially uncommon, and Slovakia sees less violent crime per capita than many European countries. However, the biggest fear for a traveler is most probably the roads.

    Roads are generally poorly lighted, and are very narrow. If you plan to drive you must not be under the influence of alcohol. Penalties are very severe if you are caught in such an act.

    In case of an emergency, call 112, the universal emergency number. For police you can call 158, ambulance 155, and firefighters 150.

    It shouldn't be necessary to mention that the highly controversial 2006 horror film Hostel, whose plot takes place in 'Slovakia', is a complete work of fiction, and the probability of tourists being kidnapped and tortured is the same in Slovakia as in any developed city in the USA or Western Europe - virtually zero. Slovakia is considered a safe travel destination for all tourists, as is much of Europe. Similarly, the American movie Eurotrip (2004) might prove a sensitive topic, because it portrayed Slovakia as a terrifyingly undeveloped country, which is also false.

    When visiting cities, exercise the same caution as you would in any other European city - use common sense, be extra careful after the dark, stay aware of your surroundings, keep your belongings in sight and avoid drunks and groups of young men. Pickpockets sometimes can be found in bigger crowds and at major train/bus stations.

    When visiting mountainous areas of Slovakia, especially the High Tatras, let the hotel personnel or other reliable people know where exactly you are going, so that rescuers can be sent out to find you if you don't return. The relative small area and height of the High Tatras is very deceptive - it is steep and difficult terrain with unpredictable weather. Never hike alone and use proper gear. The mountain rescue service is a good source of additional and current information, take their warnings seriously. In an event of emergency they can be contacted by calling 18300 or the universal 112. Make sure your medical insurance coverage includes the mountain activities before you venture forth, as a rescue mission in the inaccessible terrain may prove expensive.

    Also note that the weather in the High Tatras is prone to sudden changes, especially during spring and autumn.

    Wild animals

    Slovakia is blessed with a variety of species that are still rare in some other parts of the continent; bears and wolves still live in the wild in high numbers. Few attacks by bear occur each year, though deadly attacks are extremely rare.

    ...Read more
    Stay safe

    Slovakia is generally safe, even by European standards, and as a visitor you are unlikely to encounter any problems whatsoever. Violent crime is especially uncommon, and Slovakia sees less violent crime per capita than many European countries. However, the biggest fear for a traveler is most probably the roads.

    Roads are generally poorly lighted, and are very narrow. If you plan to drive you must not be under the influence of alcohol. Penalties are very severe if you are caught in such an act.

    In case of an emergency, call 112, the universal emergency number. For police you can call 158, ambulance 155, and firefighters 150.

    It shouldn't be necessary to mention that the highly controversial 2006 horror film Hostel, whose plot takes place in 'Slovakia', is a complete work of fiction, and the probability of tourists being kidnapped and tortured is the same in Slovakia as in any developed city in the USA or Western Europe - virtually zero. Slovakia is considered a safe travel destination for all tourists, as is much of Europe. Similarly, the American movie Eurotrip (2004) might prove a sensitive topic, because it portrayed Slovakia as a terrifyingly undeveloped country, which is also false.

    When visiting cities, exercise the same caution as you would in any other European city - use common sense, be extra careful after the dark, stay aware of your surroundings, keep your belongings in sight and avoid drunks and groups of young men. Pickpockets sometimes can be found in bigger crowds and at major train/bus stations.

    When visiting mountainous areas of Slovakia, especially the High Tatras, let the hotel personnel or other reliable people know where exactly you are going, so that rescuers can be sent out to find you if you don't return. The relative small area and height of the High Tatras is very deceptive - it is steep and difficult terrain with unpredictable weather. Never hike alone and use proper gear. The mountain rescue service is a good source of additional and current information, take their warnings seriously. In an event of emergency they can be contacted by calling 18300 or the universal 112. Make sure your medical insurance coverage includes the mountain activities before you venture forth, as a rescue mission in the inaccessible terrain may prove expensive.

    Also note that the weather in the High Tatras is prone to sudden changes, especially during spring and autumn.

    Wild animals

    Slovakia is blessed with a variety of species that are still rare in some other parts of the continent; bears and wolves still live in the wild in high numbers. Few attacks by bear occur each year, though deadly attacks are extremely rare.

    Most bears are encountered in remote areas, however they can be seen in urban areas of High Tatras, in some villages and outskirts of towns in northern and central part of the country. Bears can also feed on corn, oat and other agricultural plants. For this reason, use only track roads or paths when biking or hiking thru fields - it could be also illegal to roam freely across fields even if not fenced.

    A bear will avoid you if it knows you're there, so the best way to avoid this is by making your presence known by talking loudly/singing/clapping etc., especially in an area where it can't readily see you from a distance. Of course, this has limited usage during strong wind or near loud water streams.

    If you see a bear, do not run, but leave the area slowly in the opposite direction. Do not approach bears and never approach bear cubs even if they seem to be alone or injured - bear mothers are extremely protective. If possible, wait until they leave the area or return back. In one case hikers even called 112, because they were trapped for a long time on a dead-end path.

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Phrasebook

Hello
Ahoj
World
Svet
Hello world
Ahoj svet
Thank you
Ďakujem
Goodbye
Zbohom
Yes
Áno
No
Nie
How are you?
Ako sa máš?
Fine, thank you
Dobre, ďakujem
How much is it?
Koľko to stojí?
Zero
nula
One
Jeden

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