Portal:Slovakia
The Slovakia Portal
Slovakia (/sloʊˈvækiə, -ˈvɑːk-/ (listen); Slovak: Slovensko [ˈslɔʋɛnskɔ] (
listen)), officially the Slovak Republic (Slovak: Slovenská republika, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi) and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5.4 million and consists mostly of ethnic Slovaks. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, and the second-largest city is Košice. The official language is Slovak.
The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries. In the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samo's Empire. In the 9th 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 would then become the Kingdom of Hungary in 1000. In 1241 and 1242, much of the territory was destroyed by the Mongols during their invasion of Central and Eastern Europe. The area was recovered largely thanks to Béla IV of Hungary, who also settled Germans who became 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 Czechoslovak National Council established Czechoslovakia (1918–1939). A separate (First) Slovak Republic (1939–1945) existed during World War II as a totalitarian, clero-fascist one-party 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 became a totalitarian one-party socialist state under a communist administration, during which the country was part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. Attempts to liberalize 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. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Slovak (/ˈsloʊvæk, -vɑːk/ (listen)) or alternatively Slovakian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. Spoken by approximately 5 million people as a native language, primarily ethnic Slovaks, it serves as the official language of Slovakia and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union.
Did you know...
- ...that Pharmacy Salvator in Bratislava, Slovakia survived both World Wars and nationalization but closed after 102 years of operation after being privatized?
- ...that Slovak is an unincorporated community in Prairie County, Arkansas, United States?
- ...that the Trinitarian Church in Bratislava was built on the place of an older settlement which was demolished in 1529 due to the Ottoman wars?
- ...that Slovak Paradise National Park is home to more than 2,100 species of butterfly, resulting in the highest concentration in Slovakia?
- ...that tajchy, a network of 60 water reservoirs and more than 100 km of channels, was built in the 1700s to drain flooded silver mines in Banská Štiavnica?
- ...that of 43 people on board, the sole survivor of the 2006 Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crash was in the toilet at the time of the crash?
- ...that archaeologists discovered bones of at least seven people sacrificed by druids in Havránok?
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- Please see WikiProject Slovakia if you would like to help.