Portal:Slovakia

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P:SLOVAKIA

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 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 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, 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 Austria-Hungary, the state of Czechoslovakia was established. The first Slovak Republic existed during World War II as a partially-recognized 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 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...)

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Peter Sagan in 2016

Peter Sagan (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈpɛtɛr ˈsaɡan]; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the Junior Mountain Bike World Championship in 2008, before moving to road racing.

Sagan is considered one of cycling's greatest talents, having earned many prestigious victories, including three consecutive World Championships, one European Championship, two Paris–Nice stages, seven Tirreno–Adriatico stages, one in the Tour de Romandie, three and the overall classification in the Tour de Pologne, a record seventeen stages and the overall in the Tour of California, and another fifteen in the Tour de Suisse. He has won a number of classics, including the Monument races Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders, three Gent–Wevelgem races and E3 Harelbeke, together with eighteen stages in Grand Tours: twelve at the Tour de France, four at the Vuelta a España, and two at the Giro d'Italia. After having become the first rider to win the points classification of the Tour de France on his first five attempts, he went on to win it a record seven times, in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. (Full article...)

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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?

General images

The following are images from various Slovakia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Germanic and other tribes within the Hun-dominated areas, around 450 AD (from History of Slovakia)
Image 2Present-day Slovakia as part of Poland under the reign of Boleslav the Brave (r. 992–1025): the borders of Poland are described based on the report of the late 13th-century Polish-Hungarian Chronicle, the reliability of which is not universally accepted by specialists (from History of Slovakia)
Image 3Czechoslovakia in 1928 (from History of Slovakia)
Image 4The provinces of the Kingdom of Hungary ruled by the "oligarchs" (powerful lords) in early 14th century (from History of Slovakia)
Image 5Massive anti-government rally in Bratislava, 9 March 2018 (from History of Slovakia)
Image 6A map of the northern part of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary in 1850, showing the two military districts which had administrative centres in the territory of present-day Slovakia (from History of Slovakia)
Image 7The Long Turkish War in 1593–1606 (from History of Slovakia)
Image 8Halušky with bryndza cheese, kapustnica soup and Zlatý Bažant dark beer—examples of Slovak cuisine (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 9Ľudovít Štúr, the author of the Slovak language standard (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 10The Avar settlement area from the 7th to the 9th century, according to Éva Garam (from History of Slovakia)
Image 11Slovaks wearing folk costumes from Eastern Slovakia (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 12The spread of archaeological cultures associated with the Celts in Europe:
  core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC
  maximal Celtic expansion, by the 3rd century BC
  Lusitanian and Vettones' area where Celtic presence has been proposed by Koch and Cunliffe
(from History of Slovakia)
Image 13Linguistic map of Czechoslovakia in 1930 (from History of Slovakia)
Image 14Suggested borders of the Duchy of Nitra, proposed by Ján Steinhübel based on the description of the southern frontiers of Poland under Duke Boleslav the Brave (r. 992–1025) in the late 13th-century Polish-Hungarian Chronicle (from History of Slovakia)
Image 15Sure and disputed borders of Great Moravia under Svatopluk I (according to modern historians) (from History of Slovakia)
Image 16The Mongol invasion in the 13th century led to construction of mighty stone castles, such as Spiš Castle. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 17The "Miracle of the Rain" depicted on the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome (from History of Slovakia)
Image 18Wooden folk architecture can be seen in the well preserved village of Vlkolínec, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 19Slovak folk dance (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 20Slavic peoples in the 6th century (from History of Slovakia)
Image 21The Principality of Upper Hungary was a short lived Ottoman vassal state ruled by Imre Thököly (from History of Slovakia)
Image 22Europe around 900. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 23Tiso's independent Slovakia in 1941. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 24Main altar in Basilica of St. James from the workshop of Master Paul of Levoča, highest wooden altar in the world, 1517 (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 25A map presenting Moravia and the Principality of Nitra. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 26A map of modern Slovakia. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 27Areas ruled by Matthew III Csák and Amade Aba. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 28The Slovak national ice hockey team celebrating a victory against Sweden at the 2010 Winter Olympics (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 29This wooden church in Bodružal is an example of Rusyn folk architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 30Territorial losses in 1938–39. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 31Czechoslovakia 1969–1990. (from History of Slovakia)
Image 32A map of the federalization of Austria-Hungary planned by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, with Slovakia as one of the member states (from History of Slovakia)
Image 33Football stadium Tehelné pole in Bratislava. Association football is the most popular sport in Slovakia. (from Culture of Slovakia)
Image 34The territories of Matthias Corvinus (from History of Slovakia)