GEOGRAPHY
Slovakia is landlocked by Hungary to the south, Austria to the east, Czech Republic to the northwest, Poland to the north, and Ukraine to the east. The total area is 18,933 square miles. The Little Carpathians, the White Carpathians, and the Tatry, all part of the Carpathian Mountains, make up northern Slovakia. Gerlachovsk;y is the country’s highest point, measuring 8,711 feet, and is found in the High Tatry Mountains. The Low Tatry Mountains make up central Slovakia, and the Lesser and Greater Fatra Mountains lie to the west. The arable Danubian lowlands lie to the southwest. Unique caves mark the country; the Demanovska caves are found in central Slovakia, and the Domica are near the Hungarian border. The Danube, forming the border with Hungary, is the principal river.
INCEPTION AS A NATION
Slavs, in particular tribal Slovaks, migrated to present-day Slovakia in the sixth century C. E. In 830 the Slavic ruler Mojmi'r I formed Greater Moravia, encompassing Bohemia, Slovakia, southern Poland, and western Hungary
By 906, the Moravians fell under Hungarian rule. The dynasty knows as Premyslids united the Czechs of Bohemia and expanded territory under supervision of the Holy Roman Empire. By 1212 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II organized an autonomous Bohemian state within the Holy Roman Empire. Bohemia was expanded in 1335 to include part of Silesia. Jogaila (vladislav II), king of Poland and Hungary, ruled Bohemia in the 15th century. The Austrian Hapsburg Ferdinand I ruled over Hungary and Bohemia from 1526.
At the end of World War I in 1918 Austria-Hungary disbanded; Czechs and Slovaks united in the independent state of Czechoslovakia. Bohemia, Moravia, portions of Silesia, Slovakia, and later Ruthenia were part of Czechoslovakia. By the terms of the Munich Conference of 1939 Czechoslovakia ceded Sudetenland to Germany; Hungary and Poland later divided parts of Czechoslovakia between them. Under pressure from Hungary and Poland, Slovakia separated from the country, declaring a shortlived independence.
During World War II (1939-45) Nazi Germany occupied Bohemia and Moravia, forming a protectorate. At the end of the war, Czechoslovakia’s republic was reestablished, aided by the Soviet Union (USSR), which then annexed Ruthenia. In 1993 Czech and Slovak leaders agreed to partition Czechoslovakia into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
CULTURAL IDENTITY
The national cultural identity of Slovakia is something of a self-conscious intellectual construct, although rooted in genuine differences between Slovaks (the people who live in the territory of what was once the medieval Moravian state) and Czechs. In the late 18th century a national movement began in Slovakia, with the aim of fostering Slovak culture and identity. one of its leaders was Anton Bernolak, a Jesuit priest who codified a Slovakian literary language based on dialects used in western Slovakia. The famous classical poet Jan Holly of the first half of the 19th century wrote epic poems in alexandrine verse in order to prove the Slovakian language malleable enough to be equal to complex forms of ancient poetry
SLOVAKS: NATIONALITY nation:
Slovakia; Slovak Republic (Slovenska Republika)
Derivation of name:
Possibly, as is the term Slavic, from slovo, meaning "word" or "speech," or from slave, meaning "honor" or "glory"
Government:
Parliamentary democracy
Capital:
Bratislava
Language:
Official language is Slovak, part of the West Slavic subgroup of Slavic languages; Hungarian is commonly used; Ukrainian, Romany, and Czech are also spoken.
Religion:
About 70 percent of the population are Catholic; Protestants make up about 10 percent; small percentages are Orthodox Christian and Jewish.
Earlier inhabitants:
Celts; Thracians; Marcomanni; Quadi; Heruli; Slavs (Czechs; Slovaks; etc.); Franks; Magyars; Mongols
Demographics:
About 86 percent of the population are Slovaks; Hungarians make up about 10 percent; minorities include Rroma, Czechs, Moravians, Silesians, Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, and Jews.
Also in the 19th century the Protestant and the Czech lands. Both writers adopted the
Scholars and leaders Jan Kollar and Pavel Josef 18th-century German philosopher Johann
Safarik developed a form of written Slovak that Gottfried von Herder’s concept of the glorious
Combined the dialects used in central Slovakia future reserved to Slavs, and they became the
Most important promoters of pan-Slavism. Holly, Kollar, and Safarik greatly helped to awaken national conscience and showed the way to the creation of native literature.
The linguist and Slovak nationalist Uudovit Stur, a contemporary of Kollar’s and Safarik’s, rejected the Czech influence. Inspired by the philosophy of German Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, he developed the concept of Slovakian romanticism, whose main characteristics are the preeminence of patriotic thought and the attachment to popular traditions. Stur set out to develop a more authentic literary Slovak; his language was adopted by a group of Slovak poets, whose work dealt largely with national Slovakian themes. Poetry remained an important literary form into the 20th century, used by some Slovak writers to address the experience of World War II and the rise of Communism. During the Communist period Slovakian literary culture suffered from heavy governmental control. The works of Dominik Tatarka, Lubos Jurik, Martin Butora, Milan Simecka, and Hana Ponicka were exceptions to the pattern of politically influenced works.
The development of Slovakian culture reflects the country’s rich folk tradition, in addition to the influence of broader European trends, particularly from France. Folk arts and crafts, which include wood carving, fabric weaving, and glass painting, have a long and popular tradition in Slovakia, especially in rural areas. Examples of folk architecture, such as wooden churches and brightly painted houses, are found throughout the country. The impact of centuries of cultural repression and control by foreign governments is also evident in much of Slovakia’s literature, art, and music, in the recurring theme of defending the very existence of the nation.
Further Reading
Minton F Goldman. Slovakia since Independence (Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1999).
Stanislav J. Kirschbaum. Historical Dictionary of Slovakia (London: Scarecrow, 1998).
-. A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival
(New York: St. Martins, 1996).
Carol Skalnik Leff. The Czech and Slovak Republics: Nation versus State (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1996).
Eric Stein. Czecho/Slovakia: Ethnic Conflict, Constitutional Fissure, Negotiated Breakup (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997).
World History
