"SLOVAKIA" a Slovakia Travel Page by Pangea

Some facts about the country

Oficial name: Slovenská Republika
Area: 49.035 sq. km.
Population: 5.381.200 inhabitants
Capital: Bratislava
Oficial language: slovak
Member of ONU, OSCE and EU (in 2004)
Currency: Slovak crown

Slovakia was born as an independent country after the "Velvet Revolution" in 1993, when the two nations of the country called Czechoslovakia choose follow different ways.

Slovakia has borderlines with 5 countries: Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Austria. Despite to have a short independent history, slovakians are always proud about their different (to the czechs) culture and traditions.

Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia with around 428.800 inhabitants. Other importants cities are Kosice and Presov.

Bratislava is the biggest city in Slovakia. Has a curious situation, close to the Austrian and Hungarian borders, something not really typical in a capital city. The reason of this is because Slovakia has a short history as independent country and probably the slovaks never have feel the necessity to move to a more strategical situation their capital. Not in vain, germans, austrians and hungarians din't knew the city (until some years ago) with its slovak name, but as Pressburg and Pozsony respectively.

The city was founded in 907 AD, and in the XII century was an important city under the hungarians. When Buda fall under the turks, Bratislava became the capital of the kigdom of Hungary. Between 1563 and 1830 the kings and queens of Hungary were crowned in Saint Martin's Cathedral.

In 1969 Bratislava was choosed as a capital of the Slovak republic inside the federation formed with the Czechs, despite Prague was the administrative capital for the whole country. In 1993 with the independence Bratislava was the capital of the young republic.