The Republic of Slovenia (
Slovenian: Republika Slovenija) is a coastal sub-Alpine country in southern
Central Europe bordering
Italy to the west, the
Adriatic Sea to the southwest,
Croatia to the south and east,
Hungary to the northeast, and
Austria to the north.
Slovenia was part of:
Kingdom of Yugoslavia until 1945,
SFR of Yugoslavia from
1945 until gaining independence in
1991. It became a member of the
European Union on
1 May 2004. It is also a member of the
Council of Europe, the
NATO.
History It is believed that the
Slavonic ancestors of the present-day
Slovenians settled in the area in the
6th century. The Slavonic Duchy of
Carantania, the first proto-Slovenian state and the first stable Slavonic state, was formed in the
7th century. In
745, Carantania lost its independence, being largely subsumed into the Frankish empire. Many Slavonic tribes
converted to Christianity.
The
Freising manuscripts, the earliest surviving written documents in Slovenian and the first ever Slavonic dialect documents in
Latin script, were written around
1000. During the
14th century, most of Slovenia's regions passed into ownership of the
Habsburgs whose lands later formed the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, with the Slovenians inhabiting all or most of the provinces of
Carniola,
Gorizia and
Gradisca, and parts of the provinces of
Istria,
Carinthia and
Styria.
In
1848 a strong programme for a united Slovenia emerged as part of the "Spring of Nations" movement within Austria.
With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in
1918, Slovenians joined the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed (
1929) the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following the re-establishment of Yugoslavia at the end of
World War II, Slovenia became a part of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, officially declared in
1945. Present-day Slovenia was formed on
25 June 1991 upon its independence from Yugoslavia.
Politics The Slovenian
head of state is the
president, who is elected by popular vote every 5 years. The
executive branch is headed by the
prime minister and the council of ministers or
cabinet, which are elected by the parliament.
The
bicameral Slovenian
parliament consists of the National Assembly or
Državni zbor, and the Državni svet or National Council. The National Assembly has 90 seats, which are partially filled with directly elected representatives, and partially with proportionally elected representatives (two seats reserved for autochthonous Hungarian and Italian minorities). The National Council has 40 seats, and is made up of representatives of social, economic, professional and local interest groups. Parliamentary elections are held every four years, while National Council members are elected indirectly every 5 years.
Economy Slovenia is a high-income economy which enjoys the highest
GDP per capita of the newly joined EU countries. The country has a relatively high rate of
inflation when compared to the
European Union average, even though inflation is expected to decline in
2005 to 2.5%. Overall, the country is on a sound economic footing. However, much work remains to be done in the areas of
privatization and
capital market reform.
During
2000, privatizations were seen in the
banking,
telecommunications, and public utility sectors. Restrictions on foreign
investment are slowly being dismantled, and
foreign direct investment is expected to increase over the next two years. Slovenia can be considered one of the economic front-runners of the countries that joined the European Union in
2004. In mid-2004 Slovenia agreed to adopt the euro by 2007 and therefore, must keep its debt levels, budget deficities, interest rates and inflation levels within the Maastrict criteria.
Historical regions Traditional Slovenian
regions, based on the former division of Slovenia on three crown lands (
Carniola,
Styria and
Goriška) and their parts, are:
Gorenjska (
Upper Carniola) (denoted on the map by U.C.)
Štajerska (
Styria) (S)
Prekmurje (
Transmuraland) (T)
Koroška (
Carinthia) (C)
Notranjska (
Inner Carniola) (I.C.)
Dolenjska (
Lower Carniola) (L.C.)
Goriška (G)
Slovenska Istra (Slovenian
Istria) (L)
Municipalities: Slovenia is divided into 193 municipalities (občine, singular - občina), of which 11 have urban status.
Geography Four major European geographic regions meet in Slovenia: the
Alps, the
Dinarides, the
Pannonian plain, and the
Mediterranean. Slovenia's highest peak is
Triglav (2864 m); the country's average height above the sea level is 557 m. Around one half of the country (10,124 km²) is covered by
forests; this makes Slovenia the third most forested country in Europe, after
Finland and
Sweden. Remnants of primeval forests are still to be found, the largest in the
Kočevje area.
Its
climate is Submediterranean on the coast, Alpine in the mountains and continental with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaus and valleys to the east. The average temperatures are -2°C in January and 21°C in July. The average rainfall is 1000 mm for the coast, up to 3500 mm for the Alps, 800 mm for south east and 1400 mm for central Slovenia.
Demographics Slovenia's ethnic groups are:
Slovenians (89%);
Croats,
Serbs,
Bosniaks and other nationalities of the former Yugoslavia (10%); and the ethnic
Hungarian and
Italian minorities (0.5%). Life expectancy in 2000 was 71 years for men and 79 years for women.
With 95 inhabitants per km², Slovenia ranks low among the European countries in population density (compare with 320/km² for the
Netherlands or 195/km² for
Italy). Approximately 50% of the total population lives in urban areas, the rest in rural.
The official language is
Slovenian, which is a member of the
South Slavic language group.
Hungarian and
Italian enjoy the status of official language in the nationally mixed regions along the Hungarian and Italian border.
Culture Slovenia got its first printed book with protestant reformer
Primož Trubar (
1508-
1586). It was actually two books, Catechismus (a
catechism) and
Abecedarium, which was published in
1550 in
Tübingen,
Germany.
Part of the country, namely
Carniola (which existed until the
19th century) was etnographically and historically well described in the book
The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, published in
1689 by
baron Janez Vajkard Valvasor (
1641-
1693).
Slovenia's two great literates were poet Dr.
France Prešeren (1800-1849) and writer
Ivan Cankar (1876-1918). The most important Slovenian painters are
Ivana Kobilca and
impressionist Rihard Jakopič. The most important Slovenian architect is
Jože Plečnik.
Slovenia is a homeland of numerous musicians and composers, including
Renaissance composer
Jacobus Gallus (
1550-
1591). He influenced Central European classical music very much. In the 20th century,
Bojan Adamič was a renowned film music composer.
Contemporary popular musicians have been
Slavko Avsenik,
Laibach,
Vlado Kreslin,
New Swing Quartet,
Siddharta and most recently
Atomik Harmonik.
Slovenia's learned men include
physicist Jožef Stefan,
linguist Franc Miklošič and
mathematician Jurij Vega.
Biodiversity Although Slovenia is a small country, different influences interact there. The Alps are in the north (namely,
Julian Alps,
Karavanke,
Kamnik Alps), the
Dinarides lie in the south, and there is also a small part of Pannonian plain and a
Littoral Region. It also has
Karst - a very rich underground world. Diverse
flora and
fauna are found there.
The autochthonous fish
Soča trout is found in Slovenia. There are
dolphins in the Adriatic Sea, but also
whales can appear here.
Domestic animals originating in Slovenia include the
Carniolan honeybee, the autochthonous
Karst Sheepdog and the
Lipizzan horse breed.
The national proverb says: "A true Slovenian must raise a child, write a book and plant a tree."
Sources:
►
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/Slovenia►
http://www.ceeman.org/►
http://www.uvi.si/►
http://www.hervardi.com/►
http://www.answers.com/By Marinka Žitnik