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Slovenia

Slovenia

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, NATO, and has observer status in La Francophonie.

History

It is believed that the Slavic ancestors of the present-day Slovenians settled in the area in the 6th century. The Slavic Duchy of Carantania, the first proto-Slovenian state and the first stable Slavic state, was formed in the 7th century. In 745, Carantania lost its independence, being largely subsumed into the Frankish empire. Many Slavs converted to Christianity. The Freising manuscripts, the earliest surviving written documents in a Slovenian dialect and the first ever Slavic 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 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 initially formed part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which shortly 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 on 29 November 1945. Present-day Slovenia was formed on 25 June 1991 upon its independence from Yugoslavia. Slovenia joined NATO on 29 March 2004 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. See also Timeline of Slovenian history

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.

Regions

Državni zbor

Historical Regions

As given by Enciklopedija Slovenije (Encyclopedia of Slovenia), 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) The last two are usually considered together as Primorska (the Littoral Region). White Carniola (Bela krajina), otherwise part of Lower Carniola, is usually considered a separate region, as is Zasavje, which is otherwise a part of Upper and Lower Carniola and Styria.

Natural Regions

The first regionalizations of Slovenia were made by geographers Anton Melik (1935-1936) and Svetozar Ilešič (1968). The newer regionalization by Ivan Gams divides Slovenia in the following macroregions:
- the Alps (visokogorske Alpe)
- the Prealpine Hills (predalpsko hribovje)
- the Ljubljana basin (Ljubljanska kotlina)
- Submediterranean (Littoral) Slovenia (submediteranska - primorska Slovenija)
- the dinaric Karst of inner Slovenia (dinarski kras notranje Slovenije)
- Subpannonian Slovenia (subpanononska Slovenija) According to a newer natural geographic regionalization, the country consists of four macroregions. These are the Alpine world, the Mediterranean world, the Dinaric world and the Pannonian world. Macroregions are defined according to major relief units (the Alps, the Pannonian plain, the Dinaric mountains) and climate types (continental, alpine, mediterranean). These are often quite interwoven. Macroregions consist of multiple and very diverse mesoregions. The main factor that defines them is the relief together with the geologic composition. Mesoregions in turn consist of numerous microregions.

Administrative Regions

As of May 2005, only Statistical regions exist, and, as their name suggests, are only used for statistical purposes. There are 12 of these regions. The Statistical regions are:
- Pomurska (1)
- Podravska (2)
- Koroška (3)
- Savinjska (4)
- Zasavska (5)
- Spodnjeposavska (6)
- Jugovzhodna Slovenija (7)
- Osrednjeslovenska (8)
- Gorenjska (9)
- Notranjsko-kraška (10)
- Goriška (11)
- Obalno-kraška (12) The Government, however, is preparing a plan for new Administrative regions. The number of these regions is not yet defined, but is said to be around 10 to 12. The plan will, after being publicly unveiled, need to undergo parliamentary debate, and it is expected that constitution changes will be needed before the regionalization can come into effect. If the scenario of 12 Administrative regions is selected, the regions will most likely be the same as the current Statistical regions.

Municipalities

Slovenia is divided into 193 municipalities (občine, singular - občina), of which 11 have urban status.

Geography

constitution 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. Grassland covers 5593 km² of the country and fields and gardens 2471 km². There are also 363 km² of orchards and 216 km² of vineyards. 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. See also: National parks of Slovenia.

Economy

Slovenia is a high-income economy which enjoys the highest GDP per capita (US$21,567 in 2005) of the newly joined EU countries. The country has a relatively high rate of inflation (3.6% in 2004) when compared to the European Union average, even though inflation is expected to decline in 2005 to 2.5%. Slovenia's economy grew impressively in 2004, by 4.6%, after relatively slow growth in 2003 (2.5%). Overall, the country is on a sound economic footing. However, much work remains to be done in the areas of privatisation and capital market reform. During 2000, privatisations were seen in the banking, telecommunications, and public utility sectors. Restrictions on foreign investment are slowly being dismantled, and foreign direct investment (FDI) 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. The Slovenian government currently intends to adopt the euro as the country's currency from 1 January 2007.

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 71.80 years for men and 79.50 years for women. As of 2004, out of the approx. 18,000 erased people around 4,000 still do not regulate any status. 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 ethnographically and historically well described in the book The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Die Ehre des Herzogthums Crain), published in 1689 by baron Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1641-1693). Slovenia's two greatest 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, DJ Umek, Valentino Kanzyani, New Swing Quartet, Siddharta, Magnifico and most recently Atomik Harmonik. Slovenia's learned men include physicist Jožef Stefan, linguist Franc Miklošič and mathematician Jurij Vega. See also:
- List of Slovenians
- Holidays in Slovenia
- Music of Slovenia
- Slovenian literature

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. As mentioned above, half of the country (53%) is covered by forest. Forests are an important natural resource, but their true value lies in this preserved natural diversity, their ecological (protection of the soil, water and air) and social (tourism and recreation) functions, and the beauty they lend to the Slovenian landscape. In the interior there are typical Central European forests (oak and beech, in the mountains spruce, fir and pine). The tree-line is at 1700-1800 m. Pine grows also on the Karst plateau. The Karst and White Carniola are well known for the mysterious proteus. Only one third of Kras is now covered by pine forest. It is said that most was cut long ago to make wooden pylons on which the city of Venice now stands. The lime (linden) tree, another common inhabitant of Slovenian forests, is also a national symbol. The national proverb says: "A true Slovenian must raise a child, write a book and plant a tree." In the Alps, the most beautiful flowers are spurge laurel (Daphne blagayana), different gentians (Clusius' gentian - Gentiana clusii, Froelich's gentian - Gentiana froelichi), avrikelj or lepi jeglič (Primula auricula), edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum, the symbol of Slovenian mountaineering), lepi čeveljc (Cypripedium calceolus), Močvirska logarica or marsh tulip (Fritillaria meleagris), velikonočnica (Pulsatilla grandis). Fauna include marmot (introduced), steinbocks, and chamois. There are numerous deer, roe deer, boar and hares. The loir or fat dormouse is often found in Slovenian beech forests. Hunting these animals is a long tradition and is well described in the book The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Slava Vojvodine Kranjske) (1689), written by Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1641-1693). Some important carnivores include the Eurasian lynx (reintroduced to Kočevje area in 1973), European wild cat, fox (especially the red fox), and jackal. There are also hedgehogs, and different species of marten, snakes (viper, grass snake, etc.). As of March 2005, Slovenia also has a limited population of wolves and about 400 brown bears. There is a variety of birds: the tawny owl, long-eared owl and Eagle Owl, hawks, Short-toed Eagle and other birds of prey, but also other birds such as the woodpecker (black and green woodpecker). The white stork nests in Prekmurje. The autochthonous fish Soča trout is found in Slovenia. There are dolphins in the Adriatic Sea, but also whales can appear here, although very rarely. Domestic animals originating in Slovenia include the Carniolan honeybee, the autochthonous Karst Sheepdog and the Lipizzan horse breed.

See also


- Bank of Slovenia
- Communications in Slovenia
- Foreign relations of Slovenia
- Military of Slovenia
- Tourism in Slovenia
- Transportation in Slovenia

Geographical sights


- Coast of Slovenia
- Geometric center of Slovenia (Geoss)
- Klopotec

Institutions


- Anton Melik Geographical Institute of Scientific research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
- ARNES
- Jožef Stefan Institute

External links

General information on Slovenia


- [http://www.sloveniatimes.com The Slovenia Times], The only general newspaper on Slovenian affairs in English
- [http://www.mojaslovenija.si/SLOIndex.htm Moja Slovenija], interactive map with great 3D photos of main tourist spots
- [http://www.centreurope.org/slovenia/slovenia.htm Centreurope/Slovenia] - general information on Slovenia and on tourism in Slovenia
- [http://www.bsi.si/html/eng/financial_data/index.html Financial data for Slovenia]
- [http://www.matkurja.com/en/country-info/ Guide to virtual Slovenia on Matkurja.com], the first Slovenian search engine
- [http://www.slovenia-tourism.si/ Slovenian tourism homepage]
- [http://www.pro-vreme.com/ Weather forecast for Slovenia]
- [http://www.geabios.com/ GeaBios], interactive maps and aerial orthophoto, scale from 1:2.500.000 to 1:2.500
- [http://www.geabios.com/?content=html/services/fastAddresses.htm Fast Addresses] On this page you can find all the addresses in Slovenia
- [http://www.sinfo.biz Sinfo - Slovenia Information] On this page you can find information about Slovenia - tourism, business, etc.

Institutions in Slovenia


- [http://www.bsi.si/html/eng/ Bank of Slovenia]
- [http://www.lj-oz.sik.si/sk-ang/ Public Libraries]
- [http://www.vlada.si/index.php?lng=eng The Government]
- [http://www.ijs.si/ The Jožef Stefan Institute's] - site of the leading Slovenian research organization and links to resources on Slovenia
- [http://www.upv-rs.si/index.php?lng=eng The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia]
- [http://www.gov.si/ The Republic of Slovenia]
- [http://e-uprava.gov.si/e-uprava/en/portal.euprava State Portal (e-Government)]
- [http://www.stat.si/eng/ Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia]
- [http://www.uni-lj.si/DefaultA.asp University of Ljubljana]
- [http://www.uni-mb.si/podrocje.aspx?id=0&langID=1033 University of Maribor]
- [http://www.upr.si/en/ University of Primorska]

Slovenian web search engines


- [http://www.najdi.si/ Najdi.si] - the first Slovenian search engine
- [http://www.matkurja.com/ www.matkurja.com] - the first Slovenian web directory
- [http://www.slowwwenia.com/ Slowwwenia.com] - Slovenian internet directory

Currency


- [http://www.bsi.si/html/eng/banknotes_coins/banknotes/index.html Slovenian Paper Money] Category:European Union member states zh-min-nan:Slovenia als:Slowenien ko:슬로베니아 ms:Slovenia ja:スロベニア th:ประเทศสโลวีเนีย fiu-vro:Sloveeniä

Slovenian language

Slovenian or Slovene (Slovenian: slovenski jezik or slovenščina) is one of the Slavic languages. It is spoken by approximately 2 million speakers worldwide, most of whom live in Slovenia. It is one of the few languages to have preserved the dual grammatical number from Proto-Indo-European. Its grammar is reputedly extremely complex and the large number of named dialects compared to the number of speakers indicates the large amount of variation in the language.

History

The earliest known examples of a written Slovenian dialect are from the Freising manuscripts, known as the Brižinski spomeniki in Slovenian, which have been dated to somewhere between 972 and 1093, though these manuscipts are more likely to be from before 1000 than after it. These religious writings are the earliest known occurrence of a Slavic language being written using the Latin script. Moreover, they are now said to be one of the oldest existing manuscripts in any Slavic language. The literary Slovenian emerged in the 16th century thanks to the works of Reformation activists Primoz Trubar, Adam Bohoric and Jurij Dalmatin. During the period when present-day Slovenia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, German was the language of the élíte, and Slovenian was the language of the common people. During this time, German had a strong impact on Slovenian, and many Germanisms are preserved in contemporary colloquial Slovenian. For example, in addition to the native Slovenian word blazina ("pillow"), the German word "Polster" is also used in colloquial Slovenian, wherein it is pronounced poušter, IPA ). Similarly, Slovenian has both the native term izvijač ("screwdriver") and "šrauf'ncigr", IPA ) in technical colloquial jargon, from the German word for screwdriver: "Schraubenzieher." Many well known Slovenian scientists before the 1920s also wrote in foreign languages, mostly German, because of the political situation in Europe. During the period of Illyrism and Pan-Slavism, some words crept into the language from Serbo-Croatian, being used even by some good authors, for example by Josip Jurčič, who wrote Deseti brat (The Tenth Brother) the first novel in Slovenian, published in 1866; however, many Croatisms used by such authors are entirely unfamiliar to Slovenians, especially the younger generation. Slovenian was also shunned for a period during World War II when Slovenia was divided between the Axis Powers of Fascist Italy, the Nazi Germany and Hungary. Following World War II, Slovenia became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Slovenian was one of the official languages of the federation, although in practice, Serbo-Croatian was forcefully put forward. Slovenia gained independence in 1991 and Slovenian was made the official language. It is also one of the official languages of the European Union.

Nature of the language

Although Slovenian is reportedly very difficult for a foreigner to learn, it is nowadays very much alive. Proper Slovenian orthography and grammar are sanctified by the Orthographic Commission and the Fran Ramovš Institute of Slovenian Language, which are both part of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, SAZU). The newest reference book of proper Slovenian orthography and grammar is Slovenski pravopis. The latest printed edition was published in 2001 and contains more than 130,000 entries. In 2003, the electronic version was published. The official dictionary of modern Slovenian language, which is also prepared by SAZU, is called Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika (SSKJ; in English Dictionary of the Slovenian Standard Language). It was published in five books by Državna založba Slovenije between the years 1970 in 1991 and contains more than 100,000 entries and sub-entries in which the stress, grammar marks, common associations of words and different qualificators are included. In the 1990s, the dictionary was also published in electronic version and is available online. The English linguist David Crystal said in an interview in the summer of 2003 for the newspaper Delo the following about the language: "No, Slovenian is not condemned to death. At least not in the foreseeable future. The number of speakers, two million, is big. Welsh has merely 500,000 speakers. Statistically, spoken Slovenian with two million speakers comes into the upper 10 per cent of the world's languages. Most languages of the world have very few speakers. Two million is a nice number: magnificent, brilliant. One probably would think this number is not much. But from the point of view of the whole world, this number has its weight. On the other hand, a language is never self-sufficient. It can disappear even in just one generation ..." Slovenians are said to be 'a nation of poets' due to their language. Poet France Prešeren and writer Ivan Cankar are two of the most famous Slovenian authors. See Slovenian literature, List of Slovenian language poets.

The language's English name

The terms Slovenian and Slovene refer to anything related to Slovenia and its inhabitants. Both have been used for a long time in English. A Slovenian Canadian scholar Edward Gobetz claims that the shorter form was carried over into English through French, once the language of diplomacy and that the longer form is the one naturally formed by native speakers of English. As to the linguistics, his claims are disputed by professor Stanko Klinar from Slovenia. The shorter form is prevalent in the United Kingdom and in Ireland. The longer form is prevalent in the USA, Canada, Australia. Although somewhat confusing, both terms are widely recognized and acceptable.

Classification

Slovenian is the westernmost language of the Western subgroup of the South Slavic branch of Slavic languages.

Geographic distribution

The language is spoken by round about 2.2 million people - there is a table of distribution of Slovenians in the world in the article Slovenians. Slovenians mostly live in their native independent land Slovenia in Central Europe (1,727,360). In addition to those, the language has speakers in Venetian Slovenia (Beneška Slovenija) and other parts of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Furlanija-Julijska krajina)) in Italy (100,000), in Carinthia (avstrijska Koroška) and other parts of Austria (50,000), in Croatian Istria (hrvaška Istra) in Croatia (11,800-13,100), in some southern parts of Hungary (6,000) and dispersed throughout Europe and the rest of the world (particularly German, American (including Kansas Slovenians), Canadian, Argentinian, Australian and South African Slovenians) (300,000).

Dialects

Main article: Slovenian dialects. Slovenian is a highly varied language with many dialects that are mainly mutually intelligible.

Sounds

Slovenian has an average-sized phoneme set, with 20 (or 22) consonants and 8 vowels.

Vowels

There are 8 distinct vowel sounds:
  Front Centre Back
High  
Close-mid  
Open-mid
Low    

- A
  - a ()
- E
  - wide ê/è ()
  - narrow é ()
  - schwa ()
- I
  - i ()
- O
  - wide ô/ò ()
  - narrow ó ()
- U
  - u () Short and long versions of most vowels exist, but most native speakers have trouble defining the difference between them. Narrow e and o are always long; the schwa is always short and is only stressed in monosyllabic words. Long vowels are always stressed (á, í, ú, ê, ô, é, ó). Short vowels may be stressed (à, ì, ù, è, ò, ə) or not (a, i, u, e, o, ə).

Consonants

Consonants are sounds with a lesser degree of openness in articulation than vowels. It is characteristic of them that they themselves are not usually sufficient to form syllables. International Phonetic Alphabet symbols used. Notes: #P and B in front of M are replaced with faucal sounds; that is, the obtrusion is formed with the velum into the nasal cavity, such as in the word 'območje' (="area"). In front of F and V, they are replaced with labiodental sounds, such as in the word 'obvestilo' (="notice, message"). #T and D in front of N are replaced with faucal sounds, such as in 'dnevnik' (="journal, diary"). In front of L, the obstruction is formed at the edges of the tongue, such as in 'metla' (="broom"). #The phone is not a phoneme of Slovenian, but an allophone of that occurs before [f] and [v]. #The phone is an allophone of before velar consonants , , and . #The trilled occurs as an allophone of the flapped in sonorant environments. # The voiced affricates are allophones of their voiceless counterparts in sonorant environments. Palatalized and occur as allophones of and sequences in some environments (such as in 'Ljubljana'). # The phoneme has several allophones:
- If at the end of a word or preceding a consonant and at the same time following a vowel, it is a non-syllabic (siv (="grey"), volivca (=genitive of "voter")). The same rule is valid for compound word prefixes and for the first sound of a word if the previous word ends in a vowel. The letter U when used as a prefix is in certain cases pronounced in the same way (bi uvideli (="would realise")).
- When not preceded by a vowel, V is articulated as a voiced approximant when followed by a voiced consonant, and voiceless when followed by a voiceless consonant. A regular (vowel) u is sometimes used instead in 'educated' speech (despite being incorrect). The same rules as above apply for the prefix U (ubiti (="to kill"), ujeti (="to catch")) and the letter L in certain cases, most notably when at the end of the word (poslal je (="he sent"), čoln (="boat")). The preposition "v" is always bound to the following word; however its phonetic realization follows the normal phonological rules for . In Slovenian orthography, phonemes are ordinarily written using the same letter as the one used in IPA, with the exceptions of č, š, and ž, which are not IPA usage, but correspond to , and respectively. The sonorant consonants of Slovenian are M, N, R, L, V and J. A mnemonic phrase to remember them is MLiNaRJeV (="of the miller"). The least open consonants are P & B, F, T & D, S & Z, C, Š & Ž, Č, K & G and H. A mnemonic phrase to remember the voiceless ones is "Ta SuHi ŠKaFeC PuŠČa" (="This dry bucket is leaking"). One will have noticed that the above letters are arranged in pairs, namely surds and sonants, or voiceless and voiced least open consonants (zveneči in nezveneči nezvočniki). The pair for Č is the letter combination DŽ; likewise, the letter combination DZ is the pair for C. The letters H and F do not have appropriate voiced pairs. Surds are articulated in front of vowels and mid-open consonants both inside and between words, and at word ends followed by an intermission. Sonants are articulated in front of vowels and mid-open consonants in the same word. In pronunciation, it should be borne in mind that surds are preceded by surds, and sonants by sonants. Thus: od strahu (="of fear") , od zemlje (of soil) /. All sounds are thus assimilated.

Stress, length and tone

Slovenian uses diacritics or accent marks to denote what is called "dynamic accent" and tone. Standard Slovenian does not have lexical tone, and does not use the tone accents, but some dialects do. Dynamic accent marks lexical stress in a word as well as vowel duration. Stress placement in Slovenian is not predictable, so stress must be marked in the lexicon. Some compounds, but not all, have multiple stress. In the Slovenian writing system, dynamic accent marks may be placed on all vowels, as well as r (when the consonant is syllabic); for example, vrt (garden) stressed as vŕrt. Dynamic accentuation uses three diacritic marks: the acute (´) (long and narrow), the circumflex (^) (long and wide) and the grave (`) (short and wide). Tonal accentuation uses four: the acute (´) (long and low), the circumflex (^) (long and high), the grave (`) (short and low) and the double grave (``) (short and high).

Grammar

See Slovenian grammar

Vocabulary

Slovenian uses, much like German or French, separate forms of 'you' for formal and informal situations. The English thou can be translated as ti (used in common situations; that is, when speaking to one's peers or inferiors), and the English ye as vi (used in formal situations; that is, when speaking to one's superiors, generally any adult with whom one does not have a relationship more evolved than a simple acquaintanceship, as well as all adults who are in a higher position at work, and so forth), which is the second-person plural form. See the section on grammar for details. Contrary to English's thou and ye, and as in French's tu and vous, ti and vi are widely used. And as in French, there is no difference between formal and informal second person of plural (vous (FR), vi (SL) but ye or you according to the context in English). Foreign words used in Slovenian are of various types depending on the assimilation they have undergone. The types are:
- sposojenka (loan word) – fully assimilated (eg, pica (="pizza"))
- tujka (foreign word) – partly assimilated, either in writing and syntax and/or in pronunciation (eg, jazz)
- polcitatna beseda ali besedna zveza – partly assimilated, either in writing and syntax and/or in pronunciation (eg, Shakespeare)
- citatna beseda ali besedna zveza – kept as in original, although pronunciation may be altered to fit into speech flow (eg, first lady) In essence there are no definite or indefinite articles as in English (a, the) or German (der, die, das, ein, eine, ein). A whole verb or a noun is described without articles and the grammatical gender is found from the word's termination. It is enough to say barka (a or the barge) (ein or der Kahn), Noetova barka (Noah's ark) (die Arche Noahs). The gender is known in this case to be feminine. In declensions, endings are normally changed; see below. If one should like to somehow distinguish between definiteness or indefiniteness of the article, one would say for the barge as (prav/natanko/ravno) tista barka (that (exact) barge) or for a barge as neka/ena barka (one barge).

Place names

Many well known global places have their own special names. Some names are, therefore, quite different for sorting from what they are in English. Examples: Countries and Territories (države in teritoriji)
- Alžirija (Algeria),
- Anglija (England),
- Avstralija (Australia), Cities (mesta)
- Alžir (Algiers),
- Atene (Athens),
- Beljak (Villach), Oceans (oceani), Seas (morja), Lakes (jezera), Rivers (reke)
- Atlantski ocean (Atlantic Ocean),
- Amazonka (Amazon River),
- Črno morje (Black Sea),
- Donava (Danube),
- Evfrat (Euphrates), For a longer list, see Slovenian alphabet.

Writing system

This alphabet (abeceda) was derived in the mid 1840s from an arrangement of the Croatian national reviver and leader Ljudevit Gaj (1809–1872) for Croatians (alphabet called gajica or Croatian gajica, patterned on the Czech pattern of the 1830s). Before that Š was, for example, written as ∫, ∫∫ or ſ, Č as T∫CH, CZ, T∫CZ or TCZ, I sometimes as Y as a relict from now modern Russian 'yeri' Ы, J as Y, L as LL, V as W, Ž as ∫, ∫∫ or ∫z. The writing itself in its pure form does not use any other signs, except, for instance, additional accentual marks, when it is necessary to distinguish between similar words with a different meaning. For example:
- gòl (naked) | gól (goal),
- jêsen (ash (tree)) | jesén (autumn),
- kót (angle, corner) | kot (as, like),
- med (between) | méd (honey),
- pólovica (half (of)) | pôl (expresses a half an hour before the given hour),
- prècej (at once, archaic) | precéj (a great deal (of))),

Examples

Examples of the language in use are given at every topic in the Slovenian grammar article. It should be noted, however, that pronunciation differs greatly from area to area, and to use literary language in any context except a public presentation or on a very formal occasion is looked strangely upon.

References

English name of the language


- Gobetz. Edward. (December 1995) "Slovenian Americans Their Adjustment, Integration, and Contributions." Slovenian Research Center of America, Inc. [http://www.prah.net/slovenia/slovenians/gobetz/introd.htm] - accessed 27 July 2005
- Klinar, Stanko. Slovene ali Slovenian - ali kako po Steibeckovem navdihu ("In dubious battle")bojujemo N/negotovo bitko. Vestnik. - ISSN 0351-3513. - #30, #No. #1/2 (1996), pp. 245-253. (in Slovenian)

General


- Slovenian language profile: http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/profiles/profs03.htm

- Some brief facts about Slovenian: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=SLV

- Marc L. Greenberg about Slovenian: http://www.ku.edu/~slavic/slovene.htm

- Slovenian for travellers: http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/sft/

- Online Slovenian-English-Slovenian machine translator (demo): http://presis.amebis.si/prevajanje/

- Slovenian declension (sklanjatev): http://www.amebis.si/sklanjanje/

- Slovenian Alphabet: http://www.ijs.si/slo-chset.html

- "Metelčica" - a Slovenian Alphabet in the 19th century: http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~ljubljan/metelcica.html

Language history


- [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~stermole/searchnormrev1744.html Megiser's Dictionary (1744)]

Standard Slovenian language links


- [http://www.fida.net/eng/ 100 M words Corpus of Slovenian]
- [http://nl.ijs.si/sdjt/sdjt-www-en.html The Slovenian Language Technologies Society]
- [http://nl.ijs.si/elan/ Slovenian-English Parallel Corpus]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Slovene-english/ Slovenian - English Dictionary]
- [http://bos.zrc-sazu.si/sskj.html Dictionary of Slovenian literary language] (temporarily in Slovenian only)

Slovenian as a second language


- [http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/center-slo Centre for Slovenian as a Second/Foreign Language] Category:Slovenian language Category:South Slavic languages Category:Languages of Slovenia Category:Languages of Austria Category:Languages of Italy Category:Languages of Hungary ko:슬로베니아어 ja:スロベニア語





Croatia

The Republic of Croatia is a crescent-shaped country in Europe bordering the Mediterranean, Central Europe and the Balkans. Its capital is Zagreb. In recent history, it was a republic in the SFR Yugoslavia, but it achieved independence in 1991. It is a candidate for membership of the European Union.

Name

Croatia is the Latinized version of the native name of the country: Hrvatska. The letter "r" in the first syllable "hrv" is rolled or continuant, which is a linguistic trait strange to languages such as English, making the word seemingly impossible to pronounce by some of those speakers. However, not all other languages use the Latinized version, many use a form more similar to the native one. For example:
- Hrvaška in Slovenian
- Хрватска (≅ Hrvatska) in Serbian and Macedonian
- Хърватска (≅ Hŭrvatska) in Bulgarian
- Horvátország in Hungarian
- Chorvatsko in Czech
- Chorvátsko in Slovak
- Chorwacja in Polish
- Horvātija in Latvian
- Хорватия (≅ Horvatiya) in Russian
- Horvaatia in Estonian
- Հորվաթիա (≅ Horvat'ia) in Armenian
- ჰორვატია (≅ Horvatia) in Georgian
- Horwatiýa in Turkmen
- Hırvatistan in Turkish The country code for Croatia is HR (per ISO 3166), so Croatian Internet domains end with .hr.

History

Main article: History of Croatia The Croats are largely Slavic people who lived in an area of what is today Galicia (in Ukraine and Poland). From there they migrated further south to present-day Croatia during the 7th century. Nominally under East Roman and then Frankish authority, Croatia eventually became a strong independent kingdom under king Tomislav in 925, but in 1102 the Croatians ended a decade-long dynastic struggle by agreeing to submit themselves to Hungarian authority. By the mid-1400s, the Hungarian kingdom was gravely hurt by the Ottoman expansion as much of the mountainous country now known as Bosnia and Herzegovina fell to the Turks. At the same time, Dalmatia became mostly Venetian. Dubrovnik was a city-state that was firstly Byzantine (Roman) and Venetian, but later, unlike other Dalmatian city-states, it became independent as Republic of Dubrovnik, even if it was often under the suzerainty of neighboring powers. The Battle of Mohács in 1526 led the Croatian Parliament to invite the Habsburgs, under Ferdinand I, to assume control over Croatia. Habsburg rule eventually did prove to be successful in thwarting the Ottomans, and by the 18th century, much of Croatia was free of Turkish control. The odd crescent shape of the Croatian lands remained as a mark, more or less, of the frontier to the Ottoman advance into Europe. Istria, Dalmatia and Dubrovnik all eventually passed to the Habsburg Monarchy between 1797 and 1815. Following World War I and the demise of Austria-Hungary, Croatia joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which became Yugoslavia in 1929). Yugoslavia was invaded during World War II and Croatia was turned into a fascist puppet-state named the Independent State of Croatia. After the defeat of the Axis powers, Yugoslavia became a federal socialist state under the strong hand of Josip Broz Tito. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it had to endure four-to-five years of sporadic and often bitter fighting with the Yugoslav People's Army and the Army of the internationally unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina. The Croatian major offensives in 1995, Operation Storm and Operation Flash, defeated the separatists and ended the war, restoring the territories of Krajina to Croatia. As a result, several hundred thousands of Croatian Serbs fled and their property was subsequently seized or destroyed. Some of the most prominent officials in charge of operations Flash and Storm, such as General Ante Gotovina, have been charged with war crimes by the ICTY. Between 1992 and late 1995, various Croatian forces were also involved in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Peaceful integration of the remaining separatist territories was completed in 1998 under UN supervision.

Politics

Political system

Main article: Politics of Croatia Since the adoption of the 1990 Constitution, Croatia has been a parliamentary democracy. The President of the Republic (Predsjednik) is head of state and elected for a five-year term. In addition to being the commander in chief of the armed forces, the president has the procedural duty of appointing the Prime minister with the consent of the Parliament, and has some influence on foreign policy. The Croatian Parliament (Sabor) is a unicameral legislative body of up to 160 representatives, all elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The plenary sessions of the Sabor take place from January 15 to July 15, and from September 15 to December 15. The Croatian Government (Vlada) is headed by the Prime minister who has 2 deputy prime ministers and 14 ministers in charge of particular sectors of activity. The executive branch is responsible for proposing legislation and a budget, executing the laws, and guiding the foreign and internal policies of the republic. Croatia has a three-tiered judicial system, consisting of the Supreme Court, county courts, and municipal courts. The Constitutional Court rules on matters regarding the Constitution. See also: Foreign relations of Croatia

European Union

Main article: Croatian accession to the European Union Croatia applied for European Union membership in 2003 and the EU leaders accepted it as an official candidate country in late 2004. The actual accession negotiations started in late 2005. With regard to economy, Croatia has similar or better standing than other candidate countries and some of the newer EU member states. However, Croatian accession faces various political obstacles - mostly remnants of the recent war, particularly the cooperation with the ICTY.

Counties

ICTY Main article: Counties of Croatia Croatia is divided into 20 counties (Croatian: županija) and the city district of the capital, Zagreb
- : # Zagreb county (Zagrebačka županija) # Krapina-Zagorje county (Krapinsko-zagorska županija) # Sisak-Moslavina county (Sisačko-moslavačka županija) # Karlovac county (Karlovačka županija) # Varaždin county (Varaždinska županija) # Koprivnica-Križevci county (Koprivničko-križevačka županija) # Bjelovar-Bilogora county (Bjelovarsko-bilogorska županija) # Primorje-Gorski Kotar county (Primorsko-goranska županija) # Lika-Senj county (Ličko-senjska županija) # Virovitica-Podravina county (Virovitičko-podravska županija) # Požega-Slavonia county (Požeško-slavonska županija) # Brod-Posavina county (Brodsko-posavska županija) # Zadar county (Zadarska županija) # Osijek-Baranja county (Osječko-baranjska županija) # Šibenik-Knin county (Šibensko-kninska županija) # Vukovar-Srijem county (Vukovarsko-srijemska županija) # Split-Dalmatia county (Splitsko-dalmatinska županija) # Istria county (Istarska županija) # Dubrovnik-Neretva county (Dubrovačko-neretvanska županija) # Međimurje county (Međimurska županija) # Zagreb (Grad Zagreb)
- See also: List of cities in Croatia

Geography

Main article: Geography of Croatia Croatia is situated between central, southern and eastern Europe. It has a rather peculiar shape that resembles a crescent or a horseshoe which helps account for its many neighbours: Slovenia, Hungary, the Serbian part of Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Montenegrin part of Serbia and Montenegro, and Italy across the Adriatic. Its mainland territory is split in two non-contiguous parts by the short coastline of Bosnia and Herzegovina around Neum. Its terrain is diverse, containing:
- plains, lakes and rolling hills in the continental north and northeast (Central Croatia and Slavonia, part of the Pannonian plain);
- densely wooded mountains in Lika and Gorski Kotar, part of the Dinaric Alps;
- rocky coastlines on the Adriatic Sea (Istria, Northern Seacoast and Dalmatia). Croatia has a mixture of climates. In the north and east it is continental, Mediterranean along the coast and a semi-highland and highland climate in the south-central region.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Croatia Croatia has an economy based mostly on various services and some, mostly light industry. Tourism is a notable source of income. The estimated Gross Domestic Product per capita in purchasing power parity terms for 2004 was USD 11,200 or 41.6% of the EU average for the same year. The Croatian economy is post-communist. In the late 1980s, at the beginning of the process of economic transition, its position was favourable, but it was gravely impacted by de-industrialization and war damages. Main problems include massive structural unemployment followed by an insufficient amount of economic reforms. Of particular concern is the gravely backlogged judiciary system combined with inefficient public administration, especially involving land ownership. The country has since experienced faster economic growth and has been preparing for membership in the European Union, its most important trading partner. In February 2005, Croatia implemented the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU and is advancing further towards full EU membership. The country expects some major economic impulses and high growth rates in the following next years (currently Croatia suffers most from its high export deficit and considerable debt). Some big trading companies have already taken advantage of the liberalization of the Croatian market. Croatia is expecting a boom in investments, especially greenfield investments.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Croatia The population of Croatia has been stagnating over the last decade. The 1991-1995 war in Croatia had previously displaced large parts of the population and increased emigration. The natural growth rate is minute or negative (less than +/- 1%), as the demographic transition has been completed half a century ago. Life expectancy rate is around 75 years, and the literacy rate is at 98.5%, both of which are reasonably high. Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats (89.6%). Minority groups include Serbs (4.5%), Bosniaks (0.5%), Hungarians (0.4%) and others. The predominate religion is Catholicism (87.8%), with some Orthodox (4.4%) and Sunni Muslim (1.3%) minorities. The official and common language, Croatian, is a South Slavic language, using the Latin alphabet. Other languages are spoken by less than 5% of the population.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Croatia Croatian culture is based on a thirteen century long history during which the country has attained many monuments and cities, which gave birth to a good number of brilliant individuals. The country includes six World Heritage sites and eight national parks. Three Nobel prize winners came from Croatia, as did numerous important inventors and other notable people — notably, some of the first fountain pens came from Croatia. Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia. Interestingly enough, Croatia also has a place in the history of neckwear as the origin of the necktie (cravat). The country has a long artistic, literary and musical tradition. Of particular interest is also the diverse cuisine.

See also


- Communications in Croatia
- Transportation in Croatia: recent highway construction progress, buses, railways and airports in Croatia
- Military of Croatia
- Holidays in Croatia
- Tourism in Croatia
- Reporters without borders' press freedom index rankings: 33 (2002), 69 (2003), 54 (2004)

External links


- [http://www.croatia.hr/ Croatian National Tourist Board @ croatia.hr]
- [http://www.hr/hrvatska/general.en.shtml General information about Croatia @ www.hr]
- [http://www.hrvatska.net/ Croatia travel hub @ hrvatska.net]
- [http://www.vlada.hr/ The Croatian government's official website @ vlada.hr]
- [http://www.fivestars.hr/photo_gallery/croatian_coast_ivo_pervan/ Picture Gallery @ fivestars.hr]
- [http://www.mythinglinks.org/euro~east~Balkans~Croatia.html Culture Links @ mythinglinks.org]
- [http://www.showcaves.com/english/hr/index.html Speleology @ showcaves.com]
- [http://www.romwell.com/travel/advisory/europe/croatia/crocastles.shtml Castles @ romwell.com]
- [http://www.map-of-croatia.co.uk/ Map of Croatia] zh-min-nan:Hrvatska ko:크로아티아 ja:クロアチア th:ประเทศโครเอเชีย fiu-vro:Horvaatia

Hungary

The Republic of Hungary (Magyar Köztársaság ), or Hungary (Magyarország ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. It is known locally as the Country of the Magyars.

History

Main article: History of Hungary In the time of the Roman Empire, the Romans called the region Pannonia (west from the Danube river). After Rome fell the Migration Period brought on many invaders. First came the Huns, who built up a powerful empire under Attila. The name "Hungary" may be influenced by the name of the Hun people, although it probably comes from the name of a later, 7th century state called Onogur (or possibly from the name of the city Ungvár, which was possibly the first major city the Magyars occupied). After the Hunnish rule faded, Germanic tribes Lombards and Gepids ruled in Pannonia for about 100 years, during which the Slavic tribes also began migrating south. In the 560s, these were supplanted by the Avars who would maintain their supremacy of the land for over two centuries. The Franks under Charlemagne from the west and the Bulgars from the southeast finally managed to overthrow the Avars in the early 9th century. Soon after, the Franks retreated, and the Slavonic kingdom of Great Moravia and the Balaton Principality controlled much of Pannonia until the end of the century. Finally, the Magyars migrated to Hungary in the late 9th century. Tradition holds that the Country of the Magyars (Hungary) was founded by Árpád, who led the Magyars into the Pannonian plains after 895. The Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 by King St. Stephen I. Initially the history of Hungary was developed in a triangle with that of Poland and Bohemia, with the many liaisons with Popes and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Hungary was partially demolished with a great loss of life in 1241–1242 by Mongol (Tatar) armies of Batu Khan. Gradually Hungary under the rule of the dynasty of the Árpáds turned into an independent kingdom which formed a distinct Central European culture with ties to greater West European civilisation. Ruled by the Angevins since 1308, the Kingdom of Hungary briefly extended its control over Wallachia and Moldavia. The non-dynastic king Matthias Corvinus, son of John Hunyadi, ruled the Kingdom of Hungary from 1458 to 1490. He strengthened Hungary and its government. Under his rule, Hungary (notably the northern parts, some of which are in Slovakia today) became an important artistic and cultural centre of Europe during the Renaissance. Hungarian culture influenced others, for example the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Together with Polish and Czech lands, Hungary formed the Visegrád group of countries. Today an alliance of the same name exists again with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. Hungarian independence ended with the Ottoman conquest at the beginning of the 16th century; the parts of Hungary that were not conquered by the Ottomans were annexed by Austria (the rulers of which were Hungarian kings at the same time) in the West, and became the independent Principality of Transylvania in the East, where thus Hungarian statedom was preserved. After 150 years, Austria and her Christian allies retook also the territory of today's Hungary by the end of the 17th century from the Islamic Ottoman Empire. After the final retreat of the Turks, struggle began between the Hungarian nation and the Habsburg kings for the protection of noblemen's rights (thus guarding the autonomy of Hungary). The fight against Austrian absolutism resulted in the unsuccessful popular freedom fight led by a Transylvanian nobleman, Ferenc II Rákóczi, between 1704 and 1711. The revolution and war of 1848–1849 eliminated serfdom and secured civil rights. The Austrians were finally able to prevail only with Russian help. Thanks to the victories against Austria by the French-Italian coalition (the Battle of Solferino, 1859) and Prussia (Battle of Königgratz, 1866), Hungary would eventually, in 1867, manage to become an autonomous part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (see Ausgleich). Having achieved this, the Hungarian government took an effort to nationally unify the kingdom by Magyarisation of the various other nationalities. This lasted until the end of World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed. On November 16, 1918, an independent Hungarian Republic was proclaimed. In March 1919 the communists took power, and in April, Béla Kun proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. This government, like its predecessor, proved to be short lived; after some initial military successes against the Czechoslovak army, the Romanians attacked to prevent a campaign in Transylvania. By August more than half of present-day Hungary, including Budapest, was placed under Romanian occupation, which lasted until November. Rightist military forces, led by the former Austro-Hungarian Admiral Miklós Horthy, entered Budapest in the wake of the Romanian army's departure and filled the vacuum of state power. In January 1920, elections were held for a unicameral assembly, and Admiral Horthy was subsequently elected Regent, thereby formally restoring Hungary to a kingdom, although there were no more Kings of Hungary, despite attempts by the former Habsburg king to return to power. Horthy continued to rule with autocratic powers until 1944. In June 1920, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, fixing Hungary's borders. Compared with the pre-war Kingdom, the size and population of this new Hungary were reduced by about two-thirds; about one-third of the Magyar population became minorities in the neighbouring countries. Therefore, Hungarian politics and culture of the interwar period were saturated with irredentism and revisionism (the restoration of 19th century "greater Hungary" by whatever means necessary). Horthy made an alliance with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, in the hope of revising the territorial losses that had followed World War I. The alliance did lead to some territories being given to Hungary in the two Vienna Awards. Hungary then assisted the German occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, occupying the Banat right afterwards, and finally entered World War II in 1941, fighting primarily against the Soviet Union. In October 1944, Hitler replaced Horthy with the Hungarian Nazi collaborator Ferenc Szálasi and his Arrow Cross Party in order to avert Hungary's defection to the Allied side, which were constantly threatened since the Allied invasion of Italy. Hungary passed a series of anti-Semitic laws throughot the 1920s and thirties, and some massacres of Jews by Hungarian forces took place in the early part of the Second World War, but Hungary initially resisted large scale deportation of its Jewish population. Ultimately, however, during the German occupation, the Arrow Cross Party and government authorities participated fully in the Holocaust: in May and June of 1944, Hungarian police deported nearly 440,000 Jews in more than 145 trains, mostly to Auschwitz [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10005458]. Ultimately, over 533,000 Jews in Hungary were killed during the Holocaust, as well as several tens of thousands of Roma. Following the fall of Nazi Germany, Hungary became part of the Soviet area of influence and was appropriated into a communist state following a short period of democracy in 1946–1947. After 1948 Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established a Stalinist rule in the country, which was barely bearable for the war-torn country. This led to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and an announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact which were met with a massive military intervention by the Soviet Union. From the 1960s on to the late 1980s Hungary enjoyed a distinguished status of "the happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc, under the rule of late controversial communist leader János Kádár, who exercised autocratic rule during this period. In the late 1980s, Hungary led the movement to dissolve the Warsaw Pact and shifted toward multiparty democracy and a market-oriented economy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Hungary developed closer ties with Western Europe, joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union on May 1, 2004. See Also: Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary before the Magyars

Politics

Main article: Politics of Hungary The President of the Republic, elected by the parliament every 5 years, has a largely ceremonial role, but powers also include appointing the prime minister. The prime minister selects cabinet ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them. Each cabinet nominee appears before one or more parliamentary committees in consultative open hearings and must be formally approved by the president. The unicameral, 386-member National Assembly (the Országgyűlés) is the highest organ of state authority and initiates and approves legislation sponsored by the prime minister. National parliamentary elections are held every 4 years (the last was in April 2002). A 15-member Constitutional Court has power to challenge legislation on grounds of unconstitutionality.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Counties of Hungary Hungary is subdivided administratively into 19 counties, in addition to which there is one capital city (főváros): Budapest. There are also 23 so-called urban counties (singular megyei jogú város), These are:
Urban countiesCounties (County Capital)

- Békéscsaba
- Debrecen
- Dunaújváros
- Eger
- Érd
- Győr
- Hódmezővásárhely
- Kaposvár
- Kecskemét
- Miskolc
- Nagykanizsa
- Nyíregyháza
- Pécs
- Salgótarján
- Sopron
- Szeged
- Székesfehérvár
- Szekszárd
- Szolnok
- Szombathely
- Tatabánya
- Veszprém
- Zalaegerszeg
- Bács-Kiskun (Kecskemét)
- Baranya (Pécs)
- Békés (Békéscsaba)
- Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (Miskolc)
- Csongrád (Szeged)
- Fejér (Székesfehérvár)
- Győr-Moson-Sopron (Győr)
- Hajdú-Bihar (Debrecen)
- Heves (Eger)
- Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok (Szolnok)
- Komárom-Esztergom (Tatabánya)
- Nógrád (Salgótarján)
- Pest (Budapest)
- Somogy (Kaposvár)
- Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg (Nyíregyháza)
- Tolna (Szekszárd)
- Vas (Szombathely)
- Veszprém (Veszprém)
- Zala (Zalaegerszeg)
See also: List of historic counties of Hungary

Geography

List of historic counties of Hungary Main article: Geography of Hungary Hungary's landscape consists mostly of the flat to rolling plains of the Carpathian Basin, with hills and lower mountains to the north along the Slovakian border (highest point: the Kékes at 1,014 m). Hungary is divided in two by its main waterway, the Danube (Duna); other large rivers include the Tisza and Dráva, while the western half contains Lake Balaton, a major body of water. The largest thermal lake in the world, Lake Hévíz (Hévíz Spa), is located in Hungary. The second largest lake in the Carpathian Basin (and probably the largest artificial lake in Europe) is Lake Theiss (Tisza-tó).

Climate

Hungary has a continental climate, with cold, cloudy, humid winters and warm to hot summers. Average annual temperature is 9.7 °C (49.5 °F). Temperature extremes are about 38 °C (100 °F) in the summer and −29 °C (−20 °F) in the winter. Average temperature in the summer is 27 to 32 °C (81 to 90 °F), and in the winter it is 0 to −15 °C (32 to 5 °F). The average yearly rainfall is approximately 600 mm (24 in). A small, southern region of the country near Pécs enjoys a Mediterranean climate. The relative isolation of the Carpathian Basin makes it susceptible to droughts and the effects of global warming are already felt. According to popular opinion, and many scientists in the latest decades the country became drier, as droughts are quite common; and summers became hotter, winters became milder. Because of these reasons snow has become much more rare in the area than before. Popular opinion also states that the four-season system became a two-season system as spring and autumn are getting shorter and shorter, even vanishing some years. Most of Hungary is surrounded by thick forests and mountainous plains.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Hungary Hungary continues to demonstrate strong economic growth as one of the newest members of the European Union (since 2004). Together with Slovenia and the Czech Republic, Hungary provides one of the highest standard of living among Eastern European countries. The private sector accounts for over 80% of GDP. Hungary gets nearly one third of all foreign direct investment flowing in to Central Europe. Foreign ownership of and investment in Hungarian firms are widespread, with cumulative foreign direct investment totalling more than US$23 billion since 1989. Hungarian sovereign debt was upgraded in 2000 to the second-highest rating among all the Central European transition economies. Inflation and unemployment – both priority concerns in 2001 – have declined substantially. Economic reform measures such as health care reform, tax reform, and local government financing have not yet been addressed by the present government. The Hungarian government has expressed a desire to adopt the euro currency in 2010, but the introduction of the currency is currently only in the early planning stages.

Demographics

Historical


- Circa 900 AD- according to various sources 250,000 - 400,000 Magyars settled in the Pannonian plain, inhabited predominantly by Slavs
- 1222 - 2,000,000 at the time of Golden Bull
- 1242 - 1,200,000 after the Mongol-Tatars invasion
- 1370 - 2,500,000 at the time of Angevin kings
- 1490 - 4,000,000 before the Ottoman conquest (3.2 million Magyars)
- 1699 - 3,300,000 at the time of Treaty of Karlowitz (less than 2 million Magyars)
- 1711 - 3,000,000 at the end of Kuruc War (1.6 million Magyars)
- 1790 - 8,000,000 (39% Magyars)
- 1828 - 11,495,536
- 1846 - 12,033,399
- 1880 - 13,749,603 (46% Magyars)
- 1900 - 16,838,255 (51,4% Magyars)
- 1910 - 18,264,533 (54,5% Magyars, 5% Jews)
- 1920 - 7.516.000 after the Treaty of Trianon (90% Magyars, 6.1% Jews)

Present

Main article: Demographics of Hungary For some 95% of the population, mostly Hungarians, the mother tongue is Hungarian, a Finno Ugric language unrelated to any neighbouring language. Several ethnic minorities exist: Roma (2%), Germans (1.2%), Romanians (0.8%), Slovaks (0.4%), Croats (0.2%), Serbs (0.2%) and Ukrainians (0.1%). The largest religion in Hungary is Catholicism – Roman and Greek – (approx 50% of the population), with a Calvinist minority (around 30%) and Lutherans (5%). However, these formal figures are not wholly representative, since the Hungarian population is not particularly religious; no more than 25% actively practice their faith. Due to historical reasons, significant Hungarian minority populations can be found in the surrounding countries, notably in Ukraine (in Transcarpathia), Slovakia, Romania (in Transylvania), and Serbia (in Vojvodina). Austria (in Burgenland), Croatia, and Slovenia are also host to a number of ethnic Magyars.

Minorities

Several ethnic minorities exist: Roma (2%), Germans (1.2%), Romanians (0.8%), Slovaks (0.4%), Croats (0.2%), Serbs (0.2%) and Ukrainians (0.1%). As regards education, there are special problems associated with the Roma minority. Currently slightly more than 70 percent of Roma children complete primary schooling, but only one third continue studies into the intermediate (secondary) level. This is far lower than the more than 90 percent proportion of children of non-Roma families who continue studies at an intermediate level. The situation is made still worse by the fact that a large proportion of young Roma are qualified in subjects that provide them with only limited chances for employment. Less than 1 percent of Roma hold higher educational certificates.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Hungary
- List of Hungarians
- List of Hungarian rulers
- List of Hungarian writers
- List of universities in Hungary
- List of colleges in Hungary
- Public holidays in Hungary
- Music of Hungary
- Hungarian cuisine
- Eastern name order used in Hungarian personal names
- Common Hungarian surnames
- Hungarian jokes
- Magyar Cserkészszövetség (HUngarian Scout Association)
- Curse of Turan

Miscellaneous topics


- Communications in Hungary
- Foreign relations of Hungary
- [http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Hungarian Wikipedia]
- List of cities in Hungary
- Military of Hungary
- Name days in Hungary
- Transportation in Hungary
- History of the Jews in Hungary

External links

General info


- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07547a.htm A detailed article on Hungary from a Christian point of view] (Catholic Encyclopedia)
- [http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/hungary/ Country Profile Hungary] – tons of material and links
- [http://hungary.lap.hu/ Link collection for foreign visitors and residents of Hungary]
- [http://www.parlament.hu/parl_en.htm Official site of the National Assembly]
- [http://www.magyarorszag.hu/angol/ Hungarian Government Portal] with comprehensive information
- [http://www.keh.hu/index_en.html Official site of the President of Hungary]
- [http://www.meh.hu/english Official site of the Prime Minister of Hungary]
-
- [http://www.visitors.hu/index_en.html Hungary for Visitors] – Descriptions of the main regions for tourists
- [http://www.demos.hu/Audit Hungary's Strategic Audit 2005] – Comprehensive analyses of Hungary's past 15 years and current state of development (click the Union Jack to see the English language version)
- [http://www.mythinglinks.org/euro~east~finno~Hungary.html A short, but valid summary about Hungary in English]

History


- [http://www.hungarianhistory.com History of Hungary – The Corvinus Library]
- [http://cityguide.budapestrooms.com/hungary/history1.htm History of Hungary – Chronological Survey: 2500 BC – AD 2004]
- [http://www.hunmagyar.org/hungary/history/index.html Hungarian History] (Turanian Lands, Turanian Peoples)
- [http://www.bh.org.il/V-Exh/hungary/index.html In The Land of Hagar - The Jews of Hungary] – A Virtual Exhibition

Culture


- [http://www.hungarianbookfoundation.hu/Html/Translation_grant.htm Hungarian Book Foundation]
- [http://www.pafi.hu/kiirok/mfordhaz.htm Funds available for translators of Hungarian works - in Hungarian]
- [http://translations.bookfinder.hu/indexa.htm Translation of Hungarian literary works - a database] Category:European Union member states Category:Republics Category:Landlocked countries fiu-vro:Ungari als:Ungarn zh-min-nan:Magyar-kok ko:헝가리 ms:Hungary ja:ハンガリー simple:Hungary th:ประเทศฮังการี

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a kingdom in the Balkans which existed from the end of World War I until World War II. It occupied an area made up of the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, and most of present-day Slovenia and Croatia. Croatia

Formation

The kingdom was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca cyrillic: Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца, Slovenian Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev, Macedonian Кралство на Србите, Хрватите и Словенците, short name Kraljevina SHS, Краљевина СХС). On December 1 1918 it was proclaimed by Alexander Karađorđević, Prince-Regent for his father King Petar (Peter), who was formally King of Serbia. The new Kingdom was made up of the formerly independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as a substantial amount of territory that was formerly part of Austria-Hungary, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The lands previously in Austria-Hungary that formed the new state included Croatia, Slavonia and Vojvodina from the Hungarian part of the Empire, Carniola, part of Styria and most of Dalmatia from the Austrian part, and the Crown province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Yugoslav kingdom bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary and Romania to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece and Albania to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the west. A plebiscite was also held in the Province of Carinthia, which opted to remain in Austria. The Dalmatian port city of Zadar and a few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy. The city of Rijeka was declared a free city-state, but it was soon occupied, and in 1924 annexed, by Italy. Tensions over the border with Italy continued, with Italy claiming more of the Dalmatian coast, and Yugoslavia claiming Istria, part of the former Austrian coastal province which had been annexed to Italy, but which contained a considerable population of Croats and Slovenes. The new government tried to integrate the new country politically as well as economically, a task made difficult because of the great diversity of languages, nationalities, and religions in the new state, the different history of the regions, and great differences in economic development among regions.

Politics

Immediately after the 1st of December proclamation, negotiations between the People's Council (of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs) and the Serbian government resulted in agreement over the new government which was to be headed by Nikola Pašić. However when this was submitted to the approval of the regent it was rejected so producing the new state's first government crisis. All the parties regarded this as a violation of parliamentary principles but the crisis was resolved when they agreed to replace Pašić by Stojan Protić who was a leading member of Pašić's Radical Party. The new government came into existence on the 20th December 1918. (source: Branislav Gligorijević Parlament i političke stranke u Jugoslaviji 1919 1929) In this period before the election of the Constituent Assembly a Provisional Representation served as a parliament which was formed by delegates from the various elected bodies that had existed before the creation of the state. A realignment of parties combining several members of the Serbian opposition with political parties from the former Austria-Hungary led to the creation of a new party, The Democratic Party, that dominated the Provisional Representation and the government. Because the Democratic Party led by Ljubomir Davidović pushed a highly centralized agenda a number of Croatian delegates moved into opposition. However the radicals themselves were not happy that they had only three ministers to the Democratic Parties eleven and on the 16th of August 1919 Stojan Protić handed in his resignation. Ljubomir Davidović then formed a coalition with the Social Democrats. This government did have a majority but the quorum of the Provisional