Early Slovaks

The people of Slovakia are descended[citation needed] from the Slavic settlers who populated the Danube river basin around 500 A.D. and from the Czech, Moravian, Polish and German settlers who came during 10th- 18th centuries in the Kingdom of Hungary. Slovaks also have significant Hungarian (Magyar) roots. All of Slovakia was Hungarian territory from 435 to 1918.[1] The first known Slavic states on the territory of present-day Slovakia were the Empire of Samo and the Principality of Nitra, founded sometime in the 8th century.

Great Moravia

Great Moravia (833 - ?907) was an ancestral state of the present-day Moravians and Slovaks in the 9th and early 10th century A.D. Its formation and rich cultural heritage have attracted somewhat more interest since 19th century. Important developments took place at this time, including the mission of Cyril and Methodius, the development of the Glagolitic alphabet (an early form of the Cyrillic alphabet), and the use of Old Church Slavonic as the official and literary language. The original territory inhabited by the Proto Slavic tribes included not only present-day Slovakia. Read More

Before the fifth century

Radiocarbon dating puts the oldest surviving archaeological artifacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC, in the Early Paleolithic era. These ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia.
Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era (200,000 – 80,000 BC) come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice and from other nearby sites. The most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium (c. 200,000 BC), discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. Read More

Geography

The Slovak landscape is noted primarily for its mountainous nature, with the Carpathian Mountains extending across most of the northern half of the country. Amongst these mountain ranges are the high peaks of the Tatra mountains. To the north, close to the Polish border, are the High Tatras which are a popular skiing destination and home to many scenic lakes and valleys as well as the highest point in Slovakia, the Gerlachovsky at 2,655 metres (8,711 ft), and the country's highly symbolic mountain Krivan.Read More

Politics

Slovakia is a parliamentary democratic republic with a multi-party system. The last parliamentary elections were held on June 17, 2006 and two rounds of presidential elections took place on April 3, 2004 and April 17, 2004. The Slovak head of state is the president (Ivan Gašparovic, 2004 – 2009), elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term. Most executive power lies with the head of government, the prime minister (Robert Fico, 2006 – 2010), who is usually the leader of the winning party, but he/she needs to form a majority coalition in the parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the president. The remainder of the cabinet is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister.Read More

Infrastructure

Bratislava is a large international motorway junction: The D1 motorway connects Bratislava to Trnava, Nitra, Trencín, Žilina and beyond, while the D2 motorway, going in the north-south direction, connects it to Prague, Brno and Budapest in the north-south direction. The D4 motorway (an outer bypass), which would ease the pressure on the city highway system, is mostly at the planning stage.
The A6 motorway to Vienna connects Slovakia directly to the Austrian motorway system and was opened on 19 November 2007.[60] Apollo bridge
Currently, five bridges stand over the Danube (ordered by the flow of the river): Lafranconi Bridge, Novy Most (The New Bridge), Stary most (The Old Bridge), Most Apollo and Prístavný most (The Harbor Bridge). Read More