HISTORY AND POLITICS
The Slavs came to the territory of Slovakia in the 5th century AD. The first state was called Samo’s empire in the 7th century. In the 9th century Great Moravia Empire came to existence. It’s centre was in Nitra. In 863 Prince Rastislav invited two Byzantine brothers – Cyril and Methodius who founded the oldest Slavonic alphabet and brought Christian religion to this region. After the disintegration of Great Moravia Empire in the 10th century it became a part of the early feudal Hungarian state (after Hun invasion). In 1843 Ľudovít Štúr codified the literary Slovak language. Hungarian dominated until 1918 when the Czechs and Slovaks create the independent state the Czechoslovak Republic. This first republic lasted until World War II. Then, Slovakia became a separate republic that was tightly controlled by Nazi Germany. After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reassembled and came under the influence of the Soviet Union. The end of communist rule in Czechoslovakia was in 1989 during the peaceful Velvet Revolution. On January 1st 1993, ČSR split into two independent states: the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Slovakia became a democratic republic with a parliamentary system. The executive power is in the hands of the President and Government. The head of the republic is the President (Ivan Gašparovič), who is elected by people for a five-year period. The Government consists of the Prime Minister (Mikuláš Dzurinda), the Vice-Prime Ministers and Ministers. The National Council (the head is Pavol Hrušovský) has the legislative power in the country. It has 150 members and their office period is 4 years. The judicial power is represented by courts at various levels, starting with the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and going down to regional courts. The state's symbols are The National Emblem, the Flag, the Seal and the Anthem. Slovakia is the member of EU, NATO and OECD. Since 1996, the Slovak Republic has been divided into eight regions, which are divided in to 79 districts. Region seats are at the biggest Slovak towns which are: Bratislava, Košice, Prešov, Nitra, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Trnava and Trenčín. Bratislava is the capital city. With almost 0.5 million inhabitants it is the largest city in Slovakia. This town is situated on the south-west, near Austrian border and it is Danube port. It is the seat of Slovak President, Government, National Council and cultural (the Slovak National Theatre, the Slovak National Gallery) economical, educational and scientific institutions. Bratislava is famous for their cultural monuments, museums and galleries. In comparison with the rest of Slovakia is Bratislava completely different. It is a state within a state. There is a lot of large modern shopping centres, cinemas, theatres, pubs – simply - you will never get bored here, but too much cars, industry and peoples have made a huge pollution, unfresh air, awful stink. Everything has its pros and cons…

ECONOMY
Slovakia has a market economy. The currency is the Slovak crown and it is divided into 100 hellers. Nearly 50% of land is arable and it is used for growing wheat, corn, sugar, beet, hops, sunflower, potatoes and tobacco. In animal production is widen sheep-, pig-, cattle- and poultry-farming. Slovakia is not abundant in natural resources, but there are some resources of ironstone, brown coal, antimony, gas and petroleum. Nowadays the popular industries are engineering, metallurgy, food, textile and chemical industry. The well-known firms are VW Bratislava (engineering), U.S.Steel Košice (metallurgy), Nestlé Prievidza (food industry), Ozeta Trenčín (textile industry) and Slovnaft Bratislava (petrochemical industry).

INTERESTS AND RARITIES
Slovakia is a beautiful country with many interests and rarities situated on the relatively small place. And that’s the reason why is Slovakia interesting for many foreign tourists. According to my opinion the most interesting places in Slovakia are:

• The High Tatras
Mountain with 30 valleys, almost 100 lakes, 600 km of hiking paths, many streams and this all surrounded by high peaks. It is ideal for spending some time in summer there. There are a lot of hotels and cableways with ski-runs which can be used for a perfect winter vacation.

• Castles
In Slovakia you may visit hundreds of castles, mansions and ruins from time of Roman Empire to 19th century. The most popular are the Bratislava Castle, Devín Castle, Čachtice castle with its bloody history or one of the largest in Central Europe - Spiš Castle.