Slovakia

Slovakia is a small country in the Central Europe. It has five neighbours: in the north it has a border with Poland, in the east it has a border with Ukraine, in the south Slovakia has border with Hungary and in the west Slovakia has a border with Austria and with Czech Republic.
The capital city of Slovakia is Bratislava and approximately 450 000 (four hundred and fifty thousand) inhabitants live in this historical town. Slovakia is populated by more than 5.3 million inhabitants.

Surface
The surface of Slovakia is predominantly mountainous, but there are many plains in the south and in the east part too. There are many wheat, corn, grain, sunflowers fields in our country and Slovakia produces very quality oil from sunflowers. The highest mountains are Vysoké Tatry ( the High Tatras ). There are a lot of the tourist and ski-centres in Slovakia, the famous are for example: Chopok, Lomnický štít, Donovaly and Malinô Brdo. The highest peak of Slovakia is Gerlachovský štít (2655 m.o.s). Slovakia has a lot of the rivers. The Váh is the longest river (378 km long) and the Danube is the biggest river of Slovakia. Others rivers are for example Hron, Hornád, Ipeľ etc. The territorry of Slovakia is very rich in mineral and thermal springs with the healthy effects. Among the most famous there are: Piešťany, Trenčianske Teplice, Korytnica, Bardejov. The nature is wonderful and in good preservation. Slovakia has wonderful woods, rich flora and fauna and we can found a lot of animals. In Slovakia there are open-air museum protected from UNESCO, for example Vlkolínec – a small village near the town Ružomberok.

Climate
The continental climate is typically for Slovakia, because Slovakia is situated in the mild climate. Therefore, typically for this climate, we have four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter).
Summers are relatively warm and winters are relatively cold. (average summer’s temperature is 22 centigrade, average winter’s temperature is 4 centigrade).

History
The first objects in this territory were built by the Celts, later the Romans came to the Danube (Gerulata-Rusovce). The Slavs started to settle this territory in the 5th century and the Great Moravian Empire was established in the 9th century. The 14th and 15th centuries were a time of the development of the royal and mining cities (Banská Štiavnica, Kremnica, Banská Bystrica, Gelnica). Slovakia was the political, cultural a economic centre of the Hungarian Empire for three centuries (the 16th – 18th ). The Slovak Republic was constituted as an independent country on 1 January 1993.
Population and cities
Slovakia is populated by more than 5.3 million inhabitants. The strongest nationally are the Slovaks (it is 85.7 % of all inhabitants). The strongest minority are the Hungarians (it is 11% of all inhabitants). Hungarians live in the southern part of Slovakia. Then the gypsies (1% of all inhabitants), Czechs (1% of all inhabitants), the Ukrainians, the Germans and the Poles live together with the Slovaks in this country.
The most of Slovaks live in cities. Bratislava is the biggest town and is situated in the west part of the Slovak Republic. The town Kosice is the second biggest slovak town. It is situated in the east part of Slovakia. Other important cities are: Banska Bystrica (in central part of Slovakia), Nitra, Žilina, Poprad and Prešov. Every city has a new historical Centrum.

Sport
Year 2002 was for Slovakia very successful. Slovakia is World Champion in ice-hockey and Slovak tennis team won gold medal in Fed cup. Our swimmer Martina Moravcova is very successful too. There are a lot of the ski-centres in our mountains so the ski-sports including snowbording are very popular in Slovakia.

Economy
Slovakia is an industrial and agricultural country. The most of Slovaks work in the industry (36% of all economically active inhabitants). The engineering (centre is in Bratislava and in central part of Slovakia), chemical industry (centre is in Bratislava and in west part of Slovakia – Slovakofarma Hlohovec produces drugs) and the Slovak food industry (all over the country – for example RAJO is a producer of the milk products, Figaro produces chocolates ) are very important for the Slovak economy.
Slovakia has two nuclear power stations (Jaslovské Bohunice and Mochovce) and Gabčíkovo is counted among the greatest Danube s water power station.