SLOVAKIA
The Slovak Republic is a country, the state sovereignty of which was reestablished on January the 1st 1993. On that day Czechoslovakia was split into two countries and the independent SR came into being. Slovakia is a state situated in the interior of Central Europe. We often say that it lies right in the heart of Europe. With it`s size of 49036 km² it does not rank among big countries.
Our republic has 5 neighbours. In the south it borders upon Hungary, in the west upon Czech Republic and Austria, in the north it has a border with Poland and it has it`s shortest border with the Ukraine in the east.
The surface of S is prenominantly mountainous and it is a part of the Tertiary Carpathian System. The territory of S is formed by the vault of the West Carpathian Mountains, which cover it`s significant part. A smaller part of Eastern S is formed by the East Carpathian Mountains, which reach as far as the Trans – Carpathian Ukraine. The Western and Eastern Carpathian Mountains are surrounded with the three plains. In the west it is the Záhorská plain, in the south Supdanube plain and in the south – eastern part of S it is the Eastern Slovakian plain.
We can see the Outer West Carpathian Mountains just out in the north – western part of the state – these are mostly the Small Carpathian Mountains, the White Carpathian Mountains, the Javorníky Mountains and the highest section – the Orava Beskydy Mountains. Towards the east continue the Inner West Carpathian Mountains – the Tatras being ranked among them (with the peak of Gerlach 2655 m high), together with the Low Tatras (Ďumbier 2043 m), the Small Fatra Mountains (Big Krivaň Mountains 1709 m), the Big Fatra Mountains and the Slovak Red (Ore) Mountains. In the East Carpathian Mountains (Bukovské Hills, Vihorlat Mountains) penetrated to the Slovak territory.
The Slovak climate is mild, it passes between the oceanic and continental climate. The most typical feature of the Slovak climate is alteration of 4 seasons. The largest Slovak river, though a very short one, is the Danube, which comes to S from Austria. The longest river of S is the Váh (378 km long). The largest number of Slovakian lakes are of glacier origin. They can be found mostly in the Tatras – the largest and at the same time the deepest of them is the Great Hincer Mountain Lake.
Although many new manmade waterdams and reservoirs of great economic importance which at the same time serve as places for recreation have been built up in S.