|RNature and climate:|N The country is dominated by the Carpatian mountainchain with a highest peak reaching 2655 m.a.s.l. Continental climate with an average temperature of between -2 and -6°C in January and between 17 and 20°C in July.
Percipitation between 500 and 1000 mm.
|RPeople:|N 87% Slovaks and 11% Hungarians. The Slovak language is very closely related to the Czeck language.
|REconomy:|N As a part of Czeckoslovakia, Slovakia has been one of the most industrialized countries in Eastern Europe. CZeckoslovakia was industrialized before World War I and was leading in many fields. Here are rich resources of coal, coke, many different minerals, iron ore, uranium and vast forests which contributed to the industrialization.
More than half of the land is cultivated and agriculture is highly mechanized and effective. Most important crops are wheat, barley, sugarbeets, potatoes and fodderplants.
Stockraising is extensive as is forestry. There are also vast special cultivations of wine, vegetables and fruits.
In the Czeck republic heavy industry dominate and in Slovakia forestry with related industries dominate.
|RHistory:|N There are several finds of prehistoric settlements in the area. There are also traces after some of the very first agricultural civilizations of Central Europe.
In the 6th century Slavic tribes immigrated. In the 9th century these tribes were united in one kingdom consisting of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. In 907 to 908 this kingdom was attacked and conquered by Magyars. Bohemia and Moravia succeeded to found a separate kingdom within the Roman empire. Slovakia remained in Hungury until 1918.
In May 1918 Czecks and Slovaks agreed on founding a united country. The independence was proclaimed when the Axis-powers collapsed in October 1918. Then Czeckoslovakia was founded and became one of the most democratic countries in Central Europe between the two wars.
Internally there was severe tension between Czecks and Slovaks and the German minority in Monravia demanded internal self-rule. This demand was developed towards a claim of unification with Germany. This claim forced Czeckoslovakia to give vast areas of Moravia to Germany at the Munich Pact in 1938.
Supported by Germany Slovakia proclaimed itself an independent country on March 9, 1939 and less than a week later Germany occupied Bohemia and Moravia which became a German protectorate.
The priest Tiso was elected president in Slovakia. He turned to a very German-friendly policy and even deported Slovakian Jews to Germany. This caused an uprising in 1944.
After the German collapse 1945 Czeckoslovakia was reestablished as one country, millions of Germans and Magyars were forced out of the country and the old government returned from London where it had been working all through the war.
This government was ousted in a communist coup 1948 and after that Czeckoslovakia became a part of Sovjet-dominated Eastern Europe.
In 1968 Alexander Dubcek was elected secretary of the communist party and he introduced a number of liberal reforms. This "Prague Spring" came to a sudden end in August the same year when troops from the Sovjet Union and the Warzaw Pact invaded and reestablished the communist order.
The discontent with the communist regime was not over. 1977 300 intellectuals signed a manifesto for human rights, The Charta 77.
In 1989 there were great progress for the democratic movement and many communistleaders voluntarily left their positions in government. In December the poet and dissident Vaclav Havel was elected president and the popular communistleader Alexander Dubcek was elected chairman of the parliament.
When democracy was reestablished the old tensions between Czecks and Slovaks became evident and present again and January 1, 1993 Czeckoslovakia was divided in the two republics Czeck Republic and Slovakia.
