Its climate is submediterranean on the coast, alpine in the mountains and continental with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaux and valleys to the east. Average temperatures are -2 °C (28 °F) in January and 21 °C (70 °F) in July. The average rainfall is 1,000 millimetres (39.4 in) for the coast, up to 3,500 millimetres (137.8 in) for the Alps, 800 millimetres (31.5 in) for south-east and 1,400 millimetres (55.1 in) for central Slovenia.
Although on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, most of Slovenia is in the Black Sea drainage basin. The geometric center of gravity of Slovenia is at the geographic coordinates 46°07'11.8" N and 14°48'55.2" E. It lies in Spodnja Slivna near Vače in the municipality of Litija.
The euro (currency sign: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of the European Union (EU). Fifteen member states have adopted it, known collectively as the Eurozone (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain). The currency is also used in five further countries with formal agreements and six other countries without such agreements. Hence it is the single currency for over 320 million Europeans. Including areas using currencies pegged to the euro, the euro directly affects close to 500 million people worldwide.With more than €610 billion in circulation as of December 2006 (equivalent to US$802 billion at the exchange rates at the time), the euro is the currency with the highest combined value of cash in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.S. dollar (USD).
Taking official estimates of 2007 GDP, the Eurozone is the largest economy in the world by March 2008 after the USD/EUR exchange rate surpassed 1.56.
The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency in 1999 and launched as physical coins and banknotes on 1 January 2002. It replaced the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1.
The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem (composed of the central banks of the euro zone countries). As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all member states, and the operation of the Eurozone payment systems.
While all European Union (EU) member states are eligible to join if they comply with certain monetary requirements, not all EU members have chosen to adopt the currency. All nations that have joined the EU since the 1993 implementation of the Maastricht Treaty have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Maastricht obliged current members to join the euro; however, the United Kingdom and Denmark negotiated exemptions from that requirement for themselves.[9] Sweden turned down the euro in a 2003 referendum, and has circumvented the requirement to join the euro area by not meeting the membership criteria. In addition, three European microstates (Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino), although not EU members, have adopted the euro due to currency unions with member states. Andorra, Montenegro, and Kosovo have adopted the euro unilaterally, while not being EU members either (see Eurozone.)
Four major European geographic regions meet in Slovenia: the Alps, the Dinarides, the Pannonian plain, and the Mediterranean. Slovenia's highest peak is Triglav (2,864 m; 9,396 ft); the country's average height above sea level is 557 metres (1,827 ft). Around half of the country (11,691 km²; 4,514 sq mi) is covered by forests; the third most forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. Remnants of primeval forests are still to be found, the largest in the Kočevje area. Grassland covers 5,593 square kilometres (2,159 sq mi) and fields and gardens 2,471 square kilometres (954 sq mi). There are 363 square kilometres (140 sq mi) of orchards and 216 square kilometres (83 sq mi) of vineyards.
Its climate is submediterranean on the coast, alpine in the mountains and continental with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaux and valleys to the east. Average temperatures are -2 °C (28 °F) in January and 21 °C (70 °F) in July. The average rainfall is 1,000 millimetres (39.4 in) for the coast, up to 3,500 millimetres (137.8 in) for the Alps, 800 millimetres (31.5 in) for south-east and 1,400 millimetres (55.1 in) for central Slovenia.
Although on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, most of Slovenia is in the Black Sea drainage basin. The geometric center of gravity of Slovenia is at the geographic coordinates 46°07'11.8" N and 14°48'55.2" E. It lies in Spodnja Slivna near Vače in the municipality of Litija.
Slavic ancestors of the present-day Slovenes settled in the area in the 6th century. The Slavic Duchy of Carantania was formed in the 7th century. In 745, Carantania was incorporated into the Carolingian Empire, while Karantanians and other Slavs living in present Slovenia converted to Christianity. Carantania retained its internal independence until 828 when the local princes were deposed following the anti-Frankish rebellion of Ljudevit Posavski and replaced with a German (mostly Bavarian) ascendancy. Under the Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia Carantania, now ruled by a mixed Bavarian-Slav nobility, shortly emerged as a regional power, but was destroyed by the Hungarian invasions in the late 9th century. The Slovene Lands were turned into a military borderland of the Carolingian Empire (the Marches of Carinthia, of Carniola and of Friuli). Carantania was established again as an autonomous administrative unit in 976, but it never developed into a unified realm; it soon broke down into what became the duchies of Carinthia, Styria, Carniola and Friuli, into which the Slovene Lands remained divided up to 1918. The Carantanian identity remained alive into the 12th century when it was slowly replaced by regional identities. The first mentions of a common Slovene ethnic identity, transcending regional boundaries, date from the 16th century.
The Freising manuscripts, the earliest surviving written documents in a Slovene dialect as well as the oldest document written in any Slavic language with Latin script, were written in the 10th century. During the 14th century, most of Slovene Lands passed under Habsburg rule. In the 15th century, the Habsburg domination was challenged by the Counts of Celje, but by the end of the century the great majority of Slovene-inhabited territories were incorporated into the Habsburg Monarchy. Most Slovenes lived in the region known as Inner Austria, forming the majority of the population of the Duchy of Carniola and the County of Gorizia and Gradisca, as well as of Lower Styria and southern Carinthia. Slovenes also inhabited most of the territory of the Imperial Free City of Trieste, although representing the minority of its population. Slovene majorities also existed in the Prekmurje region of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the Venetian Slovenia and north-western Istria which were part of the Republic of Venice.
In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation spread throughout the Slovene Lands. During this period, the first books in Slovene language were written by the Protestant preacher Primož Trubar and his followers, establishing the base for the development of the Slovene standard language. Although almost all Protestants were expelled from the Slovene Lands (with the exception of Prekmurje) by the beginning of the 17th century, they left a strong legacy in the tradition of the Slovene culture, which was partially incorporated in the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The Slovene cultural tradition was further reinforced in the Enlightenment period by the endeavours of the Zois Circle.
After a short French interim between 1805 and 1813, all Slovene Lands were included in the Austrian Empire. Slowly, a distinct Slovene national consciousness developed, and the quest for a political unification of all Slovenes became widespread. In 1848, a mass political and popular movement for the United Slovenia (Zedinjena Slovenija) emerged as part of the Spring of Nations movement within the Austrian Empire.
Between 1848 and 1918, numerous institutions (including theatres and publishing houses, as well as political, financial and cultural organisations) were founded in the so-called Slovene National Awakening; despite their political and institutional fragmentation and lack of a proper political representation, the Slovenes were able to establish a functioning and integrated national infrastructure. During this period, the town of Ljubljana, the capital of Carniola, emerged as the undisputed centre of all Slovene Lands, while the Slovenes developed an internationally comparable literature and culture. Nevertheless, the Slovene national question remained unsolved, so the political élite of the time started looking towards other Slavic nations in Austria-Hungary and the Balkans in order to engage in a common political action against German and Magyar hegemony. The idea of a common political entity of all South Slavs, known as Yugoslavia, emerged.
During World War I, after the Italian attack on Austria-Hungary in 1915, the Italian front opened, and some of the most important battles (the Battles of the Isonzo) were fought along the river Soča and on the Kras Plateau in the Slovenian Littoral.
With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918, the Slovenes initially joined the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which soon afterwards merged into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The western part of the Slovene Lands (the Slovenian Littoral and western districts of Inner Carniola) was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and became known under the name of Julian March. In 1920, in the Carinthian Plebiscite, the majority of Carinthian Slovenes voted to remain in Austria. Although the Slovenes in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were submitted to an intolerant centralist policy trying to eradicate a distinct Slovene national consciousness, they were still better off than Slovenes in Italy, Austria and Hungary, who became victims of policies of forced assimilation and violent persecution. As a reaction to the fascist violence of the Italian State in the Julian March, the organisation TIGR, regarded as one of the first armed antifascist resistance groups in Europe, was founded in 1927.
In April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis Powers. Slovenia was divided between Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Horthy's Hungary. Soon, a liberation movement under Communist leadership emerged. Due to political assassinations carried out by the Communist guerrillas as well as the pre-existing radical anti-Communism of the conservative circles of Slovenian society, a civil war between Slovenes broke out in the Italian-occupied south-eastern Slovenia (known as Province of Ljubljana) between the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People and the Axis-sponsored anti-communist militia, the Slovene Home Guard. Nevertheless, the Slovene partisan guerrilla managed to liberate large portions of the Slovene Lands, making an important contribution to the defeat of Nazism.
Following the re-establishment of Yugoslavia at the end of World War II, Slovenia became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, declared on 29 November 1945. A Communist dictatorship was established, but due to the Tito-Stalin split economic and personal freedom were better than in the Eastern Bloc. In 1947, Italy ceded most of the Julian March to Yugoslavia and Slovenia thus regained the Slovenian Littoral, including access to the sea. From the 1950s, the Socialist Republic of Slovenia enjoyed a relatively wide autonomy under the rule of the local Communist elite. In 1990, the first free and democratic elections were held and the DEMOS coalition defeated the former Communist parties. In December 1990, the overwhelming majority of Slovenian citizens voted for independence, which was declared on 25 June 1991. A Ten-Day War followed in which the Slovenians rejected Yugoslav military interference. After 1990, a stable democratic system evolved, with economic liberalisation and gradual growth of prosperity. Slovenia joined NATO on 29 March 2004 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. Slovenia is the first post-Communist country to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, for the first six months of 2008.
Le festività religiose seguono il tradizionale calendario cristiano: l’Assunzione, 15 agosto; Tutti i Santi, 1° novembre; l’Immacolata Concezione, 8 dicembre; Natale, 25 dicembre; Santo Stefano, 26 dicembre ; Venerdì Santo, Pasqua, Lunedì di Pasqua, Pentecoste, le cui date variano di anno in anno.
Tra le festività laiche segnaliamo la Giornata della Cultura nella ricorrenza della morte del poeta Preseren, l’8 febbraio; la Giornata della Rivolta contro l’occupazione straniera, il 27 aprile, la Festa del lavoro, il 1° maggio; la Festa nazionale, il 25 giugno; il Giorno della Riforma, il 31 ottobre.
Population (2002 census): 1,987,971. Annual growth rate: (2003 est.) 0.14%.
Ethnic groups (2002 census): Slovenes 83.06%, Croats 1.81%, Serbs 1.98%, Bosniaks 1.10%, Hungarians 0.32%, Montenegrins 0.14%, Macedonians 0.20%, Albanians 0.31%, Italians 0.11%, Roma 0.17%.
Religions (2002 census): Roman Catholic 57.8%, refused to reply 15.7%, atheist 10.1%, Orthodox Christian 2.3%, Muslim 2.4%.
Languages: The official language is Slovene. Hungarian and Italian are spoken in the border regions, and German fluency is common near the Austrian border. Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian are spoken by a sizable (6% of the population) minority. English is widely understood by business people and students.
Education: Higher education enrollment ratio--26.2%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--4.42/1,000 births. Life expectancy--71.65 years for men, 79.58 years for women, 75.51 for the total population.
Work force (2003 est.): 876,100.
Capital
(and largest city) Ljubljana
46°03′N, 14°30′E
Official languages Slovene1
Demonym Slovenian, Slovene
Government Parliamentary republic
- President Danilo Türk
- Prime Minister Janez Janša
Independence from Yugoslavia
- Declared June 25, 1991
- Recognised 1992
EU accession May 1, 2004
Area
- Total 20,273 km² (153rd)
7,827 sq mi
- Water (%) 0.6
Population
- 2008 estimate 2,023,358 2 (143rd)
- 2002 census 1,964,036
- Density 99.6/km² (80th)
251/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2008 estimate
- Total $48.343 billion [1] (83rd)
- Per capita $28,010 [2] (29th)
GDP (nominal) 2007 estimate
- Total $38.240 billion[1] (67th)
- Per capita $22,079 (30th)
HDI (2005) ▲ 0.917 (high) (27th)
Currency euro (€)3 (EUR)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Internet TLD .si4
Calling code +386
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