Slovakia

Where the name comes from

Slovakia means “land of the Slovaks”, a West Slavic people; Slovak is related to the wider name Slav, whose origin is uncertain.

First people

Celtic and later Slavic peoples lived here, and Great Moravia was a Slavic state of the 800s.^1,2

Known for

Slovakia is known for its many castles, such as Spiš Castle, and for the High Tatras mountains.^3,4

Outside contact

After Great Moravia, the region spent centuries within Hungary, which gained Habsburg kings in 1526.¹

The modern country

Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, a Nazi-aligned Slovak state existed in 1939–1945, and Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993, when Czechoslovakia split peacefully.⁵