1.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
2.
Vehicle registration plates of Slovakia
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There are three design varieties that are in valid use. Between 1 April 1997 and 30 April 2004, the contained the Coat of Arms of Slovakia in the top left corner. The two district identifiers were separated from the serials by a dash, on 1 May 2004, Slovakia joined the European Union. In order to harmonise the visual look of the plates with the rest of the EU, the Slovak Coat of Arms was replaced by the so-called euroband, the country code SK was inserted into the euroband. The number 0 and letter O have been differentiated as well, the Slovak Coat of Arms has returned to the plates replacing the dash while keeping the EU part intact. Regular plates are the most commonly used of all the types and they contain seven characters starting with the district code followed by a series of 3 numbers and 2 letters. The number series used are between 001 and 999, the letter series are between AA-XZ and ZA-ZZ. 999AZ is followed by 001BA through 999BB etc, only Bratislava has reached 999ZZ as of February 2011. Where limited space warrants it, two-line plates can be used on a vehicle, a block of combinations is set aside from the regular plate range as required. Trailer plates follow the format of the regular plates XX-NNNLL except in case the first serial letter is always Y. The registrations would thus start 001YA, continuing through 999YA and 001YB to 999YZ, any build of trailer whether a mobile home or cargo trailer can use these plates. As of February 2011, Bratislava is nearing the end of its YZ series, two-line plates also exist with a block of combinations set aside for them in each district. Motorcycle plates follow the same coding and use the series as the regular plates. For example, DS-125AC can be both a regular plate and a motorcycle plate, the only difference is their size. Motorcycles use two different sizes both of which are smaller than the regular size, personalized plates are optional in Slovakia for an extra fee. The format must include the two letter code and 5 other characters in either XX-LLLLL, XX-LLLLN or LLLNN format. Unlike in any type of plates, the use of Q and W is possible. Plates are not allowed to any political, religious or offensive message
3.
Nitra
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Nitra is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. With a population of about 79,472, it is the fifth largest city in Slovakia, Nitra is also one of the oldest cities in Slovakia, it was the political center of the Principality of Nitra. Today, it is a seat of a kraj and an okres, the first mention of Nitra dates back to the 9th century. The name of the city is derived from the Nitra river, the name is Indo-European, but the question of its pre-Slavic or Slavic origin has not been satisfactorily answered yet. Nitra might be derived from the old Indo-European root neit-, nit- meaning to cut or to using a derivation element -r-. The same root is present in the Slovak verb nietiť. Another view to the origin of the name is related to the Latin Novi-iter or Neui-iter meaning new territory behind the limes, the hypothetical Latin name could be adopted by the Quadi and later by the Slavs. The first written records contain also suffix -ava, particularly in older literature, the suffix is interpreted as an Indo-European/old Germanic basis ahwa. However, the suffix -ava can be also in numerous toponyms with a clearly Slavic origin. Although, the existence of hydronym Nitrava remains hypothetical and all versions with the suffix are related to a location, thus, the form Nitrava can refer to a larger property or territory around the river Nitra. Both forms were used concurrently and were recorded already in the 9th century. The name has different varieties in different languages, including Latin, Nitria, German, Neutra, Hungarian, Nyitra, the oldest archaeological findings in Nitra are dated around 25, 000-30,000 years ago. The locality has been inhabited in all periods in last 5. The people of Madarovce culture built the first fortification on Castle Hill already around 1,600 BCE, in the Iron Age, a large hillfort was built on Zobor Hill and additional smaller hillforts on the Lupka Hill and in Dražovce. Several Celtic settlements are known from the 5th-1st centuries, the Celts minted silver tetradrachms known as coins of Nitra type and probably also built a hillfort in the locality Na Vŕšku. In the Roman period, the Germanic tribe of Quadi settled in the area, the largest Germanic settlement from the migration period in Slovakia was unearth in Nitra-Párovské Háje. The first Slavs arrived to Slovakia at the end of the 5th, the early Slavs settled mainly in the lowlands near the water flows, the highest density of their settlements is documented just in the area of Nitra. As the Avars expanded to the territory of Slovakia in the half of the 7th century and early 8th century
4.
Slovak National Uprising
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The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on 29 August 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to resist German troops that had occupied Slovak territory, although the resistance was largely defeated by German forces, guerrilla operations continued until the Soviet Army, Czechoslovak Army and Romanian Army liberated Slovakia in 1945. In the post-war period, many entities, mainly the Communists. The Stalinist regime in Czechoslovakia presented the Uprising as an event initiated and governed by Communist forces, in fact, many factions fought in the uprising, the largest of which were units of the Slovak Army, Democratic resistance and Communist partisans, and international forces. Given this factionalization, the Uprising did not have popular support. Yet the participants and supporters of the Uprising represented every religion, class, age, edvard Beneš, leader of the Czechoslovak government in exile in London, initiated preparations for a possible revolt in 1943 when he contacted dissident elements of the Slovak Army. The council was responsible for creating the preparatory phase of the uprising, in March 1944, Slovak army Lieutenant Colonel Ján Golian took charge of the preparations. Conspirators stockpiled money, ammunition and other supplies in military bases in central, the rebelling forces called themselves Czechoslovak Forces of the Interior and the First Czechoslovak Army. Approximately 3,200 Slovak soldiers deserted and joined partisan groups or the Soviet Army, in April 1944, Slovak Jews Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz and eventually spoke about the horrors of German death camps. In summer 1944, the partisans intensified their war against German occupation forces, in July, Soviet troops in Poland began to advance towards Slovakia. By August 1944, Soviet troops were at Krosno, Poland, the two options were, Capture Dukla Pass when the Soviet arrived. As ordered by Golian, capture Dukla pass immediately and hold the pass against any German forces until the Soviet Army could arrive, Colonel Viliam Talský was the chief of staff of the two divisions. On 23 August 1944, neighboring Romania changed sides in favor of the Allies, on 27 August 1944 in Martin, a group of Communist partisans under Soviet direction killed 30 members of a German military mission leaving Romania. The next day, German troops began to occupy Slovakia to put down the rebellion, German arrangements for the occupation were completed a few weeks earlier. At 19,00 hours on 29 August 1944, Slovak Defence Minister General Ferdinand Čatloš announced on radio that Germany had occupied Slovakia. At 20,00, Golian sent the message to all units to begin the uprising. The two divisions, left in chaos and without leadership, were disarmed on the afternoon of 30 August without a single shot. Consequently, the uprising commenced prematurely and lost a crucial component of their plan, accounts of the exact numbers of combatants vary
5.
Slovaks
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The Slovaks or Slovak people are a nation and West Slavic ethnic group native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and are native speakers of the Slovak language. Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia, there are Slovak minorities in Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia and sizeable populations of immigrants and their descendants in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The name Slovak is derived from *Slověninъ, plural *Slověně, the old name of the Slavs, in the Slovak language, only the masculine noun Slověninъ, Slověn changed to Slovän, Slovan and finally to Slovák around 1400. The older form Sloven is preserved in all words in the Slovak language – the adjective Slovak is still slovenský, the feminine noun Slovak is still Slovenka. In 1029 St. Emeric, ruler of the Nitrian principality is called Henricus dux Sclavonie, in 1113 Nestor calls the territory of Slovakia - Slověnskaja zemlja. The first written mention about usage of the new form Slovak in the territory of present-day Slovakia is from Bardejov – Nicoulaus Cossibor hauptman, Nicolaus Czech et Slowak, the mentions in Czech sources are older –1375 and 1385. The change is not related to ethnogenesis of Slovaks, but exclusively to linguistic changes in the West Slavic languages, the word Slovak was also used later as a common name for all Slavs in Czech, Polish and also Slovak language in parallel with other forms. The Slovaks and Slovenes are the only current Slavic nations that have preserved the original name, for Slovenes, the adjective is still slovenski and the feminine noun Slovene is still also Slovenka, but the masculine noun has since changed to Slovenec. The Slovak name for their language is slovenčina and the Slovene name for theirs is slovenščina, the Slovak term for the Slovene language is slovinčina, and the Slovenes call Slovak slovaščina. The name is derived from proto-Slavic form slovo word, talk, thus Slovaks as well as Slovenians would mean people who speak, i. e. people who understand each other. In Hungarian Slovak is Tót, an exonym and it was originally used to refer to all Slavs including Slovenes and Croats, but eventually came to refer primarily to Slovaks. Many place names in Hungary such as Tótszentgyörgy, Tótszentmárton, tóth is a common Hungarian surname. The Slovaks have also historically been referred to as Slovyenyn, Slowyenyny, Sclavus, Sclavi, Slavus, Slavi, Winde, Wende. The final three terms are variations of the Germanic term Wends, which was used to refer to any Slavs living close to Germanic settlements. The early Slavs came to the territory of Slovakia in several waves from the 5th and 6th centuries and were organized on a tribal level, original tribal names are not known due to the lack of written sources before their integration into higher political units. In the 7th century, Slavs founded larger tribal union, Samos empire, regardless of Samos empire, the integration process continued in other territories with various intensities. The final fall of the Avar Khaganate allowed new political entities to arise, the first such political unit documented by written sources is the Principality of Nitra, one of the foundations of later common ethnic consciousness. At this stage in history it is not yet possible to assume a common identity of all Slovak ancestors in the territory of eastern Slovakia, the Principality of Nitra become a part of Great Moravia, a common state of Moravians and Slovaks
6.
Czechs
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Ethnic Czechs were called Bohemians in English until the early 20th century, referring to the late Iron Age tribe of Celtic Boii and the land Bohemia. The Czech diaspora is found in numbers in the United States, Canada, Israel, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy. The Czech ethnic group is part of the West Slavic subgroup of the larger Slavic ethno-linguistical group, the West Slavs have origin in early Slavic tribes which settled in Central Europe after East Germanic tribes had left this area during the migration period. The West Slavic tribe of Bohemians settled in the area of Bohemia during the migration period and they formed an independent principality in the 9th century, the Duchy of Bohemia, under the Přemyslid dynasty. According to mythology, the father of the Czech people were Forefather Čech. The Czech are closely related to the neighbouring Slovaks, the Czech–Slovak languages form a dialect continuum rather than being two clearly distinct languages. Czech cultural influence in Slovak culture is noted as having much higher than the other way around. Czech people have a history of coexistence with Germanic people. The Czech National Revival took place in the 18th and 19th centuries aiming to revive Czech language, culture, the Czech were the initiators of Pan-Slavism. The Czech ethnonym was the name of a Slavic tribe in central Bohemia that subdued the tribes in the late 9th century. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown, according to legend, it comes from their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia. Research regards Čech as a derivative of the root čel-, the Czech ethnonym was adopted by the Moravians in the 19th century. The name Bohemia is Germanic, English used that name until after the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the population of the Czech lands has been influenced by different human migrations that wide-crossed Europe over time. In their Y-DNA haplogroups, which are inherited along the male line,34. 2% of Czech males belong to R1a, which is particularly common in a large region extending from South Asia and Southern Siberia to Central Europe and Scandinavia. The population of the Czech Republic descends from diverse peoples of Slavic, Celtic and Germanic origin, presence of West Slavs in the 6th century during the Migration Period has been documented on the Czech territory. Slavs settled in Bohemia, Moravia and Austria sometime during the 6th or 7th centuries, according to a popular myth, the Slavs came with Forefather Čech who settled at the Říp Mountain. The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century, in 880, Prague Castle was constructed by Prince Bořivoj, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty and the city of Prague was established. Vratislav II was the first Czech king in 1085 and the duchy was raised to a kingdom under Ottokar I in 1198
7.
Romani people
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The Romani are widely known among English-speaking people by the exonym Gypsies, which some people consider pejorative due to its connotations of illegality and irregularity. Romani are dispersed, with their populations in Europe – especially Central, Eastern and Southern Europe including Turkey, Spain. Since the 19th century, some Romani have also migrated to the Americas, there are an estimated one million Roma in the United States, and 800,000 in Brazil, most of whose ancestors emigrated in the nineteenth century from eastern Europe. Brazil also includes some Romani descended from people deported by the government of Portugal during the Inquisition in the colonial era, in migrations since the late nineteenth century, Romani have also moved to other countries in South America and to Canada. In February 2016, during the International Roma Conference, the Indian Minister of External Affairs stated that the people of the Roma community were children of India. The conference ended with a recommendation to the Government of India to recognize the Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of the Indian diaspora, the Romani language is divided into several dialects, which add up to an estimated number of speakers larger than two million. The total number of Romani people is at least twice as large, many Romani are native speakers of the language current in their country of residence, or of mixed languages combining the two, those varieties are sometimes called Para-Romani. French bohème, bohémien, from the Kingdom of Bohemia, whence they came, Rom means man or husband in the Romani, it has the variants dom and lom, related with the Sanskrit words dam-pati, dama, lom, lomaka loman, roman. Another possible origin is from Sanskrit डोम doma, Sanskrit सिनधु is a river or stream of water in general. In particular, it denotes the river Indus and the country around it, in the Romani language, Rom is a masculine noun, meaning man of the Roma ethnic group or man, husband, with the plural Roma. The feminine of Rom in the Romani language is Romni, however, in most cases, in other languages Rom is now used for people of all genders. Romani is the adjective, while Romano is the masculine adjective. Some Romanies use Rom or Roma as a name, while others do not use this term as a self-ascription for the entire ethnic group. Sometimes, rom and romani are spelled with a r, i. e. rrom. In this case rr is used to represent the phoneme /ʀ/, the rr spelling is common in certain institutions, or used in certain countries, e. g. Romania, to distinguish from the endonym/homonym for Romanians. In the English language, Rom is a noun and an adjective, while Romani is also a noun, both Rom and Romani have been in use in English since the 19th century as an alternative for Gypsy. Romani was initially spelled Rommany, then Romany, while today the Romani spelling is the most popular spelling, occasionally, the double r spelling mentioned above is also encountered in English texts. The term Roma is increasingly encountered during recent decades, as a term for the Romani people
8.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
9.
Bata Shoes
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Bata is a family-owned global footwear and fashion accessory manufacturer and retailer with acting headquarters located in Lausanne, Switzerland. The T. & A. Baťa Shoe Company was founded on the 24th of August 1894 in Zlín by Tomáš Baťa, his brother Antonín and his sister Anna, whose family had been cobblers for generations. The company employed 10 full-time employees with a work schedule and a regular weekly wage. In the summer of 1895, Tomáš found himself facing financial difficulties, to overcome these serious setbacks, Tomáš decided to sew shoes from canvas instead of leather. This type of shoe became popular and helped the company grow to 50 employees. Four years later, Bata installed its first steam-driven machines, beginning a period of rapid modernisation, in 1904, Tomáš read a newspaper article about some machines being made in America. Therefore, he took three workers and journeyed to Lynn, a city outside Boston, in order to study. After six months Tomáš returned to Zlin and he introduced mechanized production techniques allowed the Bata Shoe Company to become one of the first mass producers of shoes in Europe. Its first mass product, the “Batovky, ” was a leather and textile shoe for working people that was notable for its simplicity, style, light weight and its success helped fuel the company’s growth. After Antonins death in 1908, Tomas brought two of his brothers, Jan and Bohuš, into the business. Initial export sales and the first ever sales agencies began in Germany in 1909, followed by the Balkans, Bata shoes were considered to be excellent quality, and were available in more styles than had ever been offered before. By 1912, Bata was employing 600 full-time workers, plus several hundred who worked out of their homes in neighbouring villages. In 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, the company had a significant development due to military orders, from 1914 to 1918 the number of Baťa’s employees increased ten times. The company opened its own stores in Zlín, Prague, Liberec, Vienna and Pilsen, in the global economic slump that followed World War I, the newly created country of Czechoslovakia was particularly hard hit. With its currency devalued by 75%, demand for products dropped, production was cut back, Tomáš Baťa responded to the crisis by cutting the price of Bata shoes in half. The company’s workers agreed to a temporary 40 percent reduction in wages, in turn, Bata provided food, clothing and he also introduced one of the first initiatives, transforming all employees into associates with a shared interest in the companys success. Consumer response to the drop was dramatic. While most competitors were forced to close because of the crisis in demand between 1923 and 1925, Bata was expanding as demand for the inexpensive shoes grew rapidly, the Bata Shoe Company increased production and hired more workers
listen), meaning approximately partisan town, formerly: Baťovany) is a town in Trenčín Region, Slovakia.
Partizánske travel guide from Wikivoyage
