1.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
2.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
3.
Lesser Poland Voivodeship
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Lesser Poland Voivodeship, also known as Małopolska Voivodeship or Małopolska Province, is a voivodeship, in southern Poland. It has an area of 15,108 square kilometres, the provinces name recalls the traditional name of a historic Polish region, Lesser Poland, or in Polish, Małopolska. Current Lesser Poland Voivodeship, however, covers only part of the broader ancient Małopolska region which, together with Greater Poland and Silesia. Historic Lesser Poland is much larger than the current province and it stretches far north, to Radom, and Siedlce, also including such cities, as Stalowa Wola, Lublin, Kielce, Częstochowa, and Sosnowiec. The province is bounded on the north by the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, on the west by Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska, politically it is bordered by Silesian Voivodeship to the west, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship to the north, Subcarpathian Voivodeship to the east, and Slovakia to the south. Almost all of Lesser Poland lies in the Vistula River catchment area, the city of Kraków was one of the European Cities of Culture in 2000. Kraków has railway and road connections with Katowice, Warsaw, Wrocław and it lies at the crossroads of major international routes linking Dresden with Kiev, and Gdańsk with Budapest. Located here is the second largest international airport in Poland, the John Paul II International Airport, the regions economy includes high technology, banking, chemical and metallurgical industries, coal, ore, food processing, and spirit and tobacco industries. The most industrialized city of the voivodeship is Kraków, the largest regional enterprise operates here, the Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks in Nowa Huta, employing 17,500 people. Another major industrial center is located in the west, in the neighborhood of Chrzanów, Kraków Park Technologiczny, a Special Economic Zone, has been established within the voivodeship. There are almost 210,000 registered economic entities operating in the voivodeship, mostly small and medium-sized, foreign investment, growing in the region, reached approximately US$18.3 billion by the end of 2006. 130,000 students attend fifteen Kraków institutions of higher learning, the Jagiellonian University, the largest university in the city, was founded in 1364 as Cracow Academy. Nicolaus Copernicus and Karol Wojtyła graduated from it, the AGH University of Science and Technology is considered to be the best technical university in Poland. The Academy of Economics, the Pedagogical University, the Kraków University of Technology, there are also the Fine Arts Academy, the State Theatre University and the Musical Academy. Nowy Sącz has become an educational center in the region thanks to its Higher School of Business and Administration, with an American curriculum. There are also two higher schools in Tarnów. The city of Tarnów, which is located in Lesser Poland, is the hottest place in Poland all year round and it all depends on the many various wind patters that affect Poland from different regions of the world. Błędów Desert the only desert in Poland is located in Lesser Poland, four national parks and numerous reserves have been established in the voivodeship to protect the environment of Lesser Poland
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
6.
Giewont
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Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland, and is 1,895 metres AMSL at its highest. It comprises three peaks, Small Giewont - Great Giewont - Long Giewont -, there is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba. It is located between the valleys of Kondratowa, Małej Łąki and Strążyska, Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city. On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross - the site of religious pilgrimages, the area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit. Geologically, Giewont is composed of dolomite and limestone caves, as well as gneiss, the first recorded ascent to Giewonts summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki. The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned, on the other hand hiking on the hiking trials is allowed and the access is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top, Giewont lies in the area of the Polish Tatra National Park. In Polish folklore it is associated with a legend about oversleeping knights, the profile of the mountains is similar to a lying knight, wherein the Long Giewont is the knights torso, and the Great Giewont is the knights face as viewed from the side. The image of Giewont as viewed from the north makes the profile easy to discern, Giewont webcam - click Day at a Glance if night
7.
Tatra Mountains
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The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra, are a mountain range that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains, the Tatras should be distinguished from the Low Tatras which are located south of the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. The Tatra Mountains occupy an area of 785 square kilometres, of which about 610 square kilometres lie within Slovakia, the highest peak, called Gerlach, at 2,655 m is located north of Poprad. The highest point in Poland, Rysy, at 2,499 m is located south of Zakopane. The Tatras length, measured from the foothills of the Kobyli Wierch to the southwestern foot of Ostry Wierch Kwaczański, in a straight line is 57 km. The range is only 19 km wide, the Tatras main ridge leads from Huciańska Pass in the west to Zdziarska Pass to the east. In 1992 the Polish and Slovak parks were designated a transboundary biosphere reserve by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under its Man. It is the highest mountain range within Carpathians, by the end of the First Polish Republic and the Polish border between the Kingdom of Hungary in the Tatras was not strictly defined. The Tatras became an unoccupied borderland, two years later, the First Partition of Poland allocated the lands to Austria. In 1824, Zakopane good and Fish Creek Valley with Morskie Oko purchased from the authorities of the Austrian Hungarian Emanuel Homolacs. In 1867 formed the Austria-Hungary and the Tatra Mountains have become imaginary border between the two states of the monarchy, but the border still has not been exactly determined. In 1889, Count Władysław Zamoyski purchased at auction a good Zakopane, due to numerous disputes over lands belonging in the late nineteenth century, attempts were made to the delimitation of the border. They did not bring effect in 1897, and the case went to a court that on September 13,1902 determined the exact course of the Austria-Hungary border in the disputed area. The Tatras lie in the zone of Central Europe. They are an important barrier to the movements of air masses and their mountainous topography causes one of the most diverse climates in that region. Winds The average wind speed on the summits is 6 m/s. southerly winds on the northern side westerly winds at the base of Tatra foehn winds most often occur between October and May and they are warm and dry and can cause extensive damage. On 19 November 2004, large parts of the forests in the southern Slovak part of the High Tatras were damaged by a wind storm. Three million cubic metres of trees were uprooted, two died and several villages were totally cut off
8.
Carpathian Mountains
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The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a mountain range system forming an arc roughly 1,500 km long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe. The Carpathians and their foothills also have many thermal and mineral waters, the Carpathians consist of a chain of mountain ranges that stretch in an arc from the Czech Republic in the northwest through Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine to Romania and Serbia. The highest range within the Carpathians is the Tatras, on the border of Slovakia and Poland, the second-highest range is the Southern Carpathians in Romania, where the highest peaks exceed 2,500 m. The divisions of the Carpathians are usually in three sections, Western Carpathians — Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. Eastern Carpathians — southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, the term Outer Carpathians is frequently used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians. The most important cities in or near the Carpathians are, Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia, Kraków in Poland, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Braşov in Romania, and Uzhhorod in Ukraine. In modern times, the range is called Karpaty in Czech, Polish, Slovak and Карпати in Ukrainian, Carpați in Romanian, Karpaten in German, Kárpátok in Hungarian and Karpati or Карпати in Serbian. Although the toponym was recorded already by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE, for instance, Havasok was its medieval Hungarian name, Rus and Romanian chronicles referred to it as Hungarian Mountains. The archaic Polish word karpa meant rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, the more common word skarpa means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain. In late Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as Montes Sarmatici, the Western Carpathians were called Carpates, a name that is first recorded in Ptolemys Geographia. In the Scandinavian Hervarar saga, which relates ancient Germanic legends about battles between Goths and Huns, the name Karpates appears in the predictable Germanic form as Harvaða fjöllum, inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia by Gervase of Tilbury, has described in his Otia Imperialia in 1211. Thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Hungarian documents named the mountains Thorchal, Tarczal or less frequently Montes Nivium, the northwestern Carpathians begin in Slovakia and southern Poland. They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast. The total length of the Carpathians is over 1,500 km, the highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest. The Carpathians cover an area of 190,000 km2 and, after the Alps, although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not actually form an uninterrupted chain of mountains. Rather, they consist of several orographically and geologically distinctive groups, the Carpathians at their highest altitude are only as high as the middle region of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate, and flora. The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube, the two ranges meet at only one point, the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The river also separates them from the Balkan Mountains at Orşova in Romania, the valley of the March and Oder separates the Carpathians from the Silesian and Moravian chains, which belong to the middle wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe
9.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
10.
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
11.
High Tatras
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The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains, are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains chain, the mountain range borders Belianske Tatras to the east, Podtatranská kotlina to the south and Western Tatras to the west. The major part and all the highest peaks of the mountains are situated in Slovakia, the highest peak is Gerlachovský štít, at 2,655 metres. The first European cross-border national park was founded here—Tatra National Park—with Tatra National Park in Slovakia in 1948, the adjacent parks protect UNESCOs trans-border Tatra Biosphere Reserve. Fauna Many rare and endemic animals and plant species are native to the High Tatras and they include the Tatras endemic goat-antelope and critically endangered species, the Tatra chamois. Predators include Eurasian brown bear, Eurasian lynx, marten, wolf, the Alpine marmot is common in the range. Flora Flora of the High Tatras includes, the endemic Tatra scurvy-grass, yellow saxifrage, ground covering net-leaved willow, Norway spruce, Swiss pine. The 15 highest peaks of the High Tatras—all located in Slovakia—are, Kriváň,2494 meters, also called Slovakias most beautiful mountain Rysy, the popular Polish−Slovak summit border crossing. Rysy has three peaks, the middle at 2,503 meters, the north-western at 2,499 meters, the north-western peak is the highest point of Poland. Slavkovský štít,2452 meters tall, within the Tatra National Park, czarny Staw pod Rysami -1,583 m,76 m deep. Wielki Staw Polski -1,664 m,79 m deep, Štrbské pleso -1,347 m,20 m deep. Veľké Hincovo pleso -1,945 m,54 m deep, popradské pleso -1,494 m,17 m deep. Zmrzlé pleso Ťažké pleso Ľadové pleso Batizovské pleso Veľké Spišské pleso -2,019 m,10 m deep, Veľké Žabie pleso -1,921 m,7 m deep Vysne Bielovoeske Zabie pleso -1,699 m,25 m deep. Nizne Bielovodske Zabie pleso -1,675 m,21 m deep, czarny Staw Gąsienicowy -1,624 m,51 m deep. The area is known for winter sports. Ski resorts include Štrbské pleso, Starý Smokovec and Tatranská Lomnica in Slovakia, the town of Poprad is the gateway to the Slovak Tatra resorts. People The Górale people, a group of people with a distinctive traditional culture, are of the High Tatras and other mountain ranges. Ludwig Greiner identified Gerlachovský štít as the highest summit of the Tatra Mountains, and it is also the highest point of Slovakia
12.
Two-thousander
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Two-thousanders are mountains that have a height of at least 2,000 metres above sea level, but less than 3,000 metres. The term is used in Alpine circles, especially in Europe, the two photographs show two typical two-thousanders in the Alps that illustrate different types of mountain. The Säuling is a prominent, individual peak, whereas the Schneeberg is a limestone massif. The last-mentioned two are also the easternmost two-thousanders in the Alps, before their foothills descend to the Carpathians, analogous examples may also be found in the Western Alps, but are rarer as the peaks are generally higher. In the Carpathians, two-thousanders dominate large regions of highland, for example in Slovakia, there are no mountains in the UK that reach 2,000 metres. However the term may be used to refer to mountains over 2,000 feet in height
13.
Volovec (Tatra)
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Volovec or Wołowiec is a mountain in the Western Tatras at the border of Slovakia and Poland. It lies on the Main Ridge of Western Tatras between Ostrý Roháč and mountain Deravá, standing over three valleys, Chochołowską, Roháčska and Jamnícka and it offers views over the Polish Western Tatras, and Slovak Roháče. On the west lie below the Roháčske Ponds, the mountains height was determined already in 1820 and it was used as an important triangulation point. Starting from Volovec, the Main Ridge acts as the border between Poland and Slovakia, the mountain consists of metamorphic rock. Local fauna include the Tatra chamois and Alpine marmot, there are two marked hiking trails which lead to the summit of Volovec, red and blue. A third, green one, connects with the one at the saddle beneath the mountain. An exception to this is trying to access Volovec through Ostrý Roháč and Jamnícke saddle, which is one of the most exposed climbs on the main ridge of Western Tatras
14.
Kasprowy Wierch
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Kasprowy Wierch or Kasprov vrch is a mountain in the Western Tatras. The mountain is renowned as one of the most popular ski areas in Poland. Its peak is accessible by cablecar, the mountain also delineates the border between Poland and Slovakia and it is possible to cross the border of each country, weather permitting. As both countries are part of the Schengen zone, it is not controlled or forbidden, as part of its modernization, the cabin aerial ropeway was closed for a period until December 2007. In 1938 meteorological and astronomical observatories were built here, users of the cable car have to change cars midway at Myślenicke Turnie mount. At the top there are restaurants and information offices with further ski lifts just outside. The cable cars are popular and tourists regularly have to wait up to 3 hours to buy tickets - roughly the same time it would take to ascend the mountain on foot. The cable car service has caused environmental concerns and protest both in 1935 and 2006, in 1961-1962 and in 1967-1968 chairlifts were built on the slopes of the mountain and they run in two sections. Zakopane - Kasprowy Wierch webcam Kasprowy Wierch cable-car - access information
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Liptov
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Liptov is a historical and geographical region in northern Slovakia with around 140,000 inhabitants. The area is known by the German name Liptau, the Polish Liptów, the Hungarian Liptó. The name is derived from some Slavic personal name beginning with Ľub- with a possessive suffix -ov, Ľúbiť – to love, derived personal names are Ľubomír, Ľubota and others. Ľubtov - Ľubotas castle or his territory, the form Ľuptov has been preserved in Orava and in a frequent Slovak surname Ľupták. The first known inhabitants came to Liptov during the Neolithic age around 6000 years ago, celts represent an important time period of Liptov during the Iron Age. The Celtic tribal village can be seen in the site of Havránok near Liptovský Mikuláš. The first settlements of Slavic people in Liptov region began approximately in the 6th century BC, the first written evidence about Liptov came from 1231 AD during the rule of the Hungarian king Andrew II when Liptov was a permanent comitatus of the Hungarian empire. The dissolution of Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918 led to the creation of Czechoslovakia as a successor country, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Liptov became the region of present-day Slovakia. There are currently three remains of castles that were built in the Liptov region and they are the Likava castle, the Liptov castle, and the Liptovský Hrádok castle. Liptov is also a place where the legendary Slovak figure of the 17th and 18th Century, historical and cultural centres of Liptov are the towns of Liptovský Mikuláš, Ružomberok and Liptovský Hrádok. Liptov is surrounded by the highest mountains in Slovakia, High Tatras, West Tatras and Chočské vrchy from the north, Low Tatras from the south, the longest Slovak river of Váh runs through Liptov and fills the important water reservoir of Liptovská Mara. There are two Slovak national parks with the highest level of protection in the territory of Liptov, they are the Tatra National Park, Liptov is one of the most visited regions in Slovakia. The list of museums and galleries include, Liptov Museum and Ľudovít Fulla Gallery in Ružomberok, bohúň and the Centre of Koloman Sokol in Liptovský Mikuláš. Liptov has a tradition of folklore culture. The annual folklore festival in the village of Východná is the biggest folklore event in Slovakia attracting thousands of visitors all around Europe. The Liptov region has a number of fine churches, in Svätý Kríž, south of the reservoir, is a large articular wooden church belonging to the same group as the one in Hronsek, near Banská Bystrica. This is one of the largest wooden buildings in Europe and. And in the village of Nižné Matiašovce, at the start of the precipitous route from Liptov to Zuberec, is a beautiful wooden-roofed church with defensive stone walls
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Orava (region)
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Orava is the traditional name of a region situated in northern Slovakia and partially also in southern Poland. It encompasses the territory of the former Árva County or Arwa, the name arises from the Orava river. The whole territory belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary from 895 to 1920, the county arose before the 15th century. The countys territory was situated along the Orava River between Zázrivá and the Tatra Mountains and its area amounted to 2,019 km² around 1910. The original seat of the county was Orava Castle, Orava is now recognized as one of Slovakias 21 tourist regions, however, it is not an administrative region unlike its predecessor. In Slovakia, Orava is divided between Dolný Kubín, Tvrdošín, and Námestovo districts in the Žilina Region and it has an area of 1,661 km², with the population on the Slovak side around 126,000. The village of Oravská Polhora is the northernmost settlement of Slovakia, the most important town on the Slovak side is Dolný Kubín. The Polish part of Orava belongs to the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, to the Nowy Targ County, official regional website Orava region at Slovakia. travel Spectacular Slovakia - Orava
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Bivouac shelter
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A bivouac sack is an extremely small, lightweight, waterproof shelter, and an alternative to traditional tent systems. It is used by climbers, mountaineers, hikers, ultralight backpackers, soldiers, the bivouac sack has a larger, similar counterpart, called a bivouac shelter. The main benefit of a bivouac shelter is speed of setup. A bivouac sack is a choice for hikers or climbers who have to camp in tight areas or in unknown areas. A drawback of a bivy sack is the humidity that condenses on the inner side leaving the occupant or the sleeping bag moist. A traditional bivy bag typically cinches all the way down to the users face, some modern fabrics are sufficiently gas-permeable that they can be safely zipped up around the users head in order to shut out the elements completely. A more recent development is the shelter or bivy shelter. Often employing hoops over the head and feet, a shelter is held sufficiently taut to keep the fabric off the occupant inside in order to prevent condensation from soaking into bedding. This style of shelter also provides some additional breathing room around the head, many campers gladly accept the increased carrying weight of a bivy shelter for the perceived increase in comfort it affords
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Klin (mountain)
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Klin is a peak in the Western Tatras, on the border between Slovakia and Poland. Its summit is at 2,176 m AMSL and it is the highest peak in Polish Western Tatras. The foreground is a classic split ridge or doppelgrat, spreading under tension due to erosion in the valleys either side. The finest example in the Tatra is between Kamienista and Smreczynski Wierch nearby
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Tarn (lake)
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A tarn is a mountain lake or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. It is formed when rain or river water fills the cirque. A moraine may form a dam below a tarn. The word is derived from the Old Norse word tjörn meaning pond and its more specific use as a mountain lake emerges as it is the commonly used term for all ponds in the upland areas of Northern England. Here, it retains a use, referring to any small lake or pond, regardless of its location. In Scandinavian languages, a tjern or tjärn, tärn or tjørn is a natural lake
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Hectare
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The hectare is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to 100 ares and primarily used in the measurement of land as a metric replacement for the imperial acre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres, in 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1⁄100 km2. When the metric system was further rationalised in 1960, resulting in the International System of Units, the are was not included as a recognised unit. The hectare, however, remains as a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI units, the metric system of measurement was first given a legal basis in 1795 by the French Revolutionary government. At the first meeting of the CGPM in 1889 when a new standard metre, manufactured by Johnson Matthey & Co of London was adopted, in 1960, when the metric system was updated as the International System of Units, the are did not receive international recognition. The units that were catalogued replicated the recommendations of the CGPM, many farmers, especially older ones, still use the acre for everyday calculations, and convert to hectares only for official paperwork. Farm fields can have long histories which are resistant to change, with names such as the six acre field stretching back hundreds of years. The names centiare, deciare, decare and hectare are derived by adding the standard metric prefixes to the base unit of area. The centiare is a synonym for one square metre, the deciare is ten square metres. The are is a unit of area, equal to 100 square metres and it was defined by older forms of the metric system, but is now outside of the modern International System of Units. It is commonly used to measure real estate, in particular in Indonesia, India, and in French-, Portuguese-, Slovakian-, Serbian-, Czech-, Polish-, Dutch-, in Russia and other former Soviet Union states, the are is called sotka. It is used to describe the size of suburban dacha or allotment garden plots or small city parks where the hectare would be too large, the decare is derived from deka, the prefix for 10 and are, and is equal to 10 ares or 1000 square metres. It is used in Norway and in the former Ottoman areas of the Middle East, the hectare, although not strictly a unit of SI, is the only named unit of area that is accepted for use within the SI. The United Kingdom, United States, Burma, and to some extent Canada instead use the acre, others, such as South Africa, published conversion factors which were to be used particularly when preparing consolidation diagrams by compilation. In many countries, metrication redefined or clarified existing measures in terms of metric units, non-SI units accepted for use with the International System of Units
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Metre
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The metre or meter, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units. The metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds, the metre was originally defined in 1793 as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole. In 1799, it was redefined in terms of a metre bar. In 1960, the metre was redefined in terms of a number of wavelengths of a certain emission line of krypton-86. In 1983, the current definition was adopted, the imperial inch is defined as 0.0254 metres. One metre is about 3 3⁄8 inches longer than a yard, Metre is the standard spelling of the metric unit for length in nearly all English-speaking nations except the United States and the Philippines, which use meter. Measuring devices are spelled -meter in all variants of English, the suffix -meter has the same Greek origin as the unit of length. This range of uses is found in Latin, French, English. Thus calls for measurement and moderation. In 1668 the English cleric and philosopher John Wilkins proposed in an essay a decimal-based unit of length, as a result of the French Revolution, the French Academy of Sciences charged a commission with determining a single scale for all measures. In 1668, Wilkins proposed using Christopher Wrens suggestion of defining the metre using a pendulum with a length which produced a half-period of one second, christiaan Huygens had observed that length to be 38 Rijnland inches or 39.26 English inches. This is the equivalent of what is now known to be 997 mm, no official action was taken regarding this suggestion. In the 18th century, there were two approaches to the definition of the unit of length. One favoured Wilkins approach, to define the metre in terms of the length of a pendulum which produced a half-period of one second. The other approach was to define the metre as one ten-millionth of the length of a quadrant along the Earths meridian, that is, the distance from the Equator to the North Pole. This means that the quadrant would have defined as exactly 10000000 metres at that time. To establish a universally accepted foundation for the definition of the metre, more measurements of this meridian were needed. This portion of the meridian, assumed to be the length as the Paris meridian, was to serve as the basis for the length of the half meridian connecting the North Pole with the Equator
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Zuberec
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Zuberec is a village in northern Slovakia and a popular tourist center at the foothills of the Western Tatras. Zuberec features numerous facilities, restaurants, museum and a tourist information office. The village is the place of cultural and sporting events including Podroháčske folklórne slávnosti, Goralský klobúčik, Oravaman. Zuberec is called Zuberzec in Polish and Bölényfalu in Hungarian and it is named after the European bison, an animal that used to be abundant in the region at the time of the foundation of the village. Zuberec was founded in 1593, when the village was known as Zwberczyc, by shepherds and it was subordinate, like the surrounding villages, to the Orava Castle. The village ceased to exist because of the Bocskay uprising, in 1683 it was devastated by the soldiers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Zuberec contains the neo-gothic Church of Saint Vendelin built in the 1930s according to project of Milan Michal Harminec, at that time, Zuberec did not contain a church and there were space issues in the church in nearby village Habovka. Its founding stone was laid down in 1929 and the church was consecrated in 1933 by the catholic priest Andrej Hlinka, there are relics of Saint Vendelin housed here. There is a cross in front of the church from the year 1839. Local cemetery contains gravestones featuring folklore stone reliefs from the end of the 19th century, Zuberec is situated in the Tvrdošín District of the Žilina Region. Historically, it was part of the Orava region, the village lies at an altitude of 760 metres, under the Roháče mountains. The municipality covers an area of 72. 328km², Zuberec has a population of 1,810. According to the 2001 census,99. 6% of inhabitants were Slovaks and 97. 6% Roman Catholics, the Museum of the Orava Village is located in Zuberec. This open-air museum of folk architecture exhibits intact rural houses brought from all around the region of Orava, the oldest building, a Gothic wooden church, was constructed in the 15th century, but the museum itself was founded in 1967. In addition to the church, it now also has its own graveyard, the interior of the buildings hosts an ethnographic collection. The gardens and fields around the show various ancient forms of farming. Zuberec has three ski resorts, Zuberec Janovky, Zuberec Milotín, and Zverovka Spálená, tatra mountains Orava Highlands Official Zuberec website Open-air Museum of Orava Village in pictures
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Pribylina
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Pribylina is a village in Liptovský Mikuláš District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia, at the foot of Kriváň, Slovakias symbolic and often considered most beautiful mountain. In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1286, the municipality lies at an altitude of 765 metres and covers an area of 86.124 km². It has a population of about 1,362 people, there is an open-air museum of Liptov near the village, opened in 1991. There is an Autocamp near the entrance of the Račková valley, the river Belá flowing around the village is suitable for rafting. Municipal website Museum of Liptov Village at Slovakia. travel
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Tourism in Slovakia
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Tourism in Slovakia offers natural landscapes, mountains, caves, medieval castles and towns, folk architecture, spas and ski resorts. More than 4.6 million people visited Slovakia in 2016, and the most attractive destinations are the capital of Bratislava, most visitors come from the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. Most visitors to Slovakia in 2015 came from, Some 40% of Slovakia is covered with forests, slovakia’s forests contain a wide biodiversity and animals include brown bears, wolves, foxes, wild boars, muskrats, chamois and lynxes. Slovakia features a high percentage of wildlife included in protected areas, there are hardly any mountain ranges and areas not under some form of protection. One of Slovakias main tourist attractions are the Tatra Mountains, the highest part of the Carpathians and they feature many rare plant and animal species and offer numerous skiing, hiking and mountaineering opportunities. Rivers and streams in the mountains of Slovakia are often used for rafting and other white-water based activities, the use of rafts has a very long tradition and especially rafts on the spectacular Dunajec river are very popular among tourists. Slovakia contains numerous springs and spas. There were 94 destination spas in 2007, which contained more than 11,900 beds, in 2007, there were 276,200 visitors in Slovak spas, which is a 9% increase from 2006. 35. 2% of the visitors were foreign, recently built parks include Tatralandia in Liptovský Mikuláš, Aquacity in Poprad and Aquathermal in Senec. Slovakias karst areas offer a high number of caves and their list is being expanded every year owing to new discoveries. The number of caves per capita may be the highest in Europe, thirteen caves are open to the public, the longest of which is 9 km long. Some of them have been proclaimed as UNESCOs World Heritage Sites, among them, Ochtinská Aragonite Cave is one of three aragonite caves in the world. Slovakia contains many castles, most of which are in ruins, the best known castles include Bojnice Castle, Spiš Castle, Orava Castle, Bratislava Castle, and the ruins of Devín Castle. Čachtice Castle was once the home of the worlds most prolific serial killer. Slovakias position in Europe and the countrys past made many cities and towns similar to the cities in the Czech Republic, a historical center with at least one square has been preserved in many towns. Large historical centers can be found in Bratislava, Košice, Banská Štiavnica, Levoča, historical centers have been going through restoration in recent years. Historical churches can be found in every village and town in Slovakia. Most of them are built in the Baroque style, but there are many examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, for example Banská Bystrica, Bardejov
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