The new Central European country of Slovenia is situated on the sunny side of the Alps between the Adriatic Sea and the Pannonian Plain. It occupies barely 8000 square miles (20,551 km2 ) and is about the size of the American state of Massachusetts or half the size of Switzerland. A large majority of Slovenes (95%) voted for an independent Slovenia in a referendum held on December 23, 1991, and the wishes of the Slovene people were carried out on June 25, 1991, when an independent and sovereign Republic of Slovenia was declared. After a ten-day clash with the Yugoslav army and a six-month moratorium on the implementation of independence measures, Slovenia achieved universal international recognition on January 15, 1992. In May of the same year, Slovenia became a member of the United Nations.

After settling the area between the Adriatic Sea, the Eastern Alps, the Danube River, and Lake Balaton, the Slovenes lost two thirds of their ethnic territory during the Middle Ages to Germanization in the north and the colonization of the Pannonian Plain by the Hungarians. The center of the Slovene state, formerly in Zollfeld (Gosposvetsko polje) in Carinthia, was forced to shift over time to the Ljubljana Basin. The English writer Edward Lovel observed, “Truly the most amazing thing about the Slovenes is that they still exist as a nation after so many centuries of foreign domination.” In the 20th century alone, the Slovenes were joined to eight countries and nine regimes. Something over two million Slovenes today live mostly in independent Slovenia with about one tenth of their number in neighbouring countries.

Slovenia lies on two of Europe’s most important transportation routes. The historical Vienna-Trieste route leads through the historically significant Ljubljana Gate, the lowest passage (609 meters) between the Rhone Valley and the Vardar.

Valley from continental Europe to the Mediterranean Sea. The planned Pan-European Barcelona-Kiev route today incorporates this major artery. The ancient trade route from Belgrade to Ljubljana along the Sava River has been extended westward through the Karavanke Tunnel and offers the shortest road and railway link from Western Europe to southeastern Europe and the Middle East

Gorenjska landscape

Relatively small but very diverse, Slovenia contains everything that larger countries have. All the Central European cultures have flourished here, and settlement was only limited in some places by its steep slopes. Slovenia is one of the most forested European countries (53% of the land). The forests once provided shelter, firewood, and food, and now, apart from their role in maintaining the ecological balance, have great importance as a source of raw material for the wood processing industry. In the Kocevje region, natural scientists can study a virgin forest and giant trees while hunters can track deer, wild boar, wolf, lynx, and bear.

Carniola primrose (Primula carniolica)

Smarje-Sap near Ljubljana

Duke’s Stone in Carinthia

Ljubljana Airport

Border crossing in front of the Karavanke Tunnel