Population
In 2019, Slovakia had a population density of 116 residents per km2. The largest concentrations are found in Bratislava and in the area east and southeast thereof. In 2019, 54 percent of the population lived in cities, of which Bratislava (419 700 residents, 2015) and Košice (239 500) are the largest. The largest population is Slovak, but there is also a significant proportion of Hungarians and Roma in the country.
Language
According to thesciencetutor, the official language is Slovak, spoken by 4.5 million. The largest minority language is Hungarian (just over 500,000). Czech, Romani and Ukrainian are spoken as native languages by significant groups, while the Polish and Russian minorities are relatively small.
Religion
About 70% of the population (1994) belongs to the Roman Catholic Church (about 60% with Latin Rite, about 10% with Byzantine). An autocephalic Orthodox church is found in eastern Slovakia. The Lutheran Church was founded in 1530. The Hungarian speakers have been reformed since the 17th century. As an independent community, Slovakia’s Reformed Church was founded in 1918 after the fall of the Habsburg Empire (about 20% of the population).
Bratislava
Bratislava, the Slovak capital located on the Danube; 425,533 residents (2003). The city is located on the border of both Austria and Hungary. Since Slovakia’s independence in 1993, Bratislava has been the seat of the country’s parliament, central administration and the National Bank. The city is home to i.e. national museum, gallery, theater and symphony orchestra. Half of the country’s higher education is in Bratislava, among others. The Komenský University of 1919, whose precursor, Academia Istropolitana, was established as Hungary’s first university in 1467. Bratislava’s Old Town has undergone a major renovation, and with its character of Central European Cultural Center it has developed into an important tourist destination
On the northern river bank lies the old town center, Staré Mesto, with beautiful Baroque and Rococo churches as well as mansions from the period 1536-1783. On the same side is also the Gothic cathedral Skt. Martin from 1500-1600-t., Who in the period 1563-1830 was the coronation church for the Hungarian king. On the castle mound lies the castle from the 1600’s, which after a major restoration in the 1960’s was designed as a museum. Next to the castle, a new building houses the Slovak Parliament. The Jewish quarter of the city between the cathedral and the castle was expropriated in the 1960’s in connection with the building of the entrance to the 432 m long suspension bridge Nový Most (formerly Most SNP), which connects this district with the suburb of Petržalka from the 1970’s, which has 115,000 houses.
In addition to administration and service, the city has petrochemical and automotive industries. The Slovnaft oil refinery on the eastern outskirts of the city has since 1962 received crude oil from Ukraine via the Druzba pipeline. Bratislava’s role as the “gateway to the Balkans” is reflected by the city’s large river port, which is connected to both the Black Sea and the major Central European canal systems. Bratislava’s international airport, Milan Rastislav Štefánik, has become increasingly important since independence.
History
The name Bratislava is modern, an expression of Slovak national romance, and only became official in 1919 after the creation of Czechoslovakia. Before then, the town was known by the German name Pressburg (Slovak Prešporok) or the Hungarian Pozsony.
Bratislava emerged as a fortification in the Grand Moorish Empire in the mid-800th. and is first mentioned 907. From 900-t. until 1918, the city belonged to the Hungarian crown. Bratislava gained a distinctive character in the 1200’s. and in 1291 royal privileges. When the Ottomans occupied central Hungary, the Hungarian land day in 1536 moved to Bratislava, which also became the Hungarian coronation city. The importance of the city diminished from the 1780’s, when Budapest again became the capital. Academia Istropolitana closed in 1491, and until 1919 the city was without a university.
Around 1900, Bratislava became the industrial center, and after World War I, the city, with its mixed German, Hungarian and Slovak population, fell to Czechoslovakia despite Hungarian and Austrian wishes. In the 1990’s, over 90% of Bratislava’s population is Slovak.
