Geography of Slovakia

Slovakia is a country in Central Eastern Europe. It occupies parts of the Carpathians and northern fringes of the Pannonian Basin.

3.1 Economic Geography 3.1.1 Agriculture
3.1.2 industry 3.1.2.1 energy

3.1.3.1 Water transport
3.1.3.2 Road Network
3.1.3.3 rail network

3.2.1 Population Geography
3.2.2 settlement geography

Territory

Slovakia lies between 49 ° 36 '48 " and 47 ° 44' 21" north latitude and 16 ° 50 ' 06 "and 22 ° 33' 53 " east longitude.

The northernmost point is located on the northeast flank of the mountain Beskydok in the Saybuscher Beskydy, near the village of Orava Polhora on the border with Poland. The southernmost point of Slovakia is the place Patince on the Danube. The westernmost point of the country is located on the Morava at Záhorská Ves on the Austrian border, the eastern- most mountain Kremenec (mountains Bukovské Hills ) near Nová Sedlica. It forms the border triangle of Poland and Ukraine.

In the north, Slovakia borders Poland ( over a length of 597 km ), to the east by Ukraine (98 km), to the south by Hungary ( 679 km ), to the southwest by Austria (127 km) and to the west by the Czech Republic (265 km). The boundary length is a total of 1766 km.

The bottom surface of Slovakia amounts to 49,035 km ². Of these, 31% are arable land and 17% of pasture land, forested, 41% and 3% plantations. The remaining 8% are Badlands ( eg in the mountains), water areas or buildings and transport facilities occupied.

The highest peak is Gerlachovský stit ( Gerlsdorfer tip) in the High Tatras ( Vysoke Tatry ) 2,655 m, the lowest point of the water surface of the river Bodrog on the border with Hungary, 94 m.

Physical Geography

Geomorphological structure

See also Main article Geomorphological division of Slovakia.

Slovakia is scenic of two main regions affected: the Carpathians and the Pannonian Basin.

About two-thirds of the territory is covered by the Carpathian Mountains. The larger space take a while the Western Carpathians.

The Inner Western Carpathians begin in the Southwest, Little Carpathians (Malé Karpaty), a narrow mountain range. To the east close to the other mountains of the Fatra - Tatra Area, which includes amongst others the High and the Low Tatras ( Low Tatras ), the Large and Small Fatra ( Velka Fatra and ) belong. To the south lie the Slovak Central Mountains and the Ore Mountains Slovak. These two highly articulated mountain complexes are in the south - on the border with Hungary - by Loschontz - Košice Depression ( Lučensko - Košice zníženina ) from Matra Slanec area ( Matransko - Slánská oblasť ) separately, which corresponds to the Northern Hungarian Central Mountains.

The Outer Western Carpathians begin in the west with the Slovak -Moravian Carpathians ( Slovensko - Moravské Karpaty). At the Polish border, close to the Beskydy ( Beskydy ), which are divided into Western, Central and Bieszczady by Slovak nomenclature. Between the Middle and the Bieszczady in the north and the Fatra - Tatra Area in the south lies the Podhale - Magura - area ( Podhôľno - Magurská oblasť ), an embossed by smaller mountain ranges and relatively high-lying basins region. In the northeast, Slovakia share of the Eastern Carpathians. This includes the Low Beskids ( Nizke Beskydy ) and the Bukovské Hills to the exterior, the Vihorlat Mountains ( Vihorlatské Hills ) to the Inner Eastern Carpathians.

About one- third of the country is located in the area of the Pannonian Basin and is distributed on the territory of Slovakia in three sections. Located in the far west lowlands along the river March is part of the Vienna Basin, which - just like the Danube lowland ( Podunajská nížina ) - is part of the Little Hungarian Plain. On the southeast of the country lies the East Slovak Lowland ( Východoslovenská nížina ), which forms the northern part of the Great Hungarian Plain.

Climate Geography

Slovakia belongs to the temperate zone in the area of the continental climate. As in the German-speaking countries, take from west to east, the annual temperature fluctuations. Characteristic are warm, relatively dry summers and wet, cold winters. The average daily temperature ranges between 0 ° C in January and 21 ° C in summer. The mean annual temperature increases from north (6 ° C ) to the south (11 ° C) significantly. The annual rainfall is between 500 mm in the southern lowlands and 2000 mm in the high mountains.

Reserves

The versatile structured landscape of Slovakia on the one hand and the increasing threat of nature by civilization influences the other hand, has led in recent decades to step up efforts for nature conservation. Numerous attractive and ecologically valuable regions were placed under protection. In 2003, their share amounted to 23% of the area of the country.

National Parks

In Slovakia, in 2006 there were nine national parks with a total area of 3,179 km ². Together with the surrounding protected areas ( 2701 km ²) they occupy a share of 12 % of the country. Specifically, these are:

The National Park Velka Fatra ( Velka Fatra ), founded in 2002, 404 km ²
The National Park Mala Fatra ( Národný park Malá Fatra ), founded in 1988, 226 km ²
The National Park Muránska planina, founded in 1997, 203 km ²
The Low Tatras National Park ( Národný park Low Tatras ), founded in 1978, 729 km ²
The National Park Poloniny ( Národný park Poloniny ), founded in 1997, 298 km ², includes the Bukovské Hills and part of the Low Beskid
The National Park Slovak Karst ( Slovenský kras ), founded in 2002, 346 km ²
The National Park Slovak Paradise ( Slovenský raj Národný park ), founded in 1964, 198 km ²
The Pieniny National Park ( Pieninský Národný park ), founded in 1967, 37 km ² * the Tatra National Park ( Tatranský Národný park ), founded in 1949, 738 km ², including the High Tatras, West Tatras ( Western Tatras ) and the Beler Tatras ( Belianske Tatry )

Other protected areas

Fourteen other areas have been designated as protected landscape areas ( Chránené krajinné oblasti, PLA ). They covered 2006, a total area of 5226 km ². This is to be

Biele Karpaty (White Carpathians)
Cerová Highlands
Dunajské luhy
Horna Orava
Kysuca
Latorica
Malé Karpaty ( Small Carpathians)
Polana
Ponitire
Štiavnica Hills ( Selmec mountains )
Strážovské hills
Vihorlat ( Vihorlat Mountains )
Východné Karpaty ( Eastern Carpathians )
Zahorie

In addition, there are 384 nature reserves ( Prírodné rezervácie, a total of 129 km ²), 170 Protected Areas ( Chránené areály, 54 km ²), 219 National Nature Reserves ( národné Prírodné rezervácie 837 km ²), 228 natural monuments ( Prírodné pamiatky, 15 km ² ) and 60 National nature monuments ( národné Prírodné pamiatky 0.6 km ²).

The UNESCO drew six areas of Slovakia as a "World Heritage " from, including two landscapes: the caves of the Slovak Karst and the beech forests of the Eastern Carpathians ( Bukovské Hills and Vihorlatské Hills ). UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are the Slovak Karst, the Polana mountains, the Tatra Mountains and the Eastern Carpathians in the triangle Slovakia - Poland -Ukraine.

Woodland

Approximately 41 % of the country is covered by forest. The original forest cover consists mainly of deciduous mixed forests (eg, Krupinská planina, Bukovské Hills ) are still preserved in some regions. In higher mountain ranges occur spruce forests in the foreground. From about 1500-1850 m dominate mountain pine. In some mountains (among High and Low Tatras ) are made by management extensive spruce monocultures.

Rivers and Lakes

Almost all of the land belongs to the river system of the Danube River ( Slow Dunaj ). Only a small area in the north is drained by Poprad, Dunajec and their tributaries to the Vistula, and thus in the Baltic Sea. The border between the two river systems is part of the European watershed.

The Danube is the largest river of the country. In Bratislava, it has an average discharge of 2,025 m³ / s It forms a long section of the border with Hungary. Worth mentioning is the Little Danube ( Maly Dunaj ), an old main arm and today's branch of the river, the Danube leaves in Bratislava and Komárno again joins her. The Danube and the Little Danube form the Great Rye Island ( Žitný ostrov ), with 1,900 km ², one of the largest river islands in Europe. Important - all left - Slovak Slovakia inflows are the March ( Morava ), the Waag ( Vah ), Gran ( Hron ) and the Eipel ( Ipeľ ). The Waag is 413 km, the longest river on innerslowakischem territory.

At the southeast corner of Slovakia the otherwise flowing outside the country Tisza ( Tisa ) forms over a length of about 5 km, the border with Hungary. Important - both right - Slovak tributaries of the Tisza are the Bodrog and Hornad.

The largest natural lake is the Veľké Hincovo Pleso in the High Tatras with about 0.2 km ². The most important reservoirs are Oravská priehrada ( Orava ), 35 km ², Zemplínska šírava (channel of Laborec, 33 km ²), Liptovská Mara ( Waag, 22 km ²) and Velka Domaša ( Ondava, 14 km ²).

Mineral resources

Slovakia has few natural resources. In the area of Trenčín there are some lignite mines. Furthermore, small amounts of iron, copper, antimony and manganese ore, salt, mercury, dolomite, lead, zinc, and brick clay are encouraged. The problem is the almost total absence of primary energy sources.

In the rare opal gemstone ( colloquially " expensive Opal" ) exist worldwide, only two deposits, of which one in Slovakia, 14 km from Prešov removed, the other is in Australia. As the area is in the Carpathian Mountains nature reserve, the excavations could not be further expanded.

Human Geography

Economic Geography

See also Main article Economy of Slovakia.

The gross domestic product (GDP ) in 2006 was 1.660 billion Slovak Crowns ( Sk), ie about 50 billion € .. These are per head 8,800 € ( Germany € 28,000 ). GDP broken down as follows for each industry:

Agriculture 4%
Industry (raw materials, manufacturing, energy, water) 28 %
Construction 9%
Trade, transport and communication 27%
Business activities and financial services 19%
Other services (including public ) 15%

For the economic structure of the country quite a pronounced east-west gradient is characteristic. The eastern parts of the country are much less developed than those located close to Vienna and Budapest to Bratislava region. So in 2004 was in the region of Bratislava GDP per capita is roughly 594,000 Sk, more than double the national average of 252 000 Sk in Prešov District in the north- east of the country, however, only 153,000 Sk been made.

Agriculture

The arable land amounts to 15,500 square kilometers. Around 3,000 km ² of which are irrigated, especially in the suffering during the summer under low rainfall areas of southern Slovakia. The main crops grown are winter wheat, spring barley and maize.

Industry

The industry of Slovakia is in transition. This is due to, among other things, the one-sided focus on heavy and military industry at the time of existing and 1992 common Czechoslovak state and its membership in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Important sectors are the chemical industry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering industry, metallurgy, building materials, food, and the wood and paper industry. In recent years, vehicle production took a major upswing. Most important industrial locations in the west of the country Bratislava, Trnava, Trenčín and Žilina, in the east, the region around Košice and Prešov.

Energy

As already mentioned, Slovakia largely ( about 70% ) dependent on imports of primary energy sources. In 2004, primary energy consumption 217 837 gigawatt hours ( GWh ) of final energy consumption 120 393 GWh. With approximately 800 kg of oil equivalent per 1000 € gross domestic product, the energy efficiency is one of the lowest within the EU.

Traffic

Water transport

Water transport are available in Slovakia, only on the Danube, the lower reaches of the Waag and within a few kilometers of the Bodrog.

Road network

The road network in Slovakia has a length of 43,745 km. Of these, currently (2007) 368 km of motorways.

Rail network

The route network of the Slovak Railway Company Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko comprises 3658 km (as of 2005). Of prime importance are the connections between the capital Bratislava towards the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. The most important railway line in the country is the line from Bratislava via Zilina to Kosice.

Social Geography

Population Geography

In Slovakia the end of 2006 there were approximately 5.394 million people. In 2001, 85.8 % of the population known to Slovak nationality. 9.7% described themselves as Hungarians, 1.7% as Roma, 0.8 % as Czechs, 0.4% and 0.2% as Rusyns as Ukrainians. Here, the actual proportion of Roma should be significantly higher - about 10% - are.

As in other European countries, the number of births has declined significantly in recent decades. The fertility rate is 1.2 children per woman and is therefore even lower than in Germany.

Migration movements are comparatively low; In 2006, about 5,600 migrants in Slovakia, while about 1,700 people left the country. In the same year 53 904 children were born alive and 53 301 people died.

Settlement geography

In Slovakia, the regional population density on clear, but no extreme differences. The average population density is 110/km ². In the densest regions are populated in the west of the country, particularly in the area of Bratislava, the Danube lowlands and the middle and lower valley of the Waag. Further agglomeration located in the southeast of the country in the vicinity of the cities of Košice and Prešov. Most sparsely inhabited is next to some mountainous regions of Central Slovakia, the North East of the country; here is the population density in some areas less than 50/km ².

366434