Since 1949 (except 1990–1996), Slovakia has been divided into a number of '' kraje'' (singular ''kraj''; usually translated as "Regions" with capital R). Their number, borders and functions have been changed several times. There are eight regions of Slovakia and they correspond to the EU's NUTS 3 level of local administrative units. Each kraj consists of '' okresy'' (counties or districts). There are 79 districts.

List

After a period without kraje and without any equivalent (1990–1996), the kraje were reintroduced in 1996. As for administrative division, Slovakia has been subdivided into 8 ''kraje'' since 24 July 1996: Since 2002, Slovakia is divided into 8 ''samosprávne kraje'' (self-governing regions), which are called by the Constitution ''vyššie územné celky'' (Higher Territorial Units), abbr. VÚC. The territory and borders of the self-governing regions are identical with the territory and borders of the ''kraje''. Therefore, the word "kraj" can be replaced by "VÚC" or "samosprávny kraj" in each case in the above list. The main difference is that organs of ''samosprávne kraje'' are

self-governing __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

, with an elected chairperson and assembly, while the organs of ''kraje'' are appointed by the government.

Name

The term "Region" ( sk, kraj) should not be confused with: * the general (i.e. non-administrative) term "region" ( sk, link=no, región) as it is used for example in the articles

List of traditional regions of Slovakia Traditional regions There are also other regions in Slovakia, which do not correspond to historical counties: {, class="wikitable" , - !Region !Former County part !Former County , - , Kysuce , northern , Žilina , - , rowspan=2, Záhorie , ro ...

List of tourism regions of Slovakia There are the following official tourism regions in Slovakia: Division until 2004 The districts (okresy) completely or partly included in the regions are indicated in brackets: *Bratislava and surroundings (Bratislava, Malacky, Pezinok, Senec) ...

*the 4 "regions" ( sk, link=no, regióny or or ) that correspond to the NUTS 2 level, i.e. groups of several ''kraje'', used by the Eurostat for statistical purposes. These are: ** Bratislava SK 01 (Bratislava Region)comprises only this single kraj ** Západné Slovensko SK 02 (Western Slovakia) Trnava, Trenčín and

Nitra Nitra (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of about 78,353, it is the fifth l ...

** Stredné Slovensko SK 03 (Central Slovakia) Žilina and Banská Bystrica ** Východné Slovensko SK 04 (Eastern Slovakia) Prešov and Košice

History

Prior to 1949

Historically, Slovakia was not divided into kraje, but into

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

(Slovak: '' župy'' or ''stolice''). This was the case when present-day Slovakia was part of: * Great Moravia (cca. 9th century) *

the ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

Kingdom of Hungary (cca. 11th / 12th century1918) * Czechoslovakia (the ''župy'' existed 19181928) *the

WWII Slovak Republic World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

(the ''župy'' existed 19401945) In 1928–1939 (and formally also 1945–1948) Slovakia as a whole formed the administrative unit "Slovak land" (''Krajina slovenská'') within Czechoslovakia.

24 December 1948/1 January 1949 – 30 June 1960

*Bratislavský kraj (Bratislava Region) *Banskobystrický kraj (Banská Bystrica Region) *Košický kraj (Košice Region) *Nitriansky kraj (Nitra Region) *Prešovský kraj (Prešov Region) *Žilinský kraj (Žilina Region) Each kraj was named after its principal city.

July 1, 1960 – December 19, 1990

* Stredoslovenský kraj (Central Slovak Region) * Východoslovenský kraj (Eastern Slovak Region) * Západoslovenský kraj (Western Slovak Region) * Bratislava (before March 22, 1968, part of the Západoslovenský kraj, afterwards a partly separate entity; from January 1971 a separate ''kraj'') Note: The ''kraje'' were abolished from July 1, 1969, to December 28, 1970, and reintroduced then.

References

External links

EU-maps (the kraje correspond to the NUTS 3 level with EUROSTAT)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20151005141129/http://www.eastern-slovakia.eu.sk/ Nature and lanscsape of Eastern Slovakia in photo {{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of European countries Subdivisions of Slovakia Slovakia, Regions Slovakia 1 Regions, Slovakia Slovakia geography-related lists