Spiš (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

: ''Cips/Zepus/Scepus/Scepusia'', german: Zips, hu, Szepesség/Szepes, pl, Spisz) is a region in north-eastern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, with a very small area in south-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

(14 villages). Spiš is an informal designation of the territory, but it is also the name of one of the 21 official tourism regions of Slovakia. The region is not an administrative division in its own right, but between the late 11th century and 1920 it was an administrative county of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

, (see separate article

Szepes county Szepes ( sk, Spiš; la, Scepusium, pl, Spisz, german: link=no, Zips) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small are ...

Etymology

The name is probably related to the appellative ''spiška'', ''špiška'' known from Slovak (Eastern Slovakia and Orava) and Moravian dialects (

Haná Haná or Hanakia ( cs, Haná or ''Hanácko'', german: Hanna or ''Hanakei'') is an ethnographic region in central Moravia in the Czech Republic. Its core area is located along the eponymous river of Haná, around the towns of Vyškov and Prost� ...

) - a (cut) stick, a piece of wood or sugar, etc. Old Slavic ''pьchjati'', ''pichjati'' - to stab, to cut → prefixed form sъ-pich-jь → after palatalization and extinction of

yer A yer is either of two letters in Cyrillic alphabets, ъ (ѥръ, ''jerŭ'') and ь (ѥрь, ''jerĭ''). The Glagolitic alphabet used, as respective counterparts, the letters (Ⱏ) and (Ⱐ). They originally represented phonemically the "u ...

s ''spiš''. Spiš probably means "a cut forest". The theory is supported also by the fact that almost all early Latin documents mention Spiš as ''silva Zepus'' (or with similar transcription) - the name of forest area. Another theory is a derivation from Hungarian ''szép'' – nice, beautiful → Szepes. However, according to Šimon Ondruš this etymology is linguistically impossible. The Slovak and the Polish name could not be derived from Hungarian Szepes because the combination "consonant-e-consonant-e-consonant" is valid and common in Slovak (but also in other Slavic languages) without any need for phonetic adaptation and similar changes are not documented. On the other hand, the assumed phonetic adaptation Slavic ''Spiš'' → Hungarian ''Szepes'' depends on well known changes in the Hungarian language like vowel insertion (i.e. Slepčany → Szelepcsény) and vowel harmonization.

Geography

The region is situated between the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...

and the

Dunajec The Dunajec (); Goral dialects: ''Dónajec'') is a river running through northeastern Slovakia and southern Poland. It is also regarded as the main river of the Goral Lands. It is a right tributary of the Vistula River. It begins in Nowy Targ at t ...

River in the north, the springs of the

Váh The Váh (; german: Waag, ; hu, Vág; pl, WagWag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów ...

River in the west, the

Slovenské rudohorie The Slovak Ore Mountains ( sk, Slovenské rudohorie , hu, Gömör–Szepesi-érchegység, german: Slowakisches Erzgebirge or Zips-Gemer-Erzgebirge) are an extensive mountain range within the Carpathian Mountains, located mostly in Slovakia's ...

Mountains (Slovak Ore Mountains) and Hnilec River in the south, and a line running from the town of

Stará Ľubovňa Stará Ľubovňa (german: Altlublau; hu, Ólubló; la, Lublovia; pl, Lubowla) is a town with approximately 16,000 inhabitants in northeastern Slovakia. The town consists of the districts Podsadek and Stará Ľubovňa. Names The name is of Slo ...

, via the Branisko mountain (under which lies the 4,822 m long

Branisko Tunnel The Branisko Tunnel is a road tunnel in eastern Slovakia. It is located on the D1 motorway at Beharovce - Fričovce section. It replaced the Branisko Pass road via mountain range of the same name, with the top at 751 m AMSL.NDS > Currently on ...

, currently the longest in Slovakia), to the town of

Margecany Margecany ( hu, Margitfalva, german: Margareten) is a village and municipality in the Gelnica District in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia. Total municipality population was, in 2011, 1964 inhabitants. Margecany is a very important railway ...

in the east. The core of the Spiš region is formed by the basins of the rivers

Hornád Hornád ( Slovak, ) or Hernád ( Hungarian, ) is a river in eastern Slovakia and north-eastern Hungary. It is a tributary to the river Slaná (Sajo). The source of the Hornád is the eastern slopes of Kráľova hoľa hill, south of Šuňava. ...

and

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the te ...

, and the High Tatra Mountains. Throughout its history, the territory has been characterized by a large percentage of forests - in the late 19th century, as much as 42.2% of Spiš was forest.

History

Early history

''The history of the region until 1920 is given in more detail at

.'' Traces of settlement in the

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While ...

era have been found in remains at Gánovce (Gánóc) and Bešeňová (Besenyőfalu). The territory of Spiš was later populated first by

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

. It belonged to the state of

Great Moravia Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavs, Wes ...

(Veľká Morava), and after its dissolution became part of

. The southern part of the territory was conquered by the

at the end of the 11th century, when the border of the Kingdom ended near the modern town of

Kežmarok Kežmarok (german: Kesmark or ; hu, Késmárk, yi, קעזמאַרק, Kezmark, pl, Kieżmark) is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia (population 16,000), on the Poprad River. Prior to World War I, it was in Szepes county in the ...

. The royal county of Szepes (''comitatus Scepusiensis'') was created in the 2nd half of the 12th century. In the 1250s the border of the Kingdom of Hungary shifted to the north to Podolínec and in 1260 even further to the north (the Dunajec River). The northeastern region around Hniezdne and

, the so-called "districtus Podoliensis", was incorporated only in the 1290s. The northern border of the county stabilized in the early 14th century. Around 1300, the royal county became a noble county. Many of the towns of Spiš developed from German colonization. The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

settlers had been invited to the territory from the mid-12th century onwards. The settlements founded by them in southern Spiš were mainly mining settlements (later towns). Consequently, until

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Spiš had a large German population (called Zipsers; see

Carpathian Germans Carpathian Germans (german: Karpatendeutsche, Mantaken, hu, kárpátnémetek or ''felvidéki németek'', sk, karpatskí Nemci) are a group of ethnic Germans. The term was coined by the historian Raimund Friedrich Kaindl (1866–1930), originally ...

) who spoke

Zipser German Zipser German (German: Zipserisch, Zipserdeutsch, Hungarian: ''szepességi szász nyelv'' or ''cipszer nyelv'') is a Germanic dialect which developed in the Upper Zips region of what is now Slovakia among people who settled there from central G ...

; now, the only Zipser-speaking town is Chmeľnica (Hopgarten). Many smaller settlements were populated by settlers from Poland. In 1412, under the

Treaty of Lubowla Treaty of Lubowla of 1412 was a treaty between Władysław II, King of Poland, and Sigismund of Luxemburg, King of Hungary. They Negotiated in the town of Lublo (today Stará Ľubovňa, Slovakia), it was confirmed later that year in Buda. Trea ...

, 16 towns, two castles and a number of villages in Spiš were

pawned A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ...

to Poland by

Sigismund of Luxembourg Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia (''jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in ...

to finance his wars with the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, stre ...

. Among the towns that for 360 years belonged to Poland were:

, Podolínec, Spišská Sobota,

and

Spišská Nová Ves Spišská Nová Ves (; hu, Igló; german: (Zipser) Neu(en)dorf) is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. The town is located southeast of the High Tatras in the Spiš region, and lies on both banks of the Hornád River. It is the bigges ...

. In 1772 all were annexed by the Habsburg monarchy. In 1868, 21 Spiš settlements sent their demands, the 'Spiš Petition', to the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary, requesting special status for Slovaks within the Kingdom.

Spiš after the creation of Czechoslovakia

In 1918 (and confirmed by the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It formal ...

in 1920), the county became part of newly formed

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. A tiny part of the territory (situated in today's Poland below the

Rysy Rysy (; ; german: Meeraugspitze, hu, Tengerszem-csúcs) is a mountain in the crest of the High Tatras, eastern part of the Tatra Mountains, lying on the border between Poland and Slovakia. Rysy has three summits: the middle at ; the north-wester ...

), amounting to 195 km² after an internal border dispute had been confirmed to be part of

Galicia (Central Europe) Galicia ()"Galicia"
''

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

) as early as 1902. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

northern Spiš was united with

and became the subject of a long-running border dispute between Poland and Czechoslovakia. (See separate article, Czechoslovak-Polish border dispute (1918-1947). In 1923 Slovak Spiš was divided between the newly formed Sub-Tatra county (''Podtatranská župa'') and Košice county (''Коšická župa''). In 1928-1939 and 1945-1948 it was part of the newly created Slovak Land (''Slovenská krajina''). During

, when Czechoslovakia was divided, Spiš was part of independent

, and formed the eastern part of Tatra county (''Tatranská župa'') from 1940 to 1945. Slovakia joined the Axis, and the Polish part of Spiš (together with the Polish part of the county of Orava) was transferred to Slovakia. During the war all the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

of the area were deported or murdered. When

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

forces approached from the east at the end of 1944, most of the ethnic Germans in Spiš fled westward, between mid-November 1944 and 21 January 1945 (see also

). Their property was confiscated after the war (see

Beneš decrees The Beneš decrees, sk, Dekréty prezidenta republiky) and the Constitutional Decrees of the President of the Republic ( cz, Ústavní dekrety presidenta republiky, sk, Ústavné dekréty prezidenta republiky) were a series of laws drafted by t ...

). After World War II the prewar borders of Spiš were restored, with the most of the county going to Czechoslovakia, and a small part to Poland. In 1948, it became part of the newly created

Košice Region The Košice Region ( sk, Košický kraj, , hu, Kassai kerület; uk, Кошицький край) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. The region was first established in 1923 and its present borders were established in 1996. It ...

(''Košický kraj '') and

Prešov Region The Prešov Region, also Priashiv Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj, ; hu, Eperjesi kerület; uk, Пряшівський край) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 o ...

(''Prešovský kraj''), whose borders however were completely different from those of the present-day regions of the same name. From July 1960 it became part of the newly created

Eastern Slovak region Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

(''Východoslovenský kraj''), which ceased to exist in September 1990. In 1993, Czechoslovakia was split and Spiš became part of

Nationalities

According to censuses carried out in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1869 (and later in 1900 and 1910) the population of

comprised the following nationalities: Slovaks 50.4%, (58.2%, 58%), Germans 35% (25%, 25%), Carpatho-Rusyns 13.8% (8.4%, 8%) and 0.7% (6%, 6%) Magyars (Hungarians). The current ethnic composition of the region, however, is much different. As mentioned above, many Jews and ethnic Germans were removed or left during World War II. Present-day Spiš has a number of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

settlements and Romani are a substantial minority there. There are also 40,000-48,000

Gorals The Gorals ( pl, Górale; Goral dialect: ''Górole''; sk, Gorali; Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also known as the Highlanders (in Poland as the Polish Highlanders) are an indigenous ethnographic or ethnic group primarily found in their tradi ...

(Slovak: ''Gorali''; literally Highlanders). Although a negligible number in census terms, they are a distinctive minority with their own culture, and speak a dialect of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

(or Slovak-Polish dialect continuum by some considered a language), especially elders. They consider themselves as Slovaks and, in present, speak mostly Slovak language. Official Slovak 2011's census reported only 3084 Poles living in Slovakia.http://portal.statistics.sk/files/tab-10.pdf

Religion

In the Spiš is the biggest and oldest churches a

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession (

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

). In

1600 __NOTOC__ In the Gregorian calendar, it was the last century leap year until the year 2000. Events January–June * January 1 – Scotland adopts January 1 as New Year's Day instead of March 25. * January ** Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of ...

year was biggest church a

Evangelical Church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

. In the present is the biggest church a

Economy

Historically, economic activity in the region has been based principally on agriculture and forestry (formerly mining, too), which explains why Spiš belongs to the relatively poor regions of Slovakia. Since the late 19th century, tourism has helped the local economy, and

sanatoria A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

and

winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold a ...

resorts have been built in the

and the

Low Tatras The Low Tatras or Low Tatra ( sk, Nízke Tatry; hu, Alacsony-Tátra) is a mountain range of the Inner Western Carpathians in central Slovakia. It is located south of the Tatras proper, from which it is separated by the valleys of the V� ...

, and areas such as the

Slovak Paradise Slovak Paradise ( sk, Slovenský raj) is a mountain range in eastern Slovakia. It is a part of the Spiš-Gemer Karst, which in turn is a part of the Slovak Ore Mountains, a major subdivision of the Western Carpathians. It is located between th ...

(''Slovenský raj'') in the south-west and the

Pieniny The Pieniny (sometimes also the PieninsSzafer, Władysław. 2013. ''The Vegetation of Poland: International Series of Monographs in Pure and Applied Biology''. Warsaw: Pergamon Press, pp. 156, 388. or the Pienin Mountains,Griffiths, Graham C. D. ...

National Park at the Slovak-Polish border. Other tourist destinations include the region's historical sites like

Spiš Castle The ruins of Spiš Castle ( sk, Spišský hrad, ; hu, Szepesi vár; pl, Zamek Spiski; german: Zipser Burg) in eastern Slovakia form one of the largest castle sites in Central Europe. The castle is situated above the town of Spišské Podhr ...

and nearby Spišské Podhradie,

Spišská Kapitula Spišská Kapitula (german: Zipser Kapitel, hu, Szepeshely or Szepesi Káptalan) (both meaning the "Spiš Chapter house") is an exceptionally well-preserved ecclesiastical town on the outskirts of Spišské Podhradie, Slovakia, and overlooking ...

, Žehra and the town of

Levoča Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча) is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wor ...

(all of which are listed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Sites A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, and

Castle. The tourism industry has developed rapidly in Spiš, aided by the introduction of regular flights to

Airport and improving rail and road connections.

Spiš today

Spiš today is one of Slovakia's 21 tourist regions but, unlike its predecessor, is not an administrative region. Since 1996, Spiš has been divided between the modern

and

and is covered approximately by the following six administrative districts:

and Gelnica, except for the eastern half of the

District that had been within Saris county and three villages of the

district ( Štrba including Tatranská Štrba,

Štrbské Pleso Štrbské pleso (, german: Tschirmer See, pl, Szczyrbskie jezioro, hu, Csorbató or ) is a picturesque mountain lake of glacial origin and a top tourist destination in the High Tatras, Slovakia. It is the second-largest glacial lake on the ...

and Liptovská Teplička from

Liptov Liptov () is a historical and geographical region in central Slovakia with around 140,000 inhabitants. The area is also known by the German name ''Liptau'', the Hungarian ''Liptó'', the Latin name ''Liptovium'' and the Polish ''Liptów''. Etymo ...

county.) The present population of the Spiš region is about 320,000; almost half the population lives in towns, the largest of which are

(55,000),

(39,000) and

(17,000).

Sources

* Krempaská, Zuzana, ''Sixteen Scepus Towns from 1412 to 1876'', Spišska Nova Vés: Spiš Museum.

Notes

References

External links

(Unofficial) Spiš web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spis Traditional regions of Slovakia Lesser Poland Voivodeship Historical regions in the Kingdom of Hungary Holocaust locations in Czechoslovakia