Since 1949 (except 1990–1996),

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 s ...

has been divided into a number of ''

kraj A kraj ( ''kraje'') is the highest-level administrative unit in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. For lack of other English expressions, the Slavic term is often translated as "province", "region", or "territory", although it approxim ...

e'' (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,

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 Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trna ...

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest muni ...

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 Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of ...

and

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

** Východné Slovensko SK 04 (Eastern Slovakia)

Prešov Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...

and

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

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 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 ...

(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 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 Stephen ...

(cca. 11th / 12th century1918) *

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

(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 Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

(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