Veličná () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Dolný Kubín District Dolný Kubín District (''okres Dolný Kubín'') is a district in the Žilina Region of central Slovakia. The district is located in a hilly area north of the Malá Fatra and Choč mountain ranges. The engineering, electrical engineering, metallu ...

in the

Žilina Region The Žilina Region (; ; ) is one of the eight Regions of Slovakia, Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts (okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region was established in 1923, however, in its p ...

of northern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Name

Veličná was first mentioned under the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name ''Magna Villa'' in a decree of

Ladislaus IV of Hungary Ladislaus IV (, , ; 5 August 1262 – 10 July 1290), also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a chieftain from the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hung ...

from 1272. In the middle ages, the town was known also under the name ''Welkeg Wsy'' (''Veľké Vsy'', The Big Village) and the Hungarized forms ''Nag Flaw'' and ''Naghffalva''.

History

The settlement grew in a relatively sparsely populated borderland area on an important

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over land or water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a singl ...

to Poland. By 1454, Veličná was already a smaller town. The town acquired several royal privileges (especially the privilege to trade with Polish salt) that positively influenced its economic development. By 1520, the town had become influential enough to become the seat of Orava County. In the 16th century, the region suffered several uprisings, which led George Thurzo to grant its citizens additional privileges to improve the economic situation. In 1683, the town was sacked by Lithuanian troops led by Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger en route to the

Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Li ...

. The casualties from this sacking included Veličná's town and county archive. The seat of the county was moved to

Dolný Kubín Dolný Kubín (; also known by #Names, other names) is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital and the largest settlement of the Orava (region), Orava region. Names The name is derived from the archaic Slov ...

; Veličná was burned again (twice) in 1686 and never fully recovered. The population decreased again during plague outbreaks in 1732, 1739, and 1742. In 1871, the town lost its status and became a village. Before the establishment of independent

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1918, Veličná was part of

Árva County Árva County (, , , , ) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary since the 14th century until 1920. Its territory is now in northern Slovakia and southern Poland. Today, the Slovak name is only used as an informal design ...

within the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the

Slovak Republic Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's ...

Geography

The

lies at an

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

of 462 metres and covers an

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

of 29.302 km². It has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of about 1300 people. The biggest part of the village is called Revišné.

References

External links

Veličná village website (in Slovak)
Villages and municipalities in Dolný Kubín District Orava (region) {{Žilina-geo-stub