Regions of Slovakia

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

Name

The term "Region" ( _sk. kraj) should not be confused with:
* the general (i.e. non-administrative) term "region" (Slovak: "región") as it is used for example in the articles List of traditional regions of Slovakia or List of tourism regions of Slovakia
*the 4 "regions" (Slovak: "regióny" or "oblasti" or "zoskupenia krajov") that correspond to the NUTS 2 level, i.e. groups of several "kraje", used by the Eurostat for statistical purposes. These are:
**Bratislavský kraj SK 01 (Bratislava Region)ndash comprises only this single kraj
**Západné Slovensko SK 02 (Western Slovakia) = Trnavský kraj + Trenčiansky kraj + Nitriansky kraj
**Stredné Slovensko SK 03 (Central Slovakia) = Žilinský kraj + Banskobystrický kraj
**Východné Slovensko SK 04 (Eastern Slovakia) = Prešovský kraj + Košický kraj

Before 1949

Historically, Slovakia was not divided into kraje, but into counties (Slovak: "župy" or "stolice") . This was the case when present-day Slovakia was part of:
*Great Moravia (cca. 9th century)
*the Kingdom of Hungary (cca. 11th / 12th centuryndash 1918), see List of traditional regions of Slovakia
*Czechoslovakia (the "župy" existed 1918ndash 1928)
*the WWII Slovak Republic (the "župy" existed 1940ndash 1945)

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

Kraje December 24, 1948/ January 1 1949 – June 30, 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.

Kraje 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.

Kraje since July 24, 1996

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:

# Bratislavský kraj (Bratislava Region) (capital Bratislava)
# Trnavský kraj (Trnava Region) (capital Trnava)
# Trenčiansky kraj (Trenčín Region) (capital Trenčín)
# Nitriansky kraj (Nitra Region) (capital Nitra)
# Žilinský kraj (Žilina Region) (capital Žilina)
# Banskobystrický kraj (Banská Bystrica Region) (capital Banská Bystrica)
# Prešovský kraj (Prešov Region) (capital Prešov)
# Košický kraj (Košice Region) (capital Košice)

Since 2002, Slovakia is divided into 8 "samosprávne kraje" (Autonomous Regions), which are called by the Constitution "vyššie územné celky" (Higher Territorial Units), abbr. VÚC. The territory and borders of the autonomous 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 autonomous, with an elected chairperson and assembly, while the organs of "kraje" are appointed by the government.

ee also

*Districts of Slovakia
*Flags of Slovak Regions

External links

* [http://ec.europa.eu/comm/eurostat/ramon/nuts/maps_searchpage_en.cfm EU-maps ( the kraje correspond to the NUTS 3 level with EUROSTAT)]