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Slovakia, officially: Slovenská republika; (The Slovak Republic) is a landlocked Eastern European country in Eastern Europe (and also the historical region of Central Europe). The capital and largest city is Bratislava and the official language is Slovakian. The original historic inhabitants were Celitc and Germanic peoples wiht slavic poples settling the territory of Slovakia in the 6th century. Great Moravia arose around 830 when Moimír I unified the Slavic tribes settled north of the Danube; however Great Moravia fell in 907 when the Magyars routed Bavarian armies and the Hungarians gradually annexed the territory of the present-day Slovakia. After the Ottoman Empire started its expansion into Hungary and the occupation of Buda in the early 16th century, the centre of the Kingdom of Hungary (under the name of Royal Hungary) shifted towards Bratislava, which became the capital city of the Royal Hungary in 1536. But, as the Turks withdrew from Hungary in the late 17th century, the importance of the territory of today's Slovakia within the kingdom decreased, although Bratislava retained its position as the capital city of Hungary until 1848, when the capital moved to Buda. During the revolution in 1848-49 the Slovaks supported the Austrian Emperor with the ambition to secede from the Hungarian part of the Austrian monarchy, but they failed to achieve this aim. Thereafter the relations between the nationalities deteriorated (see Magyarization), resulting in the secession of Slovakia from Hungary after World War I. In 1918, Slovakia and the regions of Bohemia and Moravia formed a common state, Czechoslovakia, with the borders confirmed by the Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Trianon.

During the inter-war period, democratic and prosperous Czechoslovakia was under continuous pressure from the revisionist governments of Germany and Hungary, leading to a partial dismemberment on September 30, 1938 as a result of the Munich Agreement. The remainder of "rump" Czechoslovakia was renamed Czecho-Slovakia and included a greater degree of Slovak political autonomy. Southern Slovakia, however, would be lost to Hungary due to the First Vienna Award. After Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia and to allow the remaining regions to be partitioned by Hungary and Poland, Slovakia chose to maintain its national and territorial integrity, seceding from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and allying itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition. After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and came under the influence of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact after a coup in 1948. The country was occupied by the Warsaw Pact forces in 1968, ending a period of liberalization under the leadership of Alexander Dubček. In 1969, Czechoslovakia became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peaceful Velvet Revolution, was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states. In July 1992 Slovakia, led by Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, declared itself a sovereign state, meaning that its laws took precedence over those of the federal government. The present-day Slovak Republic became an independent state on January 1, 1993 with the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Divorce; it was, with the Czech Republic, the last European country to gain independence in the 20th century.

Slovakia became a member of NATO on March 29, 2004 and of the European Union on May 1, 2004. On January 1st, 2009, Slovakia adopted the Euro as its national currency.

Slovakian cuisine shares many similarities with that of its neighbours. Meat is poular with peork, beef and poultry predominating. Game meats, especially boar, rabbit, and venison, are also widely available around the year. A traditional Christmas dish is a fish and potato salad served with mayonnaise and vegetables. Slovakia is also an important wine-producing region with Tokaj wine being one of the best-known varieties.

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