Page 59 - Crossroads of the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Slovenia

National Holidays: Slovenia

In addition to the holidays listed below, 05/01 Labor Day/May Day
Slovenia celebrates a number of national
06/25 Statehood Day
holidays that follow a lunar calendar, such
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you will be traveling during these holidays,
please visit www.timeanddate.com/ 10/31 Reformation Day
holidays.
11/01 Remembrance Day
01/01 New Year’s Day
12/25 Christmas Day
02/08 Preseren Day
12/26 Independence and Unity Day
04/27 Day of Uprising Against Occupation

Historical Overview of Slovenia
In ancient times the region was inhabited by the Illyrian and Celtic tribes. In the 1st century
B.C. they fell under the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Noricum. The region was settled in
the 6th cent. A.D. by the South Slavs, who set up the early Slav state of Samo, which in 788
passed to the Franks. At the division of Charlemagne’s empire (843) the region passed to the
dukes of Bavaria. In 1335, Carinthia and Carniola passed to the Hapsburgs. From that time
until 1918 Slovenia was part of Austria and the region was largely comprised in the Austrian
crownlands of Carinthia, Carniola, and Styria.

In 1918, Slovenia was included in the kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (called
Yugoslavia after 1929), and in 1919 Austria formally ceded the region by the Treaty of Saint-
Germain. In World War II Slovenia was divided (1941) among Germany, Italy, and Hungary.
After the war, Slovenia was made (1945) a constituent republic of Yugoslavia and received
part of the former Italian region of Venezia Giulia. In early 1990, Slovenia elected a non-
Communist government and stepped up its demands for greater autonomy with the threat of
possible secession. In February 1991, the Slovenian parliament ruled that Slovenian law took
precedence over federal law. Slovenia declared independence on June 25, and federal troops
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The European Community and the United Nations recognized Slovenia, along with Croatia,
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and continued as president of the independent republic; he was reelected in November 1997.
Slovenia became a member of NATO and the European Union in 2004, and adopted the Euro
in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Slovenia actively blocked the EU membership bid of Croatia due to
disputes about its borders, but a compromise was reached by the end of 2009.

Albania

Facts & Figures

• Area: 11,100 square miles

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