Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
1. Introduction
1. Introduction The settlement structure of Slovakia is the result of long historical development. The present-day settlement network and the emergence of the most important towns can be traced back to the Hungarian Middle Ages, especially to the 13th and 14th centuries. The development of the settlement network has been influenced by geographical location, the configurations of the terrain (the mountain range of the Carpathians), the raw materials deep in the earth (minerals, metals), the military and political situation (since this was an area sheltered from the conquering Tartans and Turks) and the changes in the administrative system (settlements gaining town status). The privileges granted by monarchs had a strong effect on the town network. The great migrations (the conquering Hungarians, Polish/Goral shepherds), organized settlements (Germans/Saxons), voluntary or less voluntary settlements (the Hussite Czechs and Habans fleeing from the Catholic monarchs and the Hungarians fleeing from the Turks) and the development and changes in the economy (the significance of mining changing with time) all determined the changes. The development of the contemporary Slovak town network can be divided into two large eras and several small periods. The first main period took place in the age of historical Hungary. During this time several peoples with different languages, religions and attitudes to work (Hungarians, Germans, Ruthenians, Poles, Jews, Serbs, Croatians, Czechs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Italians, French, English, etc.) coexisted there with an increasing number of Slavic peoples, who spoke a mixture of languages and dialects which were very different from each other. From the 17th and 18th centuries on, these peoples gradually started to become Slovaks. However, it was only after the foundation of Czechoslovakia that Slovak identity started to strengthen. Subsequent analyses underline the fact that, in the course of history, differences in language have 15
