Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
2. Towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) before 1918
2. Towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) before 1918 The process of the Slovak people becoming a nation started rather late. In the case of the Germans in Bohemia and Moravia or the majority Czechs and Moravians, the separation into nations was accepted by those living there. However, in present-day Slovakia this process did not reach a political level which could also have made it possible for Hungarians to accept the separation of the areas mostly populated by the Slovak ethnic group. The internal detachment of the Czech and German people led to the gradual emergence of parallel systems in the political, administrative, legal and educational institutions, as a result of which the 1905 Moravia agreement laid down that a distinction should be made between the two ethnicities in areas such as the right to vote, language and education (Szarka 1989, 23). Since the slow development of the Slovak nation focused first of all on creating a unified Slovak language, the only way for us to find out which towns were of the utmost importance to Slovakia is to look at the towns mentioned during the linguistic disputes. Slovak historical mythology first mentions Nyitra (Nitra) as the second most important centre in the east of the Great Moravian Empire. In the golden age of Hungarian history until 1526, which was of European significance, Pozsony (Bratislava), Nagyszombat (Trnava), Kassa (Košice), Eperjes (Prešov), Bártfa (Bardejov) and the mining towns: Selmecbánya (Banská Štiavnica), Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica) and Körmöcbánya (Kremnica) were regarded as towns in the area of contemporary Felvidék (Upper Hungary). Besides, we know that the privilege granted by King Louis (1381) made it possible for the Slavic people (according to present-day Slovak historiography, the Slovak people) living in Zsolna (Žilina) to have the same rights as the Germans. The charter also granted them proportional representation in the town council. According to the Slovak historical tradition, not only Zsolna (Žilina), but also Rózsahegy (Ružomberok), Trencsén (Trenčín), Vágújhegy (Nové Mesto nad Váhom), 19
