Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
3. The settlement structure of Slovakia
The settlement structure of Slovakia torical development and demographic conditions. In Slovakia, due to the special features of the terrain, the natural conditions and geographical location exert a profound influence on the settlement structure of the country. Modern-day Slovakia is located at the watershed of continental Europe in the Northwestern Carpathians, in the northern part of the Pannon Basin. This has a far-reaching effect on its geopolitical situation, too. The terrain of Slovakia is quite varied and there are considerable height differences. Its lowest-lying region is Bodrogköz, which is located at a height of 94 m above sea level; while the highest is the High Tatras, with the Gerlachov peak standing as high as 2,655 m. Since 71.7% of the area of the country is occupied by the Carpathians and the remaining 28.3% is covered by plains, it can be stated that the most characteristic element of the terrain is its mountains. This determines the location of the different settlements, their size, internal structure, ways of construction and the means of subsistence of the population. The large and deep valleys fulfill the function of plains and are therefore of the utmost importance. Economic activities, including agriculture, industry and transport, are concentrated in large valleys of the mountains and in plain areas. Residential areas can also be found there. The most important communication channels and town zones are in the valleys of the rivers Váh and Hornád and in other valleys of Southern Slovakia. These towns, together with the branch of the Hron area, connect the two big cities, Pozsony (Bratislava) and Kassa (Košice). The mountain ranges pose formidable obstacles for traffic. This was especially typical in the past, when, owing to isolation, separate ethnic and cultural regions emerged. These regions are dealt with by ethnography. The three main dialects of the Slovak language can also be connected to the three main regions in Felvidék. The Slovak movements aiming to unify the nation wanted to reconcile the large differences between them. This was made difficult by the fact that at the beginning they regarded the Czech language as a standard cultured language, the sophisticated basic language of the Slovak language. Within the three main dialects, 33 dialects can be distinguished, which demonstrates the connection between the structures of geography and language (Stoic 1968). Human activities are still determined by the features of the terrain, the mountains. In higher mountains tourism is the most important activity today. Most national parks can also be found there. According to the calculations of Slovak researchers, 33.2% (1,022) of all the settlements (3,080) of the country can be found in the plains. In 38
