Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
3. The settlement structure of Slovakia
Urban structure in Slovakia ing towns began to decline. The coal and ore layers in the Gömör [Gemer] Mountains were also gradually being depleted. As a result, mining became a typical activity further in the south, in the vicinity of Salgótarján, Ózd and Putnok. This also attracted the processing industry to the area. Between 1867 and 1918 the dualistic state began to reform the administrative system in Felvidék. Of the 186 market towns, 40 became district towns. Of the 24 royal free boroughs, 19 were deprived of their rank and 16 towns in Szepes had to give up their privileges (Kocsis 1995). The new Czechoslovak power did not respect historical tradition. In the eastern part of the new country six towns were deprived of their town status, whereas in the east, along the boundary of Sub-Carpathia, 11 settlements were declared towns. Most settlements that have been declared towns can be found along an imaginary axis to the northeast of Bratislava. Twenty settlements were declared towns in this zone. This region had been rather short of towns. On the other hand, most new towns were originally ‘ancient’ Slovak towns: Liptószentmiklós (Liptovský Mikuláš), Turócszentmárton (Martin), Vágbeszterce (Považská Bystrica), Pöstyén (Piešťany), just to mention the most famous members of some town groups. Besides, there were the towns created from agricultural villages with a high number of inhabitants in the Kisalföld (Small Plain) region, like Dunaszerdahely (Dunajská Streda), Galánta (Galanta), Vágsellye (Šaľa), Somorja (Šamorín), etc. One important aspect of planning the town network was that there should be towns along the borders. This can be seen from Szenice (Senica) to Csaca (Čadca) (along the Czech language border), from Námeszto (Námestovo) to the far-away Mezőlaborc (Medzilaborce) (along the Polish border), and from Somorja (Šamorín) through Párkány (Štúrovo) and Kékkő (Modrý Kameň) to Királyhelmec (Kráľovský Chlmec) (along the Hungarian border). By setting up the administrative units of the new state power and by establishing this new network of towns, the Czecho(slovak) power showed explicitly that then and there a 20th century conquest had taken place. It was a part of the conquest when, after marking out the state borders, the administrative districts were set up. Conquest was also seen in the political content of the following decades from the point of view of the changes affecting towns and villages. However, the number of towns and, more importantly, their functions, underwent severe changes. 49
