Transcript Slovenia

Slovenia
What is Slovenia?
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia is
a country in southern Central Europe bordering
Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the
southwest, Croatia to the south and east,
Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the
north. The capital of Slovenia is Ljubljana.
Slovenia is the only country once to have
formed a part of a socialist state to be at the
same time a member of the European Union,
the Eurozone, the Schengen area, the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe, the Council of Europe and NATO.
Politics
The Slovenian head of state is the president, who is elected by
popular vote every five years. The executive branch is headed
by the prime minister and the council of ministers or cabinet,
who are elected by the National Assembly.
President:
dr. Danilo Türk
Prime Minister Borut Pahor
Geography
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Four major European geographic regions
meet in Slovenia:
the Alps
the Dinarides
the Pannonian Plain
the Mediterranean
Slovenia's highest peak is Triglav (2,864 m;
9,396 ft);
ALPS
PANNONIAN
PLAIN
MEDITERRANEAN
DINARIDES
Around half of the country (11,691 km²; 4,514 sq mi) is covered by forests;
the third most forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden.
Remnants of primeval forests are still to be found, the largest in the
Kočevje area. Grassland covers 5,593 square kilometres (2,159 sq mi) and
fields and gardens 2,471 square kilometres (954 sq mi).
There are 363 square kilometres (140 sq mi) of orchards
and 216 square kilometres (83 sq mi) of vineyards.
SLOVENIAN CLIMATE
ALPINE
CONTINENTAL
SUB-MEDITERRANEAN
Demographics
Slovenia's main ethnic group is Slovene (83%).
Nationalities from the former Yugoslavia
(Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Macedonian,
Montenegrin) form 5.3%, and the Hungarian,
Albanian, Roma, Italian and other minorities
form 2.8% of the population. Ethnic affiliation of
8.9% was either undeclared or unknown.
With 99 inhabitants per square kilometre
(256/sq mi), Slovenia ranks low among the
European countries in population density.
The official language is Slovene, which is
a member of the South Slavic language
group. Hungarian and Italian enjoy the
status of official languages in the ethnically
mixed regions along the Hungarian and
Italian borders.
Life expectancy in 2003 was 72.2 years for men
and 80 years for women. Slovenia ranks number
8 on the list of countries by suicide rate.
By religion, Slovenes are traditionally largely Roman
Catholic (57.8% according to the 2002 Census).
Culture
• Slovenia's first book was
printed by the Protestant
reformer Primož Trubar
(1508-1586). It was
actually two books, Latin:
Catechismus (a
catechism) and
Abecedarium, which was
published in 1550 in
Tübingen, Germany.
Some of Slovenia's greatest literates were the
poets France Prešeren (1800-1849), Oton
Župančič, Srečko Kosovel, Edvard Kocbek and
Dane Zajc.
Writer Ivan Cankar
Slovenia is a homeland of
numerous musicians
and composers,
including Renaissance
composer Jacobus
Gallus (1550-1591),
who greatly influenced
Central European
classical music, and the
violin virtuoso Giuseppe
Tartini. In the twentieth
century, Bojan Adamič
was a renowned film
music composer.
Jacobus Gallus
Contemporary popular musicians have
been Lojze Slak, Slavko Avsenik, Laibach,
Vlado Kreslin, Pero Lovšin, Pankrti, Zoran
Predin, Lačni Franz, New Swing Quartet,
DJ Umek, Valentino Kanzyani, Siddharta,
Big Foot Mama,Terrafolk, Katalena,
Magnifico and others.
Lojze Slak
Biodiversity
The country's fauna includes marmots,
Alpine ibex, and chamois. There are
numerous deer, roe deer, boar, and hares.
The edible dormouse is often found in the
Slovenian beech forests.
There is a wide variety of birds, such as the
Tawny Owl, the Long-eared Owl, the Eagle
Owl, hawks, and Short-toed Eagles.
Alpine ibex
Domestic animals originating in Slovenia
include the Carniolan honeybee, the
indigenous Karst Shepherd and the
Lipizzan horse. The exploration of various
cave systems has yielded discoveries of
many cave-dwelling insects and other
organisms.
Lipizzan horse
White stork in Prekmurje
Proteus anguineus in Postojna cave
Education
The Slovenian education system consists of:
• pre-school education
• basic education (single structure of
primary and lower secondary education)
• (upper) secondary education: vocational
and technical education, secondary
general education
• higher vocational education
• higher education
Currently there are three public universities
in Slovenia:
• University of Ljubljana
• University of Maribor
• University of Primorska
The Programme for International Student
Assessment, coordinated by the OECD,
currently ranks Slovenia's education as the
12th best in the world, being significantly
higher than the OECD average.
University of Ljubljana
University of Maribor
Our school: Gimnazija Slovenske Konjice
Famous places
Lake Bohinj
Lake Bled
Secovlje Salt-pans
Planica
Planica
Piran
National dishes
Potica
Zganci – hard boiled corn mush
Krvavice
Prekmurska gibanica
Kranjska klobasa, sauerkraut and Idrijski žlikrofi