Slovenia - The Wide Worlds Snaps

President: Borut Pahor (2012)

Prime Minister: Miro Cerar (2014)

Land area: 7,780 sq mi (20,151 sq km); total area: 7,827 sq mi (20,273 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 1,988,292 (growth rate: -0.23%); birth rate: 8.54/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.04/1000; life expectancy: 77.83

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Ljubljana 273,000

Monetary unit: Slovenian tolar; euro (as of 1/1/07)

Slovenia was originally settled by Illyrian and Celtic peoples. It became part of the Roman Empire in the first century B.C.

The Slovenes were a south Slavic group that settled in the region in the 6th century A.D. During the 7th century, the Slavs established the state of Samu, which owed its allegiance to the Avars, who dominated the Hungarian plain until Charlemagne defeated them in the late 8th century.

When the Hungarians were defeated by the Turks in 1526, Hungary accepted Austrian Hapsburg rule in order to escape Turkish domination; the Hapsburg monarchy was the first to include all of the Slovene regions. Thus, Slovenia and Croatia became part of the Austro-Hungarian kingdom when the dual monarchy was established in 1867. Like Croatia and unlike the other Balkan states, it is primarily Roman Catholic.

Following the defeat and collapse of Austria-Hungary in World War I, Slovenia declared its independence. It formally joined with Montenegro, Serbia, and Croatia on Dec. 4, 1918, to form the new nation called the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The name was later changed to Yugoslavia in 1929.

During World War II, Germany occupied Yugoslavia, and Slovenia was divided among Germany, Italy, and Hungary. For the duration of the war many Slovenes fought a guerrilla war against the Nazis under the leadership of the Croatian-born Communist resistance leader, Marshal Tito. After the final defeat of the Axis powers in 1945, Slovenia was again made into a republic of the newly established Communist nation of Yugoslavia.