If you think about Slovenia, what's the first thing you think of? Many people may not have even heard of the country, let alone know anything about it! But there are many wonderful things to know about this beautiful place. Slovenia is pretty small really: it's only about half the size of Switzerland. It is tucked away in a mountainous region in central Europe, which makes its countryside pretty good for all kind of outdoor sports, including skiing and hiking, as well as being a good place to visit in the summer. It has pretty cold winters, but warm summers too.

There are only around 2 million people living in Slovenia. Of these people, about 17% are aged between 0-14 years old - so there are plenty of other young people to get to know there. There are also only 97 people per sq km, which is much less than most of the other European countries. This means the country is much less crowded, so it may be pretty peaceful!

The Slovene language is very important to the people of Slovenia - Slovenian is written using the Latin alphabet and is very much part of their cultural history... and a very long history it is: the first settlement in Slovenia was by their Slovak ancestors in the sixth century. The country has gone through many changes since that first settlement: it has been part of the Serb, Croat and Slovene Kingdom, and until fairly recently it was part of the Republic of Yugoslavia. This changed in 1991 when the Slovenians declared independence. More recently, in the early 1990s in fact, there were wars in this area.

Slovenia is a historical country, and its past is very eventful. Find out all about it in The Past.

Country vs City takes a look at the landscape and the many different types of countryside there are in Slovenia. It also looks at the kinds of things people get up to in the city - there are lots of things to do!

Check out the Amazing Facts about Slovenia - there's more to this country than you might at first think!

Links

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http://www.multimap.com
- detailed maps of Europe, including Slovenia

http://www.ijs.si/slo/ljubljana/map.html
- interactive map of the city centre

http://www.creativ.si/tourist/
- information about visiting Slovenia

http://www.matkurja.com/eng/country-info/
- facts about Slovenia

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