KOROŠKA - Geography and history
Three regional centres in the three valleys
Koroška region is situated in mountainous northern Slovenia along the Austrian border. It comprises heavily forested mountains and three narrow valleys along the Drava, Mislinja and Meza rivers. The highest mountain ranges are the Pohorje (with the highest peak, Crni vrh, at 1 543 m) and Kozjak ridges on the southern and northern side of the Drava valley.
While small settlements can be found in the valleys, isolated farmsteads are a typical feature of the mountainous areas. Here harsh natural conditions have been endured for centuries up to altitudes of 1 300 m. In spite of roads connecting the highland areas to the valleys below, these areas today face rapid depopulation, a diminishing workforce and tough conditions on the crop and timber markets.
Historically, Koroška was part of the mediaeval duchy of Carinthia, one of the Habsburg lands since the 14th century. After the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the present state border was delimited by the Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919).
This is the least accessible of all Slovenian regions, and has very poor links to central Slovenia. Roads connecting the Drava valley to Maribor and to the Austrian state of Carinthia are somewhat better.
The region is divided among 12 municipalities, but due to its mountainous terrain and historical development, Koroška has no single regional centre. Instead, there is a local centre in each valley: Slovenj Gradec in the Mislinja valley, Dravograd in the Drava valley and Ravne na Koroškem in the Meza valley. Moreover, central functions are further dispersed among several other smaller towns.
Forested mountains with industrial centres in the valleys
At present, Koroška is faced with two severe problems that can not be solved by the region alone, and which will not go away by themselves. Its remoteness represents the first problem, as the region has a poor transport infrastructure to central Slovenia and its peripheral position will become even more evident after the construction of the trans-Slovenia motorway which by-passes the region.
The other major problem here relates to the very strong dependency on mining and industry, which together provide almost half the jobs and generate nearly one half of gross value added in the region. The Meza valley has lived for almost 200 years from lead and zinc mining and iron and steel manufacturing. After the mine was closed down, the Ravne steel mill remained the largest employer in the Meza valley. However it faces similar problems as the rest of the European iron and steel industry. Mining has also caused considerable environmental pollution, which will have to be tackled.
On a more positive note, the reinforcement of cross-border co-operation with the state of Carinthia in neighbouring Austria can be expected in the future.
Following the closure of the mines, the forest remains the most important natural resource of Koroška and a very important source of timber for the local wood processing industry.
A particular problem of the region is how to preserve mountain farms and existing patterns of land use, since otherwise the landscape will be overgrown by forest. While diversification could be achieved through beef cattle rearing and agro-tourism, the latter will not be easy due to the competition from similarly picturesque but more easily accessible mountain regions in other parts of Slovenia and in neighbouring Carinthia.
Most forested region in Slovenia
Koroška covers 1 041 km2 (5.1% of the national territory) of mountainous land on the south-western edge of the Alps. It mostly consists of forested mountains belonging to the Central Alps, made of metamorphic and igneous rocks, with Košenjak (1 522 m) and Kozjak (1 050 m) to the north of the Drava river, Strojna (1 054 m) and Pohorje (Crni vrh, 1 543 m) on its southern side. In the south-west, the region extends into the high Karavanke mountains with their imposing Peca limestone massif (2 125 m). The region has a moderate mountain climate with annual precipitation between 1 100 and 1 350 mm. The average annual temperature in Šmartno pri Slovenj Gradcu is 8.6 °C while monthly temperatures are between -1.9°C in January and 18.4°C in July. During the winter months, snow covers the ground for two months of the year in the valleys, while it persists longer in the higher areas. Temperature inversions are also common in the narrow valleys at this time of the year.
The vast majority of the population lives in the three main valleys where all the towns are situated. Dravograd (population 3 400), Radlje ob Dravi (2 700) and Muta (2 500) are in the Drava valley, Slovenj Gradec (7 700) in the Mislinja valley and Ravne na Koroškem (7 800), Prevalje (4 500) and Mezica (3 500) in the Meza valley.
Forest, covering over 70% of the region, is its most important natural resource and extends from the bottom of the valleys up to 1 800 m. Arable land comprises very small part of the region, and is found almost exclusively on river terraces at the bottom of wider valleys. Meadows and pastures exist mostly on steep slopes in the mountains. The Drava river, fed by glaciers high in the Alps, has peak discharges in June which makes it the most suitable river for hydroelectric-power generation in the country, as a result of which five hydroelectric plants are located in the narrow Drava valley downstream from Dravograd. Other rivers are fast-flowing torrents and have only a few small private hydroelectric plants installed.
The extraction of lead and zinc ore at the foothills of the Peca mountain was very important for almost two centuries. The peak of mining activities was reached after World War II when over 2 000 people were employed in the Mezica mine. The extraction of ore was abandoned in 1993 as the ore ran out, and the mine has been gradually shut down in the following few years. Today it is organized as a tourist mine and museum.
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