OSREDNJESLOVENSKA - Geography and history
Home to Slovenia?s capital
The largest Slovenian region by population and second largest by size lies in the center of the country, including a small border with Austria in the north of the region. Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is situated in the large Ljubljana Basin, and forms the economic and population nucleus of the country. Ljubljana was established on the site of the Roman settlement of Emona, and nowadays sits at the junction of two of Slovenia?s most important traffic routes. From the 14th century, it was the capital of the Carniola duchy. Since the 19th century, it has been a cultural capital for all Slovenes, scattered among five Habsburg hereditary lands as they were at that time, and also one of the nation's unifying forces. Today, the region is divided between 25 municipalities.
The region has a rich diversity of landscape arching around the densely populated and economically strong eastern part of the Ljubljana Basin. To the north are the high Kamnik and Savinja Alps with several peaks over 2 000 m. The Polhov Gradec and Sava subalpine mountains are situated to the west and east, while to the south are the vast Ljubljana marshes, offering a rich diversity of swamp and marsh-land habitats. From the southern border of Ljubljana marshes rises abruptly the Dinaric karst. There, relatively sparse water sources and surface streams reflect the karst character of the limestone area, where rainwater disappears underground, although the karst phenomena are not as spectacular as in the Dinaric Mountains.
The pull of the capital
The most obvious advantages of this region are its favourable position at the crossroads of the main transport routes and the presence of the capital city of Ljubljana. After Slovenia gained its independence, probably too many decision-making functions, key governmental activities and other services of national importance were concentrated in Ljubljana, which may not be the most appropriate alternative to the former socialist model of multi-centred development. In a European context, Ljubljana is only a medium-sized town, but nevertheless there is easy access to it from abroad as well as from most of Slovenia.
The other advantage the region has is the large catchment area of Ljubljana with its population near half a million, which makes Ljubljana and its surrounding area the most attractive Slovenian region for investment in service activities. Many activities of national importance are also situated in the capital, such as the university, research institutes and the medical centre, as well as the various departments of the state administration, the majority of whose employees work in the capital. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the active population rate is above the national average, that almost one third of all people employed in the country live here, that average wages and purchasing power are the highest in Slovenia and that the unemployment rate is well below the national average.
On the negative side environmental difficulties and traffic jams in the capital are worth mentioning. The rapid development of Ljubljana has also caused intensive sub-urbanisation of neighbouring municipalities, mostly those fringing the city to the north, causing, among other effects, increasing economic differentiation between suburban areas north and south of the capital.
In the heart of Slovenia
Covering 2 555 km2 (12.6% of the national territory), this is the second largest Slovenian region consisting of three different parts. In the extreme northern part of the region there are the Kamnik and Savinja Alps (the highest peak, Grintovec, 2 558 m). The Ljubljana Basin, filled with gravel sediments, is situated between the Dinaric karst and the Alpine mountains. It contains the majority of the region?s farmland and almost 75% of the region?s population. The third part of the region consists of mostly forested subalpine mountains, slightly over 1 000 m in height ? the Polhov Gradec Mountains to the west of Ljubljana and the Sava Mountains to the east.
The climate is moderately continental with the average annual temperature of 10.9(C (between 0.8(C in January and 21.0(C in July) and the annual precipitation between 1 500 and 1 170 mm, falling predominantly in the autumn. The temperature inversion accompanied by fog is common in the Ljubljana Basin (on average 64 days annually), while snow cover lasts about 50 days a year.
The majority of towns are situated in the Ljubljana Basin, including Ljubljana itself (population 259 000), Dom?ale (11 600), Kamnik (12 200) and Vrhnika (7 500). Litija (6 400) is located in the Sava valley.
Osrednjeslovenska has no ore or fossil fuel deposits. The largest river is the Sava with two hydroelectric plants installed to date, while other rivers in the northern part are not suitable for energy production due to their torrential character. The western part belongs to the Ljubljanica river basin, while the south-eastern parts drain mostly underground into the Kolpa and Krka rivers.
|
|