Capital: Ljubljana
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Borders: Austria 330 km, Croatia 670 km, Italy 232 km,
Hungary 102 km
Slovenia is located within Central Europe and straddles the Eastern
Alps, bordering a small 46.6 km coast on the Adriatic Sea. The land
borders are Austria to the north, Italy to the west, Croatia to the
south and east and Hungary to the northeast. The total land area
measures 20,151 sq km with a further 122 sq km of water. The terrain
is comprised of a small coastal strip on the Adriatic Sea and a
small alpine region on the border of Italy and Austria. This area
boasts a collection of lush, fertile valleys fed by several rivers
from the east. The highest point of elevation is Triglav at a height
of 2864m. Slovenia's largest river, the Sava cuts its way through
the country from the northwest to the southeast. Lake Bled in the
northwest of Slovenia is one of the most scenic areas in the country
and is home to a picturesque island on the middle of the lake that
houses a small church.In 1945 Slovenia
joined the former Yugoslavia and was a part of the Communist Iron
Curtain. Slovenia broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991 at a time when
the former Soviet Union also broke up. The ethnic mix of Slovenia is
comprised of mainly Slovenians with a minority of Serbo-Croatians
and other European groups. The official language is Slovenian and
the national unit of currency is the Tolar. The capital city of
Slovenia is Ljubljana.
Slovenia hopes to join the EU very soon and its economy shows much
potential with a high per capita GDP. Slovenia possesses a wealth of
natural resources such as lignite coal, lead, zinc, mercury, uranium
and silver. Industries of Slovenia include ferrous metallurgy and
rolling mill products, aluminium reduction and rolled products, lead
and zinc smelting, electronics, electric power equipment, wood
products, textiles, chemicals and machine tools. The transport
network consists of 1201 km of railways plus 19586 of highways.
Slovenia also has a crude oil pipeline measuring 290 km.
The climate of Slovenia is Mediterranean along the coast although it
experiences Eastern European weather inland such as harsh cold, dry
winters. The highest recorded temperature in Ljubljana was 38°C. The
lowest was -28°C. |
