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Czechoslovakia Slovakia
Slovakia's landforms do not make it as distinctive a
geographic unit as Bohemia. Its mountain ranges generally run
east-west and tend to segregate groups of people; population
clusters are most dense in river valleys. The highest elevations
are rugged, have the most severe weather, and are the most
sparsely settled. Some of the flatlands in southwestern Slovakia
are poorly drained and support only a few people. The main
mountain ranges are the Vysoke Tatry (High Tatras) and the
Slovenske Rudohorie (Slovak Ore Mountains), both of which are
part of the Carpathians. The Vysoke Tatry extend in a narrow
ridge along the Polish border and are attractive as both a summer
and a winter resort area. The highest peak in the country,
Gerlachovsky Stit (also known as Gerlachovka), with an elevation
of about 2,655 meters, is in this ridge. Snow persists at the
higher elevations well into the summer months and all year long
in some sheltered pockets. The tree line is at about 1,500
meters. An ice cap extended into this area during glacial times,
leaving pockets that became mountain lakes.
The Slovak lowlands in the south and southeast, bordering on
Hungary, are part of the greater Danube Basin. From a point
slightly south of the Slovak capital of Bratislava, the main
channel of the Danube River demarcates the border between
Czechoslovakia and Hungary for about 175 kilometers. As it leaves
Bratislava, the Danube divides into two channels: the main
channel is the Danube proper, and the northern channel is the
Little Danube (Maly Dunaj). The Little Danube flows eastward into
the Vah River, which converges with the main Danube at Komarno.
The land between the Little Danube and the Danube is known as the
Vel'ky Zitny Ostrov (Great Rye Island), a marshland maintained
for centuries as a hunting preserve for the nobility. Dikes and
artificial drainage have made it possible to cultivate the land
for grain production, but it is still sparsely settled.
Data as of August 1987
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