Slovak minority

First discovered traces of human presence come from the Late Stone Age. However, these hunters and gatheres had created only a temporary settlement. The early farming colony of upper Danube area was established in the Neolitic period. Since the Bronze Age have the territory of present-day Slovakia been permanently settled.

In the 6th century, Slavs arrived at the Danubian basin from different directions. At the turn of the centuries, major part of recent Slovakia were inhabited by Slavs. Population of south-western parts of the country was growing increasingly in the 9th century at the time of Great Moravian Empire, a joint kingdom of Slovak and Moravian people.Its heritage still remains cultural riches of both Slovaks and Czechs. Jews created a part of settlement, according to records of Abraham-ben-Jakov, a Jewish geographer and traveler.

In the 10th century, the first Slovak-Hungarian or Hungarian-Slovak settlements were grown up, both assimilating easily. During the 11th and 12th century, northern parts of present Slovakia were settled by various groups. The oldest Jewish religious boroughs were estalished in Bratislava and Komárno. Settlers from western countries, especially Germans arrived and settled out the territory of Slovakia since the second half of the 12th century.

Since the 11th century Slovakia had been a part of Kingdom of Hungary and Hungarians were symbolically connected to the Christian West. RuinousTatar invasion in 1241 and 1242 caused the significant interference of the colonisation in the area of today`s Slovakia. Some parts of the country registered even half decrase of inhabitants. Revival of population started after the Tatars had left the area. There was a significant number of German people who settled the parts of the Little Carpathian Mountains. Slovak and Czech nations strenghtened their cultural relationship in the 14th century. „TheValaská colonisation“ with representative Romanian-Russniak element were inhabiting the area of the Low Beskyd Mountains. After Ottoman incursions in the 16th century, many settlements in the south-west and in the south of central parts became deserted.

In the 17th century „the Kopaničiarska colonisation“ of wooded areas started in the western part of the territory around Myjava town. During the 18th century the first mass migration occured. Whole families moved to southern parts and Slovak islands were established there. In the 19th century there were around 3500 inhabited settlements, where lived 2,461,460 people.

The ethnic structure was compound of 1,5 mil. of Slovaks (61%), 546,000 Hungarians (22%), 229,000 Germans (9.2%) and 78,000 Russniaks (3.2%). Inreasing growth of population was interrupted by a mass migration of Slovaks to overseas in 80 – 90`s of the 19th century. The population had the increasing tendency after the „Velvet revolution“ in 1989 and the declaration of independent Slovak republic in 1993. This trend came to a standstill in 2000, when the population was 5, 402,547 inhabitants. Since then, the number of Slovak residents has been on the decrease. According to the last population census in 2001, Slovaks represented 85.8% of all inhabitants. To Hungarian minority claimed 9.7%, to Roma (gypsies) minority 1.7%, to Czech minority 0.8% and to Ukrainian minority claimed 0.2% of oll inhabitants. In september 2007 the population of Slovakia standed at 5,398,629 inhabitants.