Spiš


Spiš is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland. Spiš is an informal designation of the territory, but it is also the name of one of the 21 official tourism regions of Slovakia. The region is not an administrative division in its own right, but between the late 11th century and 1920 it was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary,.

Etymology

The name is probably related to the appellative spiška, špiška known from Slovak and Moravian dialects - a stick, a piece of wood or sugar, etc. Old Slavic pьchjati, pichjati - to stab, to cut → prefixed form sъ-pich-jь → after patalization and extinction of yers spiš. Spiš probably means "a cut forest". The theory is supported also by the fact that almost all early Latin documents mention Spiš as silva Zepus - the name of forest area.
Another theory is a derivation from Hungarian szép – nice, beautiful → Szepes. However, according to Šimon Ondruš this etymology is linguistically impossible. The Slovak and the Polish name could not be derived from Hungarian Szepes because the combination "consonant-e-consonant-e-consonant" is valid and common in Slovak without any need for phonetic adaptation and similar changes are not documented. On the other hand, the assumed phonetic adaptation Slavic Spiš → Hungarian Szepes depends on well known changes in the Hungarian language like vowel insertion and vowel harmonization.

Geography

The region is situated between the High Tatras and the Dunajec River in the north, the springs of the Váh River in the west, the Slovenské rudohorie Mountains and Hnilec River in the south, and a line running from the town of Stará Ľubovňa, via the Branisko mountain, to the town of Margecany in the east. The core of the Spiš region is formed by the basins of the rivers Hornád and Poprad, and the High Tatra Mountains. Throughout its history, the territory has been characterized by a large percentage of forests - in the late 19th century, as much as 42.2% of Spiš was forest.

History

Early history

The history of the region until 1918 is given in more detail at Szepes county.
Traces of settlement in the Neanderthal era have been found in remains at Gánovce and Bešeňová.
The territory of Spiš was later populated first by Celts. It belonged to the state of Great Moravia, and after its dissolution became part of Poland.
The southern part of the territory was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary at the end of the 11th century, when the border of the Kingdom ended near the modern town of Kežmarok. The royal county of Szepes was created in the 2nd half of the 12th century. In the 1250s the border of the Kingdom of Hungary shifted to the north to Podolínec and in 1260 even further to the north. The northeastern region around Hniezdne and Stará Ľubovňa, the so-called "districtus Podoliensis", was incorporated only in the 1290s. The northern border of the county stabilized in the early 14th century. Around 1300, the royal county became a noble county.
Many of the towns of Spiš developed from German colonization. The German settlers had been invited to the territory from the mid-12th century onwards. The settlements founded by them in southern Spiš were mainly mining settlements. Consequently, until World War II Spiš had a large German population who spoke Zipser German; now, the only Zipser-speaking town is Chmeľnica. Many smaller settlements were populated by settlers from Poland.
In 1412, under the Treaty of Lubowla, 16 towns, two castles and a number of villages in Spiš were pawned to Poland by Sigismund of Luxembourg to finance his wars with the Republic of Venice in Dalmatia. Among the towns that for 360 years belonged to Poland were: Stará Ľubovňa, Podolínec, Spišská Sobota, Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves. In 1772 all were annexed by Austria as a part of the Partitions of Poland.
In 1868, 21 Spiš settlements sent their demands, the 'Spiš Petition', to the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary, requesting special status for Slovaks within the Kingdom.

Spiš after the creation of Czechoslovakia

In 1918, the county became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia. A tiny part of the territory, amounting to 195 km² after an internal border dispute had been confirmed to be part of Galicia as early as 1902. After World War I northern Spiš was united with Poland and became the subject of a long-running border dispute between Poland and Czechoslovakia.. In 1923 Slovak Spiš was divided between the newly formed Sub-Tatra county and Košice county. In 1928-1939 and 1945-1948 it was part of the newly created Slovak Land.
During World War II, when Czechoslovakia was divided, Spiš was part of independent Slovakia, and formed the eastern part of Tatra county from 1940 to 1945. Slovakia joined the Axis, and the Polish part of Spiš was transferred to Slovakia. During the war all the Jews of the area were deported or murdered. When Soviet forces
approached from the east at the end of 1944, most of the ethnic Germans in Spiš fled westward, between mid-November 1944 and 21 January 1945. Their property was confiscated after the war.
After World War II the prewar borders of Spiš were restored, with the most of the county going to Czechoslovakia, and a small part to Poland. In 1948, it became part of the newly created Košice Region and Prešov Region, whose borders however were completely different from those of the present-day regions of the same name. From July 1960 it became part of the newly created Eastern Slovak region, which ceased to exist in September 1990.
In 1993, Czechoslovakia was split and Spiš became part of Slovakia.

Nationalities

According to censuses carried out in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1869 the population of Szepes county comprised the following nationalities: Slovaks 50.4%,, Germans 35%, Carpatho-Rusyns 13.8% and 0.7% Magyars.
The current ethnic composition of the region, however, is much different. As mentioned above, many Jews and ethnic Germans were removed or left during World War II.
Present-day Spiš has a number of Romani settlements and Romani are a substantial minority there.
There are also 40,000-48,000 Gorals. Although a negligible number in census terms, they are a distinctive minority with their own culture, and speak a dialect of Polish, especially elders. They consider themselves as Slovaks and, in present, speak mostly Slovak language. Official Slovak 2011's census reported only 3084 Poles living in Slovakia.

Economy

Historically, economic activity in the region has been based principally on agriculture and forestry, which explains why Spiš belongs to the relatively poor regions of Slovakia. Since the late 19th century, tourism has helped the local economy, and sanatoria and winter sports resorts have been built in the High Tatras and the Low Tatras, and areas such as the Slovak Paradise in the south-west and the Pieniny National Park at the Slovak-Polish border. Other tourist destinations include the region's historical sites like Spiš Castle and nearby Spišské Podhradie, Spišská Kapitula, Žehra and the town of Levoča, Kežmarok, and Stará Ľubovňa Castle. The tourism industry has developed rapidly in Spiš, aided by the introduction of regular flights to Poprad Airport and improving rail and road connections.

Spiš today

Spiš today is one of Slovakia's 21 tourist regions but, unlike its predecessor, is not an administrative region.
Since 1996, Spiš has been divided between the modern Košice Region and Prešov Region and is covered approximately by the following six administrative districts: Poprad, Kežmarok, Stará Ľubovňa, Spišská Nová Ves, Levoča and Gelnica, except for the eastern half of the Stará Ľubovňa District that had been within Saris county and three villages of the Poprad district
The present population of the Spiš region is about 320,000; almost half the population lives in towns, the largest of which are Poprad, Spišská Nová Ves and Kežmarok.