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 Slovakia Country Profile
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 Slovakia at a Glance| Location: | Central Europe, south of Poland | | Climate: | temperate; cool summers; cold, cloudy, humid winters | | Terrain: | rugged mountains in the central and northern part and lowlands in the south | | Resources: | brown coal and lignite; small amounts of iron ore, copper and manganese ore; salt; arable land | | Population: | 5,463,046 (July 2009 est.) |
A Brief Profile of SlovakiaThe dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the close of World War I allowed the Slovaks to join the closely related Czechs to form Czechoslovakia. Following the chaos of World War II, Czechoslovakia became a Communist nation within Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe. Soviet influence collapsed in 1989 and Czechoslovakia once more became free. The Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully on 1 January 1993. Slovakia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004 and the euro area on 1 January 2009.
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