A multitude of heterogeneous landscapes
Like the Slovenian climate, the Slovenian regions follow one another, intermingle and merge.
In order to gain a better understanding of this interweaving of climates, Slovenia's territory should be divided into five major types of landscape. The typology is borrowed from the famous Slovenian linguist Antonia Bernard in her book La Slovénie et l'Europe: contributions à la connaissance de la Slovénie actuelle (L'Harmattan, Paris, 2005, 170 pages). Among other things, the typology includes the following:
Alpine Slovenia, which lies in the north-west and north of the country. It includes the Julian Alps, the Kamnik Alps and the Karavanke massif on the Austrian border. This group of mountains can be described as the "Southern Eastern Pre-Alps". Its name dates back to late antiquity and has been documented by the Roman historian Tacitus. It is an area of high relief, sparsely populated, where developed centres and virgin areas coexist, typical of the classic human occupation in the Western Alps.
Mediterranean Slovenia stretching from Nova Gorica to Portoroz. Olive-growing is concentrated in the lower areas. The local economy has always adapted to the sometimes ambivalent and competitive relationship between the two major ports of the region, Koper and Trieste. Although very narrow, it is a strategic crossroads for Slovenia, as evidenced by the recent latent conflict with neighbouring Croatia over the Bay of Piran. Its 47 km of coastline is therefore essential for Slovenia's economic vitality, despite the fact that the country has one of the world's smallest coastlines in the category of states with access to the sea.
Pannonian Slovenia is concentrated around the north-eastern part of the country, but its lowland landscape extends to eight neighbouring countries on a territory that includes eastern Austria, mainland Hungary, northern Serbia, central Slovakia, part of the Czech Republic, north-eastern Croatia and the northern tip of Romania. It offers large landscapes of plains - in openfield - fed by numerous rivers and more oriented towards Central Europe, Hungary in the first place.
Dinaric Slovenia which corresponds to an area stretching from the south to the south-east of the country. It is marked by a strong presence of limestone massifs. This karstic and forested Slovenia also stands out in linguistic and demographic terms, with a more mixed society, with larger Balkan minorities than elsewhere in the country, and which still speaks Serbo-Croatian frequently.
Kernland Slovenia, which is a middle, urban and central Slovenia. This small centre, whose geographical reality is not unquestionable, is proving to be the country's main pole of attraction in economic terms.
On the artificiality of the attempt at administrative division
Slovenia has a complex and unofficial regional geography. Historical regions retain a special importance due to the antiquity of their own past. The organisation of territories seems to be based on mobile, plural and natural borders. Although the artificiality of the regional division is well established, it is nevertheless worth illustrating the administrative distribution of Slovenia with regard to the legal and statistical division adopted in 2000 and renewed since then.
The largest region of the country, in terms of surface area, is the Jugovzhodna Slovenija, the area extending over part of the south-east of the country, including the towns of Novo Mesto, Kocevje, Ribnica, Škocjan and Trebnje (2 675 km²). In terms of population, the region of central Slovenia, the unpronounceable Osredneslovenjska, leads the way with 540,000 inhabitants, half of whom live in Ljubljana and the other half in more or less nearby peripheral towns such as Domžale, Vrhnika, Logatec and Kamnik.An abundant hydrographic network
Slovenia is bordered by a number of rivers in all parts of its territory, which have an interest in well irrigated land. What is the geographical distribution of these rivers?
TheSava River (990 km) is a tributary of the Danube and is historically considered the northern natural border of the Balkans. Its two sources are located in the Slovenian Alps, at Zelenci and Bohinj respectively. It then crosses Slovenia, borders Zagreb, reaches the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina before flowing into Belgrade. Its flow, which varies greatly according to the seasons, is significantly reduced in summer (670m3/s. on average in August) and increases tenfold at the end of winter (2,300m3/s. in March). The Ljubljanica River (41 km), a famous tributary of the Sava River, flows through the Slovenian capital and has an extensive network of caves along half of its length. Its source is located near the city of Vrhnika. Constantly associated with Ljubljana, this river is the subject of an overabundant literature: its past abounds in stories of floods and commercial epics, while its aestheticism is sung by great romantic figures such as Ivan Cankar and France Prešeren
The River Drava (750 km) is another large tributary of the Danube. It originates in the small Italian town of San Candido before continuing its journey through Austrian East Tyrol, reaching eastern Slovenia, including Maribor, and ending its journey at the border between Croatia and Hungary. It is a site of high biodiversity and has suffered serious pollution problems in recent years due to the over-industrialisation of the region and heavy hydroelectric exploitation.
The Wall (465 km) has its source at the Italian-Austrian border and then runs through the southern quarter of Austria, passing through the beautiful city of Graz, passing through the eastern end of Slovenia. It then flows into the River Drava. Its hydrological flow is relatively moderate, varying between 85 and 250m3/s, depending on the meteorological conditions. The Slovenian part of the river was classified as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2018.
The Kolpa (296 km) serves as a natural border between Slovenia and Croatia. Its source is about 40 km from Rijeka, in the Gorski Kotar mountain region.
A decisive geostrategic crossroads position
The country occupies a position of geostrategic crossroads within the Old Continent. Indeed, it is an area of transition between four European subsets: Western Europe with Italy, Southern Europe with Croatia, Central Europe with Austria and Eastern Europe with Hungary. Its central position has enabled it to integrate particularly well into the major European communication routes.
In geopolitical terms, the Slovenian state plays a key role, since its border with Croatia (670 km of its 1,334 km border in total) is one of the gateways to the Schengen area.
This privileged location, at the crossroads of trade routes, is particularly evident in the fierce competition north of the Adriatic between Koper, Trieste (Italy) and Rijeka (Croatia) for the status of stopover on the new Silk Roads. The port of Koper produces some 24 million tonnes, exports 750,000 vehicles and handles nearly one million TEU containers. Trieste is not to be outdone with a higher total production (almost 63 million tonnes), but lower statistics for car exports (309,000 vehicles) and 725,000 TEU containers. The two ports are engaged in a veritable investment war, which is reflected in a desire to seduce the Chinese partner to become an essential crossing point on the new Silk Road. Koper presents some assets such as its interesting position to open up a large part of Central Europe, but also to link South-East Asia and Europe. However, its main delay lies in the dilapidated rail network, unlike that of neighbouring Italy.
Slovenia's position as a geostrategic crossroads also attracts NATO officials, who see Koper as a definite advantage in moving closer to possible theatres of operations in Eastern Europe.Natural resources and agricultural priorities
Slovenia has a relatively rich subsoil, due in particular to its wide variety of climates. In Kranj, iron ore has long been one of the region's economic assets. In Idrija, mercury has played a key role. The town's mine is still the second largest in the world. Discovered at the end of the 16th century, it was developed with more than 700 km of underground galleries. The mercury extracted is in a liquid form - an extremely rare occurrence - which enabled the mine to be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, some twenty years after its definitive closure. Coal, a major resource in the Velenje and Trbovlje regions, has been mined since the beginning of the 19th century in the form of lignite. This type of coal has the particularity of being natural and consisting of hard coal and peat. It is still used to supply the nearby power station. Finally, the production of lead and zinc is concentrated around the municipality of Mežica and continued for more than three centuries, between 1665 and 1994.
In terms of agriculture, land cultivation is distributed as follows: forest and woodland (54 %), permanent pasture (24 %), arable land (12 %), cultivated land (3 %) and other (7 %). The lowlands are favoured for cereal cultivation, while the rest of the country is more focused on animal husbandry, viticulture and forestry.
