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BENEŠKA—VENETIA.

Videm

Though without Venice, the westernmost Slovenian lands are collectively known as Beneška. To many Slovenes, it is a krajina (“frontier”), largely inhabited by migrants from Carniola or Slovenes who returned the New World after independence. Sizeable Italian communities remain in the region, inextricably linked to their material heritage (Palmanova—Nova Dlan in Slovene—pictured), though their checkered political histories—most notably marred by the fascist Italianization of the interwar period—have created considerable friction with the Slovenes. Even after independence, as in the controversial 1952 trial of Col. Senofonte Scalzo, relations have proven difficult to improve. Relations with the Friulians are not as abrasive, and tolerance of the Friulian language in the tract of Friulian villages that the Slovenes term Furlanska has been a feature of cultural life there.
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CELSKA—CELEIA.

Marčji Grad

Though named for the historic County of Cilli and the modern city of Celje, Celska’s capital is instead at the larger Marčji Grad (formerly Marburg an der Drau) (pictured). Together with Carniola, it lays at the heart of Slovene Lands. It is now partly known for its robust martial tradition; Marčji Grad sees yearly military parades commemorating the city’s 1918 liberation from Habsburg rule by Rudolf Maister, and the War Academy of the Drava is the greatest competitor to Ljubljana’s Carniolan War Academy. Fortified medieval towers complement its cityscape, and the city is first historically mentioned as a castle in the twelfth century.
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GRADIŠČANSKA—GRADIA.

Zgornji Stražar

Formerly Austrian Burgenland, Gradiščanska brings the Slovene Republic north to the Czechoslovak border at what the Slovenes have named Požanje (“Bratislava”). Nežidersko jezero (“Lake Neusiedl”), once nicknamed the “Sea of the Viennese”, is now a favorite spot for Ljubljana’s elite to escape to the georgic charm of the Republic’s northeast. Castles and medieval history dot the region and make up its etymology. While its main value to the Slovene Republic lies in its history and ecology, a rail and road link in the province is the Republic’s main connecting artery to Czechoslovakia, as was the concession’s conceptual idea. Still, as an intersection of Austrian, Slovenian, and Hungarian culture, its ethnic landscape provides a fascinating view of Central Europe.
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GRAŠKA—GRAZIA.

Gradec

When the city of Gradec (pictured), formerly Austria Graz, acceded to the Slovene Republic, extensive political debate questioned whether it or Ljubljana should be the capital of the newborn Republic. While Ljubljana had been the nesting ground for the Slovene national movement, Gradec had been a center of Slovene learning for centuries and was even the place of publication of the first multilingual Slovene dictionary in 1592. In the end, Ljubljana won out, but the University of Gradec has risen to establish itself as the most prestigious institute of learning in the Republic.
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KOROŠKA—CARINTHIA.

Celovec

The kings of ancient Slovenia were installed in a ceremony around a cracked Ionic pillar—the knežji kamen (pictured)—in Carinthia. The pillar endures as a symbol of the Carinthian Slovenes—replacing the old arms in 1945—standing strikingly against the dramatic Alpine mountain landscape. Together with Graška, it was at the core of the Slovene territorial ambitions in Austria following the Second World War, and its liberation saw a frenzy of Slovene historians and archaeologists studying the history of the first Alpine Slavs in the center of ancient Slovenian lands.
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KRANSKA—CARNIOLA.

Ljubljana

Often characterized as “the heartland of the Slovenes”, Carniola is home to the traditional Slovene capital of Ljubljana and historic city of Kran, with which the region’s Slovene name Kranska shares a root. Its rolling hills and forests saw the growth and spread of the Slovene national movement, and today its academics and artists often form the core of the nation’s intelligentsia. Though one region here, its inhabitants often identify several ‘Carniolas’, including Upper Carniola (Gorenska), Lower Carniola (Dolenska), Inner Carniola (Notranska) and White Carniola (Bela krajina), where the culturally influential city of Mažadan reigns. In the modern day, the region has become an important economic node for the country, and its industrial valleys produce much of the nations steel and machinery and synthesize its famous chemicals.
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PREKMURJE—TRANSMURANIA.

Olšnica

The eastern Prekmurje Slovenes speak a dialect distinct from the Ljubljana standard and contiguous with the Kajkavians of northern Croatia. They have formed the basis for several nationalistic claims to Croatian land, though Prekmurje itself is a small agricultural region formerly under Hungarian rule. After the Second World War, a second Hungarian concession—Szentgotthárd District—was incorporated into Prekmurje. Its town of Monošter was long a cultural center for Hungarian Slovenes and their history of cultural resistance to Magyarization. However, the true gem of Prekmurje is Olšnica (formerly Murska Sobota), whose castle (pictured) is a testament to the traditionalism of the province.
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PRIMORJE—THE LITTORAL.

Trst

Primorje—the Slovene Littoral—is speckled with minority communities of Istriots and Italians. The Slovenian majority was tenuous at best before the rise of the Republic, and though the influx of Slovene settlers and businesspeople since independence has made the region an important fulcrum of the Republic, the diversity of the region remains tangible. The shipyards of Trst are among the largest in Europe, and together with the port of Reka, the province is a titan of Adriatic shipping. Its many islands—especially the largest, Krk and Cres—are known for their rich monastic and civil histories stretching back to antiquity. Slovene history in the region is ancient but often overshadowed; the appropriation of Italian and Habsburg history, as with the use of Grad Miramar (“Miramare Castle”) (pictured) for state events, has helped to reconcile the Slovene stewardship of the territories with its material realities.
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