Capital and largest city of Slovenia
About Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia, located along a trade route between the northern Adriatic Sea and the Danube region, north of the country's largest marsh, it has been inhabited since prehistoric times. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative centre and the seat of the Urban Municipality of Ljubljana.
Name
The exact origin of the name Ljubljana is unclear. In medieval times, both the river and the town were also called Laibach (pronounced [ˈlaɪbax] ) in German. This name was used within the region until 1918 and continues to be used in German. In Italian, the city is referred to as Lubiana, and in Latin, it is known as Labacum. An archaic English form of the city's name is Lublyana, used primarily by Slovene Americans. The German name was first documented in 1144, and the Slovenian form appeared in records as early as 1146. The 10th-century work Life of Gregentios provides the Greek variant Λυπλιανές (Lyplianés) and situates it among the Avars in the 6th century. This account is influenced by an earlier northern Italian source written shortly after the conquest of 774. The connection between the Slovene and German names has posed a puzzle for scholars. …
History
Around 2000 BC, the Ljubljana Marsh was settled by people living in pile dwellings. Prehistoric pile dwellings and the oldest wooden wheel in the world are among the most notable archeological findings from the marshland. These lake-dwelling people survived through hunting, fishing and primitive agriculture. To get around the marshes, they used dugout canoes made by cutting out the inside of tree trunks. Their archaeological remains, nowadays in the Municipality of Ig, have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site since June 2011, in the common nomination of six Alpine states. Later, the area remained a transit point, for groups including the Illyrians, followed by a mixed nation of the Celts and the Illyrians called the Iapodes, and then in the 3rd century BC a Celtic tribe, the Taurisci. …
Geography
The city covers 163.8 km2 (63.2 sq mi). It is situated in the Ljubljana Basin in Central Slovenia, between the Alps and the Karst. Ljubljana is located some 320 km (200 mi) south of Munich, 477 km (296 mi) east of Zürich, 250 km (160 mi) east of Venice, 350 km (220 mi) southwest of Vienna, 124 km (77 mi) west of Zagreb and 400 km (250 mi) southwest of Budapest. Ljubljana has grown considerably since the 1970s, mainly by merging with nearby settlements. The city stretches out on an alluvial plain dating to the Quaternary era. The mountainous regions nearby are older, dating from the Mesozoic (Triassic) or Paleozoic. Earthquakes have repeatedly devastated Ljubljana, notably in 1511 and 1895. Ljubljana has an elevation of 295 m (968 ft). The city centre, located along the river, sits at 298 m (978 ft). …
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