Rimavská Sobota
Encyclopedia
Rimavská Sobota is a town in southern Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

, in the Banská Bystrica Region
Banská Bystrica Region
The Banská Bystrica Region is one of the Slovak regions in the country of Slovakia in Europe.-Geography:It is located in the central part of Slovakia and has an area of 9,455 km². The region is prevailingly mountains, with several ranges within the area. The highest of them are the Low Tatras...

, on the Rimava
Rimava
Rimava is a river in southern central Slovakia, which flows only in the Rimavská Sobota District. It is the right tributary of the Slaná river....

 river. It has 24,374 inhabitants (2006). The town is a historical capital of the Gömör-Kishont
Gömör-Kishont
Gömör-Kishont is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its capital was Rimaszombat...

 county (from 1850 to 1922).

Geography

It is located around 250 km east of Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...

 and around 100 km from Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica is a key city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 81,281 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia...

. The town, along with the district
Rimavská Sobota District
Rimavská Sobota District is a district in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia.Until 1918, the district was mostly part of the Hungarian county of Gemer a Malohont, apart from Konrádovce in the south-west which was part of the county of...

 lies in the Rimava
Rimava
Rimava is a river in southern central Slovakia, which flows only in the Rimavská Sobota District. It is the right tributary of the Slaná river....

 river valley in the Slovenské rudohorie mountains, in the Southern Slovak Basin. There are two protected areas close to the town in the district, Cerová vrchovina
Cerová vrchovina Protected Landscape Area
Cerová vrchovina Protected Landscape Area is one of the 14 protected landscape areas in Slovakia. The Landscape Area is situated in the Cerová vrchovina Mountains, part of the Western Carpathians, in southern Slovakia. It is situated in the Rimavská Sobota, Poltár and Lučenec districts and ends at...

 to the south and Muránska planina National Park
Muránska planina National Park
Muránska planina National Park is one of the youngest national parks in Slovakia. It is situated in Central Slovakia, in the districts of Brezno and Revúca, in the Banská Bystrica Region...

 to the north.

The town is composed of 11 parts/boroughs: Bakta, Dúžava, Kurinec, Mojín, Nižná Pokoradz, Rimavská Sobota, Sabová, Sobôtka, Včelinec, Vinice and Vyšná Pokoradz.

History

The first traces of settlement in the town's territory come from the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

. Other archaeological discoveries are dated to the middle and late Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 and Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

. Several tribes have passed through the area, including Celts, Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...

 tribes and several others during the Migration Period
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...

. The Slavs have settled here most likely the 7th and 8th centuries. The old Hungarian tribes came at the beginning of the 10th century and settled in the 11th century. Medieval town was probably founded in the second half of the 11th century and became a market town.

The first written record about Rimavská Sobota was in 1271 as Rymoa Zumbota and belonged to the Archbishop of Kalocsa
Kalocsa
Kalocsa is a town in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. It lies 88 miles south of Budapest. It is situated in a marshy but highly productive district, near the left bank of the Danube River. Historically it had greater political and economic importance than at present.Kalocsa is the Episcopal see...

, who owned the land from 1150 to around 1340. In 1334 the ownership changed to Tamás Széchenyi from Transylvania. The town received a privilege charted in 1335 on the basis of the Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...

 municipal law. In the first half of the 15th century, it was a small town, and economic development had begun, when the first guilds were established. However, it was interrupted by Turkish occupation, first in 1553–1593 and then in 1596–1686. The town was growing again in the 18th century, with the guilds of tanners, weavers, shoe-makers and others being set up. It became a free privileged town in the 1790s. From 1850 to 1922 it was the capital of the Gömör-Kishont
Gömör-Kishont
Gömör-Kishont is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its capital was Rimaszombat...

 county. Industry started to develop in the 20th century, with a cannery being established.

After break-up of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

, the town was occupied by the Czechoslovak Legions
Czechoslovak Legions
The Czechoslovak Legions were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting together with the Entente powers during World War I...

 in January 1919. However, the army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....

 came to the town in May 1919, but control reverted to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 in July 1919. After the First Vienna Award
First Vienna Award
The First Vienna Award was the result of the First Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace on November 2, 1938. The Arbitration and Award were direct consequences of the Munich Agreement...

 in 1938, the town belonged to Hungary to the end of 1944. During the Socialist Czechoslovakia, food industry developed here, for example sugar factory was established in 1966 and meat processing plant in 1977.

Economy, Trade, and Industry

The town's main trade is agriculture and food processing. Agricultural production is aimed at animal production: beef-raising, sheepfarming, farming of permanent grass fields, meadows and pasture lands. Rimavská hollow basin is an important agricultural area, where almost all crops can be grown, including those more thermophilic ones: sugar beet, wheat, rye, vegetable, tobacco, vine, lucerne, corn. Forest resources are under both state and private administration. The town also has electrotechnical, mechanical, and chemical businesses. All industrial companies were privatized during the Slovak economy transformation.

The most important transport line goes through the southern part of the county. Rimavská Sobota is 112 km from Banská Bystrica and 289 km from Bratislava. The district is also the site of former Czechoslovakia (now Radio Slovakia International
Radio Slovakia International
Radio Slovakia International is Slovakia's official internet-based international broadcaster.The station was created almost simultaneously with the emergence of independent Slovakia and began broadcasting on 4 January 1993...

- RSI) shortwave
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...

 radio antenna tower facility, using a 250 kW transmitter to reach listening audiences as far away as North America. The towers and masts of the station have heights up to 171 metres.

Rimavská Sobota's tourist industry is as yet largely undeveloped, due to a lack of infrastructure, although the area possesses excellent natural, historical, and cultural potential.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, there were 25,088 people living in the town, with majority of them being Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...

 (59.28%), with a significant minority of Hungarians (35.26%), with a small percentage of Roma (3.01%) and others. The religion make-up was: 47.84% Roman Catholics, 25.44% without denomination, 10.33 Protestants and 5.26% not specified.

Partner towns

Kolín
Kolín
Kolín is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic some east from Prague, lying on the Elbe river.-History:Kolín was founded by king Přemysl Otakar II in the 13th century, first mentioned in 1261. Later on, 1437, a castle was founded here...

, Czech Republic Ózd
Ózd
Ózd is a city in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, away from county seat Miskolc. Ózd is the second largest city of the county.-History:The area has been inhabited since ancient times. The village Ózd was mentioned first in 1272...

, Hungary Tiszaújváros
Tiszaújváros
Tiszaújváros is an industrial town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, south-east of Miskolc, near the river Tisza.Tiszaújváros owes its existence to the industrialization wave that took over the then-socialist Hungary after World War II...

, Hungary Salonta
Salonta
Salonta is a city in Bihor County, Transylvania, Romania, near the Hungarian border.-Population:According to the last Romanian census from 2002, the city has a population of 18,074, made up of Hungarians , Romanians , Roma , and others .In terms of religion, 51.12% are Reformed , 36.46% Romanian...

, Romania Świętochłowice, Poland

External links

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