Slovenian Littoral

{{Unreferenced|date=March 2008}} [[Image:SlovenianLittoralLocationMap.png|thumb|300px|right|Slovenian Littoral in Slovenia]] The '''Slovenian Littoral''' ({{lang-sl|Primorska}}; {{lang-it|Litorale}}; {{lang-de|Küstenland}}) is a historical region of [[Slovenia]]. Its name recalls the historical [[Habsburg Empire|Habsburg]] [[crown land]] of the [[Austrian Littoral]], of which the Slovenian Littoral was a part. The region comprises two traditional provinces: ''[[Goriška]]'' and [[Slovenian Istria]]. The ''Goriška'' region takes its name after the town of [[Gorizia]] (Gorica in Slovene), now in [[Italy]]. It comprises those areas of the former [[County of Gorizia and Gradisca]] that were assigned to [[Yugoslavia]] (Slovenia) after 1947, as well as the [[Vipava, Slovenia|Vipava]] and [[Idrija]] municipalities. Slovenian Istria comprises the northern part of the [[Istria]] peninsula and provides, at the port of [[Koper]], the country's only access to the sea. [[File:StampIstria1945Michel38.jpg|thumb|170px|left|Yugoslav postage stamp for the occupied zones of the [[Venezia Giulia]] (1945-1947). The inscription reads "[[Istria]] - Slovenian Littoral" in both [[Slovene language|Slovene]] and [[Italian language|Italian]].]] == History == During the period of [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian]] rule, the region was known as the [[Austrian Littoral]], and was divided into [[Istria]], the Imperial Free City of [[Trieste]], and the autonomous Crown Lands of [[Gorizia and Gradisca]]. In 1918, the whole area was occupied by the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)|Italian]] army. In 1920, Italy [[annexation|annexed]] it, renaming it to [[Julian March]] (Venezia Giulia). After [[World War II]], the area was split between [[Yugoslavia]], which got the majority of the region, and [[Italy]], which kept the urban centres of [[Trieste]] and [[Gorizia]]. As a result, new urban centres on the Slovenian part of the border developed. Today, the main urban centers of the Slovene Littoral are [[Koper]] and the [[Nova Gorica]]–[[Šempeter-Vrtojba|Šempeter]] [[conurbation]]. After [[Ljubljana]], the Slovene Littoral is the most developed and economically most prosperous part of Slovenia. The western part of the [[Slovenian Istria]] (the coast) is a bilingual region where both Slovene and Italian can be used in education, legal and administrative environments. ==See also== *[[Battles of the Isonzo]] *[[London Pact]] *[[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)]] *[[TIGR]] *[[Morgan Line]] *[[Free Territory of Trieste]] *[[Treaty of Osimo]] *[[Kras]] *[[Vipava Valley]] *[[Soča]] *[[Slovenian wine]] *[[Slovenian Riviera]] *[[Venetian Slovenia]] {{coord missing|Slovenia}}