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115-636: Bratislava , historically known as Pozsony and Pressburg , is the capital and largest city of the Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all cities on the River Danube . Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, some sources estimate it to be more than 660,000—approximately 140% of the official figures. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia at the foot of the Little Carpathians , occupying both banks of
230-519: A mint , producing gold and silver coins known as biatecs . The area fell under Roman influence from the 1st to the 4th century A.D. and was made part of the Danubian Limes , a border defence system. The Romans introduced grape growing to the area and began a tradition of winemaking , which survives to the present. The Slavs arrived from the East between the 5th and 6th centuries during
345-497: A monarch held his or her court, the selection, relocation, founding, or capture of a modern capital city is a highly symbolic event. For example: The capital city is usually but not always a primary target in a war, as capturing it usually guarantees capture of much of the enemy government, victory for the attacking forces, or at the very least demoralization for the defeated forces. In ancient China , where governments were massive centralized bureaucracies with little flexibility on
460-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,
575-445: A compromise between two or more cities or other political divisions, historical reasons, or enough land was needed to deliberately build a new planned city for the capital. The majority of national capitals are also the largest city in their respective countries. Modern examples are Beijing , Berlin , Cairo , London , Madrid , Mexico City , Moscow , Paris , Rome , Jakarta , Metro Manila , Seoul , and Tokyo . Counties in
690-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in
805-560: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on
920-652: A fifth campaign against the Kingdom of Hungary , and besieged Pressburg without success, as the Hungarians sank his supply ships on the Danube river. This strategic position destined the city to be the site of frequent attacks and battles, but also brought it economic development and high political status. It was granted its first known "town privileges" in 1291 by the Hungarian King Andrew III , and
1035-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near
1150-470: A matter of convention, and because all or almost all the country's central political institutions, such as government departments, supreme court, legislature, embassies, etc., are located in or near them. Many modern capital cities are located near the centre of the country, so that they are more accessible to its population and have better protection from possible invasions. (See also § Capitals in military strategy ) The location may also be based on
1265-554: A territory: Plymouth in Montserrat . There are several countries where, for various reasons, the official capital and seat of government are separated: Some historical examples of similar arrangements, where the recognized capital was not the official seat of government: With the rise of the modern nation-state , the capital city has become a symbol for the state and its government , and imbued with political meaning. Unlike medieval capitals, which were declared wherever
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#17327654999691380-408: A view of the city and the Little Carpathians . Capital city A capital city or just capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country , state , province , department , or other subnational division , usually as its seat of the government . A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the government's offices and meeting places; the status as capital
1495-583: Is about three times higher than in other Slovak regions. Bratislava receives around one million tourists every year, mostly from the Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria. The city received its contemporary name on 16 March 1919. Until then, it was Pozsony, mostly known in English as "Pressburg" (from its German name, Preßburg ), since after 1526, it was dominated mostly by the Habsburg monarchy and
1610-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout
1725-773: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system
1840-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During
1955-480: Is classified as temperate oceanic climate under Trewartha climate classification (DOak), It is in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7b with a mean annual temperature of around 11.1 °C (52.0 °F), an average temperature of 22.0 °C (71.6 °F) in the warmest month and 0.3 °C (32.5 °F) in the coldest month, four distinct seasons and precipitation spread rather evenly throughout
2070-432: Is in one of the warmest and driest parts of Slovakia. Recently, the transitions from winter to summer and summer to winter have been rapid, with short autumn and spring periods. Snow occurs less frequently than previously. Extreme temperatures (1981–2013) – record high: 39.4 °C (102.9 °F), record low: −24.6 °C (−12.3 °F). Some areas, particularly Devín and Devínska Nová Ves , are vulnerable to floods from
2185-409: Is often designated by its law or constitution . In some jurisdictions , including several countries, different branches of government are in different settlements, sometimes meaning multiple official capitals. In some cases, a distinction is made between the official ( constitutional ) capital and the seat of government, which is in another place . English-language news media often use the name of
2300-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to
2415-526: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around
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#17327654999692530-708: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,
2645-650: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with
2760-582: Is the case with Nanjing by Shanghai , Quebec City by Montreal , and several US state capitals . The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its capital city, as occurred at Babylon and Cahokia . "Political nomadism" was practiced in ancient Near East to increase ties between the ruler and the subjects. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no such legal designation, including Bern , Edinburgh , Lisbon , London , Paris , and Wellington . They are recognized as capitals as
2875-633: Is the seat of the Slovak president , the parliament and the Slovak Executive . It has several universities, and many museums, theatres, galleries and other cultural and educational institutions. Many of Slovakia's large businesses and financial institutions have headquarters there. Bratislava is 57th largest city in the European Union and 19th-richest region of the European Union by GDP ( PPP ) per capita. GDP at purchasing power parity
2990-541: Is usually not a separate national capital, but rather the capital city of one constituent nation will also be the capital of the state overall, such as London , which is the capital of England and of the United Kingdom. Similarly, each of the autonomous communities of Spain and regions of Italy has a capital city, such as Seville and Naples , while Madrid is the capital of the Community of Madrid and of
3105-523: The Byzantine capital, Constantinople , Byzantine forces were able to regroup in several provinces; provincial noblemen managed to reconquer the capital after 60 years and preserve the empire for another 200 years after that. The British forces sacked various American capitals repeatedly during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 , but American forces could still carry on fighting from
3220-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It
3335-546: The Habsburg monarchy and marking the beginning of a new era. The city became a coronation town and the seat of kings, archbishops (1543), the nobility and all major organisations and offices. Between 1536 and 1830, eleven Hungarian kings and queens were crowned at St. Martin's Cathedral . The 17th century was marked by anti-Habsburg uprisings, fighting with the Ottomans, floods, plagues and other disasters, which diminished
3450-638: The Hungarian Reform Era (such as the abolition of serfdom and the foundation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ) was enacted there. The historic centre is characterized by many baroque palaces. The Grassalkovich Palace , built around 1760, is now the residence of the Slovak president, and the Slovak government now has its seat in the former Archiepiscopal Palace . In 1805, diplomats of emperors Napoleon and Francis II signed
3565-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as
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3680-604: The Keglevich Palace . The city started to lose its importance under the reign of Maria Theresa's son Joseph II , especially after the crown jewels were taken to Vienna in 1783 in an attempt to strengthen the relations between Austria and Hungary. Many central offices subsequently moved to Buda , followed by a large segment of the nobility. The first newspapers in Hungarian and Slovak were published here: Magyar hírmondó in 1780, and Presspurske Nowiny in 1783. In
3795-465: The Kingdom of Hungary from 1563 to 1783; eleven Hungarian kings and eight queens were crowned in St Martin's Cathedral . Most Hungarian parliament assemblies were held here from the 17th century until the Hungarian Reform Era , and the city has been home to many Hungarian, German and Slovak historical figures. Today, Bratislava is the political , cultural and economic centre of Slovakia. It
3910-641: The Kingdom of Spain as a whole and Rome is the capital of Italy and of the region of Lazio . In the Federal Republic of Germany , each of its constituent states (or Länder , plural of Land ) has its own capital city, such as Dresden , Wiesbaden , Mainz , Düsseldorf , Stuttgart , and Munich , as do all of the republics of the Russian Federation . The national capitals of Germany and Russia (the Stadtstaat of Berlin and
4025-542: The Little Carpathians ( Malé Karpaty ). The Záhorie and Danubian lowlands stretch into Bratislava. The city's lowest point is at the Danube's surface at 126 metres (413 ft) above mean sea level , and the highest point is Devínska Kobyla at 514 metres (1,686 ft). The average altitude is 140 metres (460 ft). Bratislava has recently shifted into the humid subtropical climate under Köppen–Geiger climate classification ( Cfa ), closely bordering on Dfb , and
4140-598: The Migration Period . As a response to onslaughts by Avars , the local Slavic tribes rebelled and established Samo 's Empire (623–658), the first known Slavic political entity. In the 9th century, the castles at Bratislava (Brezalauspurk) and Devín (Dowina) were important centres of the Slavic states: the Principality of Nitra and Great Moravia . Scholars have debated the identification as fortresses of
4255-621: The Petržalka or Dúbravka borough, were built. The Communist government also built several new grandiose buildings, such as the Slovak Radio Building , Slavín or Kamzík TV Tower . A quarter of Bratislava’s Old Town was demolished in the late 1960s for a single project: the bridge of the Slovak National Uprising . To make space for this development, much of the city’s centuries-old, historical Jewish quarter
4370-573: The Republic and the Empire , and later as the centre of the Catholic Church . In several English-speaking states , the terms county town and county seat are also used in lower administrative divisions . In some unitary states , subnational capitals may be known as 'administrative centres'. The capital is often the largest city of its constituent, though not always . Historically,
4485-531: The River Danube and the left bank of the River Morava . Bordering Austria and Hungary , it is the only national capital to border two sovereign states . The city's history has been influenced by people of many nations and religions, including Austrians , Bulgarians , Croats , Czechs , Germans , Hungarians , Jews and Slovaks . It was the coronation site and legislative center and capital of
4600-762: The Soviet Red Army 2nd Ukrainian Front during the Bratislava–Brno offensive . The Czechoslovak government and president Edvard Beneš then moved to Bratislava on 8 May. At the end of World War II, most of Bratislava's ethnic Germans were evacuated by the German authorities. A few returned after the war, but were soon expelled without their properties under the Beneš decrees , part of a widespread expulsion of ethnic Germans from eastern Europe. After World War II, Slovak Republic lost its so-called independence and
4715-474: The United Kingdom have historic county towns, which are often not the largest settlement within the county and often are no longer administrative centres, as many historical counties are now only ceremonial, and administrative boundaries are different. The number of new capitals in the world increased substantially since the Renaissance period, especially with the founding of independent nation-states since
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4830-401: The actual location of Brezalauspurc is under scholarly debate . The city's modern name is credited to Pavol Jozef Šafárik 's misinterpretation of Braslav as Bratislav in his analysis of medieval sources, which led him to invent the term Břetislaw , which later became Bratislav . During the revolution of 1918–1919, the name 'Wilsonov' or 'Wilsonstadt' (after US President Woodrow Wilson )
4945-523: The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Naypyidaw was founded in Burma 's interior as the former capital, Rangoon , was claimed to be overcrowded. A few nation-states have multiple capitals, and there are also several states that have no capital. Some have a city as the capital but with most government agencies elsewhere. There is also a ghost town which is currently the de jure capital of
5060-603: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire began. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson and the United States played a major role in the establishment of the new Czechoslovak state . American Slovaks proposed rename the city “Wilsonovo mesto” (Wilson City), after Woodrow Wilson. On 28 October 1918, Czechoslovakia was proclaimed, but its borders were not settled for several months. The dominant Hungarian and German population tried to prevent annexation of
5175-492: The federal city of Moscow ) are also constituent states of both countries in their own right. Each of the states of Austria and cantons of Switzerland also have their own capital cities. Vienna , the national capital of Austria , is also one of the states, while Bern is the ( de facto ) capital of both Switzerland and of the Canton of Bern . Governing entities sometimes plan, design and build new capital cities to house
5290-579: The holocaust . A curiosity is the underground (formerly ground-level) restored portion of the Jewish cemetery where 19th-century Rabbi Moses Sofer is buried, located at the base of the castle hill near the entrance to a tram tunnel. The only military cemetery in Bratislava is Slavín , unveiled in 1960 in honour of Soviet Army soldiers who fell during the liberation of Bratislava in April 1945. It offers
5405-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in
5520-633: The only national capital that borders two countries . It is only 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) from the border with Hungary and only 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) from the Austrian capital Vienna . The city has a total area of 367.58 square kilometres (141.9 sq mi), making it the second-largest city in Slovakia by area (after the township of Vysoké Tatry ). Bratislava straddles the Danube River, along which it had developed and for centuries
5635-646: The 14th–15th centuries and now hosts the Bratislava City Museum . Michael's Gate is the only gate that has been preserved from the medieval fortifications , and it ranks among the oldest of the town's buildings; the narrowest house in Europe is nearby. The University Library building, erected in 1756, was used by the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1802 to 1848. Much of the significant legislation of
5750-470: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into
5865-462: The Danube and Morava rivers. New flood protection has been built on both banks. The cityscape of Bratislava is characterized by medieval towers and grandiose 20th-century buildings, but it underwent profound changes in a construction boom at the start of the 21st century. Most historical buildings are concentrated in the Old Town . Bratislava's Town Hall is a complex of three buildings erected in
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#17327654999695980-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit
6095-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than
6210-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in
6325-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow
6440-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community
6555-647: The Hungarian side of the Starý most (Old Bridge), captured the guards and annexed Petržalka (currently part of Bratislava's 5th district ) without a fight. The Paris Peace Conference assigned the area to Czechoslovakia with the aim of creating a bridgehead for the newly created Czechoslovak state for controlling the Danube. Left without any protection after the retreat of the Hungarian army, many Hungarians were expelled or fled. Czechs and Slovaks moved their households to Bratislava. Education in Hungarian and German
6670-433: The Kingdom of Hungary between 1563 and 1830. The Franciscan Church , dating to the 13th century, has been a place of knighting ceremonies and is the oldest preserved sacral building in the city. The Church of St. Elizabeth , better known as the Blue Church due to its colour, is built entirely in the Hungarian Secessionist style. Bratislava has one surviving functioning synagogue , out of the three major ones existing before
6785-457: The Latin forms Bratislavia, Wratislavia etc., which refer to Wrocław (Breslau), Poland, not Bratislava. The Polish city has a similar etymology despite spelling differences. The first known permanent settlement of the area began with the Linear Pottery Culture , around 5000 B.C. in the Neolithic era. About 200 B.C., the Celtic Boii tribe founded the first significant settlement, a fortified town known as an oppidum . They also established
6900-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),
7015-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of
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#17327654999697130-431: The attacks of the Hungarians. The exact location of the battle remains unknown, and some interpretations place it west of Lake Balaton . In the 10th century, the territory of Pressburg (what would later become Pozsony county ) became part of Hungary (called the " Kingdom of Hungary " from 1000). It developed as a key economic and administrative centre on the kingdom's frontier. In 1052, German Emperor Henry III undertook
7245-432: The capital city as an alternative name for the government of the country of which it is the capital, as a form of metonymy . For example, the "relations between London and Washington " refers to the " relations between the United Kingdom and the United States ". The word capital derives from the Latin word caput (genitive capitis ), meaning ' head ', later borrowed from Medieval Latin capitālis ('of
7360-482: The capital has been changed for geopolitical reasons; Finland 's first city, Turku , which had served as the country's capital since the Middle Ages under the Swedish rule, lost its position during the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812, when Helsinki was made the current capital of Finland by the Russian Empire. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal. Traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals as
7475-462: The chief transportation route to other areas. The river passes through the city from the west to the southeast. The Middle Danube basin begins at Devín Gate in western Bratislava. Other rivers are the Morava River , which forms the northwestern border of the city and enters the Danube at Devín, the Little Danube , and the Vydrica , which enters the Danube in the borough of Karlova Ves . The Carpathian mountain range begins in city territory with
7590-411: The city had a relevant ethnic German population. That is the term from which the pre-1919 Slovak ( Prešporok ) and Czech ( Prešpurk ) names are derived. The linguist Ján Stanislav believed the city's Hungarian name, Pozsony , to be attributed to the surname Božan, likely a prince who owned the castle before 950. Although the Latin name was also based on the same surname, according to research by
7705-427: The city to Czechoslovakia and declared it a free city , while the Hungarian Prime Minister Károlyi protested against the Czech invasion. The Slovak National Assembly meanwhile called it a "defensive action of the Slovaks themselves, to end the anarchy caused by the flight of the Hungarians." The Allies of World War I drew a provisional demarcation line, this was revealed to the Hungarian government on December 23, in
7820-602: The countryside, where they enjoyed support from local governments and the traditionally independent civilian frontiersmen. Exceptions to these generalizations include highly centralized states such as France , whose centralized bureaucracies could effectively coordinate far-flung resources, giving the state a powerful advantage over less coherent rivals, but risking utter ruin if the capital were taken. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized : Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized : Hellēnikḗ )
7935-451: The course of the 18th century, the city became a centre for the Slovak national movement . The city's 19th-century history was closely tied to the major events in Europe. The Peace of Pressburg between the Austrian Empire and French Empire was signed here in 1805. Devín Castle was ruined by Napoleon 's French troops during an invasion of 1809. In 1825 the Hungarian National Learned Society (the present Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
8050-446: The document known as the Vix Note . The Czechoslovak Legion arrived from Italy, began to advance on 30 December and by 2 January 1919, all important civil and military buildings were in Czechoslovak hands. It was the beginning of the conflict, which later continued as the Hungarian–Czechoslovak War . The city became the seat of Slovakia's political organs and organizations and became Slovakia's capital on 4 February. On March 27, 1919,
8165-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of
8280-484: The eighteenth century. In Canada , there is a federal capital , while the ten provinces and three territories each have capital cities. The states of such countries as Mexico , Brazil (including the famous cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo , capitals of their respective states), and Australia also each have capital cities. For example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide , Brisbane , Hobart , Melbourne , Perth , and Sydney . In Australia,
8395-578: The end of the war in the Holocaust . Bratislava, occupied by German troops, was many times bombarded by the Allies . Major air raid included the bombing of Bratislava and its refinery Apollo on June 16, 1944 by American B-24 bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force with 181 victims Bombardment group attacked in four waves with overall 158 planes. On 4 April 1945, Bratislava was liberated by
8510-618: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute
8625-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in
8740-621: The fourth Peace of Pressburg in the Primate's Palace , after Napoleon's victory in the Battle of Austerlitz . Some smaller houses are historically significant; composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel was born in an 18th-century house in the Old Town. Notable cathedrals and churches include the Gothic St. Martin's Cathedral built in the 13th–16th centuries, which served as the coronation church of
8855-545: The great crisis of Japanese invasion . National capitals were arguably less important as military objectives in other parts of the world, including the West, because of socioeconomic trends toward localized authority, a strategic modus operandi especially popular after the development of feudalism and reaffirmed by the development of democratic and capitalistic philosophies. In 1204, after the Latin Crusaders captured
8970-402: The head'). The Latin phrase Roma Caput Mundi meaning 'Rome capital of the world' ( lit. ' head of the world ' ) was already used by the poet Ovid in 1st century BC . It originates out of a classical European understanding of the known world : Europe , North Africa , and Southwest Asia . The phrase is related to the enduring power of the city first as the capital of
9085-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn
9200-540: The largest and most important town in the Kingdom of Hungary . The population tripled; many new palaces, monasteries, mansions, and streets were built, and the city was the centre of social and cultural life of the region. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert in 1762 in the Pálffy Palace . Joseph Haydn performed in 1784 in the Grassalkovich Palace . Ludwig van Beethoven was a guest in 1796 in
9315-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write
9430-416: The lexicologist Milan Majtán, the Hungarian version is not found in any official records from the time in which the prince would have lived. All three versions, however, were related to those found in Slovak, Czech and German: Vratislaburgum (905), Braslavespurch, and Preslavasburc (both 907). The medieval settlement Brezalauspurc (literally, ' Braslav 's castle') is sometimes attributed to Bratislava, but
9545-417: The major economic centre of a state or region has often become the focal point of political power, and became a capital through conquest or federation . Historical examples are ancient Babylon , ancient Athens , ancient Rome , Abbasid Baghdad , Constantinople , Chang'an , and ancient Cusco . The modern capital city has not always existed: in medieval Western Europe, an itinerant (wandering) government
9660-576: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek
9775-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and
9890-465: The name Bratislava was officially adopted for the first time to replace the previous Slovak name Prešporok. At the beginning of August 1919, Czechoslovakia got permission to correct the borders for the strategic reasons, mainly to secure the port and to prevent a potential attack of the Hungarian Army on the town. On the night of 14 August 1919 barefoot Czechoslovak soldiers silently climbed to
10005-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks
10120-536: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It
10235-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as
10350-431: The population. Great epidemics were spreading in Bratislava in 1541–1542, 1552–1553, 1660–1665 and 1678–1681. A terrible outbreak of 1678–1681 left approximately 11,000 casualties among Bratislava’s residents (city population was in that time around 30,000 people). The last plague outbreak of Bratislava was between the years 1712–1713. Pressburg flourished during the 18th-century reign of Queen Maria Theresa , becoming
10465-466: The provincial level, a dynasty could easily be toppled with the fall of its capital. In the Three Kingdoms period, both Shu and Wu fell when their respective capitals of Chengdu and Jianye fell. The Ming dynasty relocated its capital from Nanjing to Beijing , where they could more effectively control the generals and troops guarding the borders from Mongols and Manchus . The Ming
10580-424: The seat of government of a polity or of a subdivision. Deliberately planned and designed capitals include: These cities satisfy one or both of the following criteria: Some examples of the second situation (compromise locations) are: Changes in a nation's political regime sometimes result in the designation of a new capital. Akmola (renamed Astana in 1998) became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, following
10695-667: The so-called " Bratislava bridgehead " (currently all three of them are part of Bratislava's 5th district ). After the Communist Party seized power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, the city became part of the Eastern Bloc . The city annexed new land, and the population rose significantly, becoming 90% Slovak. Large residential areas consisting of high-rise prefabricated panel buildings , such as those in
10810-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of
10925-677: The term "capital cities" is regularly used to refer to those six state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra , and Darwin , the capital of the Northern Territory . Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and also of the United Arab Emirates overall. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent nations, such as the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Denmark , each will usually have its own capital city. Unlike in federations , there
11040-547: The two castles built in Great Moravia, based on linguistic arguments and because of the absence of convincing archaeological evidence. The first written reference to a settlement named "Brezalauspurc" dates to 907 and is related to the Battle of Pressburg , during which a Bavarian army was defeated by the Hungarians . It is connected to the fall of Great Moravia, already weakened by its own inner decline and under
11155-618: The two states of the federalized Czechoslovakia . Bratislava's dissidents anticipated the fall of Communism with the Bratislava candle demonstration in 1988, and the city became one of the foremost centres of the anti-Communist Velvet Revolution in 1989. The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989 was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states . Czechoslovak Socialist Republic renamed as Czech and Slovak Federative Republic ,
11270-642: The word "socialist" was dropped in the names of the two republics within the federation, the Slovak Socialist Republic renamed as the Slovak Republic . In 1993, Bratislava once again became the capital of the newly formed independent Slovak Republic , following the Velvet Divorce . Bratislava is situated in southwestern Slovakia, within the Bratislava Region . Its location on the borders with Austria and Hungary makes it
11385-425: The year. It is often windy with a marked variation between hot summers and cold, humid winters. There also can sometimes be a significant difference in weather, between the parts of the city. Bratislava, just like any other city, has an urban heat island effect, but there is no weather station directly in the urban core, so the temperature there can be slightly higher than the official weather station reports. The city
11500-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or
11615-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of
11730-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe
11845-550: Was captured by the Austrians in December 1848. Industry developed rapidly in the 19th century. The first horse-drawn railway in the Kingdom of Hungary, from Pressburg to Szentgyörgy ( Svätý Jur ), was built in 1840. A new line to Vienna using steam locomotives was opened in 1848, and a line to Pest in 1850. Many new industrial, financial and other institutions were founded; for example, the first bank in present-day Slovakia
11960-820: Was common. The capital city attracts politically motivated people and those whose skills are needed for efficient administration of national or imperial governments, such as lawyers , political scientists , bankers , journalists , and public policy makers . Some of these cities are or were also religious centres , e.g. Constantinople (more than one religion), Rome / Vatican City (the Roman Catholic Church ), Jerusalem (more than one religion), Babylon, Moscow (the Russian Orthodox Church ), Belgrade (the Serbian Orthodox Church ), Paris, and Beijing. In some countries,
12075-492: Was declared a free royal town in 1405 by King Sigismund . In 1436, he authorized the town to use its own coat of arms . The Kingdom of Hungary was defeated by the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Mohács in 1526. The Ottomans besieged and damaged Pressburg, but failed to conquer it. Owing to Ottoman advances into Hungarian territory, the city was designated the new capital of Hungary in 1536, after becoming part of
12190-632: Was destroyed when Li Zicheng took their seat of power, and this pattern repeats itself in Chinese history, until the fall of the traditional Confucian monarchy in the 20th century. After the Qing dynasty 's collapse, decentralization of authority and improved transportation and communication technologies allowed both the Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists to rapidly relocate capitals and keep their leadership structures intact during
12305-618: Was founded in 1842. The city's first permanent bridge over the Danube, Starý most (Old Bridge), was built in 1891. Between the years 1867-1918, the territory of Pressburg became part of Austro-Hungarian Empire . Before World War I , the city had a population that was 42% German, 41% Hungarian and 15% Slovak (1910 census). The first post war census in 1919 declared the city's ethnic composition at 36% German, 33% Slovak and 29% Hungarian but this may have reflected changing self-identification, rather than an exchange of peoples. Many people were bi- or trilingual and multicultural. After World War I ,
12420-584: Was founded in Pressburg using a donation from István Széchenyi . In 1843 Hungarian was proclaimed the official language in legislation, public administration, and education by the Diet in the city. As a reaction to the Revolutions of 1848 , Ferdinand V signed the so-called April laws , which included the abolition of serfdom , at the Primate's Palace . The city chose the revolutionary Hungarian side, but
12535-666: Was proposed by American Slovaks, as he supported national self-determination. The name Bratislava , which had been used only by some Slovak patriots, became official in March 1919 with the aim that a Slavic name could support demands for the city to be part of Czechoslovakia. Other alternative names of the city in the past include Greek : Ιστρόπολις , romanized : Istropolis (meaning ' Danube City', also used in Latin), Latin : Posonium , Romanian : Pojon , Croatian : Požun . In older documents, confusion can be caused by
12650-658: Was radically reduced in the city. By the 1930 Czechoslovak census , the Hungarian population of Bratislava had decreased to 15.8% (see the Demographics of Bratislava article for more details). In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed neighbouring Austria in the Anschluss ; on 10 October 1938 on the basis of the Munich Agreement it also annexed (still-separate from Bratislava) Petržalka and Devín boroughs on ethnic grounds, as these had many ethnic Germans. Petržalka
12765-553: Was razed, including the 19th-century Moorish-styled Neolog Synagogue. Communism also brought the practice of public toilets in Bratislava , which remained in practice after the fall of communism. In 1968, after the unsuccessful Czechoslovak attempt to liberalise the Communist regime, the city was occupied by Warsaw Pact troops. Shortly thereafter, it became capital of the Slovak Socialist Republic , one of
12880-483: Was renamed Engerau . The Starý most (Old Bridge) became a border bridge between Czechoslovakia and Nazi Germany. Bratislava was declared the capital of the first independent Slovak Republic on March 14, 1939, but the new state quickly fell under Nazi influence. In 1941–1942 and 1944–1945, the new Slovak government cooperated in deporting most of Bratislava's approximately 15,000 Jews; they were transported to concentration camps , where most were killed or died before
12995-545: Was reunified again with the Czech Republic as Czechoslovak Republic , Petržalka (currently part of Bratislava's 5th district ) and Devín (currently part of Bratislava's 4th district ) was returned to Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, after signing the Peace Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1947, three Hungarian villages, namely Horvátjárfalu (Jarovce), Oroszvár (Rusovce), and Dunacsún (Čunovo) situated south of Bratislava were transferred to Czechoslovakia, in order to form
13110-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect
13225-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage
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